Korppi Coffee

Kayla and Laura, co-owners of Korppi Coffee and Bakeshop share their journey of chasing the entrepreneurial dream that led them to open their first coffee and bakeshop in St. Cloud, MN. 

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Transcript

Betsy Bonnema (00:00):
My name is Betsy, and I bring people together who feel isolated and lost in starting or running a small business. Together, I help them work through the challenges and in the process, they find something that changes everything. These are their stories.

Laura (00:22):
It just was a perfect combination of our skills, and our passions, and our backgrounds.

Kayla (00:29):
We didn't realize we were preparing our whole lives to open a coffee and bake shop. I don't think it's necessarily just jumping off one cliff, it's like jumping off a lot of cliffs over and over again.

Laura (00:41):
If you're trying to run a business that doesn't feel aligned with who you are, it not sustainable, it's not going to work. We're going to find our people, and our people are going to find us. Yeah, have a plan and know what you want, and know it wholeheartedly, and be ready to put 150% of yourself into it, but also, I think for us, the huge thing that we keep coming back to is be open to what comes your way.

Betsy Bonnema (01:18):
Welcome back to the Lost and Found podcast. It's going to be a great episode today. We're going to be talking to Kayla and Laura, who are the owners of Korppi Coffee + Bake Shop, near St. Cloud. They came to our bootcamp last summer and it was really great to hear their story. When they came to our workshop, they were about a month out from opening their new coffee shop and bake shop. They were in the thick of it. They were in the midst of all the details and all of the challenges of getting a business opened, but we were able to have some really great conversations with them and see how authentically they were trying to kind of make the world a little bit better place. And you're going to hear that in this episode, so take a listen. These young, passionate entrepreneurs have a lot to share, and a lot of great perspective to provide all of us on what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Betsy Bonnema (02:24):
All right. Well, here we are with Korppi Coffee. We have Kayla and Laura, and I am so excited to have you guys back. Welcome to the Lost and Found podcast.

Laura (02:35):
Thanks for having us.

Kayla (02:36):
Yeah, thank you.

Betsy Bonnema (02:36):
Yeah. As , the Lost and Found podcast is a great way for passionate entrepreneurs like you to tell their so that our community of startup alumni can kind of get to know each other, learn from each other, connect with each other. I'm really excited to have you guys on, because you have such a special story and such an amazing passion for the work you do, so I'm excited for our listeners to hear all about it. Kayla and Laura own Korppi Coffee in the St. Cloud area. Where is the exact location?

Laura (03:09):
Yeah, it's right in between St. Cloud and Sartell. It's right on the edge of St. Cloud. It's a little bit both, yeah.

Betsy Bonnema (03:15):
Okay. Okay. And we were lucky enough to have you in a bootcamp, so we got to spend a couple days with you, and it was fantastic to hear your story and learn all about your new venture. Give us a little history of Korppi Coffee, maybe where the idea started, and where you are today.

Laura (03:35):
When we met, four years ago, we realized that we both had shared the same dream to open our own coffee shop someday. I've been baking professionally for a while, and Kayla's been in the coffee industry for a while, so it just was a perfect combination of our skills, and our passions, and our backgrounds. Through us to series of events and situations, decided that it was the time to start making moves to make it happen. We started off as a home-based bake shop almost a couple years ago now, under the cottage food law. We did cakes and cupcakes, mainly, from the home, kind of as a way to get the word out there, and develop a customer base, and see if there was demand in the area for the kind of baking that I wanted to do.

Laura (04:32):
We knew that there would be demand for coffee, because there's always demand for coffee, so we just wanted to make sure that there was a demand or the kind of whole food, organic, local, high-quality baked goods that I wanted to bring to the community. It really took off, so despite it being in the middle of the pandemic, it kind of felt like it was the right time to start taking the moves towards building it into the coffee shop, which was the goal and the dream all along.

Betsy Bonnema (05:04):
What do you mean by it took off? Give us a little insight into what happens when a business takes off in its early days and months.

Laura (05:14):
I started doing the home-based bake shop right when COVID hit. It was pretty slow for a while, which in retrospect was actually really nice, to build it up slowly and be able to mindfully get it set up in the way that I wanted. But then in the fall, there's a group called St. Cloud Shines that asked if they could do a feature on the home-based bake shop. They came and took pictures and posted on social media, and that just really was the... It was starting to build a little bit, but that was the spark that really got it going. A lot more people found out about it, and we're just kind of started to spread.

