Pastimes Cafe was an idea Evan Laisure had for a long time. As a student at Kent, he was working with LaunchNET to figure out how to bring it to fruition.
Before he opened the Pastimes Cafe in Lakewood, Ohio, Laisure worked for a design studio in Akron. He began his own freelance design journey, working on t-shirt designs, logos and even packaging for different brands.
He was doing good work, but something was missing. He felt like he was “hitting a wall,” and he felt a calling to create something that was completely his own. This idea is what ultimately led to the creation of Pastimes.
“I’ve been working with him (Zach) since early on in the process, and he’s caught some things and given me some advice,” said Laisure.
“Having someone outside of your circle who’s not afraid to tell you… ‘you need to rethink this,’ that saved me years of time.”
One of the biggest things to come from Laisure’s time with LaunchNET was being awarded a Morgan Startup Grant.
“That program, I cannot speak enough about it, that they’re picking people who are so early on in their entrepreneurial goals that you could almost write them off … but that’s when you need the help the most,” he said. “LaunchNET, for me, was the first time I had been given financial help in any way.”
Pastimes wasn’t initially a cafe. It actually started as a tent and trailer, with Laisure selling breakfast food.
Although he finally had his own business, the food truck did not come without its struggles. Sales depended on people wanting to be outside, and this was difficult in inconsistent and extreme weather. Laisure’s goal was to eventually scale to a physical building, which officially opened in February of this year.
The mural on the walls at Pastimes is Laisure’s own creation. When asked about it, he explained the importance of giving artists shared rights. “The biggest thing you can do if you want to support local artists is, any time an artist is hired, you give them shared rights,” he said. “So, someone hired me to draw a mural for a parking garage, and they gave me shared rights, so then, I could take that artwork and put it in my cafe.”
He also sells shirts, mugs and stickers with his own designs in the cafe.
When Laisure was a student at Kent State, he majored in Visual Communication Design (VCD). This background gave him the knowledge to be able to design his business in the way he wanted. “It (VCD) really teaches you how to form a brand,” said Laisure. “That is so valuable in entrepreneurship. I could’ve went for accounting, or for all these different things, and been great in that field, but the brand is the biggest part of the business.”
One of the most iconic parts of Pastimes’ brand is the monarch butterfly. Laisure is passionate about the conservation of this species. He even offers a way for customers to participate in this cause directly in the store: free packets of milkweed seeds. He provides his own brand of milkweed seeds, Monarch Magic. The milkweed plant is the only plant monarchs eat, as well as where they lay their eggs, so it’s crucial to their survival.
Laisure’s most important piece of advice for young entrepreneurs, especially young designers, is a quote from a speaker he saw when he was a student at Kent: “Keep making stuff.”
“Never stop making the next thing,” Laisure said, “even if you don’t have a reason to be making it, if you don’t have a purpose, if you’re still trying to find your flow … just do something every day.”
Customers can follow the Pastimes on Instagram (@pastimescafe and @thepastimes) and visit the website: