Everyone Belongs Here: Colleen Suhanosky on Building Rifrullo Café

What does it take to build a neighborhood café that becomes the heart of a community?

In this episode of Founding Your Way, Maggie sits down with Colleen Suhanosky, owner of Rifrullo Café in Brookline, to talk about entrepreneurship, hospitality, and creating a business rooted in connection.

They also discuss reducing food waste in the restaurant industry, trusting your instincts, taking risks, and finding the resilience to keep showing up—even when the path feels uncertain.

Whether you’re building a business, dreaming of opening one, or simply love hearing the stories behind the places that bring people together, this conversation is full of wisdom.

In this episode:

• 02:00 How Colleen discovered her love of cooking 
• 07:00 Starting over and opening Rifrullo Café 
• 13:00 Why community makes people feel at home 
• 14:40 "You're going to be supported. You're going to be okay." 
• 15:00 Why being a good neighbor is good business 
• 16:15 "Something about food just opens you up to talk about things." 
• 20:00 Food waste, sustainability, and creating better systems 
• 23:00 "Trust your instincts and don't be afraid to take risks." 
• 24:00 Building courage through uncertainty 
• 24:30 "We kept getting better because I just kept coming back."

Connect with Colleen: 

@rifrullocafe 

www.rifrullocafe.com

Connect with the hosts, Maggie & Lucy 

https://www.pearlandlight.co/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/pearl-light-co/about

https://www.podpage.com/founding-your-way/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

It was hard. I had to build up my strength and my courage and uh my belief in myself that I am worthy of doing something like this and that I have something to offer to the community and that my cooking is something that people would want.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Hi, welcome to Finding Your Way. I'm Maggie. I'm Lucy. We're the co-founders of Pearl and Light. This podcast explores the human side of building something meaningful. We talk with founders, creatives, nonprofit leaders, and community builders about what inspired them to start, what keeps them going, and what they're learning along the way. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Hello. Before we jump into today's podcast, I wanted to introduce our guest, Colleen Suhanowski. Colleen is the founder of Rufulo Cafe in Brookline and the executive chef at Beacon Hill Books and Cafe, downtown Boston. We talk about food, community, and what it means to build a place where people truly feel at home. Please enjoy today's conversation with Colleen. Hey Colleen and welcome to Finding Your Way. Hi, Maggie. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to chat with you. I know a little bit about your story, but as I was sitting down to plan for this podcast, I realized I don't know a lot of it. So we met because, well, I worked for you. I worked at you're the founder of Rafulo Cafe and the head chef at Beacon Hill Books and Cafe downtown Boston. And I've baresteed it at Rafulo and I've also waitressed at BHB. And I have thought ever since I've been doing both those things that you are crazy for being as busy as you are. I just don't know how you're managing a whole cafe and being a chef down there. But before we kind of get into the present, a question I've had for you for some time was how you even got into cooking. Like were you always drawn to being a chef?

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yes. I grew up with a family that loved gardening. And my grandfather owned a restaurant in Minneapolis. I kind of grew up in that food world. I always had respect for eating fresh vegetables. And I can recall pretty vividly when I was about 16, I started becoming very interested in reading gourmet magazine and recipes. Okay. Yeah, I remember very specifically making a recipe from Gourmet Gourmet magazine, which was homemade pumpkin pasta with walnut sauce. And I made it for my friends. And I had them sit down and I cooked for them. And I feel like that was a big turn, you know. Okay, this is something I really like doing. It makes me happy. Yeah. And then I would just kind of play around in the kitchen. I mean, we always cooked at home. So it was easy to help cook. And I didn't really get serious about it until I graduated from high school and did the thing that everybody does, which is go to college. Although I went to community college first and then went to transferred to St. Thomas College in St. Paul, Minnesota. And was majoring in Spanish, but with no idea what that was gonna parlay into. And I had a side job, maybe it was like a summer job. I was actually working at a dog track in Hudson, Wisconsin, where my family was living. And I worked in the kitchen as like a lunch lady almost. But one of my coworkers had graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, and that really piqued my interest. And so at that point I was like, I need to actually drop out of college and go to New York and go to culinary school. And that was that. Wow. It was like, I I don't, I'm not doing well at St. Thomas. I just knew, instinctively knew. Yeah. And then I applied and I went, I left in the middle of January in a snowstorm and drove in my Volkswagen Jetta with a friend out to Hyde Park, New York, and started culinary school. And it just really freed me. It just made me feel like I was doing what I was meant to be doing. Yeah. Made me happy.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah, I love that. I love that teens are reading Teen Beat and you're reading Gourmet magazine. That was probably the first sign, yeah, that there was something. Yeah. That's so fun. So you went to culinary school in New York and then got a job just in the kitchen after that. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I moved to Boston after we graduated in '94. What drew you to Boston? My sister actually was here. She left Minneapolis as well and went to Boston College. And she was out here with her boyfriend who's now my brother-in-law. So that was kind of easy for me to come here. And she was living in Beacon Hill. So I moved in with them in a teeny, teeny little apartment and started working at Biba. Okay. Which is now defunct, but it was Lydia Shire's restaurant on public garden on the common. Okay. And that's where I met my husband, yeah, Braun. Mm-hmm. And you guys opened up a place on Nantucket. So that ran for how Yeah, that was in 2000, was like six years later. In between there, we got married. We went to Italy for a sojourn for about eight months. We lived in New York City. I worked at Gramercy Tavern, which was like a real pivotal. That's the big that's a big pivotal moment. I mean, that's something that I always wanted to do was get that New York experience. Yeah. That was like such that was a hard restaurant. Yeah. I wouldn't get out of work until two o'clock in the morning. And then we lived in the Bronx, so it took an hour to get to and from work. But it was quite an experience. It really, it really shaped me a lot and gave me some some balls. Not a lot, but it's giving it. It was like a starting point. It was hard. It was really hard. That is a very good thing. It's a it's a cutthroat kind of thing where you're not necessarily liked and appreciated. Um you just gotta do your job and do. Yeah. But I worked with Claudia Fleming and she's a queen. She's like a perfectionist. So that was really meaningful. And then from there, we went to Nantucket and we opened Sfolia. So that was in 2000, and we were there until 2010. Okay. So 10 years of wonderful community building and such a special place, just heart and soul, you know, mom and pop.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Yeah. What was the transition like from working in restaurants to then founding your own? What was that transition like for you with your first restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Well, all the responsibility that that entails and you know, being the face of something and having to build friendships and relationships with people and have nobody to fall back on but yourself. That can be challenging, but also it's such a gift too, to be able to do how you see things and you know, through your lens.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Which is really cool. Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Using creativity. I was gonna say, I imagine it allows for greater creativity and like you said greater responsibility. So it's maybe you trade off or maybe you just learn new skills. And from there, did you get the idea to branch out on your own? Can we walk through the transition from Nantucket to Brickline?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yes. Well, my marriage fell apart and so did Spolia. The life that I knew was not operating. And I kind of had my back up against the wall a little bit. You know, I felt like, I mean, I a private chef with a wonderful family, and that parlayed me from Nantucket to Boston. But that wasn't gonna be my lifelong thing, you know, thing. Even though it was very cushy and it was really nice, I needed something to sink my teeth into that would be more difficult. Right. And I never even considered not going into not starting my own business. I don't know. I just never even thought that there was anything else I would do. Right. So as I was sh private chefing, I started looking for a location and that family was very helpful, as well as some other families in Brookline. I found this location through just walking by and actually asking her if she was interested. And I don't know how I had the balls to do that, but I was just like, you know, I want to open a bakery and here's my name and number if you're ever looking to sell your business. And she said immediately they were looking to retire. Wow. And it happened so quickly. Meant to be. Yeah, it was definitely meant to be. And then and then all those challenges. I don't even like to think back on that time. Oh my god. Yeah, it was really hard. It would took a lot of my life to get this going. Yeah. For a long time, for years. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was draining before you opened, you mean? Oh no. Once I was open, yeah. Then it was just I mean, we opened pretty quickly. It was probably like six months, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. And nobody knew who I was. Right. People were like, who is this person taking putting healthy food into like a dive? You know, we would this was like the Brookline, you know, the spot.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

It's interesting because I I happened to like we came full circle a bit in our relationship, but I was living across the street when you opened this. And I remember thinking, like, this is fancy for this fair. And it was so good when I was two, and I was like, I don't know if I can afford, but it was really good. I was really happy to have a space like this in the area. I love Brickline, and I just feel like it's there's nothing really else around here like it. And it seems like it's worked out pretty well from my perspective. There's a lovely community to this cafe that I do think is pretty unique. I think the community element to it, experiencing it as both a customer and an employee, the people who come in and my experience coming in is it's very homey. And I do feel like that kind of vibe can be, I don't know, maybe it's just not the intention of other people. Having known you, my hunch is it's a little bit of your intention, is that you wanted some of that atmosphere to be community and welcoming and a very giving space, but it is kind of rare. So people feel a real, I would say people feel a real claim to Rifulo. A lot of your customers feel, I would say, a real sense of home and belonging, like belonging and a claim of like that's actually intentional.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

I mean, yeah, really thought that if I opened bare minimum, and you know, maybe everybody could feel like they have an ownership in Rivula and it's not just so centered around, you know, people feel like um a connection to this place and it and it means something to them, just like it means something to me. Yeah. And I think that it was intentional, but also practical. I didn't have the resources to have what I really wanted. It was just what I could do. And I think it worked out in everybody's favor that people feel like it's their place, it's my place, it's everybody's place, everybody belongs here. Yeah, everybody's put their hard work and sweat into it and their money. Yeah. You know, people support me even when it's not always during COVID. I think that was a lot of people that were really that's really when I started feeling like understanding what community Yeah, a lot of places. You know, what can get make what community means. People supported me. Wow, that's so generous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Yeah. I think ultimately a testament to you because I believe in you know, you reap what you sow, and if you're giving generosity, it only makes sense. That's more law. If that's what you're giving, that's what you get. And I think you're a very generous person, so it only makes sense that would be reciprocally. And I think that's really cool. And another factor that makes this such a special place, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I I always try to, I I don't ever second guess when schools and people are looking for donations and stuff because it's only like strengthening everything around you and therefore gonna strengthen you at the same time. And everybody should. I mean, that really was my genuine desire was to bring everybody should flourish here.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

We should all feel like we're part of we should all feel like we have what we need and be able to flourish and hopefully we help each other here. Yeah. I think connections are made that people help each other, and then I don't know what you know what goes out into the world, but if I can do that little bit, it's great. It's it just brings me so much joy.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

It brings me so much joy to walk in here and have rel you know, I I have history with people here. We are friends because we've spent years together and supporting each other and know our lives. Yeah. And I don't know, that's pretty rich. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

And rare. I don't want to keep stressing that factor, but I I do feel, you know, there's a few spaces or cafes that may have that vibe of bringing people together. But I think a lot of us are sort of craving that kind of community feeling where, you know, the cheer like everybody knows your name type of, but it's true. It's like it doesn't exist in a lot of places. And I think that people are really hungry for it. And I think it's a proving, you know, it's proving that point that when the space is there, right, and the intention behind it is community, folks will flock to it because we need it as people. We definitely need it. And I think it changes how we feel. You know, like I I would joke about the, you know, overheard in in a coffee shop, but you hear all sorts of conversations in a coffee shop and you have all different kinds of people mingling with one another. And it's a nicer, it's just a nicer atmosphere than we tend to see if we're a bit isolated and only watching, you know, the news.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

I can't tell you how many times I've come in here and just been not happy, not in a good mood, you know. And then I and then you just as a community, it's like when you connect with somebody, it just like washes away your problems. It just makes you feel like you're part of something that's, you know, you're gonna be supported, you're gonna be okay. There's people that are going through it too, or that people are good natured, and there's a connection there that you're not alone.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Yeah. And I think what's interesting from a business perspective is that it's not necessarily business one-on-one to be a good neighbor, you know, but it's working. It's also an alternative way to approach business because you survived COVID. A lot of other people didn't. And part of that reason is probably the strength of the community. So it's also an interesting way to approach business, which is organic and true to yourself, can work, you know. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Wholeheartedly. I mean, from my own life experience, I I mean, I didn't know what I was doing when I opened it. I didn't had no, I just wanted to open something that would support families. Originally, I just wanted people to be able to bring food home and eat dinner on their table with their family and have that experience. Cause for me, growing up, eating meals with my family at the table was like literally those probably some of my best memories. Having that time, it just really fills me up. Yeah. And it now, sitting around, you know, you know, you've had dinner at our house, sitting around with my kids at our table. It's just brings me, we have conversation, we go deep, you know, or we don't laugh, or we just experience all the human emotions, find out what's going on in each other's day. And it's something around food just opens you up to be able to talk about things. Yeah, especially good food. Especially good food. That is my jam. Yeah, that is just uh just it is your jam, I can say.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah, from experience. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad I stuck with it. I am so glad. So you have meals to go, you offer this space for private events, you are hosting community dinners. Like we're recording this podcast here in Rufulo Cafe. Is there anything else? Like, so when you think about Rufulo now, where you're at after coming through a lot of challenges, but where do you see Rufulo going? Where are you hoping to go with it?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

You know, this is something that really kind of scares me to think about growing and expanding Rufulo and adding non-rewocations because I don't want to take away from what's so wonderful here. And this is the center, the epicenter of, you know, Bobby and I are both here. And Bobby and I have this wonderful relationship and harmony in the way we care about people and community. I think it's gonna be, you know, although we're running out of kitchen space, so I think we are gonna need to expand and find our ways to get food out. Yeah. If I think about, like if I didn't, if I if I if I didn't really truly live out my dream, which is to become, you know, have more access to people, then people wouldn't be able to experience the joy that I feel like I can in my own way, I can create. Yeah. And I would hate to have that be a missed opportunity. You know, so I think I need to kind of go beyond what my comfort zone is and see how Rufulo can, you know, get to more people and create more experience for everybody, for people who work in the kitchen, you know, give them better opportunities and give people who, you know, like food.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Yeah, I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I I just yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

So that's kind of where I'm because the big part of the mission as well is farm to table a bit, right? Sustainability is a huge part, wholesome, not just wholesome, but the word fresh, you know, fresh food. Fresh food, I think locally sourced as much as possible. I feel like your recipes are simple but creative, and and just you can taste the difference in in the quality of food. And I do think it's to your point, expanding that is is an interesting idea. And it's you know, growth and comfort can't coexist, right? If you're gonna grow, yeah, there's gotta be even just growing pains or whatever. But I think there's some part of you that's like, yes, let's do this, and another part of like that's so unknown what would actually what would happen.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah, you know. Yeah, and how much more I get tired if I think about it. But then I think, well, you know, you just keep bringing great people around you. And it's not like just because you you know that I have to do everything. It's really about having good people who are capable around you and giving opportunities and creating a team that's like-minded and that wants to do the good work. And I, you know, my mission is so, so strong to try and create better systems for food and sustainability and education around waste. You'll my my story in waste. I mean, everybody laughs at me because I like I just hate waste. There's like I hate it so much. I want to open a cafe where you have to sign a contract that you won't. You will not, you will not throw your food away.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

There's excessive amounts of waste. And I think you've probably seen a little bit more. If you've worked in the restaurant industry, you see it firsthand, how much food goes to waste. And I understand how that can be painful. Even in my own home, unnecessarily just food waste. It's actually interesting thinking about that because we're just not paying attention. And I think some part of us in the Western world is almost, I don't want to say lack it's there's an abundance of food, and it's something we take for granted. We have a lot of food, and we definitely take that for granted. And but I think that's evident with the waste. It's like, I wanna we're not really valuing the fact that we have this available to us. And I don't say that from a scolding perspective, but it's like, oh, right, we we are not truly appreciating this. You know, there's so many things you could say to it that you mentioned practical earlier, but it's also very practical to be a little more economical about it. You could save money, you know. You could, there's a million healthier. You could be healthier. I would appreciate. So, as someone who knows you, I would appreciate more education on it. I would appreciate better practices. I don't really know how to make it better.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah. I think it's something that we have to do together and it's a collaborative effort. And, you know, it's the collectiveness of everybody kind of wanting the same for our future. And that's why I'm doing this community dinner at the end of the month because I really want to start a conversation about how we all think about it and what are some advantages? How what are some incentives? How can we as a community, as a neighborhood, care more about it and create a little micro area here where it maybe reflects into the greater, the greater space? So So I mean it's little things. I think it's little things that we do that they really do matter. Yeah. They do.

unknown 22:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

So you're hosting a starting somewhere. Start somewhere. So right, this dinner sounds like a starting point. A community conversation around around food waste you're hosting at the end of this month.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Is it your first time doing that?

SPEAKER_01 22:22

I guess it's the first time really having an agenda. And I think I'll probably try and really converse with everybody and just get people thinking about it. Yeah. Curious like where they're where they're at with it or what they even think about it. Sounds like a good starting. Yeah. I mean, another thing that happens in the restaurant world, which is so upside down, is that the amount of food that goes out on a plate that it's hard to finish. But you have to put out a certain amount of food in order to charge a certain amount. Uh-huh. You know, and so it's this cat and mouse thing that's just like it's like just doesn't really make sense. Why not put the amount of food that you can eat on the plate? And it's a challenge. It's even hard, it's hard for me here at Rufulo to put the right amount of food and charge the charge the right amount. And there's such a such a fine line in the restaurant. It's fine, it's minute of the the line between um, you know, maintenance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah. And there's so many restaurants too. And people doing, you know, on the business side of things, what's something you know now that you wish you knew when you were opening Rafula?

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Trust your instinct and don't be afraid to take risks. What's the biggest risk you feel like you've taken? Just opening Rafula was you know, I had no money. I can tell you that I would go to the bank and I would just be so full of shame because uh there was maybe a dollar in the bank account and payroll was coming out. And I mean, just day to day I felt like was really it was hard. I had to build up my strength and my courage and um my belief in myself that I am worthy of doing something like this, and that I have something to offer to the community, and that my cooking is something that people would want. And I think I had to go, you know, like every day I had to face it again and face it again and again. And wow. But it was because I just kept coming back. You kept going. You kept I didn't really have a choice. So because I had three kids and I I had to make money somehow, and this was how I decided to do it. So I wasn't gonna fail. Yeah. I was not gonna fail. And all that I look back has been just my golden memories. Yeah. You know, wow, I can't believe I got from there to here.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

I I love that so much for someone who is either thinking about starting or afraid to start or feels like they need X amount of experience or X amount of money to start. And something I like to challenge a bit is that is that fear of getting going. And yes, it's not easy, but it's possible, right? And I love what you're saying with enough belief and trust and perseverance, which is just no other blind faith. There's no other option. It's just happening. And just keep going, keep on keeping on. I love that. And I love that you kept going. So I imagined a little bit what you have going on here. You do rent the space for private events, which is so lovely. You do catering powders, you're open every day of the week, breakfast, lunch, brunch. And are you hoping to do some more community dinners, like the sustainability one? Because I feel like that's your first community dinner maybe in a while.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

In a long time. We yes, we do want to. It just is hard for us to find the time because we have so many other events going on and we do love doing them and it brings joy. People really enjoy them and have great conversations and it's like a free party. Yeah. Not it's not free, but it's a freedom. We feel free to just just be you know, enjoy the food and not free. Yeah, yeah. We are not a not for profit. Although I do sometimes feel I'm a non-profit. Uh yeah, that's okay. Yeah. I make it, you know, I survive, and people who work here survive too.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Yeah. And they like it. We can also find you at Beacon Hill Books and Cafe a couple of days a week. That is your menu as well. Super cute downtown and right on Charles Street for local folks in Boston. Kind of a trendy TikTok bookstore. So it's bumping down there as well. You're keeping yourself very busy. Outside of those two things, I mean, the best way to find you, I think, is to catch you at Rafulo. You're not super active on social media, although you do have an Instagram account. Any other ways people can connect with you? Email me. Come say hi. Say hi, yeah. Perfect. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat. Yeah, this has been so fun. I think Maggie. I loved hearing more of your story. Yeah. Chat with you forever. Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Okay. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Finding Your Way. If today's conversation resonated, share it with your friend who's building something meaningful. And if you're a founder or community builder with a story to tell, we'd love to hear from you. Until next time.