Laura (06:04):
Then the holidays, we got a lot of new customers around the holidays, and then it just kept building from there, mostly just through word of mouth and social media. People being willing to come drive to our house and pick up the baked goods and getting great feedback from people. They really liked the ingredients we were using, and the care that we put into it.

Laura (06:29):
We were just were getting really good feedback from people, and it just seemed like we were at a point where I needed more space to do the kind of baking that there was a demand for. Because there's only so much you can do out of a home kitchen, where you can only do two pans of cookies at a time, or a couple dozen cupcakes at a time. So really wanted the ability to expand what I was baking, and how much, and be able to reach more people.

Betsy Bonnema (07:00):
What would you say is special about the things that you bake, and your approach to the baked goods?

Laura (07:06):
The ingredients, that is the main thing. When you start with the high-quality ingredients, that's the most important piece to us. We try to find local ingredients where we can, organic ingredients when possible, but always whole food ingredients. You know where everything's coming from. We source our eggs locally. Our honey is local. Our maple syrup is local. A lot of the other bulk baking ingredients like flours and sugars are all organic. We're just basically looking to have a clean product, where you can see it's just very transparent and you can know exactly what's in it. It's really been great for people with sensitivities, too, who really need to know exactly what's in their food, or people who just really like to know where their food is coming from.

Laura (08:01):
I think we've got a growing number of people all over the world and nationally, but around here too, I think it's really starting to grow more, the people who really care about what goes into what they're eating.

Kayla (08:14):
Also, when you use high quality ingredients, you don't need to cover up any flavors with extra sugar, because it already is flavorful in its own right, the way that it should be.

Laura (08:29):
Yeah. That's another piece of the baking that I do, is it's a little less heavy on the sugar than you might find at another commercial bakery, which stems from a personal preference on my end, too, because I want to be able to eat a muffin or two for breakfast and feel good about it and not have a rock in my stomach for the rest of the day. I really try to use whole grains and less sugar where possible, especially for cupcakes, the frosting of course has a lot of sugar in it, but the cake doesn't need to be as sweet as they sometimes are. A lot of people will comment on... That they just feel better after they eat them than other sweets, because they're just not overly sweet.

Betsy Bonnema (09:14):
Yeah. That all sounds wonderful, and practical, and valuable, but they're also like art. Your baked goods are... I've seen them, and I've tasted them. They taste fantastic, but they also are beautiful.

Kayla (09:29):
You eat with your eyes first.

Betsy Bonnema (09:31):
You eat with your eyes, there you go. There's a lot of creativity that goes into the baked goods that you offer.

Laura (09:39):
Yeah, and the coffee.

Betsy Bonnema (09:40):
And the coffee, yeah. Kayla, tell us about the coffee. Where did you develop this love for coffee, and what made you want to offer it in a business?

Kayla (09:50):
My first love of coffee grew when I was six years old and I saw my stepdad drink coffee, and I thought he was really cool and I wanted to drink coffee too. Beyond that, the first job that I ever had was in a coffee shop, actually at a Dunn Brothers. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to do something halfway, so of course I just delved into it. I delved into the craft of it, and I found out that there was a lot more underneath the surface than I originally thought that I could have even known about. This potential for just being able to continue to grow and delve into it more and more, I don't know, I enjoy how complex it is, but a really good cup of coffee is going to cost you $3 versus a really good glass of wine might cost you $60. I don't know. I love how accessible it is. I love how it just... Everybody, everywhere, throughout time, has always loved it. I don't know. I think it has a cool history. Just brings people together. All of the reasons.

Betsy Bonnema (11:16):
You guys took a run at a business model out of your home, and then I think you saw possibilities, it sounds like. You're both really passionate about the areas of the business that you drive. What happened when you said, "You know what, we should do this. This could be a business, let's go out on a limb. Let's invest some money. Let's really do this formally, as a business with a location, and a staff, and equipment." Tell me about that process that got you to where-

Laura (11:52):
It's always been what we've talked about. It's just always been, "When we have our coffee shop." Anytime we just, for fun, visit other coffee shops and take mental notes. It's just always been, "When we have this shop." We've been building in our mind for so long.

