November 30, 2023 • 31 mins
Join us as we take an intimate look into the world of Amanda Phillips, the resilient owner of Tamp & Grind, who bravely stepped into entrepreneurship following her husband's untimely passing. We embark on this rich journey together, navigating the exhilarating highs and the unexpected challenges Amanda faced. From fixing an old espresso machine to the thrill of securing a loan for a much needed upgrade, we uncover the diverse skill set required to run a thriving café.
This episode is far from just a business tutorial, it's about personal growth, vulnerability, and the creation of deep community bonds. Amanda's story is one of courage and resilience, turning her personal vulnerability into a catalyst for forging meaningful connections within her community. Learn how she joined hands with Communities Unlimited to give her coffee shop a new lease of life, creating an inviting space that not only serves up steamy cups of coffee but also warmth and camaraderie.
As we take a peek into the future with Amanda, we explore the exciting plans under her sleeves - from introducing specialty coffees and seasonal menus to hosting community events. After a 14-year journey with Tamp & Grind, Amanda continues to innovate and evolve, solidifying her spot as an inspiring figure in the world of entrepreneurship. So, buckle up and get ready to be inspired! This episode is packed with valuable lessons, heartwarming stories, and plenty of motivation to ignite your entrepreneurial spirit!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This was not a jump that I wanted to make initially
and it was certainly notsomething that I said man, I'm
really setting out to do thisbusiness, but because of my
husband's passion for it and hislove of people and community
and what we had worked so hardto build while he was still
(00:23):
alive, I just felt like that wassomething that it really needed
to continue.
You just have to be okay withbeing vulnerable and say, like
this is it, this is who I am asa person and what I who I am and
what I love and what I love todo, and I'm sharing that with
you and I hope that you love itas much as I do.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome to episode 19 of Small Talk with Communities
Unlimited, the podcast designedto empower rural communities and
entrepreneurs.
And today on the podcast, wehave the pleasure of speaking
with another entrepreneur AmandaPhillips Is her name.
Amanda, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm great Thanks, Chris.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm doing well.
Could you tell us a little bitabout your business, Tampend
Grind?
What is it?
Set the scene for us and thenwe'll dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Tampend Grind is a local coffee shop in downtown
Alexandria, Louisiana.
We will be open for 14 yearsnext February and we are getting
ready to do a rather largeremodel.
At least to us, it is a ratherlarge remodel.
We're going to redo our entirecoffee bar and we are upgrading
(01:30):
our espresso machine, which is abig deal for a coffee shop.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
When you're an entrepreneur and you're looking
for funding.
That's how we originally got toknow you, correct?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yes, yes, communities Unlimited helped us with our
first loan.
This is our second time workingwith Communities Unlimited.
You guys have been great.
The first time we were able todo some remodeling and upgrades
that we needed to the otherportion of the shop.
We were able to replace someflooring and buy some much
needed equipment refrigeration,tables, chairs, espresso
(02:01):
grinders several things actuallythat we needed desperately.
It was a really greatexperience for us and we are
overjoyed that we get to workwith y'all again.
It's just been a great process.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, you know, anytime somebody comes back and
revisits us for a need, we likethat as well.
It's cool to see how long agodid you first come to us.
Do you know off the top of yourhead?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I don't know exactly, but I think it's probably been
about five years, five years orso since our first go around.
Six years, five, six years.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Gotcha and I just have to tell you people should
check out.
If they're listening to this,they should check out you guys'
social media and your websiteand stuff.
You guys do a really good jobof creating like a sense of
community around your coffeeshop.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Thank, you Is that important to you.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
It must be.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh yeah, it's incredibly important.
We have always consideredourselves a large part of our
community and we love to be ableto have a spot for people to
come and express themselves.
We have all kinds of differentpeople that come in.
You can imagine, from localcollege students to other
entrepreneurs who are startingout.
(03:18):
A lot of creatives that come inuse our space as a creative
maker space.
Basically, they startbrainstorming with us and then
move on to wherever they'redoing their projects.
We have families coming in,friends just coming in to visit
people who are coming back homefrom college visits, things like
(03:41):
that.
We've also had a lot of firstdates and we've even had
marriage proposals and weddingsat the shop.
We definitely considerourselves a part of the
community and we just absolutelylove being a part of all of
those different walks of lifeand moments big moments and
little ones in people's lives.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Take me back to 14 years ago.
How and why have you alwayswanted to be an entrepreneur?
Have you wanted to own a coffeeshop?
What's the story?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I did not.
Actually that was not the planoriginally.
I met my late husband, who wasactually the one that opened up
the shop.
I was doing a play in downtownAlexandria and my friends and I
kept walking past the space andseeing the paper up on the
windows.
We were so excited.
(04:33):
We can't wait.
This local coffee shop isopening up.
There was really nothing likethat in the area at the time.
The shop finally opened up andI met my husband and things just
sort of progressed from there.
He passed away about sevenyears ago.
After that I kind of had to makea choice.
I was teaching at the timeActually I was an English
(04:55):
teacher for high school and Ineeded to sort of decide you
know, is this what I want to do?
I knew that the shop needed tostay open.
I just wasn't sure if that wasgoing to be something that I was
going to take on or if I wasgoing to hand that off to
someone else.
I decided ultimately that thatwas something that I wanted to
(05:17):
do to make sure that I was ableto carry out some of Jeff's
original ideas and his passionfor coffee and for his business.
Thank you, it just fit so manyareas that I was interested in
pursuing.
I mean, there was the creativeaspect of it.
(05:38):
Of course, there's a teachingelement to it, which is part of
who I was as a teacher.
You know, there is ananalytical side, and I enjoy
problem solving and that's verymuch part of being an
entrepreneur, and all this pieceis sort of coming together,
along with a love of people andcommunity.
(06:00):
It just made sense to me and soI decided that that was where I
needed to be and that's whereI've been ever since.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So seven years after you have made that leap to, you
know full-time ownership of thecoffee shop and running it and
all of that kind of stuffyourself.
I imagine you've learned acouple things along the way,
yeah for sure.
Could you pick out a couple ofthings, maybe that you've
learned that if somebody is in asimilar position and is
(06:33):
wondering the same things youwere wondering, is there
anything that you could liketell them that you know you've
picked up on?
That's like maybe somethingthat surprised you, that kind of
thing.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Sure.
Well, I have spoken to severalstudents, student groups that
have come in.
