Meet Luke Leffel of Cafes Magazine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Leffel.

Luke, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Wow, where to start!? I’m currently full-time Lifestyle and Cafe Photographer. I’m also launching a cafe magazine (it’s called Cafes Magazine) and doing some speaking and writing…but I feel so new to it all!

I spent the better part of 20 years opening cafes and restaurants around the Midwest (One Line Coffee, Fox in the Snow Cafe, Emmett’s Cafe. I also owned a cafe, Wildroot Coffee, in Flint, Michigan right in the middle of the Water Crisis). After Covid, I pivoted to project management at a millwork company, primarily building cafes and restaurants. I transitioned to having my own millwork company, but knew I needed to be around people more…

I had a serendipitous encounter where somewhere hired me as a PA for their photo shoot, and I immediately fell in love. Within a few months, I sold my company, started taking photos of friends and friends’ cafes, and soon found myself in the photography business!

As I started hearing and sharing everyone’s stories visually, I started writing and realized there was an amazing opportunity to share the stories of connection that happen in cafes. These are truly beautiful places that have truly beautiful people, and it felt selfish not to share my daily experiences with the world.

I’ve always loved meeting people and having connections around coffee and in third spaces, so I’ve now made it my life’s mission to help others connect in these places as well.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Founders and entrepreneurs are big on saying that starting a business and pursuing your dream is not easy.

In truth, though, there are incredible moments of ease in which it feels the road does feel smooth under your feet. While these are always mixed in with struggle and sorting out next steps, it’s the beauty of these moments of alignment that keep me going.

The kind words from friends and loved ones encouraging me to keep going, listening to my incessant questions and supporting me along the way has been life changing. The moments of simple beauty and serendipity and realizations of the next steps are absolutely wonderful.

Funding the dream, staying true to the vision (or better yet, getting clear on the vision in the first place!) and navigating being human is a part of the journey. While difficult, and while some people might call me delusional for saying so, these moments don’t feel easy-but they certainly feel meaningful and even beautiful.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Cafes Magazine?
Cafes Magazine is an online and print magazine covering the people and places that we share connection. Essentially, it’s collection of the cafes and people that I work with and visit throughout the country and the world.

I have cafe and brand clients all over the U.S. as well as throughout Ohio where I’m based, and I enjoy visiting as many shops as I can when I’m traveling or hear of a friend opening a new spot. As I started to share the stories of these places, I found so many people would ask me where to go in town or when they’re traveling, so I decided to put this all together in an editorial to showcase all of my favorite places and it grew from there!

We also have an app in development, media services and a podcast in the works!

I want to make sure that people know that this isn’t a coffee magazine. I love getting nerdy about coffee, and we might do that from time to time, but this magazine is about people and the way we get to connect in unique and beautiful ways in third spaces.

In my more personal work, I loooove shooting cafe photography, but I also do a lot of lifestyle and professional shoots around perception and showing up as our unique selves in authentic ways. It’s really meaningful for me to see that transformation happen right in front of me and my camera.

I also give talks and host workshops around showing up as our true selves, focusing on being hospitable and engaging intentionally in our lives and work. It’s incredibly meaningful for me to be able to share with people in this way.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Columbus is an emerging bigger city. We’re thoroughly midwestern which I’ve found to be both our strength and our weakness in specific ways.

We’re incredibly hospitable, but that can come at the expense of efficiency. We can be open to new ideas and collaboration because of this, but because we’re smaller it might mean it takes us longer to find the solution we’re looking for.

For instance, I worked to open mobile coffee projects about a decade ago (not an uncommon thing in other cities at the time), but I wasn’t able to due to the lack of awareness (permitting) by the health department, as well as the culture at large. Things have changed now, and I’m super grateful to see our coffee community expanding because of the changes.

It’s a privilege to exist in a time when Columbus is really starting to change and evolve in new and exciting ways!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lukeleffel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukeleffel
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukeleffel/
• Other: https://cafesmagazine.com