Betsy Bonnema (12:14):
But how many people do that and never act on it? Good for you, for actually taking yourself seriously and doing it.

Laura (12:23):
We're both very headstrong people and we kind of just go for things.

Kayla (12:30):
We just go for things. Yeah. It feels like it wasn't ever really a decision, it was just this underlying known, I guess. We didn't realize we were like preparing our whole lives to open a coffee and bake shop, but then once we actually started taking those steps it was kind of funny how everything just lined up, because we'd been already, unknowingly and knowingly, preparing for it. Laura's been crafting all of these baked good recipes, and the quiche crust, are our quiches, and cinnamon rolls, and all this stuff. Now we're actually using all of those recipes, and making them in the shop, but when she developed the cinnamon roll recipe, it wasn't like, "I need to figure out how to make this for the coffee shop."

Betsy Bonnema (13:34):
It's just understood. It's just an understood-

Laura (13:36):
Well, it just grew out of the things that we just have been passionate about separately and together for so long, and this just vision that we had that just aligned so well with one another's vision and complimented each other. I think it was just this perfect storm of situational things. Just being in a position where we could take the risk to do this, and being supported by our community in the home-based bake shop, to know that we would have people that would support the physical location too. We just had a lot of support. I don't know how else to say it, but it just felt like the right time to dive in to it.

Betsy Bonnema (14:27):
Well, it's a good lesson and a good insight for everyone, because you didn't just jump off a cliff, you inched your way to the edge first, and you got feedback, and you got positive reinforcement that this was going to work, and it felt right after that.

Laura (14:43):
It feels like jumping off a cliff a little bit.

Kayla (14:47):
And I don't think it's necessarily just jumping off one cliff, it's like jumping off a lot of cliffs over and over again. And it's like, "Well, we could step back now, or we could just jump off another cliff."

Laura (15:00):
Once you get a lot far enough along, it's kind of like, "Well, we got to keep jumping off," because we're this far, you can't retreat.

Betsy Bonnema (15:08):
Yeah. Past the point of no return. I want to talk a little bit about this culture you're creating, and the why concept that you guys landed on in bootcamp. But first I was wondering if you could share, and this happens to a lot of entrepreneurs, when you were starting to make the plans and building your idea, you're always getting advice and seeking advice from the people around you. Who were you seeking advice from, and what kind of advice were you getting from family, friends, loved ones that were help trying to help you?

Laura (15:46):
I mean, certainly we got a lot of unsolicited advice that was not helpful. There's that. From well-meaning people, of course, of course. I would say the most important advice that I got was. From people that were close to me and also from my therapist, was just to continue to stay in touch with and make sure that what you're doing is aligned with who you really are, and the values that you have. And as long as you're doing what you know is right for you, there's not a right way to start a business, or run a business, or whatever. That it's just most important that you stay in alignment with who you are, because from there that energy goes out, and people can feel that. If you're trying to run a business that doesn't feel aligned with who you are, it doesn't... It's not sustainable. It's not going to work. I think just continually checking in with what feels right for me, even if some business, quote, expert might say, "No, you need to do it this way," just focusing on what feels right for me.

Kayla (17:03):
And then getting that exact reassurance from doing the startup bootcamp and having a legitimate business expert say, "That is what you should probably do," because...

Laura (17:17):
That's all we can do.

Kayla (17:21):
That's all you can do.

Betsy Bonnema (17:23):
I remember you saying during bootcamp that you were concerned when it came to marketing, because you had this idea that you might have to try to create this brand, or something, based on what we should do or what people think we should do. I think, through that conversation, we were able to really hear from you, "No, what do you really want to create, and what is that why behind your brand?" Can you tell us a little bit about how you got really clear about that in our discussions at bootcamp, and where it sits right now with you guys?

Laura (17:59):
Yeah, I think that's right. We had this idea going into bootcamp. Marketing, in our heads, was this facade, this fake thing that you put out just to try to grab people and fake them out into coming in, or just some sort of surface-level thing. That's what we thought of when we thought of marketing, so it was-

Kayla (18:26):
Advertisement.

