Cafe name game

December 17, 2007 11:52 AM

What should I name my cafe?

I will starting a movie theater and cafe in the very near future (think the Angelika on a much, much smaller scale). What should I name the cafe? The theater has already been named (it's a small chain) but the cafe name is stumping me. I do not plan for the two to share names and would like the cafe to eventually be a stand alone enterprise. We plan on showing only independent and art house-type films and the cafe's atmosphere will reflect that.

posted by thehmmhmm to grab bag (59 comments total)

There's a coffee shop in Cleveland with a film theme called "Talkies".
posted by amro at 11:59 AM on December 17, 2007

Not much to go on here.

You don't want it name associated with the theater name. But the only thing we know about is that it is part of the theater.

We don't know what kind of food you are serving, where it's located, nothing.

If it's a movie-related name, then how about "Rosebud"? Or "Noir"? Or "Gigli"?
posted by dios at 12:03 PM on December 17, 2007

Nosh
posted by estronaut at 12:06 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Frank
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 12:06 PM on December 17, 2007

Kafka Latte ?
posted by jamjam at 12:07 PM on December 17, 2007

A film snob's cafe? Maybe name it after a quotation from a famous film critic or director. Perhaps something from the French Nouvelle Vague. Francois Truffaut, Godard, or Orson Welles?
posted by mkb at 12:15 PM on December 17, 2007

The Hmm Hmm.
Coffee and Cigarettes
Salto, salmiakk og kaffe
Coffee Colored Children
Astronaut Coffee Break
Coffee, Tea or Me?
Coffee Sex You
The Heiress at Coffee Dan's
A Moron, a Loser, and a Coffee Shop
Revolution & Kaffee
Nick's Coffee Pot
others
"Café con aroma de mujer"
more.
posted by klangklangston at 12:15 PM on December 17, 2007

Chatfilter.

No really, I'd name it Chatfilter.
posted by advicepig at 12:17 PM on December 17, 2007 [8 favorites]

Denouement
Vérité

if it needs to be cheesier, The Reel _______ Café
posted by mumkin at 12:19 PM on December 17, 2007

Fin

Like "The End" for a connection to what to do after the movie finishes.
posted by imjosh at 12:20 PM on December 17, 2007 [4 favorites]

Sundance

(check with uspto.gov first)
posted by jorlando at 12:21 PM on December 17, 2007

You must name it chatfilter, like advicepig says. Then take pictures. Why? Because that will simultaneously be awesome and you will get publicity and I bet you a bunch of mefites will visit. Where are you, Texas? Wherever it is, bet that a meetup will be scheduled there about 15 minutes after you post the pictures of you standing outside pointing at the big "CHATFILTER" sign.
posted by cashman at 12:21 PM on December 17, 2007

I dunno if this is stealing, but the local low rent cinema is next to a small restaurant called The Line Up. Their name is in the same font used for The Usual Suspects and their logo is a play on the poster for the movie.
posted by utsutsu at 12:21 PM on December 17, 2007

The Cafe Next to the Movie Theater
posted by mullacc at 12:23 PM on December 17, 2007

or just The Place Next Door
posted by winston at 12:31 PM on December 17, 2007

Café Deux: Electric Boogaleux
posted by studentbaker at 12:31 PM on December 17, 2007

Rick's (as in "Everybody Comes To Rick's")
posted by The World Famous at 12:41 PM on December 17, 2007

Grindhouse.
posted by brautigan at 12:49 PM on December 17, 2007 [4 favorites]

Thirding "Chatfilter".
posted by rokusan at 12:50 PM on December 17, 2007

Dripsters

Grindhouse is good too.
posted by grumpy at 12:51 PM on December 17, 2007

Grindhouse is good. Really good.
posted by kpmcguire at 12:51 PM on December 17, 2007

Café Noir
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:52 PM on December 17, 2007

*Groaner warning*

Tremors
Mr. Bean
Le Foam Nikita
Meet Joe, Black
Average Joe
posted by DawgterFeelgood at 12:53 PM on December 17, 2007

Out of curiosity, I'm not sure I see the part of the question where this was going to be a coffeehouse. Or is that just an assumption some of y'all are making?
posted by dios at 1:00 PM on December 17, 2007

Hot, Black and Wet

Crust, Coffee
posted by Pollomacho at 1:05 PM on December 17, 2007

Maude. But only if you insist that the cafe patrons refer to the theatre as Harold.
posted by grateful at 1:15 PM on December 17, 2007

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Kitchen
I Am Curious (Hungry)
Ate and a Half
The Sweets Here After
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:18 PM on December 17, 2007

please, please, please, in the name of all that is good and pure. Do not name it something like "The daily grind" or "common grounds". Those sort of puns make me want to hang myself with a thousand tea bags.
posted by munchingzombie at 1:24 PM on December 17, 2007

Second Act

The Changeover Cafe (think Fight Club, how Tyler had to switch the film reels during the movie)

