When Kata Ambrus found the first storefront location for her brand, Chocolat de Kat, she was working for De Mello Coffee as their in-house pastry chef.
Originally, Ambrus figured she did not need a retail space, opting instead for a commercial kitchen to create her chocolate confections. “I immediately approached my coworker, Hazel, a barista with De Mello, because I knew she had dreams of opening her own coffee shop,” Ambrus recalls. But, the idea stuck and in 2018, Ambrus launched her chocolate business alongside her coworker, who started Lion Coffee, in 2018. In that same year, Ambrus would meet her future husband and current business partner, Rob Mackenzie, who opened the F45 training gym next door.
“It was a natural arrangement because it was already how we were used to working together—I made chocolate and pastries in the back, and Hazel made coffee and dealt with customers in the front,” Ambrus says. The arrangement saw both business owners working out of the same space, splitting the rent while simultaneously enjoying the benefits each others’ brand brought to the table.
By January 2021 Kata and Hazel were both pregnant. When the lease at Lion Coffee was up, Hazel chose to take some time off from the business, and Ambrus needed a new space. “De Mello was a natural choice for the new location, and thankfully, Felix and Won from De Mello were on board!” Ambrus says.
Now, the owner and founder leases a space just down the street from her original spot, which De Mello Coffee subleases from. “When we moved into our larger space at 824 St. Clair W., we knew we wanted to partner with a coffee shop again because it had worked so well the first time,” Ambrus says.
With rent prices continuing to soar across the city, rent sharing is one way that small business owners, like Ambrus, are working to keep costs down. While Ambrus pays the landlord, De Mello, in turn, pays her a fixed rent that was calculated based on the amount of space that each respective business uses. Chocolat de Kat’s retail hours are based on De Mello’s hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days per week. “Our chocolatiers work different hours, but from a retail standpoint, we’re open when De Mello is open,” Ambrus explains.
Despite the harmony between businesses, Ambrus acknowledges that in certain cases, it can be tricky to nail down an interior design that complements both retailers.
“We worked with a local designer, Keeley McCleary Interiors, to design a space that would be both aesthetically pleasing and functional for our partnership,” she says. In the retail space, Chocolat de Kat uses the left side of the counter and the left wall for display, whereas De Mello gets the right side of the counter and the right-hand wall. The kitchen space belongs to Chocolat de Kat, but the storage space is shared territory.
“It’s a win-win for both of us because De Mello brings daily foot traffic, while we bring in a lot of seasonal traffic; we don’t need to employ retail staff, and we both save money on rent,” Ambrus says. “Opening a brick and mortar space can be scary and expensive, and rent sharing is what enabled both of us to take the leap with more confidence!”
And as for her words of advice for anyone considering rent sharing?
“I would say always consider it, but it really depends on the individual characteristics of both the physical space and of the businesses involved,” Ambrus says. “Are your brands complementary and non-competitive? Do they make sense together from the customer experience perspective? The best rent-sharing scenarios are two businesses that occupy each other’s unused capacity, and where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Chocolat de Kat is located at 824 St. Clair Ave. W. and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Make sure to check out their tasty selection of Valentine’s Day chocolates!
