A business at the Guelph Farmers' Market is going the extra mile to welcome everyone, no matter how they identify.
Visiting the Guildsmen Café, the pronouns of co-owners Jay Lee and Ryan Schnurr are visible.
There is a sign welcoming all gender identities, stickers and pronoun pins.
"I'm a non-binary trans person," Lee told GuelphToday. "We're very much trying to be as inclusive as we can be, and not just be a queer-friendly business, but very outwardly active and advocating."
It's been a long time coming for them to open.
The café began in 2017 as a catering business for weddings and corporate events, but Lee said people weren't super interested in hiring a cafe just for events.
"It was kind of pricey and it was definitely a little tough to get started, especially because both of us are working full-time jobs," they said.
Lee worked as a barista at Google in Waterloo, while Schnurr is still at Google as a chef.
"This is kind of our weekend warrior type thing," Lee said.
All the while, the business remained on the waiting list to get into the Guelph Farmers' Market.
After three years, they finally got in. They were set to open in March 2020, but everything shut down because of a global pandemic.
"The market was closed (from) March to September," Lee said. "So we took the time between then and September to plan out our space a little bit, really got everything nicely set up and kind of figured out our identity as a queer-friendly business as well."
Saturday marked their two-year anniversary at the market.
They said they've also partnered with other queer-friendly businesses, such as Rainbow Mentors, and display business cards at the booth.
As for products, Lee said they do their best to source ingredients sustainably and as locally as possible. The donuts are picked up from Lady Glaze Donuts each morning, but the hope is once kitchen space is available, they can make their own.
Lee admits they were a little nervous when they first opened, but said it's been a positive experience, other than minor incidents here and there where people are having discussions in front of the booth questioning the validity of trans people.
"I will say all in all, Guelph is a very accepting community," they said. "I would say 99.8 per cent of people who come here are like 'wow, this is awesome.'
"We've had a few people come through with their kids and be like 'wow, I didn't know that a business like Rainbow Mentors existed or this therapist existed,' so we're happy to support businesses that way."
It's also helped Lee on their personal path.
"I only came out in 2020 as well, so it's nice to be able to be visibly out somewhere and kind of find my own people too," they said.
So what does the future hold?
Eventually, Lee would like to see the Guildsmen Café expand into a standalone space.
"I think the goal is to eventually have more of a community space," they said. "A space that's big enough that if you have a queer Big Brothers and Sisters program, you can gather there. If you have an allyship group, you can meet there, and just having space for maybe a philosophers café or just queer events in general to host in Guelph.
"Right now, we're small but mighty and we hope to eventually have that space that we can give back to the community as well."