Laura (18:27):
Yeah. I think that direct sort of thing. I think like that has stayed with us, just that idea that what you just have to do is find your why, and let people know that. We knew our why without knowing it, without naming it, I guess, so going to Startup was a way to really name it and tune into it so that we could put that out there. That feels more genuine than anything, and that's marketing, that's one way to do it. I think that's really stuck with us, and it's come up a lot as we plan social media posts, or think about ways to reach out or put our name out there. It's really allowed us to feel confident in just continuing to be who we are and put that out there, and that that will be enough.

Betsy Bonnema (19:25):
How do you do that? If I'm in your space and I'm enjoying some of your coffee or some baked goods, how do you put the why out there in different ways through your customer experience?

Laura (19:37):
Food and coffee transcend culture and time, and something about small kindnesses will transform the community, or something like that.

Kayla (19:50):
I know that your personal why was just to...

Laura (20:00):
I believe in the transformative power of small kindnesses.

Kayla (20:03):
Right, right. And that's, I think, really the underlying, the foundation, of Korrpi Coffee + Bake Shop, because we wanted to start off by creating a really welcoming environment. Really, the moment that you walk in, we want it to be a cozy space, a warm space. There's a lot of natural light, a lot of plants. It just feels inviting. We have our little sign in the entry way that says, "All are welcome here," and then when we talk to people the point isn't to just get them through the line, we're connecting with people, and oftentimes, that we connect with people repeatedly. We've had people come in three times in one day. Oftentimes.

Laura (21:05):
And when we trained our staff, and who are incredible, the main thing that we told them was it's not just about rushing people in and out. It's about making people feel welcome and taking your time with them, and you don't have to dillydally to take your time and acknowledge the humanity of the person standing in front of you. They're a customer, but they're also just another human from your community who's come in.

Kayla (21:32):
Who's come in, and is having a day, and is off to go do something else. Whereas meeting somebody, and whatever's going on in their life it brought them there, and it's cool to see or to hear everybody's stories when they walk in and to know why they're there, or what they're going off to do. Sometimes it's something like they're from out of town and they're visiting, or from out of state, or that's just going to be the highlight of their day, is going to this coffee shop and getting a cup of coffee and a baked good. But either way, it's about, I guess, hearing their stories and just creating this space where people come to share those stories with each other.

Laura (22:24):
Even if it's a brief connection. That's the whole thing with small kindnesses, is the smallest interaction with the customer can change your day as the barista, or their day as the customer in a really positive way or a really negative way. So you may as well take that opportunity to try to make a positive connection, even if it's just super small.

Kayla (22:46):
And it is a positive feedback loop. If we're in a good mood, and we're just chatting with people, like how we do, and they feed off that and it helps brighten their day. And then everybody is just, I don't know... It's cool to see behind the bar.

Laura (23:05):
There's just an energy of it.

Kayla (23:06):
I'll be working on the espresso machine and then you just see people brightening up, and then they start talking to each other in the line. Somebody's trying to decide on what drink to get, and they're like, "Oh, I'll get this," and then the next person, who doesn't even know them is like, "Oh, you'll really like that." It's cool to see those connections happening there, too.

Betsy Bonnema (23:30):
So inspiring, because you guys are so authentic and you're trying to do such important work, and it doesn't have to be this big, giant business. It's just such a authentic connection that you're building, and it's so authentic to you guys, and that's why it was such a honor to get to know your story. When we were in bootcamp, you came up with a phrase and it was, "Do better, feel better." Do you still use that, and what did that mean?

Kayla (24:01):
I think that, really, the heart of it is just trying to be intentional in what you do, the things that you do, the decisions you make. We're making decisions every day, and if everybody were to try to be a more intentional, and to try and do something that would make things for someone else, or for themselves, for whatever reason, just a little bit better. It's just this cycle where we could all do it together and up feeling better, all together.

Laura (24:48):
And then when you feel better, you do better. And then you do better, you feel better.

Kayla (24:53):
It's a pretty simple concept.

Laura (24:55):
And it also applies to the ingredients, as well. In terms of doing better with ingredients, using higher quality ingredients, it makes your body feel better, too. It works both ways for the value that we have on the quality of ingredients and the food that we're serving, and then also the community focus, and the focus on doing better by one another, together.

Kayla (25:25):
Like using local and ingredients. You can feel good about supporting your neighbor.

