Meet the chef and coffee guy providing a buzz in downtown St. Paul

Maybe it’s the acting background, the years spent in Hollywood. Or the creativity. Besides becoming a self-taught chef, Terry John Zila is a caterer, a baker, a painter and a sculptor. Whatever the source of his seemingly inexhaustible energy, you can almost hear the sparks crackling as the 61-year-old speaks.

Eye On St. Paul recently visited with Zila at Hepcat Coffee, his downtown St. Paul shop in the gleaming Osborn370 building, to talk about his growing businesses — coffee shop sales are up 30% and his catering business has grown 300% — and the secret to making it work in a business-challenged downtown.

Q: Where are you from?

A: Here. Well, New Hope. I moved to L.A. for five years. Hated it. And then I moved back and bought my parents’ house.

Q: When was that?

A: 2003.

Q: How long have you owned Hepcat?

A: Two-and-a-half years now. [Before I bought it], it was Meaningful, a charity coffee shop, the best intent. They want to give training, all this stuff, and God bless. But coffee shops, the margins are even tighter than restaurants, right? So the idea was good, but you’re not gonna make enough money to do anything for anybody.

Q: What was your business experience before buying the coffee shop?

A: I wanted to [be a chef]. But I did theater. I trained at the Guthrie. Then I went to L.A. I moved to L.A. on a Thursday, auditioned on a Friday. I got in on a Monday, I did a bunch of indie films. I made a little money. You know when a movie isn’t so great, it goes to video? Yeah [laughs], but I still got paid. Then I realized, after five years, I hated it. Halle Berry’s manager, Vincent [Cirrincione], goes, “I’ll take you on.” But they want me to take these classes. Helen Hunt’s mother, I would wait on her. She said, “Oh, you’re gonna be famous.” I said, “Oh, everyone always says that.” But then I put on my clothes and go home and nothing happens. Everyone had this angle. It was exhausting. And [points to himself] this personality works great in the Midwest. It didn’t really work in Los Angeles.

Q: What works, aloof?

A: I think you need that in L.A., where you don’t care about anybody. And the sad thing is, I’ve got this golden retriever personality. It did really well at work, and I would meet people. But it didn’t do really well in that acting thing. Then I got hit by a car at a crosswalk, and I couldn’t work for about three, four weeks. So I was gonna go back to school … do the 4+1 program at the U of M in architecture. I took the classes, and I realized the program was too theoretical. So I switched to engineering and construction management. So I have a B.S. in construction management, and then I threw in a B.A. in Spanish language and literature. And then I have a minor in East Asian studies with Chinese lingual emphasis.

Q: None of which is a prerequisite for opening a coffee shop.

A: No. But the whole thing is, I was in construction, and I worked for two companies that had a habit of not paying me. God bless them. And I was always teaching and making desserts and doing wedding cakes. And then eight years ago, I had $37 in the bank, and I was working 80 hours a week. But I had a paid-for house, and a paid-for car. So, I just kind of went full force into catering, and then wedding cakes happened. And then I got a good reputation, did a lot of charity work, events, home shows.

Q: Tell me about buying this shop.

A: They approached me. And I did this huge tasting for the building manager and the PR person, and they said, “We want you to meet the owners.” And I did another tasting. It’s one thing to talk about it. I was going to show them, this is what you’re getting. And after about a year and a half, I negotiated for the former Ecolab cafeteria [downstairs]. And I turned the cafeteria into my event center. [He details other plans to expand the coffee shop, using a city STAR grant and matching funds.]

Q: What’s the key to success?

A: Work harder.

Q: Why have you invested in a downtown that’s struggling so much?

A: My coffee shop was up 20% from last year. My downtown catering is up 300%. We’re doing a breakfast for MPR for 140 on Wednesday in Minneapolis. St. Paul, they use us for all their events. Ramsey County. The state. This coffee shop? This is my Costco hot dog. I don’t make a lot of money at this, but you know what? It gave me an entry into downtown. And I’m very St. Paul. It goes back to: Pay attention, do a great product, be pleasant, do your job. Give people the product that they want and really care about it.

I’m self-taught with cooking. I have 3,000 cookbooks. Don’t judge me. But the whole thing is all about learning. How can I learn? What can I do new? That’s the thrill of this.

Q: What else makes you proud?

A: I’m working with the Hired program. We’ve had varying degrees of success. They have kids that have been on probation, some been incarcerated. Two people have not worked out in a very sad way, and I’m sure they’ll learn to cook in prison. But one of the new kids we have, he’s spectacular. He needs a little coaching, but he’s got a great demeanor. That’s Ramsey County. And we’re doing interns from St. Paul College. Hepcat Coffee, it’s kind of like the entry for employees, but it’s also an entry for customers, right?

So I think for success is that you have to love it. You know, if I was going to do just the coffee shop and try to make my living off of that, it’s foolish in any food business. I think several income streams are spectacular. I’ve got four which are great because that means they balance each other out. So there’s an ebb and flow to any business. Also, the beauty of it is that my businesses are ebbing and flowing at different times.