It has been a while since the last post. Things are moving along quite well with the building. We have moved past the excitement of walls and onto excitement of things like plumbing, electric, HVAC, and passing all our inspections. The guys are drywalling and texturing this weekend and we should be ready for paint by Monday.

For now (and I hope it won’t change again), the grand opening date is March 22nd!

Some exciting news is that I have hired seven employees! After much interviewing, I am excited to welcome Jessica, Michael, Kelly, Jonathan, Avery, Sandra, and Kaycie to Roots Coffeehouse. They will be the ones serving you up some delicious coffee, so be nice to them!

I will see you all for the Grand Opening on March 22nd! Don’t miss it -

Website up! Walls up!

Hey everyone. Just a little update to let you know that our website is up:

www.rootscoffeehouse.com

Also, I am now the proud owner of a City of NRH building permit. Check out the building progress.

An update…

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to pass along an update, for those of you that want to keep tabs on the progress of Roots.

I now have a general contractor. After things go through with the city, I will have a building permit (hopefully Friday!) and then we can start building. So hopefully you will see some dust and action going on near 9101 Blvd 26.

In the hopes of actually making coffee someday, I have started to pick up some equipment here and there. The folks who used to run Mawker Coffee & Tea sold me some of their equipment today — so I am now the proud owner of an undercounter refrigerator, a grinder, and some other odds and ends. Aaron Garcia also hooked me up with an espresso grinder. I almost have enough to make coffee now! (except the espresso machine…hmmm)

In other news, Natalie Turner has jumped aboard the Roots Coffeehouse team and is going to be a shift manager for me whenever we open. 

Also a shout out to the Shepherd’s Guide – who gave me a free half page advertisement in their newest edition. Many thanks to Chris and Rebekah for that!

I will be starting to look for employees soon, so please let me know if you know of anyone who might be interested.

Thanks to everyone for your support and keep checking back for updates…also keep checking for Rootscoffeehouse.com (which is coming very soon!)

It’s about laying down Roots….

This blog is for anyone and everyone who is interested in coffee, social justice, community, fair trade, entrepreneurship, new ideas, and seeing the progress of NRH’s up and coming coffeehouse, Roots Coffeehouse.

If you meet any of those descriptions, I invite you to join me on my journey of creating a space for coffee, community, and conversation.

Here is the first glimpse into the journey I have been on recently. I first became interested in coffee in college at Belmont University. While there, I worked at a coffeeshop (the evil empire…I admit it) while in conjunction running a fair trade coffee brand through my school called Rumba Roast. Rumba was a great start to learning how to manage and run a business, experience I consider invaluable as I move forward. Since then and perhaps even longer, it has been my dream to own a coffeehouse. I frequented many independent coffeehouses in college and they were also my favorite place to hang out and just “do life” with friends or study for an upcoming test or even hang out in the morning before classes. “Doing coffee” became my favorite thing to do with friends.

Through my love of coffee and my experience with Rumba Roast, I became even more interested in fair trade. As I learned more and more, I found it to be a viable way to help lift the working poor out of poverty and give them a sustainable livelihood. It was a way to help them change their infrastructure in a way that could enact a lasting change. I was hooked on the idea. The passion led me to the Fair Trade Federation to work as a program assistant for a time, where my knowledge of fair trade expanded and I became aware many products that were available through fair trade means. Since then, I have developed a belief that people here have the power, through their purchases, to help end poverty. 

Roots Coffeehouse, my current venture, desires to not only offer coffee and community, but also to invoke conversation about these deeper issues in the world. 

So here I am, 22 years old and starting a coffeehouse with plans to change the world. Who wants to journey with me?