You know I've had otherteachers and asked me to come
talk about being an entrepreneur, and I always tell them you
know, just pay attention to allof your classes, because you
really have no idea what skillsets you're going to be bringing
(07:03):
with you into the future,especially if you're planning on
owning your own business.
I certainly did not expect tobe doing as much math as I do
now and I definitely did notexpect to enjoy it as much as I
do now.
So that you know that problemas solving aspect of it is
something I actually reallyenjoy and that was highly
(07:25):
unexpected.
I also am pretty surprised thatI get the chance to be as
creative as I do in my business.
Every day we're coming up withideas and I get to share and
collaborate with not onlymembers of my staff but with the
community, and that's such ajoy for me.
It's just so rewarding, andthat was a bit of a surprise,
(07:49):
for sure.
Another one that I guess wassort of on the I can't believe
I'm doing this is the mechanicalaspect of it as well.
You know, having a coffee shop,you don't really think about
being in a business or abuilding where you often have to
you know, fix things.
You know things go wrongespresso machines, especially
when they're old, they break andlearning how to fix those types
(08:13):
of things and manage that hasbeen an experience and yeah, did
not expect that at all but it'sreally been.
I don't know.
It's sort of empoweringactually.
Once you learn those things andyou are able to solve those
problems on your own or you knowthe right people to call who
(08:34):
can help you out, it just makesyou feel great to be able to
have such a wide I don't know,thank you area of skill set.
You know big skill set likethat is just awesome.
I really am happy about that.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, so when you're a business owner, you're forced
to become an inch deep and amile wide pretty quick, and then
some of them, you get way morethere.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Absolutely, yes, yes.
Very quickly you learn thatthere's a lot more to it than
what you originally hadanticipated.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
So is an old espresso machine.
Is that kind of like having anold car where you know if you
bang on it the right way it maywork for you?
That kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, actually very similar.
They cost about as much as anice new used car in some cases,
and the last about as long as2006,.
I guess is when that baby wasmade.
So it's time definitely for anew one.
Actually, it just took a littlenosedive on us this past
(09:36):
weekend and it was so crazybecause there was a conference
coming in.
We were waiting for this.
We didn't know it.
The people from the conferencecame in and said hey, we're so
excited to be here.
We're here for three days.
There's a huge aviationconference.
We can't wait to come to yourshop.
We stand in there going likewe're really sorry, but our
espresso machine is not workingtoday.
(09:57):
What else can we do for you?
So, yeah, sometimes you bang onit and you can get it to work.
Sometimes you can be thatperson who can solve those sorts
of mechanical problems andsometimes you just have to ask
for help.
But my staff is wonderful.
They're so great about beinginnovative and letting our
(10:18):
guests know.
Yeah, we're still open, we havehouse, we have other options
that we could offer people.
Certainly, the espresso machineis kind of the center point,
the centerpiece of your shop.
So we are beyond overjoyed thatCommunities Unlimited is
working with us so that we areable to get a new one.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
To use the loan for a new espresso machine.
So tell me about that.
What kind of stuff is thatgoing to allow you to do?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Oh, this is amazing.
So this machine has got a lotof bells and whistles.
One thing that can do is whatthey call a soft infusion
espresso pull.
So you are pressurizing thewater into your espresso shots,
like if you go to a coffee shopand you're ordering a latte,
(11:07):
you're going to pull thoseespresso shots and then they go
into what's called a portafilter.
It's high pressurized waterthat goes into that, into the
espresso, and outcomes theactual espresso drink.
This machine what it will do.
You can program it to softinfuse, which means that the
pressure can be very gentlyacclimated instead of full force
(11:31):
, and then that will soak thosegrounds a little bit for a few
seconds before it completelypushes through, and that changes
the flavor profile of yourcoffee.
Actually, I like to describe itas sort of similar to wine
tasting.
The very small things that youcan do when you are creating
(11:52):
coffee change so much aboutthose flavors that you're able
to get from it.
So this will allow us to dothat.
It also has a feature where wecan pull two different kinds of
programming on that, so we canpush a paddle one way and it
will pull a shot for our houseespresso, which is just awesome,
(12:15):
an amazing blend that ourroaster does as a proprietary
blend for us, and then we candial it in and push the paddle
the opposite way and we'll beable to pull and program it to
be even more specific like forsingle origin espresso, things
like that and we can guide ourcustomers and let them know,
(12:37):
like, hey, if you're wanting alatte and you're wanting it with
oat milk, you should really useour house espresso.
Or if you're wanting a latteand you're wanting to add
vanilla to it, you might want totry the single origin today.
And that's just beyond anythingwe've ever been able to do
before.
So that's amazing.
It's got some you know, selfcleaning features that we
(12:59):
absolutely love.
That helps my team and I thesebeautiful cool touch steam wands
, so we don't have to worryabout burning ourselves Like we
have in the past, which isawesome.
It's also going to have apowder coat coloring on it, so
it'll just be custom just forour shop.
We are pumped.
We are very, very excited aboutit.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Okay, what color did you get?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
We're gonna get it.
It's pink, but it's not likebright fuchsia pink, it's more
like almost like a blush coralpink.
It's going to go really wellbecause we're the bar build out
is a terrazzo.
Our shop is always been a funkylittle place.
A lot of coffee shops.
If you go into modern coffeeshops they're sort of white, you
(13:41):
know very white and black orwhite and maybe green or
something like this.
Ours, the inside of the shop,is almost an avocado green and
then there's just colorseverywhere.
We've got local art all up onthe walls, a ton of different
pieces that our customers havedonated to us over the years
antique coffee pots, things likethat.
(14:03):
So it's really sort of anorganic place that has grown
over the course of 14 years.
But we definitely need a newbar.
It's fallen apart and this willalso help us grow and continue
the growth that we've had overthe past few years, help us with
our bar flow.
But the machine the pinkmachine, which is my favorite
(14:24):
color and so I'm really happyabout it it was definitely going
to go kind of with that funkystyle that we've got going on
and those terrazzo countertopswhich are a cream, and they've
got some blue and green and acoral-y sort of pink in them too
.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
That sounds cool.
I like hearing you talk aboutit, because I can tell you're
very tired of not it.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I was a little hesitant and nervous at first I
was a joke almost at firstbecause I thought, well, I'm
just going to go with somethingnormal, like blue or a turquoise
.
Several of the customersregulars who came in they said,
well, what color are you goingto get?
Because I said we're going toget a custom colored and all
(15:07):
this stuff.
And I said, well, what I'dreally like to do is get it pink
because that's my favoritecolor.
And they said, amanda, get itthat pink color, it's going to
be great, everyone's going tolove it, get it.
And I was like, all right, I'mdoing this.
Yeah, I'm excited about it, andthey're excited about it, which
is just as important to me asmy own excitement really,
(15:29):
because, like you said, the shopis such a huge part of our
community that I want to makesure that in these big decisions
like this, it's almost likewe're deciding together and I
love that.
I love that community feelingof being a part of something.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We're talking to Amanda Phillips, who's tamping
grind to coffee shop in downtownAlexandria, louisiana.
Amanda has come back tocommunities and limited a second
go around for financing for thestuff we just talked about your
new bar, the newest espressomachine and everything.
You were hitting on somethingthere that I want to ask you
about, and it's just out ofcuriosity.
I'm not a business owner, havenever been an entrepreneur
(16:06):
myself.
So when you build that sense ofcommunity around your shop and
everybody feels like they have astake in it, do you as an owner
, ever I mean, does that ever?
I don't know concern you?
I don't know what the word I'mlooking for there is, but does
it ever feel like?
Or you said that's a good thingand you love it?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, yeah, for sure I do love it.
I think the only, you know,maybe drawback to that is it
does make me a little bitnervous because it does feel,
like you said, that the stakesare a little bit higher in that
case, you know, I think thatthat's true of any business.
If you're investing your timeand your love into whatever it
is you're doing, then you reallyhave to be okay with being
(16:45):
vulnerable, and that's a hardspot for a lot of people to be
in, and I really think that thatis a huge block for a lot of
people, why they don't start abusiness.
Because you hear a lot ofpeople say, oh, I love to bake,
I want to open a bakery, or oh,man, I really love reading books
, I would love to open a littleused bookstore or something like
that, but they never sort ofmake that jump.
(17:08):
This was not a jump that Iwanted to make initially and it
was certainly not something thatI said man, I'm really setting
out to do this business, butbecause of my husband's you know
passion for it and his love ofpeople and community and what we
had worked so hard to buildwhile he was still alive, I just
(17:33):
felt like that was somethingthat it really needed to
continue.
You know, you just have to beokay with being vulnerable and
say, like this is it, this iswho I am as a person and what I
who I am and what I love andwhat I love to do, and I'm
sharing that with you and I hopethat you love it as much as I
do.
And, as scary as that is, it'sjust been wonderful to see that
(17:56):
people are so into it.
They're just, they're excitedabout it and that makes me truly
very happy because, like yousaid, I mean it can be a very
scary place to be.
You're making we're making ahuge change in something that is
a staple and has been a partgenerationally of some of these
people's lives.
You know, they were kids whenthey started coming in and now
(18:16):
they're adults and it's going tolook different, you know, and
that can be scary, but so farI've just gotten nothing but
positive feedback, so that'sgreat.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's awesome.
But you know you have your teamby your team of employees, but
then you also have like a largerteam of your community
contributing and also just beingpart of the whole experience.
You know, I mean people.
It's a it's a buzzwordy type ofthing to talk about brands and
experiences and stuff like that.
We really execute that andreally do that.
(18:45):
It's not as easy as it sounds,but it can be a heck of a lot of
fun.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, it's so much fun.
I just think it again.
It goes along with beingvulnerable and showing that
people that you are incrediblygenuine and what you are doing
and how much you care about whatyou're doing and how much you
care about them.
Our customers are so much moreto us than just people who walk
through the door and buy a cupof coffee.
You know they're like a lot ofthem.
(19:11):
They've been with us for, youknow, 10 plus years, 13, 14
years, and we've grown up withthem as they've grown up, you
know, and so it's just wonderfulto be in that place where you
know them.
They know you.
So in some cases we see themmore often than they see.
You know their families becausethey're at the shop for so many
(19:33):
hours doing work and vice versa, and we're at the shop for so
many hours doing work.
So just building thoserelationships is really
important.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I love that you a lot of times refer to him as tampon
grinders.
It's like that's really cool,because it does make you feel
like you're part of somethingyou know.
Take me back to when youoriginally came to Communities
Unlimited.
I wasn't employed here when youcame to us.
How did you find out about usand all of that kind of stuff?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Sure.
So I have a business coach andthey're part of what's called
Louisiana Central now, and mybusiness coach, gary Perkins, is
an awesome man.
He's been an entrepreneur formany, many years and has started
several different businesses.
He has been with us at the shopsince the beginning and after
(20:20):
Jeff passed away, I met with himand I said, gary, you know I
need some help.
I'm not quite sure where tostart here.
I had quite a bit of retailexperience in my younger years.
It was like a in college andthat sort of thing, but nothing
on the scale.
So he started me out with hisbusiness acceleration program
(20:41):
and then we quickly learnedafter I was able to sort of get
everything I feed on the ground,so to speak.
He said well, you know, now'sthe time for you to start
thinking about doing some ofthese renovations that needed to
happen and getting theseequipment so that you can grow.
And he had already worked withCommunities Unlimited on several
(21:02):
other projects and was verypleased with that experience.
And so he recommended me toy'all and we met and chatted and
then just started that process.
You know, it was a much,actually much smaller process,
because I was my first loan out,didn't ask for that much, just
wanted to make sure I could getit and get the minimum of what
(21:25):
we needed.
But it all worked out, it wasgreat and never had any problems
.
It was just such a smoothexperience and everyone was so
kind and very supportive, andit's been that way this time as
well.
You know, I cannot thank MissGlenda, the lady that we worked
with at the outset, because shewas just wonderful.
She would sit on the phone withme for hours and ask me
(21:47):
questions and I would ask herquestions, and I don't think
that without this experience, Iwould have even known as much
about my business as I do now,because it really made me look
closely, very, very close at theaspects of my business that I
needed to make sure we'resolidified and then also say,
(22:10):
okay, well, we need to changethese things a little bit,
because that will help us growin the direction that where I
wanted to grow, and you guyswere there every step of the way
.
So I'm very happy.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
That's an important point you're making there, that
when you invest in your business, you also have to examine your
business to make sure thatyou're able to fulfill those
investments.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, you want to make surethat if you're investing money
and time into a business thatyou'll be able to and that
you're applying for financing,that you'll be able to make good
on those payments andeverything like that, and you
don't want to end up in asituation where you're not able
to do that.
