Hibiscus Brew In Brooklyn: One Of The Few Cafes That Sells Homemade Sorrel

Forbes

01-05-2025

At Hibiscus Brew in Brooklyn, a Caribbean healthy café, the sorrel is homemade, and it's sold in ... More selected stores too.
The borough of Brooklyn, with its population of 2.6 million, would be tied for the third largest city in the U.S. with Chicago after New York City and Los Angeles. But its area around Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand and Church avenues is called 'Little Caribbean' because so many residents hail from Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Barbados and other islands.
And that's why Allison Dunn opened the Hibiscus Brew café in Brooklyn in 2020, a couple of blocks from Prospect Park in a neighborhood called Prospect Park East. She's originally from Jamaica, came to the U.S. at age 25 in 2011 (she's now 38), after graduating from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.
After working in marketing and running Neat Rules, a home-organizing business, she tapped her savings and investments from a previous job to open her café, without any outside investors.
Covid dampened her home-organizing business and she thought that opening a café would give her long-term satisfaction. Despite her lack of familiarity of running a restaurant, she thought 'I'm Jamaican. I'll figure it out.' And through trial and error, she learned about food supply, vendors to buy from, etc.
Selling Its Own Version Of Sorrel
She describes Hibiscus Brew as a 'modern café with a Caribbean twist, or a wellness café that seeks to bring a taste of the Caribbean through our signature sorrel drink that is made from the hibiscus roselle plant.' She describes sorrel as a 'ruby red drink that is sweet and tangy with a hint of floral notes.'
She produces sorrel from her own in-house recipe and packages it and is looking to expand its sales. So far, it's sold at its café, online at its website, at Happy Cork, a nearby wine and spirits shop, Fiona's, a local bar, and has been used at corporate events for Goldman Sachs and Chase Bank.
Sorrel has 4 simple ingredients and contains no alcohol content. 'We're trying to change how people eat and drink,' she asserts. She's also referring to the fact that many Jamaican dishes such as jerk chicken and jerk pork tend to be heavy on the calories and her food is light.
Sorrel sales usually rise around holiday time in December. Currently, Dunn is looking for a co-packer to increase production and therefore sales.
Its most popular items ordered at the café include hibiscus match latte, hibiscus smoothie, sorrel and blue power smoothie. It's open 7 days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and weekends from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It started selling sandwiches but no longer does. 'We wanted to scale back, and do a few things right,' she explains. So it offers a variety of pastries, such as banana bread, a mix of vegan and gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and croissants.
The Benefits Of Multiple Revenue Streams
Hibiscus Brew has 3 different revenue streams starting including: the café that produces about 70% of sales, 20% from its pop-ups and marketplace locations. 5%, catering and 5% sorrel sales, bottled and wholesale. Indeed, it's pop-up locations appear at Bryant Park in the middle of Manhattan, Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Prospect Park and Vegendale, an annual vegan festival.
Having multiple revenue streams helps the café survive any seasonal dips in foot traffic at the café, Dunn points out. In addition, she can test new products in the pop-up locations that can boost sales, and it also raises brand awareness. 'It builds a more resilient business that doesn't rely solely on one course or income,' she notes.
The cafe appeals to mostly locals, who live in the Prospect Park and Lefferts Gardens neighborhood, people who are drawn to wellness cafés, and via social media, it attracts people who drive a distance to get there.
Social media has been crucial to its marketing. She says Instagram 'drives foot traffic, brand awareness and customer loyalty.'
Dunn gained approval to bring a cart into the Prospect Park food court, likely starting in late May or early June.
In the future, she envisions sorrel being sold at Whole Foods Market and major supermarkets. 'Once you open a café, you can mostly target people within 2 miles away. You can reach more people with products that are on shelves,' says the affable Dunn.