Welcome to the page about
YOU and US!
Perk Up Café
opened its doors in August 2004.
Since then we have seen customers come and go, disappearing for a while,
but returning and happy to be back.
We have seen babies start walking and talking.
We have also shared with our customers their joys and pains.
Perk Up is a place where you will find that you can come in and leave a bit of you,
while taking with you a little bit of us.
Come and be a part of US!!!
BROTGARTEN
the German breads & pastries business started in June 2009 as a result
of Alice & Jeanette’s dream of introducing the marvelous world of
German artisan breads and German homemade pastries.
BROTGARTEN @ PERK UP kicked off in August 2009
when Alice & Jeanette partnered up with Kim and started “contaminating” the air at the coffee shop with the scent of freshly baked breads and pastries.
Our customers feel free to sneak into the kitchen and come out happily
with a sample of freshly baked treats.
Come and try our treats!!!
The Perk Up & BROTGARTEN Team
KIM
For over 25 years Kim ran a voice & data communications business and always dreamt about running her own business. Her goal was to create an environment, which would be people’s respite, a place where you would just relax and get away from the routine.With this idea in mind she opened Perk Up Café, where you can find good quality coffee, tea, food and friendly service. Kim, a long time coffee lover, carefully chose her espresso machine and imported it from Italy. She bought a coffee bean roaster and roasts all of our coffee beans in-house.
For over 25 years Kim ran a voice & data communications business and always dreamt about running her own business. Her goal was to create an environment, which would be people’s respite, a place where you would just relax and get away from the routine.With this idea in mind she opened Perk Up Café, where you can find good quality coffee, tea, food and friendly service. Kim, a long time coffee lover, carefully chose her espresso machine and imported it from Italy. She bought a coffee bean roaster and roasts all of our coffee beans in-house.
JEANETTE
Jeanette was born in East Berlin, but moving to West Berlin as a kid in 1977. Her husband is the reason she moved to Indiana. Before landing in Indianapolis she was a trainer for Allianz Insurance Company, specializing in car insurance. Years earlier she had completed her three year apprenticeship with them, but left the company for a few years to live and work in England, improving her language skills. At the time of her arrival in the USA she could not find any variety of delicious pastries she grew up with, so she started baking for her friends and family. As a seasoned home baker and with encouragement of her husband, she started her catering business Zamovar in 2006, offering German pastries. She also worked for a local relocation company as a tour guide, co-founded the Indianapolis German Language Institute, which teaches German to children, and is a board member of the Indiana German Heritage Society. Jeanette was introduced to Kim, who offered her a place to host “Kaffeeklatsch”, the German coffee time. “Kaffeeklatsch” is now every Sunday afternoon, where Jeanette offers a variety of German sweet treats.
ALICE
Alice is a third generation Brazilian-Japanese raised in Brazil. She lived in Japan, Australia and Germany before arriving in the USA in 2008 following her husband’s business transfer. She holds a bachelor degree in Chemistry. In Germany she became fascinated with the tradition of German artisan bread baking and amazed by the varieties of breads offered (over 300). She then decided to go through a three year apprenticeship program to become a German artisan baker. Alice completed the program in a whole grain organic bakery and received her final certificate Magna Cum Laude by the guilds Wuppertal-Solingen-Remscheid in August 2008. Today she managed to put together her love for cooking, a strong knowledge in chemistry and a broad life experience overseas. This exquisite formula has created a simple and enthusiastic result: her passion for the art of bread baking and fascination for the science behind this craft.
Now she is kept busy developing new recipes and dishes with breads to be introduced in the coffee shop.
Now she is kept busy developing new recipes and dishes with breads to be introduced in the coffee shop.