Like A Latte

It's been two months since I've liked any lattes, but I promise I have an excuse this time. Since October, I've been working with a little theatre called The Encore in Dexter, Mi, and 30 hours of rehearsal a week doesn't leave much time for blogging. Good news, though: Thanks to the show, I've finally found a coffee shop (besides LJ's) that I'm really excited about! 

During the show I've split my time between White Lake and Dexter. Now, it wouldn't surprise me if you haven't heard of Dexter, considering the downtown is about two blocks long. But if you'll note the map below, you'll see that Dexter is only about a 16 minute drive from downtown Ann Arbor. 

A few weeks ago, my friend Connie, my boyfriend, and I decided to get breakfast downtown before our afternoon show. After researching via google the various yummy places to get b-fast in Ann Arbor, we decided on the Broken Egg. If you are a lover of all things breakfast and haven't been to this little gem, you are missing out. We ordered four breakfasts between the three of us, and not a pancake went uneaten. 

Rewind. On our way to the Broken Egg, we past a coffee shop, so naturally, I took note. As we walked back to the car, I ran in for a post-breakfast cup, and let me tell you what, Mighty Good Coffee truly lives up to its name.

Mighty Good is an Ann Arbor based company, and you can read all about them here: www.mightygoodcoffee.com)

A couple days past and I was still thinking about that cup of coffee, and how mightily good it were. So good, in fact, that I've lost regard for grammar. I actually drove all the way downtown just to get a cup last weekend, and since then I've probably stopped in a good five more times. I also bought a bag of their Brazilian Blend and have been French Pressing it: so. good. So mighty good that even I can drink it black. 

The inside of the store is comfortable; Simple, but functional. I've managed to get a table every time I've stopped in, but it's always been busy (probably because it tastes so darn good). Oh, and did I mention the coffee is always perfectly hot? I loath when I buy a cup of coffee and its a meager warm. Coffee oughta be hot. 

And so, the moral of my story: if you find yourself in Downtown Ann Arbor, make sure to stop at Might Good Coffee. You wont be disappointed.

It was a sad day in White Lake. I never thought this day would come, but here it is. Upon us! Fitting that it should be a rainy day. 

This afternoon, Alexa and I stopped in at the Bou for a conversation and a cup of coffee--our very, last, cup of coffee at Caribou.

I remember it quite clearly, actually. I heard the news while sitting in an airport terminal on the way home from a mission trip to Trinidad: A so-called "Pete's Coffee" had bought out Caribou, and soon there would be no more Caribou Coffees...anywhere. "You look like you're about to cry," Devin had said. I was! 

For those of you who are or have been Holland-ers at some point in your lives, you might say Caribou Coffee--specifically, the Caribou on Union and Wise, just down the road from our high school--was my first Lemonjello's. It was where I spent many a high school afternoon, and many, many a summer day. I've gotten to know the baristas, made friends, gone on dates, and written many a LikeALatte entry within those tongue and grove walls. So today feels a bit ceremonial. A bit formal. A bit like a funeral. But this will not be a sad post! I haven't yet had to face the reality of life without the Bou...maybe that post will come later. 

So without further ado, our very. last. visit to Caribou: 

Here we are, obviously quite shaken!

Our last lemon loaf (broken, like our hearts): 

Last lattes (left to right: vanilla, extra hot with whip; milk chocolate with hazelnut):

(Not) last pouts: 

The beautiful Beth! The next time you see her will be in her Pete's garb. Surprise goodbye kiss:

But of course, as the well known cliche oft reminds us, with every ending comes a new beginning! See you soon, Peet:

Last week our store reached a milestone...we had our first week of an average of over 200 cups of coffee sold per day. WAY TO GO, BIGGBY TEAM! 

Onward and up! 300 cups per day, here we come. 

Mind. Body. Soul. Cannot WAIT to french press some-ah-DEM beans!

Also, is it sad that I almost fill up a punch card in a day and a half? 

1/30/13

Last January, right around this time, actually, my brother and I unexpectedly found ourselves dubbed the operators of a Biggby Coffee shop in Waterford, Mi. Neither of us being familiar with business, we were thrown into the deep end of what it meant to manage employees, deal kindly with customers, order just-the-right-amount of stock and figure out what-the-heck is a financial audit? It is crazy to think that we are now one year removed from the chaos that was our first few months at Biggby. LikeALatte sadly became one of the casualties of this hectic year, and so, in honor of my and Brandon’s surviving a year of co-operatorship, I’d like to take a little time to reflect...

what have I learned?

