A man in a blue, cardboard robot suit shook his fists in the air, yelling “Forget Hannah Montana! Give me a banana in pajamas!” The audience laughed and clapped as he continued acting out his poem “Bananas” in front of Jobot in Roosevelt Row.
“Showbot at Jobot” celebrated the coffee shop’s first-year anniversary Monday night by having seven employees display their creative talent through music, poetry and comedy.
The cafe patio hosted over 35 customers as they watched Showbot, enjoyed coffee and devoured sweet and savory crepes, which the owner referred to as “French burritos.”
Jobot owner John Sagasta, 25, opened the cafe in September 2010 near Roosevelt and Fifth streets after working at Conspire, a vegan cafe across the street, for five years.
“Jobot definitely focuses on the community aspect,” Sagasta said. “There’s a lot of people living down here, and we wanted to get their attention and get them interested in downtown.”
Sagasta, who recently expanded Jobot to include Nachobot, a new eatery that specializes in gourmet nachos, plans on adding a backyard with more seating to the coffee shop by the end of next summer.
Aaron Johnson, a Jobot employee and the man dressed as the blue robot, helped organize Showbot to see what his fellow co-workers do in their free time. The 29-year-old crepe chef hoped the event would also bring traffic to an otherwise slow Monday night.
Johnson quit his job at Sprouts, where he worked for three years, to join Sagasta and the Jobot family last year.
“John is the greatest guy in the world,” Johnson said, who has written five poetry books and performed on national and international tours. “I trusted his instincts on Jobot, and he trusts the employees and gives them freedom to be individuals. That’s something you don’t get working at Starbucks.”
Other performers included local band Liam and the Ladies and comedian and poet Ben Jammin’ and more.
Jammin’, whose real name is Benjamin Hooton, 26, is the “Crepe Master” at Jobot and started writing poetry at 13.
“What I like is the facts that there are no boundaries,” Hooton said, who started reading poetry two years ago based on Johnson’s encouragement. “I don’t have to worry about anything limiting my expression. I can just do an open form and write.”
Social work freshman Alex Korsick heard about the event from a friend and decided to attend.
“It’s really cool how stuff like this happens in downtown,” Korsick said. “I liked the band (Liam and the Ladies). They were different and you could tell they loved what they were doing.”
Johnson said another performance like Showbot would happen again in the future and hinted at a possible battle of the bands against another local cafe, Tammie Coe Cakes.
Contact the reporter at alicia.m.canales@asu.edu