Betsy Bonnema (25:32):
How are you connecting with your customers? What's the feedback on whether you are connecting? What are people saying to you to let you know that it's working, so to speak?

Laura (25:40):
We've gotten incredible feedback, just truly heartwarming, incredible feedback. From the minute we opened, we had a line out the door the first four hours that we were open.

Betsy Bonnema (25:53):
Wow.

Laura (25:54):
We didn't even know that many people knew that we existed, and there it was. The line's not been out the door every single day, but just people coming in and sharing that... Just sharing that they so enjoyed their experience, or they come in and right before they're going to leave they just want to take a second to really thank you, or people have done reviews online and just saying how welcoming everybody is, and how cozy the atmosphere is. Just walking by people just holed up on their computer for couple of hours, it's just really been remarkable, how much support there is for it. It just feels like people really wanted a space like this, which we did too. That's why we did it in this community, because we just saw a need for it. You know that the need is out there and that people want it.

Laura (26:51):
That's why you start the business, obviously. Otherwise, if you didn't think people want it, that'd be a pretty silly business decision, but to actually see the people coming in and enjoying it so much and telling each other, and telling the internet, and telling us when they're there, how much they appreciate us being there is really... It gets us through some of the really hard, hard days.

Kayla (27:20):
No, we've had many people come up to us and say that they walk in there and they feel like it's just a special space, like it made them feel happier when they're there. Hearing that is super incredible, because that's just exactly what we wanted, but having that concept and that idea in your head is really different than actually seeing it positively affecting people.

Betsy Bonnema (27:55):
That had to really fill your bucket. It had to make you feel like, "Yes." So you finally got to experience that with your customers, what struggles and challenges behind the scenes did that balance out for you? Because I know starting a business, it gets overwhelming. There's details, and costs, and things break, and schedules get delayed. What kinds of things did you have to overcome to get open?

Laura (28:22):
Location change. Name change.

Kayla (28:26):
Trademark litigations.

Laura (28:29):
All sorts of equipment malfunctioning, trying to fix that up. Just trying to get funding for it, that's a huge struggle. Trying to stay, I guess, on the path and believe that you can do it and not just give up. There were many obstacles and points at which we could have decided, "No, this is too much." At a certain point, yeah, you are so far in that you can't really do that, but there were a lot of points where it was just like, "Oh, it's not going to work now. Now it's not going to work." But we had put so much into it, just even emotionally, it was like you just can't turn back, even though there's all these obstacles. And honestly, now in retrospect, all those obstacles ended up being for the best.

Laura (29:28):
All those things that we thought were the end of the world, devastating, square one, ended up being the best. Like this location ended up being far better. It pains us to even think about being in that first location with what we now know. And it's able to be this thing that we really wanted it to be, even more. And the name. We love our name even more now, too. It's just taken on a whole life of its own.

Betsy Bonnema (30:00):
Tell us that story quick. And the people listening, anybody who's trying to start a business, it's just really good, I think, to hear the realities of it, but also that in those hard times they should remember it's possible. Things are working out the way they're supposed to. So, tell us about your name.

Laura (30:16):
Yeah. Yeah. We had chosen a name for the home-based bake shop back a little over two years ago now, when we first dreamed it up. We really liked the raven, the bird, and so we were coming up with names that we could use the raven as our mascot. We decided to use the Latin name, which was Corvus Corax. We decided to be Corvus Bake Shop. We used that name all throughout the whole life of the home-based bake shop, and then as we were getting ready to open, we were going to call ourself Corvus Coffee + Bake Shop. Then we got a article in the newspaper, which is, I think, how this all ended up spreading all the way to Colorado, because we got an email then about, I don't know, midway through the summer, so as we were on the way to opening the shop and actually had just signed at this new location, because the old location had fallen through.

Laura (31:14):
We were like just getting in that process, and then we get an email asking us to cease and desist the use of the name Corvus, because they had it trademarked for all things related to coffee, and beverages, and food, and all that. Which, as a tiny little home-based bake shop, we didn't even think about looking up the name to be trademarked for anything. I guess that's a piece of advice for anyone who's starting small, is look it up on a trademark registry, make sure it's not trademarked already. We ended up calling them just to see, "Well, is there any way..." And it was a, "No", it's a legal thing, there's nothing to do about it. We thought it was the end of the world and how are we going to keep going?

