After the pandemic killed his coffee cafe, this Edmonton man started selling beans by bike

An Edmonton man who lost his 13-year-old coffee business during the pandemic has rebooted it from the seat of his bicycle.

Antonio Bilotta operated several da capo cafe locations before a pandemic crash forced him to close his final location in 2020.

Now, he's riding city streets, slinging coffee "beans by bike." He still uses the da capo name, which means "to start over" in Italian.

"I had the idea to push it online. And my passion other than coffee is cycling, so I said, eh I got nothing but time. So why don't I start riding it around the city and delivering it that way," Bilotta told CTV News Edmonton during a tour of his day.

He delivers two or three times a week. He has fat winter tires and warm gear, and said no Edmonton winter day can stop him.

"Just before Christmas, it was super busy. Of course, people were buying other people gifts and having them delivered to their home, and it was a busy week. The snow was deep, and it was cold, but if you got the right gear, it's okay," he said.

"I was out as far as St. Albert this week, and the furthest I've been is Rutherford, which there and back, was a 50 kilometre ride."

da capo sells online and offers four types of beans, a combo pack and a subscription service.

"Antonio got me into coffee," said customer Tyler Waye, who said he went from the cafe to the bike with his friend. "It's such a brilliant concept."

Waye appreciates that da capo is "community-oriented, friendship-oriented."

"I wanna cheer him on whenever he gets on his bike. But I'm like, do I really want to be ordering coffee when it's minus 30 and have him on a bike? But it's also fantastic when he arrives," Waye said with a laugh.

Right now, da capo is more of a hobby than a profitable business, but Bilotta is hopeful he can keep blending his two passions.

"If I get an income that replaces what I had at the restaurant, I'm happy. I get to spend all this time outside and be on my bike," he said with a smile.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha