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Jon Mitchell

Male

Conway, AR

United States

Profile Information:

What is your position in the coffee industry?: home barista
Where are you located? ( City and Country ): Conway United States
How many years have you been in the industry?: 0
If you are a barista or shop, are you interested in a barista exchange with another coffee shop/barista?: maybe
Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.: I just completed the business and barista training at Bellissimo's American Barista & Coffee School. My barista skills would be considered beginner level. I'm interested in opening a coffee bar here in my hometown of Conway, Arkansas.
What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?: Italy, Australia, ...... anywhere and everywhere really.
About Me:: I'm a 31 year old father (of 1 little boy) and husband. I've been in the IT field for almost 10 years now and am looking for something to be passionate about. I'm looking for a career that I can really enjoy and something to satisfy my entrepreneurial desire.
About My Company:: My vision for my company is a comfortable-cool, downtown Portland meets college town Arkansas. I want a place that screams quality and knowledgeable specialty coffee. The name will be Zeteo -Coffee Bistro. Zeteo is a greek word that means: to seek i.e. require, demand, to crave, demand something from someone .

The name really describes my search and craving for a career that I can enjoy and be passionate about and it also stands for what I feel my potential customers are searching for, which is a refined specialty coffee establishment that is cool to hang out at.
What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?: The sense of community and the culmination of the arts that seem to come together in a coffee shop.
Website:: http://www.twitter.com/zeteocoffee

Comment Wall:

Mike Spence

Hi Jon, As one of the sponsors here and of the ABC school I'd like to welcome you to bX! If you ever need anything, let me know!
Mike@SelbySoft.com
800-454-4434

Feb 16, 2009
Matt Milletto

Hey Jon! Welcome to Barista Exchange! It was great meeting you last week here in Portland. Talk to you soon.

- Matt

Feb 16, 2009
Shari Coia Fulton

Hi Jon! Thanks for your comment on the mid-life coffee thread! I'm a little bit ahead of you...I'm 43, turning 44 next month (gulp). I totally understand where you are coming from. IT project management just isn't "feeding my soul". You are also hooked up with a great group of folks at Bellissimo (Hi Matt!) and also Mike at Selby Soft is awesome too. Mike's been checking in with me and helping to keep me motivated.

I've been working on this for over a year now - no kidding. I've decided to take my time, save money like CRAZY, and educate myself as much as possible.
I've decided in this economy to try to find a location that has already been built out - either as a restaurant/deli/bakery/coffee shop etc., or is closing as one of the above. If you can walk into a place for $50K that already has most/all of the equipment, and is "turn key" than you are WAY ahead of the game...of course, it needs to be the right location, in the right market, and something you can "tweak" to give it the quality personality.
I have several coffee shop friends who have had to close their shops in the last year - many of them opened in the height of the "boom" here - 2005 - paying top rents, and paying a fortune to build out a brand new - plain vanilla space. When the economy fell, they couldn't afford the high rent, and keep up payments on big loans. So my lesson learned was get in as low as you can without sacrificing quality or location, and negotiation the tar out of your rent. And look, look, look for locations and be patient. I have 3 different brokers looking for spaces for me now, negotiated on one space that fell through, and am looking at 4 new options. Bottom line, be willing to walk away if the deal/location isn't right. I had to walk away from one I really liked. :-( But I'm not going to lose my house over this!
Btw...I used to live in Dallas, TX, and used to show horses over in Little Rock! I hope you are able to escape the corporate golden handcuffs! Best to you!
Shari

Feb 16, 2009
Laurie Criger

Hey Jon. I woiuld be happy to talk with you about your adventure. I've been in business for almost 3 years (in August) and although it's been stressful, it's the best thing I've ever done. It sounds like you've already gone to ABC?? That was the BEST investment I made. That, and a good quality machine! If you would like to talk with me you can get ahold of me at my shop most every day of the week (870) 743-3218. You also have a great distributor for most products right in Conway. Specialty Beverage of Arkansas is incredible. I look forward to talking with you.
Laurie Criger

Mar 10, 2009
Laurie Criger

I'm usually at the shop Monday - Friday from 7 AM until at least 2 PM. --- minus times I need to go to the store or something. I wouild be glad to show you the shop on a weekend. I'm not an expert but am willing to share my experiences with you. I was reading some of your threads and I think I remember you saying you liked the Aurelia?? That is the one I chose. I LOVE it! Before going to Portland, I was set on another machine, but after working on the Aurelia, I changed my mind.
Call me to arrange a time. Usually the best time to visit would be about 1:30 - 2:00 PM. In the coffee shop world, you never know when to expect a busy time! I look forward to talking with you.

Laurie

Mar 11, 2009
Andrew Jensen

Keep up the research. I read that you attended ABC school - They're great. It seems that you're getting all your ducks in a row! I'll pass on the good word to Erin. Thanks

Mar 12, 2009
Mark

Hi, I'd like to start an email chain for us that are in the process of opening a coffee shop/cafe. Are you interested? If so, send me you email and I will include it. I figure we can ask each other the questions we have, I'm sure we all have different experiences and knowledge that we can learn from each.

Mark

Mar 12, 2009
Laurie Criger

What great questions! I wish I would have asked someone about payroll before I did my business plan! I have 6 employees at this time; 1 full time (40 hrs.), 2 almost full time (25 - 35 hrs.) and 3 part time (15 - 20 hrs.). I take AT LEAST 42 - 45 hours a week behind the bar. My payroll is around $1,500 every 2 weeks. Payroll taxes are a lot. Off hand it's about 15%. I almost never have more that 2 on the clock at a time, some evenings I only have 1. The only time I have to have more is when we have live bands, then I try to be the 3rd. Hope this helps. Looking forward to talking with you.

Mar 23, 2009
Laurie Criger

My shop is a stand alone building. It was a BBQ place before me. It sat vacant for 6 years. Already had a drive thru (which I would HIGHLY suggest!) and it's about 2000 sq. ft. I went through a local bank. The SBA has a lot of hoops to jump through. For instance, if the land was EVER used as a gas station, you have to have their EPA out to take samples which can take months to complete. You also have to put up a large percentage of cash yourself and they match funds. This was all told to me by my loan officer. There was something else, but I can't remember exactly what it was. Anyway, we decided it didn't look as good as we thought. We put up some collateral of our own and then our equipment covered the rest of the loan. So basically, the bank owns my business ;-) ! My equipment costs were about $60,000, and I even had some of it left from the previous business.

Mar 24, 2009
Dan Dean

Hey Jon,
Our Web site is www.latteyourway.com. It is pretty basic as we put it up just before we opened and have not touched it since. Just do not have the time right now. We are located in a very small town, Linden Michigan. It is southwest of Flint -yep - the very same Flint the Michael Moore made not so famous. If you go to my page on the exchange there is a photo of the inside. - dd

Mar 25, 2009
Paul Yates

I would be glad to swap ideas with you. Right now it seems I have more questions than answers, as I am sure you can understand.

Apr 1, 2009