Kayla (32:02):
We were within 24 hours of having our signage finalized, getting a bunch of mugs with the logo Corvus Coffee + Bake Shop.

Laura (32:16):
T-shirts.

Kayla (32:16):
Customized.

Laura (32:17):
It would be thousands of dollars that, within 24 hours of that.

Kayla (32:20):
But luckily we were able to halt all of that, but 24 hours afterwards we wouldn't have been able to.

Laura (32:27):
Yeah. That's another piece of incredible timing. You just get lucky sometimes.

Kayla (32:33):
At that point, we weren't even mad. We just started laughing. We were like, "Wow, what timing."

Laura (32:37):
For real. We just started playing around with different names where we could still use the raven, because we were really attached to the raven and what I represented, and we just loved that bird. It was kind of how people knew us, too, so we wanted to keep that. We were looking up other are words for raven in different languages, or just different ways to-

Kayla (33:04):
Incorporate it.

Laura (33:05):
Incorporate that.

Kayla (33:06):
We ended up looking it up in Finnish, because my family, my great-great-great-grandpa Jakob Toropainen is from Finland. So we looked it up in Finnish and it was korppi or, well, yeah, technically korppi, emphasis on the P, but we're not going to correct everybody. Yeah, it's korppi. But yeah, and we loved the way that it sounded, we thought that it really sort of captured the playful intrigue and the spirit of raven. And we looked it up and it's not trademarked.

Laura (33:44):
There's only one other Korppi Cafe in Finland.

Kayla (33:48):
Anything. Yeah.

Laura (33:49):
I think it's fine. It just really started to settle in, and we just ended up feeling really, really good about it in the end.

Betsy Bonnema (34:01):
Awesome. When you registered for bootcamp, I think you were Corvus, and then by the time you got here you were Korppi. Okay. I want to ask you a question about a specific piece of your business model, and it kind of ties to the whole the advice you were getting, and I know this was sort of a point of contention with some of the people giving you advice. I think it's still this way, but you don't have a drive-through, is that right? I think this is just such a meaningful decision that you made. You are a coffee shop without a drive-through, which I'm guessing a lot of people said that was ridiculous, or not?

Laura (34:39):
Not only are we a coffee shop without a drive-through right now, but we're a coffee shop that technically has a drive-through-

Kayla (34:44):
And it's not being used.

Laura (34:44):
And it's not being used for a drive-through right now.

Betsy Bonnema (34:48):
Tell us why it was important to you to not have a drive-through, and go against the norm, and go against advice. What did that mean to you, to make that decision?

Kayla (34:57):
Well, for sure, starting off it was a whole nother thing to have to figure out, and we wanted to keep things simple to start off with. We were doing things well rather than overextending ourselves.

Laura (35:10):
Just because we had it, we didn't want to feel like we had to use it, when it wasn't originally in our plan.

Kayla (35:17):
But it felt really important to not start off with the drive-through, because we really wanted to encourage people to come in and to be in the space, and to interact face-to-face, and to take the moment out of their day to slow down and just enjoy the moment, I guess. We live in like a society that's so fast paced, and it's all about drive-throughs and getting places quickly, and efficiency. And I think that, after COVID, I think a lot of people are really appreciating the opportunities to slow down and to appreciate things a bit more and to share a space when we can, and to-

Laura (36:13):
Have a masked conversation. Yeah. And I think the whole drive-through culture thing... There's a time and a place for fast food and driving through. I read that there's some new Taco Bell model that's opening up, that's, nothing against Taco Bell, but it's this whole new drive-through thing where there's four drive-through lanes, and the kitchen is upstairs, and the food comes through like a chute, like at a bank and just pops out at you. You don't even have to interact with a human at all. Which, again, there's a time of place for that.

Laura (36:50):
I'm an introvert, and there are sometimes when I don't want to interact with a human either, but I think especially with food and the kind of slower, intentional food that we do, there's something about actually seeing the people that are creating it, and seeing it being created. When you don't have that sight of it, it just removes you further from the fact that this is something that came out of the ground, that was prepared by this person right here, and is being prepared for you. It's another way to be intentional about what you're doing and what you're putting in your body, and where you're spending your money, and your time.