So, examining your business thatclosely and really knowing it
(22:54):
inside and out man, it was toughand it took a lot of time, but
I feel so good about it becauseit really has changed some
aspects of where we're going now, and especially when we get all
the new equipment and stufflike that it definitely made me
say, okay, yes, we're on theright track, these decisions I'm
(23:15):
making, they make sense, asopposed to just if you're not
looking at the numbers andyou're I'm a creative person,
like I said in the beginning, soI'll say, yeah, that sounds
great, and then I just want todo it.
But if I'm not looking at thosehard numbers and making sure
that those numbers make sensewith along with those creative
(23:35):
aspects, then you really justdon't know.
You're just, it's a shot in thedark, you know, like, maybe
it'll make it, maybe it won't,and nobody wants to feel that
uncertain and so having theguidance of communities already
to say you know like you need tolook at this, can you break
this down and then tell me howmuch this is going to do and
those sorts of things?
That was so helpful for meBecause, like I said it, just
(23:58):
let me see that the decisionsthat I was making, the creative
decisions I was making, weresmart ones, or where they
weren't smart, I'm able toeliminate that.
You know, take them out of mybusiness, because you know you
just can't do it.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
We're really happy that you're a part of our circle
now.
It's really cool to hear andfor me sitting on this side of
things, I get to hear similarstories like this, and it's
inspiring all the time to seethat happen.
I'm the creative type too.
I literally just said the otherday to a co-worker I'm going to
throw a thousand ideas at youand you're you have to be the
(24:33):
one to tell me which one makessense, because I'll do all of
them.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yes, exactly, I'll do all of them, or I'll want to do
all of them at least.
And yeah, sometimes I need my,you need people on your staff to
kind of say no, no, no orthat's too much.
You know we can't do all thatand that sort of thing, and I'm
very lucky that I have that aswell.
I have such a great team thatworks with me and those girls, I
(24:57):
mean, they keep me grounded andthey are also creative.
But I just love that we're ableto have, you know, big picture
people and then the detailpeople.
And that's important as well asan entrepreneur, to know that
you have people like that onyour team that are strong in
areas that you're not strong in.
Let them know constantly howvalue they are.
(25:17):
Because of that, there's no wayI would have been able to do it
just by myself, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yep, amanda Phillips from Tampend Grind, alexandria,
louisiana, is who we're talkingwith today.
You brought it up a minute ago,so let me ask you about it.
Where are you going?
What's plans for the future?
And I mean, obviously you wantto get your espresso machine and
all that stuff, but where areyou going?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah for sure.
So we're, like I said, superpumped about this espresso
machine.
We're excited to introduceCentral Louisiana to a little
bit more when it comes tospecialty coffee.
So that's first and foremost.
We've also upgraded a lot ofour food service in the shop.
A lot of our baked goods aremade from scratch, and then
(25:56):
we've introduced just in thelast few months some food
options, lunches and a littlebit more complex breakfast items
, and so we'd love to justcontinue on with that.
In fact, this week we'rechanging it up.
Two of our sandwich options areturning into like more of a
winter seasonal thing, and Ithink that's really the
direction that we're headed.
We are because, again, I'd loveto be creative.
(26:18):
It does mean that I get boredsometimes and I have all these
ideas and my team has a lot ofideas too, and it's great to be
able to execute those.
To say like these are staples.
You know we have, we know wewant to offer a lunch menu item.
We don't want people to be tooconfused by too many items.
So let's say we're going tohave two sandwiches, that's it,
(26:39):
but maybe we switch those outseasonally so we don't get bored
.
They don't get bored, thosetypes of things.
Yeah, that's kind of thedirection, both in food and with
our drinks.
We work a lot on our drinkmenus for the season.
We love it so much fun.
We're working on holiday todayand then just really getting
(27:00):
some more things in thecommunity out there.
We've had quite a few differenttypes of events over the years.
You know everything from musicto poetry.
Of course, we've had trivianights, we've had art classes,
we've had all kinds of differentthings in it, and I just love
hearing what the community wantsand being able to offer a space
(27:22):
to make that happen.
So I'm hoping that with the newbar and the way that the bar
will be set up, it'll offer suchan easy bar flow.
It's a tight little space rightthere where the customers have
to be and where we have to be,and so this new setup will allow
for a little bit more freedomin that area and faster service,
(27:43):
and so we're pumped about thatthat they'll be able to get in
and out where they need to beand but also enjoy the shop for
as long as they want.
That's the goal for the futureto make sure that we are still
offering a great space for allof those things that we said,
whether it's from working on ahomework project or going on a
(28:05):
first date or creating somethingfor your work project, whether
that be a creative project orsomething very highly analytical
that you need to do, we wantthat space to be a camping
ground, your space to be ourspace and continue sort of that
(28:25):
tradition.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
That's awesome.
So we're about to wrap up here,but I have a very important
question for you.
If I were to come to PampingGrind in Alexandria, Louisiana,
what should I order?
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Oh man, I love this question but I hate this
question because I myselfpersonally am such a plain Jane.
I love just black coffee.
I'm a black coffee drinker.
I love to taste all thedifferent flavor notes that I
can taste in it, or just a plainlatte like that as well,
because you still get thataspect of you know the espresso
(28:58):
that you're tasting.
If you're looking at that, alot of people are really into
like sweet drinks.
So our first deal is like well,what do you like?
Do you like hot or cold?
Do you like sweet, not sweet?
Do you want caffeine, notcaffeine?
So those would be my questions.
I would have to ask you for usand then I'd be able to guide
you a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
I can answer those.
Yes, I want caffeine.
I would like it probably cold.
Not a huge coffee drinker, soprobably cold and not especially
sweet.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
But you don't.
You want coffee or you don'twant coffee.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, I'll take coffee.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
All right, all right, so not especially sweet.
If you want to go with moretraditional, one of our most
popular is, you know, of course,a vanilla or brown sugar
cinnamon latte.
Those are pretty high up onthat list for not too too sweet.
If you want to go a little bitmore non-traditional, a lot of
people are enjoying likelavender lattes.
(29:54):
Right now, lavender, vanilla,lavender honey is really popular
and so that would be a littlesomething different you could
try.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
There you go.
Next time I'm down in Louisiana, I'm going to hit you up and
I'm going to be like Amanda said.
I should get this.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, yeah, for sure Do it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
All right, amanda, I appreciate your time.
Amanda Phillips is the owner ofTamp and Grind in Alexandria,
louisiana.
Did you say you're about tocelebrate your 14th year, or
your 14th year is?
