Since 2014
Two owners, three cafes, one paper daybook at every till.
A cafe that keeps a daybook
At every till there's a paper notebook. Baristas write down the grind, the weather, who's new and who hasn't been in for a while. It's how a room full of strangers turns into regulars.
Daybook started in 2014 when Nadia Okafor and Ben Lussier rented a shuttered corner store on Gladstone Avenue. Nadia had spent eight years behind other people's espresso machines. Ben had spent them in restaurant kitchens. They wanted one thing: a cafe where the person making your coffee knows your name.
Twelve years later there are three cafes, a roasting room and a 4:30 a.m. kitchen. The notebook is still there.
What we hold to
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01 / 04
Know the regulars
Learn names and orders. A cafe is a room full of neighbours, and the best ones feel that way.
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02 / 04
Fresh or not at all
Beans roasted within days, drip under 30 minutes old, pastries baked the same morning.
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03 / 04
Say the price plainly
Oat milk costs 75 cents and the menu says so. No surprise charges at the till, ever.
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04 / 04
Look after the crew
Baristas are paid above BC minimum wage, tips are shared by hours worked, and schedules come out two weeks ahead.
Twelve years, five pages
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2014
Nadia and Ben turn a shuttered Gladstone corner store into a twelve-seat espresso bar. The first daybook is a school notebook by the till.
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2017
The basement becomes a kitchen. Ben starts baking croissants at 4:30, and the morning bun arrives.
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2019
A twelve-kilo roaster moves into the back room. Daybook starts roasting its own coffee every Monday and Thursday.
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2021
Cook Street Village opens in a long room under string lights, with the shared work table regulars now argue over.
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2024
James Bay opens: ten seats, a walk-up window, and no Wi-Fi on purpose.
Who's behind the bar
Plus 22 baristas, bakers and dishwashers across three cafes.
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Nadia Okafor
Co-owner and roaster
Opened Daybook in 2014 after eight years behind other people's espresso machines. Roasts every Monday and Thursday and runs the cupping nights.
Usual: Espresso, no sugar
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Ben Lussier
Co-owner and kitchen lead
Runs the Fernwood kitchen from 4:30 a.m. The morning bun recipe is his grandmother's, mostly.
Usual: Drip, black
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Priya Sandhu
Head barista, Cook Street
Trains every new barista on our three-day bar course and keeps the Cook Street daybook in perfect order.
Usual: Flat white
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Theo Marchand
Cafe lead, James Bay
Knows half of James Bay by their order. Opens the walk-up window the moment the sun hits Menzies.
Usual: Cortado
Being a good neighbour
Unsold pastries go to a neighbourhood community kitchen every evening. Our walls belong to local artists, swapped every two months, and we don't take a cut of sales.
Thursday cupping nights at Fernwood are free and open to anyone. Twelve seats, four coffees, one long conversation. Sign up at the till.
Daybook's three cafes sit on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. We are grateful to make coffee here.
Get in touchCome in, say hello
Pull up a chair at any of our three cafes. Tell us your name, and we'll do our best to remember your order.
Rather call? Fernwood picks up at (250) 555-0142 from 6:30 a.m.