1.) ...a lot about myself, which has been hard. I found out that I am extremely non-confrontational; that I have a tendency to bottle bitterness and let it ferment like the home brewed mead my brother makes; that I am so much more prideful than I ever knew; that I am a lot less good at loving than I thought. But, I am learning, and that is important. 

2.) I’ve learned that, as a boss, people will expect you to fix their problems, and that you can either fix them, or you can’t. When you can’t, its hard. I’ve also learned that I am really good at being nice, but not very good at being firm, or being honest all the time. I am learning, too, that there is good in the hard; that its easy to like your friends/employees/familey when they are agreeable, but that to bear with people in the midst of struggle is the most honorable kind of love.

3.) You can make a difference, one short conversation/smile/compliment/follow-up-question/invitation at a time.   

what have I loved?

1.) Free lattes. 

2.) Working with my brother. Sometimes he makes me bragel sandwiches (if you don’t know what a bragel sandwhich is, get yourself to a Biggby pronto and find out), sometimes he tries to throw me out of the drive thru (out of love, I promise), and sometimes, when I get really stressed, he’ll give me a shoulder rub--they are seriously the best shoulder rubs in existence. But aside from what he does for me, Brandon is what gives our place personality. He can brighten anyone’s day. He always has a story to share, a smile on his face, a funny comment that’ll get ya to crack a smile, and a most contagious laugh.  

3.) Our regulars. Ken, Phillipe, Erin, Kelly, Sean, Jesse, Paul, Lindy, Anna, Barry, Leah, Mickey, the list goes on and on and on and on. Meeting these people, getting to hear a little bit of their stories each time they stop in, that they intentionally include us as a part of their life--it is a wonderful thing, and an honor.

4.) Our staff. Once a Biggby Barista, always a Biggby Barista. They just keep coming back! 

what have I less than loved?

1.) 5:30am phone calls: Umm, we don’t have a key. Chris hasn’t shown up. We’re out of 2%. Oy, vey!

2.) Someone left the freezer open last night. Again. 

3.) Power-outages! 

who have I met?

Kelly: Scottish Stoic; student of the law, making the world obey; closet poet. 

Jon: Serpico look alike; admirer of Morrissey; word enthusiast.

The Pilots: Jesse, Pat, Josh, Peter, Andrew. Wednesday night game nights at the condo. BOO-YA! 

Susan:  British-American; lover of dogs and latin.

Erin: Always smells like sweet shampoo; swishy pants; generally late for work, but its okay! 

Phillipe: French-Israeli Jewish Philosopher/Theologian/Computer Technician 

what have I gained?

1.) A better understanding of who makes up the community around me.

2.) A heightened ability to remember names (and drinks)

3.) An appreciation for people who work really hard and care about what they do. 

what have I lost?

1.) I think, sadly, the desire to own my own coffee shop someday. A coffee shop is like a child: it requires constant attention, selflessness, rigid responsibility, firmness, and so, so much sacrifice. Not to mention a whole lot of cash! 

2.) Focus.

3.) Zeal! I need to get pumped! 2013, lets go!

what do I want to be different in 2013?

The third week in September I took a trip, along with my friend Sammy Shank, to a little place called Bar Harbor, Maine. You know, way, way up there on the East coast. So what was the point of our little excursion? Simply, eat with, drink with, hike with, talk with and all around spend time with Miss Maggie Almdale. Oh Joy! It was wonderful, every moment. Er-wait. The moment when they convinced me to bike up a mountain may not have qualified as wonderful. But other than that, it was indeed entirely lovely. 

There were three places at which we dined/coffeed/danished that I found especially worth of mention: 

#1 Cafe This Way

Our waiter looked and acted exactly like Paxton Wiers, so much so that immediately after he walked away Maggie and I locked eyes and yelled, "Paxton!" We didn't manage to get a shot of him, so you'll just have to believe us. 

I had a goat cheese omelet. This was my first experience with goat cheese. I guess I have to say that I approve, considering I ate the entire stinkin' thing. 

