From walking dogs to the cafe business

[attach]4755[/attach]Stuart Ross was walking dogs for a living when he came across a for-lease sign in the window of a former hair salon. Although he says the last thing he had intended before that moment was to start his own business, when he stared at the store he immediately saw its potential.

Eight years after successfully running a coffee shop out of that initial spot near Church and Granby streets, Ross has opened a second Bulldog Coffee near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue East, which he picked partially because it was so similar in layout that he took it as a sign.

“My customer base was like ‘when are you going to open another one?’” he says. “And I always said to them when the moon and the stars and the sun all align, that’s when I’ll open one up, meaning that if a perfect situation comes up, then I’m going to do it.”

Ross, who has an American bulldog named Wally, says the name for his shops are a tribute to his dog walking days, which helped him get through a rough patch after he left behind a job that made him feel depressed.

“But you know I didn’t want to name it the pink poodle or the German Shepherd, so I was trying to find a dog that could help me describe the characteristics of espresso,” he adds. “So I came up with the bulldog.”

Although Ross says he’s not inventing anything new and is simply taking an old trade that has been mastered by Italians, he says he is changing the way people in the city view coffee.

“I’m reinventing the espresso experience here in North America, where we think it’s the bigger, the better, the more flavour.” says Ross, who splits his time between both his stores.

Through his seven-bean blend, which he describes as being dark chocolate in liquid form, he hopes people leave his shop knowing they can get good coffee in the city.

Since he uses top of the line machines at work, Ross says he doesn’t even own a coffee maker at home because it wouldn’t compare in flavour.

After training under renowned baristas like Sammy Piccolo and David Schomer and running his first café for about a year, Ross entered his first and last competition in 2005. Although he wound up being declared the Central Region Canadian Barista Champion, he says the experience was too nerve wracking ever to do again.

“Eight years later I still feel like I’m working on it,” he says, adding that he’s currently working on some of his latte art designs. “I always feel like you can improve.

“There’s always room to keep on improving and I don’t feel like I’ve learned it all.”