About us

Kaffa Crossing is a family-owned and operated caf�. The person behind the café idea and its distinct Fair Trade philosophy was Yonas Kebede, a long time West Philadelphia resident of Ethiopian decent.

Yonas always has dreamt of becoming a social entrepreneur. Following a visit to his country of origin, Ethiopia, two years ago, he was struck by the immense poverty sustained by the people. More than half of the people in Ethiopia live on less than a $1 a day � less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Excessive population growth, civil war, mismanaged economy and frequent droughts have severely limited the country’s ability to provide a decent living for its citizens. Farmers, which make up more than 90 percent of the population, are among the hardest hit.
Yonas wondered how he could create a business which could simultaneously support some of those farmers back home and his community in the West Philadelphia area.
The answer was a neighborhood café in an underserved area near University City which would sell Fair Trade coffee and crafts as well as serve food using locally grown ingredients.

“I always wanted to do something great to help my community,” Yonas said. “I was so sure this business concept would work.”

He set to work on his �mission of a life time� by converting a vacant convenience store into a bright, warm café in 2002. For more than a year, with hardly any capital he and his family worked weekends and evenings after work to complete the renovation of the café.

Kaffa Crossing opened July 2004.