Simple Coffee Co. — the why

Well, friends. We did it. In what seems like a lifetime and the blink of an eye all at once, we (being me, AJ, my parents, our community, investors, and lots of other help and emotional support) built a coffee shop. And not just any coffee shop — a tiny walk-in cafe in the middle of Tabernash, Colorado. A simple cafe that doesn’t use paper cups, makes as much as possible by hand, and pulls the best espresso around (I might be biased…) on the most incredible piece of “Decent” equipment.

I don’t know what the future of this space is, but the fact that WE DID IT is enough for me for now. It’s been surreal so far and we’ve barely begun.

But now, three months into this journey as cafe owner, I wanted to sit down and write it all down. For posterity, you know? Or mostly so that I can remind my children one day that no, they were’t just bored at a cafe their entire childhood and that yes, their parents did in fact do something cool with their lives.

So here it is — the STORY of Simple Coffee Co. Hopefully I’ll give you a quick summary of how/why this space came to be and answer the questions I’m asked most frequently. I’ll tell the story in two parts: first, the “why” behind the space and second, the “how”.

Why Coffee?

The transition from being a write-from-home mama of three to running a coffee shop seems like a weird leap…especially since I rarely shared about my obsession with specialty coffee and long time love for coffee shops on my blog or Instagram. But trust me, it was in no way a random decision.

As cheesy as it’s going to sound (brace yourself), I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop of my own. I don’t think all “dreams” come to fruition that way…usually dreams are stumbled upon (or into) rather than completely premeditated. But this, for once in my entire life, is one thing I’ve genuinely always wanted to do.

Other than writing and a few quick nanny-ing gigs that, I believe, were God’s way of preparing me to have babies soon afterwards, the only “real” job I’ve had is as a barista. It was my first job in high school and I quickly fell in love with the "connectedness” of the little cafe I worked at. It was a staple in our community (it still is, in fact), and the steady flow of regulars, knowing people’s coffee orders before they walked in, and feeling like I had a small hand in making their day a tiny bit better…those things hooked me from a really young age.

I barista-ed my way through my first few years of college too and then, after we had Evie, picked up another barista job at the last cafe I worked at before opening Simple. Although each of these coffee shops was unique and filled a gap in its community, I always felt pulled to do something different in the coffee space, I just didn’t know how or what. And I felt really, really unqualified.

So, not knowing how it would pan out (or fizzle out), I sat with that goal — subconsciously for nearly a decade, and consciously for more like five years. I didn’t share much about it, but if you chatted with me in person during those years (or had a few drinks with me), you probably heard all about how I was going to open a coffee shop one day.

I didn’t “work in coffee” anymore, but behind the scenes, I had a really bad case of imposter syndrome for even wanting to open a specialty coffee shop. So I did lots of digging and preparing. I couldn’t stop learning and researching and designing my “one day cafe”. I read about the science behind creating amazing coffee, even when I didn’t have access to great coffee myself. I had secret Pinterest boards and floor plans and business plans tucked away for “maybe”. I bought books and bookmarked articles in a weird attempt to somehow research my way into business ownership, thinking that if I just prepared enough, when the time came I’d know what to do. Silly me, the first lesson of business ownership is that you never really know what you’re doing.

There were a few failed attempts — one in Nebraska that didn’t make it past the Pinterest board phase and one just up the highway from where Simple is now that nearly made it to the pitching to investors phase — and each time it became really clear that the timing wasn’t right.

So, to answer the “why coffee” question from an ethical fashion blogger and stay at home mama…I’m in love with the way coffee pulls in community. The “cafe” is a starting point, a meeting point, a pause. Some of my favorite life-moments happened over coffee and I’ve always been drawn to shops that felt welcoming, open, and inviting. The sustainability piece came into play as my knowledge of that topic grew through my blog and slowly, my vision for Simple Coffee formed itself until the timing presented itself.

The “right time”

I had a two month old baby, two other daughters who were about to start school, a thriving blogging business, and no clear direction for next steps for our family — clearly it wasn’t the “right time” to try to start a new business. But, in June of 2019 I saw a post on a local Facebook group about a historic building and one of the tenants wanting to host a few classes. I messaged on a whim, asking if they’d ever considered the space for a coffee shop because it was one of the building in our county that I though would be an awesome location. They had, in fact, and we met soon afterwards so I could look at the tiny space they envisioned as a drive-through cafe.

I saw the space and knew it would be perfect for a drive-though, so I took a few weeks to talk with AJ, get some space from it during our summer trip to Omaha, and after the go-ahead from AJ and a feeling that this was actually “the time”…we decided to go for it.

*Part 2: the how, coming soon! Leave any questions you’d like answered about the logistics/practical side of opening a cafe and I’ll answer them in the next post!