The Cafe Reel

Flicker

Curtain Call
posted by 4ster at 1:30 PM on December 17, 2007

Ew. Scratch Curtain Call. That's more for theatre than cinema. Sorry.
posted by 4ster at 1:31 PM on December 17, 2007

Too Pride Too Prejudice
posted by yeti at 1:31 PM on December 17, 2007

The Sweets Here After

Okay, creepy ass movie, but that's pretty nifty.
posted by cashman at 1:32 PM on December 17, 2007

Flick's.
posted by stopgap at 1:47 PM on December 17, 2007

Cupboards & Clapboards
posted by sandra_s at 1:52 PM on December 17, 2007

The Green Door
posted by rhizome at 1:56 PM on December 17, 2007

The Sweets Here After.
Brilliant!

How about:
Act IV
Take 5
That's a Wrap!

Or...:
Planet of the Crepes
Some Like it Hot Chocolate (or just the first 4 words...)
Citizen Sugar Kane
Fight Club Soda
Lord of the Onion Rings
Pulpy Fiction
Soy Story
Jaws (or, if it's a kosher cafe, "Jews")
Invasion of the Body Snackers
The Grapes of Wraps
Devil Cake in a Blue Dress
A Clockwork Orange Cake (/Soda/Tea/Biscuits...)


I could go on, but my soul is starting to hurt...
posted by prophetsearcher at 1:57 PM on December 17, 2007

Maybe too erudite :

Porky's
posted by ill3 at 2:25 PM on December 17, 2007

Fourth Reel
Dénouement
Credits
The Casting Couch
The Commissary (probably already being used)
Nevermind, I got nothin'
posted by qldaddy at 2:26 PM on December 17, 2007

Make it something that has to do with local history, instead of a generic pun of some kind. When you get up to the point of being franchisable later on, you'll have something historical to print on the custom napkins.
posted by Quarter Pincher at 2:30 PM on December 17, 2007

Two Thumbs Up
posted by SuperSquirrel at 2:32 PM on December 17, 2007

Fade to Black
posted by SuperSquirrel at 2:32 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Confabulous

Several Minutes in Heaven

The Chestnut Tree
posted by zennie at 2:34 PM on December 17, 2007

Seconding "The Hmm Hmm"
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:39 PM on December 17, 2007

Stage Left /Right
Oscar's
The Screening Room
Director's Cup
Reel Good Eats
Selected Shorts
Sneak Previews
Scene One
The Cutting Room
posted by lobstah at 2:43 PM on December 17, 2007

Cafe Paradiso
posted by The Deej at 2:43 PM on December 17, 2007

Magic Lantern
Cafe Obscura
Cafe Americain (the cafe in Casablanca)
posted by brautigan at 2:53 PM on December 17, 2007

Proscenium

Comestibles del Arte
posted by pupdog at 3:16 PM on December 17, 2007

The End Reel
posted by iguanapolitico at 3:16 PM on December 17, 2007

Dios: cafe = coffeehouse, no?
posted by iguanapolitico at 3:17 PM on December 17, 2007

whatever you call it, you should run blooper reels of famous movies on monitors around the place.
posted by thinkingwoman at 3:24 PM on December 17, 2007

FLICK. All caps or it will lose its meaning.
posted by Tacodog at 3:36 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Dios: cafe = coffeehouse, no?
posted by iguanapolitico at 5:17 PM on December 17

Does it? I realize that the word comes from the same word as coffee and it can have that connotation. It just seems to me that the word is more watered down and just generally refers to any small restaurant, irrespective of whether coffee is prominently served. So, if I saw "Cafe Rosebud", I'd think it was a little restaurant. But if I saw one of the many names above used as a pun on films and coffee, I'd be thinking "Starbucks."

My impression was that this more of a restaurant thing she is talking about as opposed to a Starbucks/Coffeehouse kind of place.

I was just curious if other people see the word Cafe and think "coffeehouse."
posted by dios at 3:42 PM on December 17, 2007

Ah, found a similarly named retail storefront to FLICKS.

I really like Grindhouse, by the way.
posted by Tacodog at 3:49 PM on December 17, 2007

Coffy

(But I'm gonna vote for Grindhouse too)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:00 PM on December 17, 2007

Just don't name it Higher Grounds or Ugly Mugs. There are about a bazillion of those.
posted by IndigoRain at 4:55 PM on December 17, 2007

Focus!
posted by GaelFC at 5:37 PM on December 17, 2007

Don't name it at first. Wait some time, let the feeling of your cafe settle in, name it after what it seems be like. (Like when you see a guy and think he looks like somebody who would be named Bob).
posted by ooklala at 6:50 PM on December 17, 2007

Celluloid
Fog and Shadows
Mirrors and Whistles
Arthouse
Stanley
posted by h00py at 5:10 AM on December 18, 2007

Plato's Cave
posted by prophetsearcher at 6:00 AM on December 18, 2007