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Josiah Francis’ version of making lemons out of lemonade was starting a handcrafted furniture business inside his failing cafe.
The longtime proprietor of Foxy Coffee, which has existed in some form—roaster, pop-up, cart—since 2014, seized the opportunity to go brick-and-mortar in a new building smack in the middle of the pandemic, opening on North Interstate Avenue in January 2021. He and his partner in both life and business, Liz Tracy, ran it as a coffee bar by day and cocktail bar by night. Nine months later they opened a second location downtown.
But, much like COVID itself, the rhythms of selling coffee remained unpredictable and stressful. Francis was still working shifts at Haymaker to make ends meet, and then one day at the downtown location, someone pulled a gun on him. The cheap pandemic rent at the North Portland shop also had an expiration date. Foxy gave up its cocktail program at the end of 2021 and closed for good in March 2022; eventually downtown also shuttered.
But in the meantime, there was Darling Woodworks, a showcase for Francis’ handmade side tables, consoles, nightstands and other furniture. Part labor of love, part side hustle and part self-care for post-traumatic stress disorder, it literally started at Foxy, with Francis sanding down wood and assembling picnic tables right in front of the MAX Yellow Line. When Francis first posted a few things on Facebook Marketplace and Instagram, friends and regulars began snapping up the pieces (full disclosure: This writer bought a record shelf). “That was the first time that I was like, ‘Oh shit, this could be a legitimate business,’” he says.
Now Francis does custom jobs and builds bigger items, and after a few months working out of a friend’s garage, he and Tracy, who also makes cutting boards and custom paints, moved to Beaverton, where they now have a workshop. While roasting coffee and making furniture may be two very different crafts, his customers presumed that he’d bring the same level of integrity and care from one to the other. “They’re like, ‘I already know your quality of product is good. I’m going to trust that your other products are going to be the same level of quality.’ It’s been rad.”
And along the way, there was a twist: With a somewhat more manageable (and also unbreakable) five-year lease downtown, Foxy was reborn as Farling Coffee, with a limited menu and hours, as well as space to showcase Darling Woodworks. “There’s days I sell $6 worth of coffee the whole day,” Francis says. “But I haven’t given up on Portland yet. I think Portland eventually will come back.”
