Martha von Heczey – The Coffee Mill

 

In a city that is constantly changing, it is always refreshing to find something that has remained constant.

The Coffee Mill, located at 99 Yorkville Ave., was opened back in 1963, and has since become the city’s own Energizer Bunny; “It just keeps going, and going, and going,” says Martha von Heczey, the café’s owner. Von Heczey opened the Coffee Mill 43 years ago and, now in her mid-70s, she continues to oversee all aspects of its daily operations. “My husband passed away and I have no children. So this is my baby,” she says. “You can find me here almost everyday.”

Von Heczey came to Canada from Budapest, Hungary, in 1951. Seven years later she found a job working at a high-end clothing store in Toronto, where her clients would often ask where they could find a cup of coffee and a decent sandwich in the city. With no place to recommend, von Heczey decided to answer the call herself. A few years later she opened the Coffee Mill, Toronto’s first outdoor coffee house. “It was the first outdoor patio in the city,” she says. “And everybody said to me, ‘Martha, you’re crazy! Nobody’s going to want to sit and eat outside.’”

That was 43 years ago. Today, the Coffee Mill serves a steady stream of customers, ebbing and flowing throughout the day. They come for the goulash soup, the veal paprikash, the various sandwiches, and the 16 different types of coffee. The Coffee Mill, says von Heczey, has become her home and the staff and customers are her family. And like a family, the café’s newest employee has worked there for 19 years, while its manager has been there for 31 years. And although von Heczey has worked there since the beginning, she has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.

“I enjoy it, every minute of it,” she says. “The Coffee Mill is a family. It’s a family business. You have to come and see it for yourself.”   

- Jeff Semple, Reporter - Yorkville eNewsletter www.YorkvilleAgent.ca

You can visit Martha and "see for yourself" at:

The Coffee Mill
99 Yorkville Ave
Toronto, ON
M5R 3K5  
(416)920-2108