Fluffy Duck Café — Restaurant in Cleveland

We have been steady customers at the Fluffy Duck since they opened in 2016 until Covid hit & then as most did, we hunkered down, isolated at home trying to avoid the epidemic. So we finally made our way back because the owner & Chef Patissier Ben Woods, A CIA graduate, introduced the Kouign Amann to Cleveland when he opened Fluffy Duck. We were disappointed that it was no longer on the menu except as a special order. We have tried other versions of Kouign Amman at bakeries closer to our home but none compare to Ben's Fluffy Duck creation. We were also surprised to see reviews about the poor customer service as we have never seen that behavior from Ben or his father, Bill. So I felt compelled to write & add my perspective. My father was trained at the Cordon Bleu as a pastry chef & my younger brother was a baker in Europe for several years until he decided training dogs was much easier & allowed him more time to sleep later. Those who choose to bake or cook for others as a profession or avocation do so because their creation, so fleeting unlike material artists, nourishes more than just your body but delights your soul through sight, smell, texture & taste. To accomplish that, you start work @ 0200 every morning, procure fresh organic ingredients, preheat the ovens, prep the pans & baking sheets & if you're making croissants, you're spending 4 hours folding butter into the dough so it comes out light, flaky & multilayered, so thin that it melts in your mouth. It's stressful to recreate perfection every day but that's what Ben & Bill offer us 5 mornings a week. You become invested in your culinary art & temperamental because your standard is so high. When you have a small establishment, you want to be able to offer your dining customers a place to sit. We should be more mindful of others, appreciate how special people are & enjoy Fluffy Duck fare for how wonderful & sublime it truly is. We have enough serious troubles on our planet with war in Ukraine & Gaza, global warming, pollution, poverty & at home with another election fraught with misinformation & few choices. The coffee, chai, pastries & sandwiches at Fluffy Duck cannot be produced like fast food & that's why they are so delicious. The next time you take a bite of something, please reflect on the time & effort it took to get your food from the farm to your table. We are fortunate to have a pastry chef of Ben's caliber & a baker with Bill's experience...

So, I am in Cleveland for just 2 weeks, and needed a coffee shop where I can sit and read my book while sipping on some coffee or munching on some pastries. So, while walking to Starbucks, I bumped into Fluffy Duck Coffee Shop, and I thought I should give it a try. Although I witnessed poor customer service (Older guy behind the counter being rude to customers), and despite the coffee shop not having wifi, I fell in love with the atmosphere (Less people, less noisy).

For about a week, I would go to this coffee shop from 8 am to 12 pm, buy coffee and chocolate croissant and read my book. At 11:30 am, I would buy Rustic Turkey, a sandwich which is really good! I spent about $25 each day.

Problem: Today, I was told that I was no longer welcome to sit for more than an hour in the coffee shop. I was told this in a very rude tone as if I was a "free loader". Maybe I was! Lol. But in my mind, there was no traffic in the shop and I was spending money too!

Ohh, more background too: This older gentlement, in one of my conversations with him on the first day, told me that the coffee shop was going out of business. He said that due to the effects of Covid-19, they have been experiencing less traffic. He also said that they are having problems with the landlord.

Now that I think about this, Covid-19 or their landlord aren't the problem! Here me out: Fluffy Duck is at the heart of the medical school, the hospital, and a dental school among others. It's the only coffee shop within a 1.5 mile radius where a student can sit, sip coffee and complete an assignment. The owners have failed to take advantage of this location.

I hope Starbucks will rent this location when Fluffy Duck is gone.

UPDATE: I wish I can respond to Fluff Duck comment below, but I have to update.

They’re liars. I started work at 12PM (9 AM PST), so I had to start walking to the office at 11:45AM. They open the coffee shop at 8AM. So, that’s a little below 4hrs.

My “acquaintance” came to pick me up everyday after her class (That’s 11AM). I bought the rustic sandwich to eat for lunch. She sat with me until we are done eating, then walk to work.

About going out of business: If employees are telling customers that they are going out of business, that’s a...

I used to live above this place. They had some really great pastries. I knew the two men who worked there weren’t the friendliest but I occasionally still supported their business because I really did like their food. One morning I woke up at 6 AM due to angry yelling outside. I look outside and I see the old man yelling at a police officer. No clue what he was so unhappy about, but that just paints the picture of the service that you will get at this place.

Today, I was around the area and wanted some coffee. Stopped by to get a latte. Older guy asked me if I wanted something to eat and I said no and he proceeded to say this is not a coffee shop under his breath. This was an exact similar experience to another reviewer on snarky comments for folks who just buy coffee and no food. If you’re so insistent this isn’t a coffee shop then why the hell sell coffee? The entitlement here is massive. This guy looks down on coffee shops.

Why the sass? No kidding that you arent a coffee shop - Coffee was meh. I wouldn’t mind shutting this place down. If you want to work in the service industry, then you need to have some basic service here and basic manners. Otherwise go home. Get out of here. No matter how good your food is if you treat people like trash, then you are trash. Goodbye forever

It truly is a shame you folks don’t realize how lucrative your cafe location is. Too bad you don’t have the wits to capitalize on this. With how easy “cancel” culture is these days with use of social media, this place can easily be deleted as easily as it could become known to be best place for pasties/sandwiches in Cleveland. But with the entitlement and attitude, this place can only be known as the ugly duckling cafe. Too bad.

The only time I will ever consider coming back is if I ask for a Venti pumpkin spice latte with a shot of peppermint and caramel drizzle with gluten-free organic almond milk from almonds handpicked by spider monkeys in the rainforest of Brazil and I will sit at your shop for the entire day with my laptop, ask for your Wi-Fi password, and bring many acquaintances who do not buy food to sit with me and I won’t buy a single...