Espresso Love, a family run cafe in the financial district, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. What makes this occasion even more special is that it’s also welcoming back its customers as office goers and tourists return to downtown Boston.

Thomas McManus, the owner of the cafe, is happy to be celebrating this milestone. But he is more excited to see the faces, both old and new, of the customers that the cafe can now serve. Vedran Gojkovic, the manager at the cafe, commented that they didn’t have anything special planned for the celebration at this time.

“But we do have pretty much the whole year, '' Gojkovic said. “So, that doesn't mean that we won't do anything.”

As the business picks up, the cafe will add daily and weekly specials to mark the occasion, Gojkovic said. But for now, the cafe staff is happy about the returning semblance of normalcy. “The fact that the state and the city are opening back up is our exciting point,” McManus said. “We've basically been getting ready for this.” Like many local businesses, the last 14 months have been tough for the cafe as well. McManus acknowledged those who came to his aid, such as the Payroll Protection Program loan, his landlord and a few But even with the help, up until recently, the business was only about 20% of pre-pandemic levels. McManus is looking forward to business increasing the financial district.

“We still have to be cautious in a lot of ways, but as far as we’re concerned, we’re open!” he said. The original Espresso Love café was started by McManus’ mother on Martha’s Vineyard in 1992. Helping her since he was 18 years old, McManus wished to expand the cafe with a Boston location. Today he and his wife, Viktoriya Zayats, run both the cafes. Over the years, McManus has seen customer preferences evolve from whole milk to oat milk, from salads to grain bowls and a shift toward healthier options. While the cafe has changed items on the menu, McManus shared that their core specialty of baking products from scratch has remained unchanged. “I think there have been trends and we’ve followed some of them but we always have stuck to our guns.” McManus said. “Just making sure that it’s good quality food, it’s fresh and baked every day, good ingredients, great customer service. We just go with that.”

With an eventful past decade and the more recent struggles of the pandemic behind him, McManus is looking forward to the cafe’s journey through the next ten years.

“It’s been a challenge, but it’s exciting and my wife and I enjoy doing it,” McManus said; “so we’re going to continue to do it.”