Kayla (37:29):
And it's just easier to get to know people when they're there and you get to talk to them and chat while you're like making their drink, versus it's a lot more difficult to do that when they're on the other side of a wall.

Betsy Bonnema (37:44):
Yeah. Well, I just love that. I love how you really dug into your personal values and beliefs and your vision for the culture you're creating and said, "You know what? No, that's does not right for us." And probably against a lot of advice, but I love that. It just shows such intentionality in what you're trying to create.

Laura (38:08):
We would like to open up the drive up possibility once we have more staff, so that we don't have to take away from that in-person experience with the customers that are there. If we have somebody who can just be focusing on the drive through, and doesn't have to be pulled in all sorts of different directions and end up ignoring the person that's standing right in front of them, because there's a car in line. We want to provide the convenience, and especially this day and age with COVID, if somebody doesn't feel comfortable coming in we want to be able to do that. But until we have the right staff so that we can, the right number of staff, so that we can actually give everybody the intention, attention, and intentionality that we want, it didn't feel aligned with what we were planning for.

Kayla (38:51):
And probably what we wind up doing will be a bit different from drive-throughs like Starbucks and Caribou that people are used to. We're still just figuring out how to do it.

Laura (39:06):
But the good thing about this too, is it gives people an idea of the culture that we have there, so they know that when they come there, they're not just going to drive through and get something thrown together and handed to them.

Kayla (39:18):
Even though there's a lid on it, they know that it's still made with care.

Betsy Bonnema (39:24):
You're building such a strong, authentic foundation for your employees too, so they understand the priorities is that connection versus the speed. Well, it's been awesome. We've had a great conversation so far. I had one more question, and then I'm going to ask you if you have any advice for others, but part of this experience you're creating has allowed you the courage, I think, to maybe charge a little bit more for the products that you make, because of how thoughtfully you make them, create them, put them together, and the experience you're creating for customers. Tell us about how you were able to set your price points and feel really good about it, and how that process has happened for you.

Laura (40:12):
It's been a challenge, for sure. All the way through the home-based bake shop, too.

Kayla (40:17):
It's difficult. If we could just give away everything for free and still be able to pay rent and pay employees, of course we would. We really want to keep it accessible. We can't compete with Starbucks, or Caribou, or quantity over quality mindsets. Purchasing high-quality ingredients and local ingredients, and you're trying to support people with reasonable prices for their ingredients, and for what they're producing. Obviously, our cost of goods is going to be higher and we have to compensate for that, because ultimately it's really important for us to be choosing those higher-quality ingredients and supporting people that we know, people in the community, even if it's going to cost more. Because ultimately, by supporting your neighbor, you're creating a stronger community in many ways.

Laura (41:22):
Keeping the money within the community, too.

Kayla (41:25):
It's a whole circle.

Laura (41:27):
Yeah. We literally had a full circle moment when we went out... On Small Business Saturday, we went out to this cidery because this potter that we like was out there, and he was selling his stuff. So we met him and told him about our place, and he is like, "Oh, I've been meaning to come out there," and so we bought some pots from him, a plate and a mug. Actually, this cup right here. We paid him cash, and then the next day he came in and he was like, "Oh, I didn't think I'd be here so soon." But he came in, and he paid us cash, and so we're like, "Look at that. It's just literally just going in a circle."

Laura (42:01):
We try to keep it as accessible as we can, so we're not making a huge profit margin on the things that we could make if we just sourced everything with the cheapest possible ingredients. But, because that's where our priorities lie, we have to do that in order to continue to feel good about what we're doing-

Kayla (42:19):
And our customers-

Laura (42:21):
We haven't gotten any complaints about pricing. People-

Kayla (42:24):
And I think that that's because our customers know that when they buy things from us that they are supporting their local egg farmers, they are supporting a local potter.

Laura (42:38):
We're doing the work for them, so that they know that they can trust that what they're getting is high-quality. I think that it shows that there are enough people the do care about that. Like we said in bootcamp, we're not going to be for everybody. We can't. As much as we want to be in certain ways and we want to be accessible, we're going to find our people and our people are going to find us. I think it's showed us that there are all these people that do want what we are providing, and they're willing to pay for it, because they know that what goes into it is worth it, it's quality, and we're not just some CEOs sitting somewhere making millions of dollars, benefiting from them spending more money. This money-

Kayla (43:30):
We have a very small house.

