Le Dépanneur Café Est un Dernier Bastion du Mile End Bohème

“Most people when they walk in here are just struck right away by how special this space feels. It has a magic energy to it,” says Jeremy Anderson, owner of Le Dépanneur Café.

Jeremy began working at the institutional Mile End café in 2021, and then took over as owner in December of 2023. "I'm still very much a business baby," he admits.

His relationship with the café, however, goes back nearly two decades, when he first moved to Montreal in 2008. While living in the Mile End, "it was [his] favourite café back at that time.” Jeremy reminisces on the wobbly wood floors, the brick walls, old menu fare and the furniture—some of which can still be found in the café.

“It just was a great place to hang out and be. It was affordable.”

“The previous owners took over in 2019 and that was a really unlucky time to get into the restaurant business because of everything that happened afterwards with the global health crisis. I think it was because they had sort of a tough run and five years later decided that they didn't really want to do it anymore."

The owners left Jeremy with two options, "to either work for someone else or take a crack at it myself,” he says. "I was a 33 year old barista. I didn't have much else going on so I thought, ‘I may as well just buy my job.’”

From the outset, Jeremy understood that preserving the café would also mean implementing changes. “It’s different in terms of what we're offering than before but it's an homage to the original,” he says.

Prioritizing quality over quantity, he explains how he’s had to cut the larger breakfasts once offered, down to a menu consisting of five items: vegetarian chili and four bagel sandwich options.

The changes were made to adapt to present economic realities while keeping the place accessible. “In this day and age, we can’t really afford to run a full restaurant out of this very small kitchen,” he says. “The vision for this place? Obviously I want it to be successful but I want it to be successful in a way that students can still afford to come and hang out here.”

“I may as well just buy my job.”

Although he has been running the place for three years now, Jeremy admits to experiencing imposter syndrome when it comes to thinking of himself as an owner. “I see a lot of other local businesses and the amount of work that those [owners] put into creating an original vision and bringing it into the world. I find it so inspiring,” he says. “That's why I feel a bit of a fraud because I didn't do anything. This place existed before and I'm just here to preserve it.”