Speaker 1 (30:21):
We're about to, so the 14th we like to call it our
Tamp Aversary and that'll be onFebruary the 5th, and that is
also the anticipated day forreopening of the new bar.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Well, amanda, congratulations.
Thank you for letting us bepart of your journey.
Thank you for taking the timeto do this today, and if
anyone's listening in there inthe area, I highly suggest you
go by there, because what I'veseen from your website and your
social media presence, you guysseem to be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And so thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, I appreciate you coming on the small talk
podcast today.
Amanda, I appreciate your time.
Episode 19 of the books andwe'll be back in a couple of
weeks with episode number 20.
Thanks again, Amanda.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Thanks, Chris.
This was not a jump that I wanted to make initially
and it was certainly notsomething that I said man, I'm
really setting out to do thisbusiness, but because of my
husband's passion for it and hislove of people and community
and what we had worked so hardto build while he was still
(00:23):
alive, I just felt like that wassomething that it really needed
to continue.
You just have to be okay withbeing vulnerable and say, like
this is it, this is who I am asa person and what I who I am and
what I love and what I love todo, and I'm sharing that with
you and I hope that you love itas much as I do.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome to episode 19 of Small Talk with Communities
Unlimited, the podcast designedto empower rural communities and
entrepreneurs.
And today on the podcast, wehave the pleasure of speaking
with another entrepreneur AmandaPhillips Is her name.
Amanda, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm great Thanks, Chris.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm doing well.
Could you tell us a little bitabout your business, Tampend
Grind?
What is it?
Set the scene for us and thenwe'll dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Tampend Grind is a local coffee shop in downtown
Alexandria, Louisiana.
We will be open for 14 yearsnext February and we are getting
ready to do a rather largeremodel.
At least to us, it is a ratherlarge remodel.
We're going to redo our entirecoffee bar and we are upgrading
(01:30):
our espresso machine, which is abig deal for a coffee shop.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
When you're an entrepreneur and you're looking
for funding.
That's how we originally got toknow you, correct?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yes, yes, communities Unlimited helped us with our
first loan.
This is our second time workingwith Communities Unlimited.
You guys have been great.
The first time we were able todo some remodeling and upgrades
that we needed to the otherportion of the shop.
We were able to replace someflooring and buy some much
needed equipment refrigeration,tables, chairs, espresso
(02:01):
grinders several things actuallythat we needed desperately.
It was a really greatexperience for us and we are
overjoyed that we get to workwith y'all again.
It's just been a great process.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, you know, anytime somebody comes back and
revisits us for a need, we likethat as well.
It's cool to see how long agodid you first come to us.
Do you know off the top of yourhead?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I don't know exactly, but I think it's probably been
about five years, five years orso since our first go around.
Six years, five, six years.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Gotcha and I just have to tell you people should
check out.
If they're listening to this,they should check out you guys'
social media and your websiteand stuff.
You guys do a really good jobof creating like a sense of
community around your coffeeshop.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Thank, you Is that important to you.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
It must be.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh yeah, it's incredibly important.
We have always consideredourselves a large part of our
community and we love to be ableto have a spot for people to
come and express themselves.
We have all kinds of differentpeople that come in.
You can imagine, from localcollege students to other
entrepreneurs who are startingout.
(03:18):
A lot of creatives that come inuse our space as a creative
maker space.
Basically, they startbrainstorming with us and then
move on to wherever they'redoing their projects.
We have families coming in,friends just coming in to visit
people who are coming back homefrom college visits, things like
(03:41):
that.
We've also had a lot of firstdates and we've even had
marriage proposals and weddingsat the shop.
We definitely considerourselves a part of the
community and we just absolutelylove being a part of all of
those different walks of lifeand moments big moments and
little ones in people's lives.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Take me back to 14 years ago.
How and why have you alwayswanted to be an entrepreneur?
Have you wanted to own a coffeeshop?
What's the story?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I did not.
Actually that was not the planoriginally.
I met my late husband, who wasactually the one that opened up
the shop.
I was doing a play in downtownAlexandria and my friends and I
kept walking past the space andseeing the paper up on the
windows.
We were so excited.
(04:33):
We can't wait.
This local coffee shop isopening up.
There was really nothing likethat in the area at the time.
The shop finally opened up andI met my husband and things just
sort of progressed from there.
He passed away about sevenyears ago.
After that I kind of had to makea choice.
I was teaching at the timeActually I was an English
(04:55):
teacher for high school and Ineeded to sort of decide you
know, is this what I want to do?
I knew that the shop needed tostay open.
I just wasn't sure if that wasgoing to be something that I was
going to take on or if I wasgoing to hand that off to
someone else.
I decided ultimately that thatwas something that I wanted to
(05:17):
do to make sure that I was ableto carry out some of Jeff's
original ideas and his passionfor coffee and for his business.
Thank you, it just fit so manyareas that I was interested in
pursuing.
I mean, there was the creativeaspect of it.
(05:38):
Of course, there's a teachingelement to it, which is part of
who I was as a teacher.
You know, there is ananalytical side, and I enjoy
problem solving and that's verymuch part of being an
entrepreneur, and all this pieceis sort of coming together,
along with a love of people andcommunity.
(06:00):
It just made sense to me and soI decided that that was where I
needed to be and that's whereI've been ever since.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So seven years after you have made that leap to, you
know full-time ownership of thecoffee shop and running it and
all of that kind of stuffyourself.
I imagine you've learned acouple things along the way,
yeah for sure.
Could you pick out a couple ofthings, maybe that you've
learned that if somebody is in asimilar position and is
(06:33):
wondering the same things youwere wondering, is there
anything that you could liketell them that you know you've
picked up on?
That's like maybe somethingthat surprised you, that kind of
thing.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Sure.
Well, I have spoken to severalstudents, student groups that
have come in.
You know I've had otherteachers and asked me to come
talk about being an entrepreneur, and I always tell them you
know, just pay attention to allof your classes, because you
really have no idea what skillsets you're going to be bringing
(07:03):
with you into the future,especially if you're planning on
owning your own business.
I certainly did not expect tobe doing as much math as I do
now and I definitely did notexpect to enjoy it as much as I
do now.
So that you know that problemas solving aspect of it is
something I actually reallyenjoy and that was highly
(07:25):
unexpected.
I also am pretty surprised thatI get the chance to be as
creative as I do in my business.
Every day we're coming up withideas and I get to share and
collaborate with not onlymembers of my staff but with the
community, and that's such ajoy for me.