Laura (43:32):
This money is literally going back to the people who sold the products to us.

Betsy Bonnema (43:39):
That's fantastic. You're in the right place at the right time, I feel like, with that approach. That's fantastic. I want to wrap up with some of your advice for people who may be listening, who are thinking of starting a business, who are maybe building a business. You guys are young, you're just at the beginning of this entrepreneurial career. Give us advice about how do you have sort of the vision for that when you're young, and where do you think this will take you, and how do you encourage others to go after what they are dreaming of?

Laura (44:17):
I feel like, when you said, "Where do you think this will take you?" I feel like my answer is like, "I don't know. I don't know where this..." We just want to keep doing what we're doing, and keep growing, and doing better, and building this community that is here, I guess. Just enhancing this community. Then I thought, "Well, that's kind of the advice that I would give to somebody," is like, "Yeah, have a plan and know what you want, and know it wholeheartedly, and be ready to put 150% of yourself into it," but also, I think for us, the huge thing that we keep coming back to is, "Be open to what comes your way," because if we had just stuck doggedly to the exact details of the plan that was in our head originally, we wouldn't be where we are now.

Laura (45:09):
A lot of these things, like we said before, that came up really opened us up to these possibilities of like, "Oh, you know what? Actually, this is great. This can work." It may not be exactly what we thought going into it, but sometimes the universe has a better plan for you anyway.

Kayla (45:31):
You want to stick doggedly to your why and the reason you're doing what you're doing, but everything else is flexible. As long as you are staying true and authentic to that motivating factor, because-

Laura (45:49):
Because then it will find a way.

Kayla (45:50):
Right. Exactly. It will come through.

Betsy Bonnema (45:53):
That's really great advice. I know you learned that the hard way. You experienced the stress and anxiety of having things not go your way, and then realizing it was your openness to change that got you where you are. That's really good for people who are trying to start a business or thinking out it, the first time they hit a big obstacle or challenge it's easy to kind of say, "You know what? Maybe not." You guys were at that point many times, it sounds like.

Betsy Bonnema (46:25):
Well, it was really fun to be able to learn your story. When you came into bootcamp, I don't know if lost is the right word for where you guys were at, I think what I saw is that maybe you were losing some connection with your original passion because of the details of starting a business. You were in the muck of every single detail there is around remodeling a space, and buying equipment. I felt like you were a little pulled away from that original joy and passion for achieving what you're doing now. Seems like what you found was a renewed confidence. We could see what you were doing. We could see you were going to be successful, and it was fun to be able to give you our perspective, looking into your business and what we saw. I think it's amazing what you're doing.

Laura (47:23):
That was another crazy, perfect timing thing, that that bootcamp happened to work out when it did, and that Jackie from Swift happened to say, "No, you really should think about going." Even though we're like, "Oh yeah. Marketing, whatever," because that was a hugely transformative experience for us. And yes, brought us back to that passion. It sounds, I guess, cliche or something and that's what you promise people it will do, but it really-

Kayla (47:58):
It does it.

Laura (48:00):
It really did. Yeah. It really did. It just gave us that renewed passion to push those final... Because we were about a month away from opening when we went to it, so it just gave us that additional push to just keep going, it's going to be worth it. And it was.

Betsy Bonnema (48:19):
Yeah, and you made time to do it, which was huge at the moment. Your process was probably about impossible, but you did it. Well, I'm just really grateful I got the chance to get to know you guys. I think I can speak for our whole team, we're really grateful you're out doing the work you're doing, because you're just making the world a little bit better. It was fantastic and just really, really cool. Thank you for sharing your story. Thanks for your advice. And maybe we'll be back in touch and follow up with how things are going after maybe your first years under your belt. Maybe we'll check in, and find out what new things you've learned and been open about, and changed your mind about, but still feel good about. Thanks, you guys. We'll talk soon.

Kayla (49:10):
Perfect.

Laura (49:10):
Thank you so much.

Kayla (49:11):
Thanks for having us.

Betsy Bonnema (49:15):
Thanks for listening to Lost and Found. If you want to learn more about our Startup programs, go to startupscene.cc. Watch for more episodes and hear more stories from entrepreneurs and small business owners across the Midwest who were lost and then found something that changed everything. Thanks.