Meet Portland’s New Cycle Cafe, Breadwinner

North Williams is home to a new hybrid store: Breadwinner, a custom-made bike shop with a cafe rolled into the package.

It comes from two longstanding members of Portland’s custom bicycle scene, Tony Pereira and Ira Ryan. The duo have been putting bikes together for some 22 years (picking up numerous awards along the way), and founded Breadwinner Cycles as a custom bike fabricator in 2013 — and as of the end of 2017, the company has a whole new project, becoming Breadwinner Cycles and Cafe.

Ethan Furniss, Breadwinner’s marketing director, says that the cafe addition might help foster something of a cycling community around the locale.

“It’s somewhere cyclists or cycling enthusiasts can meet up for a ride…it sounds kind of kitschy but it’s a cycling scene cafe.”

The coffee-cycling combination also makes a lot of sense, Furniss says, and not just because coffee is another of Ryan and Pereira’s interests.

“Both of them are passionate about coffee, and traditionally coffee shops are a community space, a place where people naturally meet up before bike rides.”

Breadwinner Cycles and Cafe

The cafe will serve espresso from Water Avenue Coffee, and is keeping things heavily local, including baked goods from Fleur De Lis, bagels from Bowery Bagels, and Columbia Gorge’s juices.

It has a full menu, too, featuring granola, oatmeal, and a range of build-it-yourself “custom” bagels and toast options, a play on the custom-made bikes that customers can see through a large window into the workshop, where Breadwinner’s ten models are carefully put together.

There’s also hot sandwiches that lean into the cycling theme, such as the “Dawn Patrol”, with kimchi, herb schmear, and orange on a sesame bagel — peep the full menu below. The food offerings are put together by chef John Pettitt, who was brought on board specifically for the cafe.

STATUS — Breadwinner Cycles and Cafe is open at 2323 N Williams Avenue from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends.

• Breadwinner Cycles and Cafe [Official]