It's just so rewarding, andthat was a bit of a surprise,
(07:49):
for sure.
Another one that I guess wassort of on the I can't believe
I'm doing this is the mechanicalaspect of it as well.
You know, having a coffee shop,you don't really think about
being in a business or abuilding where you often have to
you know, fix things.
You know things go wrongespresso machines, especially
when they're old, they break andlearning how to fix those types
(08:13):
of things and manage that hasbeen an experience and yeah, did
not expect that at all but it'sreally been.
I don't know.
It's sort of empoweringactually.
Once you learn those things andyou are able to solve those
problems on your own or you knowthe right people to call who
(08:34):
can help you out, it just makesyou feel great to be able to
have such a wide I don't know,thank you area of skill set.
You know big skill set likethat is just awesome.
I really am happy about that.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, so when you're a business owner, you're forced
to become an inch deep and amile wide pretty quick, and then
some of them, you get way morethere.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Absolutely, yes, yes.
Very quickly you learn thatthere's a lot more to it than
what you originally hadanticipated.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
So is an old espresso machine.
Is that kind of like having anold car where you know if you
bang on it the right way it maywork for you?
That kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, actually very similar.
They cost about as much as anice new used car in some cases,
and the last about as long as2006,.
I guess is when that baby wasmade.
So it's time definitely for anew one.
Actually, it just took a littlenosedive on us this past
(09:36):
weekend and it was so crazybecause there was a conference
coming in.
We were waiting for this.
We didn't know it.
The people from the conferencecame in and said hey, we're so
excited to be here.
We're here for three days.
There's a huge aviationconference.
We can't wait to come to yourshop.
We stand in there going likewe're really sorry, but our
espresso machine is not workingtoday.
(09:57):
What else can we do for you?
So, yeah, sometimes you bang onit and you can get it to work.
Sometimes you can be thatperson who can solve those sorts
of mechanical problems andsometimes you just have to ask
for help.
But my staff is wonderful.
They're so great about beinginnovative and letting our
(10:18):
guests know.
Yeah, we're still open, we havehouse, we have other options
that we could offer people.
Certainly, the espresso machineis kind of the center point,
the centerpiece of your shop.
So we are beyond overjoyed thatCommunities Unlimited is
working with us so that we areable to get a new one.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
To use the loan for a new espresso machine.
So tell me about that.
What kind of stuff is thatgoing to allow you to do?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Oh, this is amazing.
So this machine has got a lotof bells and whistles.
One thing that can do is whatthey call a soft infusion
espresso pull.
So you are pressurizing thewater into your espresso shots,
like if you go to a coffee shopand you're ordering a latte,
(11:07):
you're going to pull thoseespresso shots and then they go
into what's called a portafilter.
It's high pressurized waterthat goes into that, into the
espresso, and outcomes theactual espresso drink.
This machine what it will do.
You can program it to softinfuse, which means that the
pressure can be very gentlyacclimated instead of full force
(11:31):
, and then that will soak thosegrounds a little bit for a few
seconds before it completelypushes through, and that changes
the flavor profile of yourcoffee.
Actually, I like to describe itas sort of similar to wine
tasting.
The very small things that youcan do when you are creating
(11:52):
coffee change so much aboutthose flavors that you're able
to get from it.
So this will allow us to dothat.
It also has a feature where wecan pull two different kinds of
programming on that, so we canpush a paddle one way and it
will pull a shot for our houseespresso, which is just awesome,
(12:15):
an amazing blend that ourroaster does as a proprietary
blend for us, and then we candial it in and push the paddle
the opposite way and we'll beable to pull and program it to
be even more specific like forsingle origin espresso, things
like that and we can guide ourcustomers and let them know,
(12:37):
like, hey, if you're wanting alatte and you're wanting it with
oat milk, you should really useour house espresso.
Or if you're wanting a latteand you're wanting to add
vanilla to it, you might want totry the single origin today.
And that's just beyond anythingwe've ever been able to do
before.
So that's amazing.
It's got some you know, selfcleaning features that we
(12:59):
absolutely love.
That helps my team and I thesebeautiful cool touch steam wands
, so we don't have to worryabout burning ourselves Like we
have in the past, which isawesome.
It's also going to have apowder coat coloring on it, so
it'll just be custom just forour shop.
We are pumped.
We are very, very excited aboutit.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Okay, what color did you get?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
We're gonna get it.
It's pink, but it's not likebright fuchsia pink, it's more
like almost like a blush coralpink.
It's going to go really wellbecause we're the bar build out
is a terrazzo.
Our shop is always been a funkylittle place.
A lot of coffee shops.
If you go into modern coffeeshops they're sort of white, you
(13:41):
know very white and black orwhite and maybe green or
something like this.
Ours, the inside of the shop,is almost an avocado green and
then there's just colorseverywhere.
We've got local art all up onthe walls, a ton of different
pieces that our customers havedonated to us over the years
antique coffee pots, things likethat.
(14:03):
So it's really sort of anorganic place that has grown
over the course of 14 years.
But we definitely need a newbar.
It's fallen apart and this willalso help us grow and continue
the growth that we've had overthe past few years, help us with
our bar flow.
But the machine the pinkmachine, which is my favorite
(14:24):
color and so I'm really happyabout it it was definitely going
to go kind of with that funkystyle that we've got going on
and those terrazzo countertopswhich are a cream, and they've
got some blue and green and acoral-y sort of pink in them too
.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
That sounds cool.
I like hearing you talk aboutit, because I can tell you're
very tired of not it.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I was a little hesitant and nervous at first I
was a joke almost at firstbecause I thought, well, I'm
just going to go with somethingnormal, like blue or a turquoise
.
Several of the customersregulars who came in they said,
well, what color are you goingto get?
Because I said we're going toget a custom colored and all
(15:07):
this stuff.
And I said, well, what I'dreally like to do is get it pink
because that's my favoritecolor.
And they said, amanda, get itthat pink color, it's going to
be great, everyone's going tolove it, get it.
And I was like, all right, I'mdoing this.
Yeah, I'm excited about it, andthey're excited about it, which
is just as important to me asmy own excitement really,
(15:29):
because, like you said, the shopis such a huge part of our
community that I want to makesure that in these big decisions
like this, it's almost likewe're deciding together and I
love that.
I love that community feelingof being a part of something.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We're talking to Amanda Phillips, who's tamping
grind to coffee shop in downtownAlexandria, louisiana.
