Ed Van Buskirk: Owner of Berkeley's natural foods restaurant Arbor Cafe

Image Gallery Ed Van Buskirk's restaurant Arbor Cafe serves food in its most wholesome form without any preservatives or processing. PHOTO: FOTOLIA/MARCO MAYER

This issue's Plowboy interview originally appeared in Black Bardt, an excellent alternative life publication put together by Theodore Merrill.  

What sort of organization is this?  

The Arbor?

Yes — the Arbor Cafe.  

Well — it's owned practically by two people, myself and another guy and we own it and set it up. When we first started out, we needed help but we didn't have the money to pay anybody and so people began to work here for meals and stuff — or people that just wanted to work here,wanted to get experience with natural foods, came and started working. Some people would stay only a couple of days or a week, or something like that and other people would stay nine months or a year. It's still the same kind of thing. It's like the two of us own it and, like, whatever money comes out of it is, like, we pay taxes on it and it's our money. Some of the people who work here now live in the house and work, getting room and board and some money for working a certain number of hours a day. Other people live outside and work here, maybe four or five hours a day, and they get rent and some money for that. So it's a business, as I was saying, but it's also got a communal aspect to it. People are sharing the responsibilities — you know — learning how to do all the different things in the cafe and just getting experience doing it.

What got you into it?  

Well — I was looking to buy a natural foods retail store or to start one, but I didn't really have the money I thought was necessary to do it. A friend of mine, who opened this and started it, wanted to sell it, so I bought it for a very reasonable price. He just wanted to see it continue on the way he had started it, and he wanted to get his money out of it.

What sort of things are necessary to start a store. I mean, what sort of legal hassles and things like that?  

Well, essentially, you have to have a business permit for whatever city or county you're in.

Is it very hard to get a permit?  

No — pay money, and you get a business permit. If you're going to be selling stuff to the public, you have to get a bond from the State Board of Equalization and the State Tax Board. You just give them some money and they hold it. You have to have a place that's suitable for the health department and suitable for all the fire inspections and health inspections. Sometimes it's easy; sometimes it's hard. And, like, you just have to have enough money to begin — you know — to get a little stock of food and get some things you need to cook with; however you're going to do it. But you can start pretty small, because there's money coming in right away (some at least); and just an idea is all you need (and a little money to back it up with), whatever you have.