Books everywhere! Color-coded, very neat. Cafe This Way is also a private art gallery for the owner's sister. 

We especially enjoyed this poem, "She knows its raining and my room is warm, but she is proud and beautiful and I have no money."

#2 The Opera House Internet Cafe

The musical selection in this place was especailly to my liking. We went from Cats to Pirates of Penzance to Into the Woods all in the matter of a few minutes. I'm all about that, ya'll!

Pay a couple bucks, and they let you use one of their many computers in the back for internet. I guess wifi hasn't caught on in Bar Harbor. 

Apparently this is the Ultimate Party Game. I felt happier just holding it! 

They even let us use their restrooms. What a place!

#3 Morning Glory Bakery

Darling little bakery tucked on one of the side streets in Bar Harbor.

Sammy's Coffee Cup Art.

We spotted some hipsters (yes, they are even infiltrating Maine!) standing outside of what was, according to Maggie, the hipster hang out of Bar Harbor. Josh Banner, anyone? 

Well my friends, it has been 3 months since I've Liked any Lattes. I sincerely apologize!

I have now been operating a coffee shop for nearly 9 months, which is crazy to think about! Time flies when you drink lots of caffeine!

Before Brandon and I took over Biggby, I knew two things about business:

1) It was boring. 

2) I was a music major, so I didn't need to know anything about it. 

Now I can add a few more tidbits to the list:

3) Its not as easy as you think...but its not as hard as you are making it!

5) Creativity is important

6) There's always more to learn!

Yay for learning!

Learning the ropes of how to run a business has been an adventure, but my favorite part about Biggby is still...get ready for it...you already know what I'm going to say....the people (*aww*).  As I would expect is true for most coffee shops, we get all sorts of people in our Biggby, and getting to be a little part of their lives has been a pleasure.  We have a few pilots from the airport across the street--Peter and Jessy are our favorites. There's Barry the Oakland Press guy who always gets his coffee refill. Terry with his "Large French Roast and that's all." Then there's Erin from Famous Footwear--our best smelling customer. She always smells like Herbal Essences shampoo. Mark with his "Butter Bear, extra butterscotch," Brian and Elvis, always in competition for first customer of the day, and of course, classy Brian with his in house mug and fun thought for the day. 

Its been a while since I've posted on Like a Latte, and I sincerely apologize. Prior to operating Biggby (when I spent most of my time in coffee shops as an attendee) it seemed that I was more easily inspired and topics seemed to readily present themselves. I don't mean to say that running a Biggby isn't inspiring, I just need to work a little harder to identify the things worthy of broadcasting on the interwebs. Well my friends, TODAY is a day worth writing about. 

Biggby corporate supplies us with a music player (called a "Muzak" player..), and every so often they send us CD's with Biggby approved and created playlists. As you can imagine, those playlists get a little old after spending 40 hours a week with them, and these Muzak players won't read regular CDs, allowing no possibility for creating your own playlists. Today, though, as luck would have it, our Muzak player ceased playing muzak...Hallelujah!! (as Jeff Buckly would say, who I am currently listening to thanks to Brandon, who saw the passing of our Muzak player as an opportunity to improve our working conditions 100 fold). Brandon went out and bought an ipod adaptor, so now we can play our OWN music! WHAT JOY! 

Today I was sitting in Bibby writing out the schedule for next week when the good Lord decided to remind me how small of a world we live in.

We have an over abundance of Jones Soda at the moment, so as one of our customers was walking out, I said, "Hey! Take a pack of Jones Soda!" He sort of chuckled, unsure whether I was serious or not (I was), and said that actually, he has a friend on the west side of the state who owns a coffee shop, and that they made a drink with Jones Soda called the "Green Army Man." I was like, wait a second, I know that drink!  I immediately responded, "Wait, are you talking about Lemonjellos?!" He was like, yeah!  So I told him how I went to Hope College and had spent about half my life in LJs over the past four years. Turns out hes good friends with Matt (owner of LJs), and so we continued to talked about LJs, Holland, and the many mutual friends we discovered we had.

After he left the store I just sat, shaking my head. I'd just had an LJs regular in my little Biggby, all the way over in Waterford (Water-tucky, as we like to call it), half a state away from Holland.

