Lilburn Café: A Business Built with Love

Twice a day, Tony Turner comes in for coffee and to see what is going on.

The 68-year-old commercial painting contractor who lives nearby loves the Ethiopian coffee that is house-roasted at Lilburn Café, located at 5514 Lawrenceville Highway, Suite A.

“I’m not even a coffee drinker,” says Turner, smiling.

And, after visiting this Lilburn haunt, you’ll agree. It’s not just about the coffee – at all.

Indeed, husband and wife, Yoftahe and Rishan Seyoum, while living in California, visited family two years ago and fell in love with Lilburn.

“We both just knew that we had to raise our children in this kind of community,” says Rishan, or “Shani” as she likes to be called. She is the arms and legs of this operation, and the reason most folks come back in.

Shani says that their goal has been, since Day 1, to “build a relationship with the community.”

Even though they’ve only been open for about eight months, this enterprise has attracted a lot of local attention, most of it by word-of-mouth advertising.

Yvette Odom is here all the time, she says. “It’s my absolute favorite coffee house in town,” says Odom. “She makes the best gyro around and her coffee shots? Please!”

The 34-year-old Lilburn resident can barely contain her enthusiasm as she gushes about the food and the service offered  in this comfortable, home-like café.

She’s not the only one. Mayor Diana Preston also frequents this local favorite.

“I love the Lilburn Café because it is inviting, friendly and a great place to invite friends to meet and chat over delicious pastries and coffee,” says Preston. “The staff knows Lilburn is about community and their business is a perfect fit.”

On Tuesdays, a crowd of knitters meets at the café and moves furniture, like you would at home, to make a meeting place for all of them to be together. On Thursdays, an eight-person group comes in for breakfast to catch up. Sundays find church groups coming in, with gatherings as large as 50 persons, dancing and singing and bringing Seyoum’s place alive.

Even in the more quiet times, when it seems “empty,” it isn’t for long. Shani's regulars come in, one-by-one, two-by-two and she knows them all by name, and usually by order.

“When someone comes in, I make a connection with them,” Shani says. “And, when they come back, I remember them. We are already friends.”

Every customer gets this kind of service.

Jean Douglas lives in Lithonia, works in Decatur and recently found Lilburn Café by chance, seeing the sign and wondering about what went on inside.

“I am a coffee snob,” says Douglas. She walked in, thinking she’d get coffee, but instead was tempted by another customer having the house tea – a hot tea with fresh ginger slices and a cinnamon stick.

“I love the colors, feel and all the art,” Douglas says. Her son takes classes across the street on Thursdays, and now, Douglas will leave work early to spend time in the café. She decided this after walking in for the first time.

With enough comfy couches and large chairs to host a family reunion, the Lilburn Café is a lot like your own living room – only better – it’s got coffee and food available all day long. From 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., the café’s hours make it accessible almost anyone.

Nursing student, Firehiywet Begashaw has already marked her territory in the café; a large comfortable loveseat that she uses for studying purposes.

“When I come in to study, I take this spot for at least four or five hours,” says Begashaw. “I don’t even to go the library anymore, I just come here to enjoy the quiet and relaxing ambience she has going on.”

Begashaw was invited by a friend once and instantly became a fan. “How can you not be?” she asks.

The Seyoums admit that at first, building the business was hard.

“We sacrificed a lot,” says Yoti. “And in the beginning, I wasn’t sure we should even do it.”

While he has no regrets now, he says that at first, he wanted to build an assisted living business in Lilburn. But, after his wife did her research and showed her passion for building the café, he got on board, doing all the restoration of the “empty box” they got to work with. Now, he says, it’s paying off in more ways than he ever imagined it would.

“We are so happy here,” he explains. “And even when it seems slow, we aren’t worried, we don’t want to grow too fast, we want to keep up with Lilburn.”

Shani agrees. “We built this business with love,” she adds.

Her children’s handprints dot the floor, where they ended up painting big blocks of color. Shani does all the cooking herself, she says; filling sandwiches high with vegetables, because she thinks you should eat healthy. Her smoothies are made without added sugar. She does this, she says, because she cares about her customers’ health.

And, the customers care about her, too. One day, she was running late for work and didn’t get over to open her coffee shop at 7 a.m., like usual. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door and opened it to find one of her regular customers standing there, asking if she was OK and where the coffee was. She and her husband were touched by the concern, and felt the love that Lilburn has already for this local coffee spot and its owners.