Amanda has come back tocommunities and limited a second
go around for financing for thestuff we just talked about your
new bar, the newest espressomachine and everything.
You were hitting on somethingthere that I want to ask you
about, and it's just out ofcuriosity.
I'm not a business owner, havenever been an entrepreneur
(16:06):
myself.
So when you build that sense ofcommunity around your shop and
everybody feels like they have astake in it, do you as an owner
, ever I mean, does that ever?
I don't know concern you?
I don't know what the word I'mlooking for there is, but does
it ever feel like?
Or you said that's a good thingand you love it?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, yeah, for sure I do love it.
I think the only, you know,maybe drawback to that is it
does make me a little bitnervous because it does feel,
like you said, that the stakesare a little bit higher in that
case, you know, I think thatthat's true of any business.
If you're investing your timeand your love into whatever it
is you're doing, then you reallyhave to be okay with being
(16:45):
vulnerable, and that's a hardspot for a lot of people to be
in, and I really think that thatis a huge block for a lot of
people, why they don't start abusiness.
Because you hear a lot ofpeople say, oh, I love to bake,
I want to open a bakery, or oh,man, I really love reading books
, I would love to open a littleused bookstore or something like
that, but they never sort ofmake that jump.
(17:08):
This was not a jump that Iwanted to make initially and it
was certainly not something thatI said man, I'm really setting
out to do this business, butbecause of my husband's you know
passion for it and his love ofpeople and community and what we
had worked so hard to buildwhile he was still alive, I just
(17:33):
felt like that was somethingthat it really needed to
continue.
You know, you just have to beokay with being vulnerable and
say, like this is it, this iswho I am as a person and what I
who I am and what I love andwhat I love to do, and I'm
sharing that with you and I hopethat you love it as much as I
do.
And, as scary as that is, it'sjust been wonderful to see that
(17:56):
people are so into it.
They're just, they're excitedabout it and that makes me truly
very happy because, like yousaid, I mean it can be a very
scary place to be.
You're making we're making ahuge change in something that is
a staple and has been a partgenerationally of some of these
people's lives.
You know, they were kids whenthey started coming in and now
(18:16):
they're adults and it's going tolook different, you know, and
that can be scary, but so farI've just gotten nothing but
positive feedback, so that'sgreat.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's awesome.
But you know you have your teamby your team of employees, but
then you also have like a largerteam of your community
contributing and also just beingpart of the whole experience.
You know, I mean people.
It's a it's a buzzwordy type ofthing to talk about brands and
experiences and stuff like that.
We really execute that andreally do that.
(18:45):
It's not as easy as it sounds,but it can be a heck of a lot of
fun.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, it's so much fun.
I just think it again.
It goes along with beingvulnerable and showing that
people that you are incrediblygenuine and what you are doing
and how much you care about whatyou're doing and how much you
care about them.
Our customers are so much moreto us than just people who walk
through the door and buy a cupof coffee.
You know they're like a lot ofthem.
(19:11):
They've been with us for, youknow, 10 plus years, 13, 14
years, and we've grown up withthem as they've grown up, you
know, and so it's just wonderfulto be in that place where you
know them.
They know you.
So in some cases we see themmore often than they see.
You know their families becausethey're at the shop for so many
(19:33):
hours doing work and vice versa, and we're at the shop for so
many hours doing work.
So just building thoserelationships is really
important.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I love that you a lot of times refer to him as tampon
grinders.
It's like that's really cool,because it does make you feel
like you're part of somethingyou know.
Take me back to when youoriginally came to Communities
Unlimited.
I wasn't employed here when youcame to us.
How did you find out about usand all of that kind of stuff?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Sure.
So I have a business coach andthey're part of what's called
Louisiana Central now, and mybusiness coach, gary Perkins, is
an awesome man.
He's been an entrepreneur formany, many years and has started
several different businesses.
He has been with us at the shopsince the beginning and after
(20:20):
Jeff passed away, I met with himand I said, gary, you know I
need some help.
I'm not quite sure where tostart here.
I had quite a bit of retailexperience in my younger years.
It was like a in college andthat sort of thing, but nothing
on the scale.
So he started me out with hisbusiness acceleration program
(20:41):
and then we quickly learnedafter I was able to sort of get
everything I feed on the ground,so to speak.
He said well, you know, now'sthe time for you to start
thinking about doing some ofthese renovations that needed to
happen and getting theseequipment so that you can grow.
And he had already worked withCommunities Unlimited on several
(21:02):
other projects and was verypleased with that experience.
And so he recommended me toy'all and we met and chatted and
then just started that process.
You know, it was a much,actually much smaller process,
because I was my first loan out,didn't ask for that much, just
wanted to make sure I could getit and get the minimum of what
(21:25):
we needed.
But it all worked out, it wasgreat and never had any problems
.
It was just such a smoothexperience and everyone was so
kind and very supportive, andit's been that way this time as
well.
You know, I cannot thank MissGlenda, the lady that we worked
with at the outset, because shewas just wonderful.
She would sit on the phone withme for hours and ask me
(21:47):
questions and I would ask herquestions, and I don't think
that without this experience, Iwould have even known as much
about my business as I do now,because it really made me look
closely, very, very close at theaspects of my business that I
needed to make sure we'resolidified and then also say,
(22:10):
okay, well, we need to changethese things a little bit,
because that will help us growin the direction that where I
wanted to grow, and you guyswere there every step of the way
.
So I'm very happy.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
That's an important point you're making there, that
when you invest in your business, you also have to examine your
business to make sure thatyou're able to fulfill those
investments.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, you want to make surethat if you're investing money
and time into a business thatyou'll be able to and that
you're applying for financing,that you'll be able to make good
on those payments andeverything like that, and you
don't want to end up in asituation where you're not able
to do that.
So, examining your business thatclosely and really knowing it
(22:54):
inside and out man, it was toughand it took a lot of time, but
I feel so good about it becauseit really has changed some
aspects of where we're going now, and especially when we get all
the new equipment and stufflike that it definitely made me
say, okay, yes, we're on theright track, these decisions I'm
(23:15):
making, they make sense, asopposed to just if you're not
looking at the numbers andyou're I'm a creative person,
like I said in the beginning, soI'll say, yeah, that sounds
great, and then I just want todo it.
But if I'm not looking at thosehard numbers and making sure
that those numbers make sensewith along with those creative
(23:35):
aspects, then you really justdon't know.
