Crazy about running his own cafe

[attach]4841[/attach]Mad Dog Café’s owner Johnson Yeh says he often gets mistaken as kitchen staff — and that’s how he likes it.

“I’m the one making the sandwiches,” he says. “They always ask the baristas, ‘Are you the owner?’

“They always think I’m the kitchen guy — let’s keep it that way.”

Before he opened the café at Logan Avenue and Gerrard Street East on March 31, Yeh says he worked in corporate finance for 14 years. When he decided he needed a career change, he spent three years renovating houses, which he had previously done on the side. While he embarking on his last renovation, he says he came across a ‘for sale’ sign on what would become his future café.

“When I saw this place I think it was vacant for a few years, most people just walked away,” he says, adding the property needed a lot of work. His thought process at the time was to “get it for a really, really good price and put your own stamp on it.

“You can do whatever you want.”

Yeh says he decided to open a café because he was passionate about food and thought the neighbourhood was missing a place where people could hang out and get a real sense of community.

In addition to offering traditional drinks like espressos and lattes, Mad Dog Café also has baked goods, bagels and an assortment of sandwiches, like a Mad Grilled Cheese that is made with apples.

Yeh says he consulted several small business owners before opening the café. The Merchants of Green Coffee helped him select which coffee beans and machines to use.

When the time came to pick a name for the business, Johnson says his friends and family suggested his own name. He says he rejected the idea because he didn’t want people to take it the wrong way. He wound up taking his wife Amy’s advice instead. He says she told him to name it after something special from his past or one of his favourite things.

“I’ve always been a dog lover,” he explains. “I grew up with my grandma and as far as I can remember as a kid, we’ve always had dogs around.”

Once he knew that it would have dog in the title, he says, he tried coming up with the perfect adjective. It finally came to him one night while he was getting ready for bed.

“I thought, what about mad dog,” he says. “But not a mean mad, but kind of a crazy mad.”