Shots Cafe in Lenox Celebrating 15 Years
The Diego Rivera panini, with roasted chicken and avocado, is a customer favorite.
On Thursday, May 15, customers will get 15 percent off their orders all day.
Owner Liliana Arteaga-Tucker, opened the eatery in 2010. She said she wanted to create a European-style cafe in the Berkshires as she loved them during her time living in Europe.
"After living for a few years in Europe, I moved to the Berkshires, where I was looking for those little cute European cafes around here. Unfortunately, I didn't see a lot of them around here. So I decided I want to open my own," Arteaga-Tucker said.
After 15 years in business, she said she has grown a lot and credits her patrons for the success of her business.
"Fifteen years passed very fast, incredibly fast. But it's amazing how we have been growing up a lot, too, you know?" Arteaga-Tucker said. "We don't do the business, or customers do our business. They ask you, what to do, what to sell, what they are looking for in preparation, when 15 years ago, when we opened, has been a huge difference. So definitely, I have been learning a lot from my customers, from my employees."
But running a business for more than a decade can come with many challenges, one of them being balancing her personal life.
"I think that one of the biggest challenges for me, I mean, a cafe has been like being a housewife and running the cafe. I thought it was gonna be easy when I had my daughter, and it was a little difficult. But after a little bit, you learn how to manage and so far has been good," she said.
Another challenge she and other business owners faced was the pandemic, when many businesses like hers had to come up with creative ideas to survive.
"Under the pandemic, it was very difficult for us to survive. I think we were one of the few businesses with surviving hubs," Arteaga-Tucker said. "Fortunately, we came with a lot of ideas to make it work during the COVID-19, and everything went good."
One of her motivations are her daughter and how much she loves the cafe.
"I really love Shots Cafe. I really love what I'm doing. I really love to be able to cook everything for my customers, to be able to make all those fresh new servings every morning to do all the things that I do," she said. "I really love to do it. And in that my daughter is my big motivation, too, for keep working hard every day and be here at Shots."
Arteaga-Tucker said the most rewarding thing about running her business are her customers.
"For me, running my business is, to meet so many such nice people every day to make new friends and into here every day the customer satisfied what they get, like a with a foods, with everything they get here, and seeing them coming back all the time," she said.
The cafe offers breakfast and lunch, with pastries, eggs benedict, quiche and croissants, wraps and salads, quesadillas and paninis. There's also a variety of hot and cold coffees and teas as well as beer and wine.
She creates the recipes and makes the coffee and her husband works in the kitchen.
Arteaga-Tucker said one of their most popular menu item is the Diego Rivera panini, made with house roasted chicken, Swiss, avocado, tomato, sprouts, and chipotle aioli.
Shots Cafe is open Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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