Canticle Café Productions

Mission Statement

Canticle Café Productions is a ministry of St Aloysius Catholic parish in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It uses the talents and resources of volunteers to produce goods for sale as a funding mechanism for the outreach ministries of the parish. It strives to produce goods that are an expression of Franciscan spirituality.

Canticle Café CoffeeRepackaged Fair Trade Certified coffees sold at a price of $10.00 for each 12 oz. bag of coffee. It is packaged as Regular, French Roast, and Decaffeinated coffees, both ground or whole bean.Canticle Café Productions began in 2008 as an offshoot of the Canticle Café.

The Café setting was used as a serving model for the Warming Center of St. Aloysius parish community. As a means of fundraising for the Center, Fair Trade coffee was repackaged and sold under the Canticle Café brand. This small operation started in the upper rooms of the parish office complex.

Friars Light CandlesPremium candles made from used church candles. Each 16 oz. Friars Light beeswax candle sells for $10.00.Eventually, volunteers started collecting old church candles and remodeled them into today’s Friars Light candles. As speakers started going to various parishes and other venues to talk about the outreach ministries of St. Aloysius, they would take coffee and candles to these events to seek donations at a suggested amount of $10.00 each.

Over time, the production of Christmas baskets, T-shirts and mosaics became part of the production processes. A significant amount of donations were received in this process.

Friar Bites Dog BiscuitsProduced under Michigan Commercial Feed Manufacturer’s License No. 5207.Today, a new version of the popular Friar Bites dog biscuits is also being produced under Michigan Commercial Feed Manufacturer’s License No. 5207, and we are currently producing wooden bird houses in a large scale and small scale from scrap lumber. The houses are decorated by volunteers.

Bird HousesProduced in two sizes from scrap lumber.The current production of all items takes place in a room located in the lower rooms of the Felician convent at St. Josaphat Parish on Canfield Street in Detroit, Michigan.

A critical feature of the candle production process has been the continuing support of local churches in donating used candles for the production of the Friars Light candles. Without these continuing donations, these candles could not be produced at the cost effective levels they have been. The entire process has developed to the point that we can project the Canticle Café Production ministry is capable of generating about $40,000 net profit in its successive years.

The financial records keeping for sales and payments have been fully integrated into the parish bookkeeping process. This process has allowed us to keep better track of orders for supplies and payments.

Marketing these products has essentially been by word of mouth and presentations at various parishes, organizations and schools throughout the Detroit Metropolitan area. Some marketing has been done by placing the Friar Light candles in a sales catalogue from a Benedictine monastery in New York.

We are considering future marketing for all products on the parish website, and allowing for sales and distribution through internet orders.

 

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