You're just, it's a shot in thedark, you know, like, maybe
it'll make it, maybe it won't,and nobody wants to feel that
uncertain and so having theguidance of communities already
to say you know like you need tolook at this, can you break
this down and then tell me howmuch this is going to do and
those sorts of things?
That was so helpful for meBecause, like I said it, just
(23:58):
let me see that the decisionsthat I was making, the creative
decisions I was making, weresmart ones, or where they
weren't smart, I'm able toeliminate that.
You know, take them out of mybusiness, because you know you
just can't do it.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
We're really happy that you're a part of our circle
now.
It's really cool to hear andfor me sitting on this side of
things, I get to hear similarstories like this, and it's
inspiring all the time to seethat happen.
I'm the creative type too.
I literally just said the otherday to a co-worker I'm going to
throw a thousand ideas at youand you're you have to be the
(24:33):
one to tell me which one makessense, because I'll do all of
them.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yes, exactly, I'll do all of them, or I'll want to do
all of them at least.
And yeah, sometimes I need my,you need people on your staff to
kind of say no, no, no orthat's too much.
You know we can't do all thatand that sort of thing, and I'm
very lucky that I have that aswell.
I have such a great team thatworks with me and those girls, I
(24:57):
mean, they keep me grounded andthey are also creative.
But I just love that we're ableto have, you know, big picture
people and then the detailpeople.
And that's important as well asan entrepreneur, to know that
you have people like that onyour team that are strong in
areas that you're not strong in.
Let them know constantly howvalue they are.
(25:17):
Because of that, there's no wayI would have been able to do it
just by myself, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yep, amanda Phillips from Tampend Grind, alexandria,
louisiana, is who we're talkingwith today.
You brought it up a minute ago,so let me ask you about it.
Where are you going?
What's plans for the future?
And I mean, obviously you wantto get your espresso machine and
all that stuff, but where areyou going?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah for sure.
So we're, like I said, superpumped about this espresso
machine.
We're excited to introduceCentral Louisiana to a little
bit more when it comes tospecialty coffee.
So that's first and foremost.
We've also upgraded a lot ofour food service in the shop.
A lot of our baked goods aremade from scratch, and then
(25:56):
we've introduced just in thelast few months some food
options, lunches and a littlebit more complex breakfast items
, and so we'd love to justcontinue on with that.
In fact, this week we'rechanging it up.
Two of our sandwich options areturning into like more of a
winter seasonal thing, and Ithink that's really the
direction that we're headed.
We are because, again, I'd loveto be creative.
(26:18):
It does mean that I get boredsometimes and I have all these
ideas and my team has a lot ofideas too, and it's great to be
able to execute those.
To say like these are staples.
You know we have, we know wewant to offer a lunch menu item.
We don't want people to be tooconfused by too many items.
So let's say we're going tohave two sandwiches, that's it,
(26:39):
but maybe we switch those outseasonally so we don't get bored
.
They don't get bored, thosetypes of things.
Yeah, that's kind of thedirection, both in food and with
our drinks.
We work a lot on our drinkmenus for the season.
We love it so much fun.
We're working on holiday todayand then just really getting
(27:00):
some more things in thecommunity out there.
We've had quite a few differenttypes of events over the years.
You know everything from musicto poetry.
Of course, we've had trivianights, we've had art classes,
we've had all kinds of differentthings in it, and I just love
hearing what the community wantsand being able to offer a space
(27:22):
to make that happen.
So I'm hoping that with the newbar and the way that the bar
will be set up, it'll offer suchan easy bar flow.
It's a tight little space rightthere where the customers have
to be and where we have to be,and so this new setup will allow
for a little bit more freedomin that area and faster service,
(27:43):
and so we're pumped about thatthat they'll be able to get in
and out where they need to beand but also enjoy the shop for
as long as they want.
That's the goal for the futureto make sure that we are still
offering a great space for allof those things that we said,
whether it's from working on ahomework project or going on a
(28:05):
first date or creating somethingfor your work project, whether
that be a creative project orsomething very highly analytical
that you need to do, we wantthat space to be a camping
ground, your space to be ourspace and continue sort of that
(28:25):
tradition.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
That's awesome.
So we're about to wrap up here,but I have a very important
question for you.
If I were to come to PampingGrind in Alexandria, Louisiana,
what should I order?
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Oh man, I love this question but I hate this
question because I myselfpersonally am such a plain Jane.
I love just black coffee.
I'm a black coffee drinker.
I love to taste all thedifferent flavor notes that I
can taste in it, or just a plainlatte like that as well,
because you still get thataspect of you know the espresso
(28:58):
that you're tasting.
If you're looking at that, alot of people are really into
like sweet drinks.
So our first deal is like well,what do you like?
Do you like hot or cold?
Do you like sweet, not sweet?
Do you want caffeine, notcaffeine?
So those would be my questions.
I would have to ask you for usand then I'd be able to guide
you a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
I can answer those.
Yes, I want caffeine.
I would like it probably cold.
Not a huge coffee drinker, soprobably cold and not especially
sweet.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
But you don't.
You want coffee or you don'twant coffee.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, I'll take coffee.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
All right, all right, so not especially sweet.
If you want to go with moretraditional, one of our most
popular is, you know, of course,a vanilla or brown sugar
cinnamon latte.
Those are pretty high up onthat list for not too too sweet.
If you want to go a little bitmore non-traditional, a lot of
people are enjoying likelavender lattes.
(29:54):
Right now, lavender, vanilla,lavender honey is really popular
and so that would be a littlesomething different you could
try.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
There you go.
Next time I'm down in Louisiana, I'm going to hit you up and
I'm going to be like Amanda said.
I should get this.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, yeah, for sure Do it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
All right, amanda, I appreciate your time.
Amanda Phillips is the owner ofTamp and Grind in Alexandria,
louisiana.
Did you say you're about tocelebrate your 14th year, or
your 14th year is?
Speaker 1 (30:21):
We're about to, so the 14th we like to call it our
Tamp Aversary and that'll be onFebruary the 5th, and that is
also the anticipated day forreopening of the new bar.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Well, amanda, congratulations.
Thank you for letting us bepart of your journey.
Thank you for taking the timeto do this today, and if
anyone's listening in there inthe area, I highly suggest you
go by there, because what I'veseen from your website and your
social media presence, you guysseem to be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And so thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, I appreciate you coming on the small talk
podcast today.
Amanda, I appreciate your time.
Episode 19 of the books andwe'll be back in a couple of
weeks with episode number 20.
Thanks again, Amanda.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Thanks, Chris.
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