It was fun to have a little LJ's at Biggby today (thanks, Tedd!). A little of one home in the other. Miss that place.

Check out LJs new website, if you haven't seen it yet. Very classy: lemonjellos.com

Also! For info, coupons, and (mostly) for entertainment, check out our facebook page: Biggby Coffee Waterford

Welp friends, I've now been co-operating a coffee shop with my Broski for just about two months now, and it had been one crazy-fun experience so far!

Yesterday we celebrated Biggby's 17th year of existence by giving away 99 cent lattes. Now, we were prepared for it to busy, but we had no idea HOW crazy it would get! Just to give an idea, we normally sell about 150 drinks per day. Yesterday, though, we were well over 200 before 11am, and by closing we were well over 500 cups!! Talk about CRAZY. We had one hour in which we made 75 drinks. It was like a battlefield (though thankfully there were no casualties). All that to say, it was a fun day for sure :)

This guy was definitely in the Birthday spirit: 

Here's the inside of our store:

Brandon and I, posing for a photo-op:

The outside of Waterford Biggby:

Drive-thru!!

I said it was coming, and here it is…possibly the most exciting post yet!

If you remember a few posts back, I titled my blog entry “Give Me a Sign.” At the time, it was a few weeks before Christmas, and I was just about to quit a job that, in the end, I held for about six weeks. Leaving that job was a tough decision—it was a great opportunity, and I loved my coworkers—but I knew it wasn’t for me. And so, yet again, the question of WHAT NEXT? entered my mind.

As you might also remember, I started working at Biggby Coffee (the Grace Biggby, as we like to call it, since it is always populated with members of Grace Church) in late September. No joke, there has not been a single day working there when I haven’t enjoyed my shift.  The employees are fabulous, the customers are perky, and, lets be honest, who wouldn’t love getting paid to hang out in a coffee shop?!

Well…just before Christmas, Steve (our current store operator at Grace Biggby) approached me with a crazy proposition—or should I say, a cray-cray proposition. He had recently started a non-profit organization, and working as a store operator while trying to work on this new project was beginning to be too much. Basically, after a long conversation, he offered me his job….asldfjlaksdjf!!!! During his proposition he said, “I remember in your interview you said it has been a dream of yours to own a coffee shop someday…” Oh the things we say and the people who remember them…!

So right now my Bro and I are in the process of taking over operator-ship at the Waterford Biggby. We like to call ourselves “co-operators.” Get it? Ha….

Yeah! So I’m basically running a coffee shop with my bro, with the help of the best staff anyone could ask for and the coolest customers in the town. Cray-cray, huh? Ohhh, our CRAZY God and his CRAZY plans!

You will most definitely want to stop by to see me and Brandon, grab a cup of DELICIOUS coffee, and experience the wonderfulness that is our location of Biggby Coffee :) You will be hooked (yes, on the coffee, but mostly on the experience)!

Just some of the happenings that go down at Grace Biggby:

  Hope to see you soon!!! (We're on the corner of Airport Road and M59, right next to AutoZone and Cellular Toys)

...for possibly the most exciting post yet!!

After work today I met up with my cousin Rachel at the Bou. My choice of drink for our visit was their hot cinnamon-spice tea--PERFECT for the holiday season. Its basically like drinking Christmas in a mug. 

As we sipped our beverages, Rach told me about her new job at a cleaning company, and about how she's both excited and nervous to start at Madonna, a brand new college, in January. I felt like I could relate--at least to the "excited and nervous" part--as I'm just about to leave a job I started about 5 weeks ago. I guess at least I know that I'm not supposed to do sales. And so now the question, yet again, is:  

what next?

And that brings me to the title of my post: Give me a Sign! Well, I haven't necessarily received a sign from God about what to do and where to go, but, just as Rachel was about to leave Caribou, my friend Tanya walked in. This is fairly usual, as both Tanya and I basically live in this joint. Tanya was supposed to be meeting some friends for a study session for...here it comes...SIGN Language!

She and her friends were nice enough to teach me a little sign (probably the most important thing you would ever need to know in sign language), and I thought, well doesn't this present a nice educational moment. So now I'm passing it on to you!

Thanks Jestena, Alicia and Tanya!