Why sell Fair-Trade Organic Coffees? Ask Nesting Grounds Café.

If the coffee doesn’t have the certification of Fair-trade and/or Organic, Jim Mericle of The Nesting Grounds Café does not offer it. Jim has owned the Nesting Grounds in Wyoming Minnesota now for just over 2 years. He is a Pastor by trade, but has recently decided to give his full attention to his Café. From the Start, Jim was focused on turning his café into a place where the community wil benefit. Not only is he focused on supporting local businesses and groups, but has recently broadened his efforts to supporting growers and producers of Fair-trade, organic and natural grown products from around the world.His efforts are displayed in the product lines offered from FTO coffees and teas to regional and local grown produce and edibles. Jim’s visit to coffee farms has him very concerned about ensuring that these growers and producers are not exploited, but that they receive fair prices and fair treatment. He believes in making deposits of hope and feels like he is making a difference for both the present and future generations.

After several hours of discussion with Jim about his passion…

the one thing I noticed that he was not lacking was inviting his customers to be part of his efforts. I suggested he not be afraid to communicate by what means and what actions he has taken to show this support to his local and world efforts. He called it “tooting your own horn”. I call it good marketing. Most of us love to hear stories of good human nature and how someone has benefited from this good behavior. We all have a good nature side within us and want to do well for the sake of good, but when someone else does it while we may not be able to, we’ll gladly jump on the wagon and support their efforts and cheer them on. So informing your customers of your involvement in your local, regional and/or world efforts is something most of them want to know. These actions build a sense of community and ownership that most of your customers will want to support.

This “tooting” can be done by several communication methods. Start a news letter or e-mail letter, call the local papers and radio stations, post your past and future events in your café, put a thank you notice on your café store sign thanking the origination or group that allowed you to be part of their event, hold monthly coffee meetings in your café to inform your customers what you are doing, hang photos and writings of your past events or trips, and on and on. The possibilities are endless and the best part about this kind of marketing is that it’s probably the least expensive to do.

One of the reasons that I wanted to interview Jim was due to the purchase of an Astra Mega III 2-group espresso machine from UMG. I wanted to see how it was performing and how well it looked in his Café. So I took several photos and notes and was able to spend some time interviewing Jim. I included the answers to several questions that I asked him below. But first, let me give you a good visual photo of his café. Hopefully you can combine the photos and description for a good look into the Nesting Grounds.

Let’s start from the outside. The café is located on Highway 61 in Wyoming, just north of Forest Lake Minnesota. The café has been in this location for about 6 years now. It offers a drive-thru, covered wrap-around porch for seasonal outdoor seating and has a cabin look and feel about it as you approach.

Step inside to a good sized area with plenty of seating in 2 distinct areas. Have a seat in the leather couch or side chairs in front of the large stoned fireplace for a good book or slow sip of your favorite drink. Or if you prefer a conversation with others while snacking on some food or drinking a latte, try one of the 4-top tables in the larger seating area.

This area is also equipped for your lap top computer. The walls are done in friendly earth tone colors sporting a different color on each wall. Attractive fixtures and wall coverings complete the overall theme. Available gift items are located throughout the café to capture the attention of customers no matter where they decide to sit. These items include coffee and non coffee related, gourmet edibles from local to regional, greeting cards and bulk coffee beans by the pound. I liked the displays that were used. They weren’t tables or stands from a local thrift store. The various shapes and sizes matched one another and complimented the café theme.

The drive thru may be on the back side of the café for the customer, but it is conveniently located just across the isle from the 3-group espresso machine, which makes serving both counter and drive thru customers quick and economical. This also saves the soles of the staff’s shoes, not to mention the cost of a second espresso machine!

With Jim’s strong desire to support sustainability within the industry, he was not afraid to advertise with framed posters and Point of Sale material, including printed cups showing the use of Fair-traded coffees. Most of your suppliers can assist you with Point of Sale material for the products they carry.

The Nesting Grounds also has an extensive food and drink menu offering its customers with such choices like soup, salads, sandwiches, wraps, Panini, fresh baked goods and a complete breakfast menu. Jim says that he pretty much invented most of the menu with the exception of some that he just added a little style and flare to. Their drink menu also has many options. Some are what you would expect to find and some great inventions that Jim says he pays his employee’s a bonus if one of their drinks is favored by the customers and requested to become a permanent fixture. Not a bad idea! They also put together a “daily special” on both the food and beverage side. I suggested that they even combine special food items with specialty drink items for Combo-meal style offering.

One thing I could not help noticing during the time I spent in the café was how well Jim and is staff greeted their customers. They seemed to make it a point to getting to know each one of their customers by name. I don’t think a single customer entered during my stay that one of the staff did not greet by name. By offering this personal greeting, their customers were much delighted to return the greeting and smile. That’s GREAT customer service! This is a step above your competition.

One if the biggest concerns that I was able to decipher from my conversation with Jim was how to market his café successfully, keeping them interested in a continuous patronage and getting them to drive by other opportunities on their way to your café. I left him with several ideas (like the “tooting your own horn” concept listed above), but the primary focus of these ideas was to make an effort to be community involved and create a community of customers that are willing to give you their business on a continuous basis. I will be writing some good marketing ideas in future writings about this most important topic that seems to get the least attention by café owners.

Ok, here are seven questions that I asked Jim during our interview. I am only putting his reply in short answer form due to the length of this overall writing. As you read these questions, this might be a good time to take a look at your own café and answer them as well. Self-evaluation is a good thing from time-to-time.

1. What is your favorite item(s) that you offer?Fair-trade coffees, Caramel Swirl Freeze, Caramel Delight Latte & White Berry Canary Latte (White Chocolate & Berry of choice)
2. Why do you offer Fair-trade coffee and/or Eco Friendly items?Making good deposits on sustainability and making a difference for our present & future market.
3. What do you like best about your job?Interaction with customers, suppliers and producers. This helps me learn more about the products I offer.
4. What is the over-all ambiance of your café that you are trying to present?A place of community, warm & inviting, a place where you can experience and learn about good coffee and the growing regions from where they come.
5. What positive feedback do you receive on a regular basis?The café ambiance/environment. Much better than last ownership. Also receive good comments on the coffee, rather they know it is Fair-traded or not.
6. What future plans do you have for your café?More knowledge of coffee for both staff and customers, continuous involvement in community, look for ways to improve both service and products.
7. What good advice can you offer a future café owner?It’s challenging to change the direction of an existing shop, buy new if you can. Pass your vision on to your staff and keep them accountable to it. Pay attention to your market and keep on top of marketing. Always offer a high quality product and the highest level of customer service. Locate good trustworthy and reliable suppliers and lean on them for advise and assistance. Try not to be like a corp. store, your success is based on your independence and what you can offer that they will not.

I would add to that last question, always have a business plan either for starting out new, or for reviewing in the future to ensure what direction you are heading. Set goals to achieve within reasonable time frames and review them from time to time to see where you are. As most of you know, starting or operating a coffee shop is a lot more work then we expected. It’s important to step back every now & than to see from where we have come, and where we are going, or want to go from here. Never stop researching our industry. There is a wealth of information available for your support and research. Check out the web, or contact us here at Upper Midwest Gourmet, we would love to help!

Thank you to Jim and the Nesting Grounds Café for there time and willingness for this interview. I hope to be able to do this for as many café’s as we can. Upper midwest Gourmet believes in community and hopes this type of reading will help create and maintain this community within our industry.

Good selling!