February 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Episode 33: Sara Aschliman / Wyoming Community Coffee
As an architect, Sara Aschliman recognized the need for a "third space" in her community. The founder of Wyoming Community Coffee is on My Cincy Small Business Story to talk about brewing business and branching out as a roaster and wholesaler.
As an architect, Sara Aschliman recognized the need for a "third space" in her community. The founder of Wyoming Community Coffee is on My Cincy Small Business Story to talk about brewing business and branching out as a roaster and wholesaler.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello. My name is Michael Dawson. You're host of my
SINCEI Small Business Stories. In this episode, I'll be talking
with Sarah Ashland and owner of the Wyoming Community Coffee Shop.
We'll find out more about that, but first we'll be
right back after this message.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Did you know twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they had the support from a mentor.
My SINCEY Small Business Story is brought to you by
the volunteer mentors of Score Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization
that helps launch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year.
Our vision is to give every person the support they
(00:39):
need to thrive as a small business owner. Visit score
dot org slash Greater Cincinnati to request a free business
mentor or share your own expertise. You can also listen
and subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles,
and owning a successful small business.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome Sarah. Hello, So I did a little background and
your website has a great story about how you got started.
Tell us a little bit about what you were doing
and how you wound up opening a business.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, it's an interesting one. My background is actually in architecture,
not coffee, but I did grow up in a small
business in a small town, and so I know what
it's like to have a family, neighborhood business. And the
reason I really got into coffee was because our community
(01:30):
really needed a space.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Coffee shops are often referred to as third spaces.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
They're not your house, they're not your place of worship
or something, oh, your work. It's a third space where
you can get together with friends and other community members,
and we really were in need of one.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
And after a few years of looking around saying.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
You should do this, or you should do this, I
finally was like, Okay, maybe I should do this.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
If I go and buy coffee, obviously I could sit
there and drink coffee, But do you have like small
meeting space or anything like that, or just your facility
it's set up for it.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
When we first opened, we did actually in the coffee shop,
but we've had the wonderful problem of outgrowing our space,
and so now we have a whole meeting room and
events space next door in a business called the Workshop
and the coffee shop in the Workshop work hand in hand.
The Workshop is a great place to be able to
(02:26):
take a professional meeting or work quietly undisturbed during the day,
while the coffee shop is definitely more bustling and social.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
How did you find out about SCORE?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Googled everything.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I did, Like when I was talking to friends about,
you know, thinking about starting this, I believe, you know,
a word of mouth recommendation, and.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Once I found the website, I got really excited and
definitely jumped right in.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
How did the mentor help you? What role did he
play in helping you it started?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, he was great.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
We met a few times early on after I had
taken some of the SCORE basic classes, some of the
sort of small business one oh one.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
So I was able to take my specific.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Questions to my mentor and to have him sort of
review the worksheets and some of the early accounting setups
I was working on and just get his feedback. Was
really so helpful, and you know, he made me think
about the business a little differently asked questions that I
didn't wouldn't have asked myself, and had to go find
(03:37):
the answers, and overall it was extremely encouraging.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Did you have other resources that you called upon?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I can't remember if the small Business Administration courses are
separate from SCORE or not. If so, then yes, I
definitely took advantage of some of those. Otherwise, I just
really tried to call on my network of other entrepreneurials
and definitely other coffee shops. Did a lot of interviewing
and research and tell me about how you got started,
(04:08):
and what would you do differently, and what advice do
you have. And I've been you know, had the honor
of being able to do that for new startups now
and it's something I'm always happy to talk about.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, owning the coffee shops seems like a romantic idea,
but it's probably a lot of work, a lot more
work than most people think. What are some of the
challenges you face in the coffee business.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Well, I mean we.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Are a little bit seasonal, so in January it's a
little cold and people don't want to leave their house,
so you know, you have to think about that. One
of the things that I love about the shop is
the staff that we've been able to hire, getting to
know the employees and during their stint here.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
It's just really really a privilege and a really fun
thing to do.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
However, coffee shop employees tend to be somewhat transient. We
have a lot of students, especially college students, and so
when they graduate.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
I have to say goodbye, and that is really really
hard on me when I when I've fallen in love
and they're part of our family.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So that was that was something that I anticipated but
maybe didn't fully internalize until I had to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What would surprise people to know about the Wyoming Community
Coffee Shop That.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
It's not owned by the City of Wyoming. That we
got that a lot early on.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yes, we are a community focused organization, but we are
a private business.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
We're here to support the community, but we do.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Have to pay our own bills and try to stay
in the black. We just started roasting a couple of
years ago when we when I first opened the business,
that was not something that I had a goal of.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
That seemed very intimidating.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
But as we grew, and particularly as I gained staff
that became very interested in it, and I felt confident
that was a direction we could go.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
We did tackle that as part of our renovation. A
couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
We got a grant from Main Street Ventures to buy
our roaster and it has just been an incredible experience
and allowed us to not only further the careers of
our staff here at the shop, but allows us to
choose where we're sourcing our beans, and for us, that
gave us the opportunity to really further our mission of
(06:25):
supporting women owned businesses.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
We are women owned business.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And so we like to buy our beans from women
producers and collaborators, and this has really enabled.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Us to do that. So to roast your own coffee,
you're buying like green beans, I guess I mean process
it through a roaster which gives you that nice, rich
dark color of the beans, and then you grind those
and that makes your coffee. I would assume that in
a nutshell. Yes, okay, Now do you sell whole being coffee? Thanks?
(06:58):
A whole being coffee you just roasting for your use
in the shop.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Well know, we absolutely have retail bans and that is
a big part of our ongoing revenue stream. We are
just now branching out into some wholesale accounts to supply
other businesses. And we have a couple of partnerships with
some nonprofits where where you're co branding are the coffee
(07:23):
that we roast with their organization and a part of
the proceeds goes back to their organization.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Oh, very interesting, that's very good. I have I'm a
big coffee fan, so I do like coffee shops and
try to stop by when I can. So where are
you located?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
We are in Wyoming, Ohio, which is in the heart
of Cincinnati. That's the internal joke, well actually an external
joke because everyone seems to get confused. But yes, we
are an internal suburb of Cincinnati and we are on
Springfield Pike at four thirty four Springfield Pike. We are
(08:05):
close to Other businesses in our block include b which
is a smoothie and specialty food restaurant. It's delicious, Kindred
Flow Yoga, the Sticker Shop is in our building, and then,
as I mentioned earlier, the Workshop, which is our event space,
which makes for a pretty awesome women owned block.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
So there is lots to come and enjoy.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
So if someone wanted to use the workshop set your
space workshop, do they like go to your website and
sign up for it or how would that work? If
I wanted to rent the space for my use for
whatever that might be.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
There is a link from the Wyoming Community Coffee website
to the workshop's website, which then offers options for different
meeting and coworking spaces, and then a link to email
us if you're interested in booking a private event, which
we also offer at the coffee shop on the weekends.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So you're I'm going to go back to your retail
being coffee. I'm assuming it's branded Wyoming Community Coffee. But
do you put in parms Ohio? Do so people know?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
We have our address listed so that you know to
the people both our physical and our email address so
you can locate us. We also co brand it with
the if if it's a Cafe Feminino Coffee, which is
one of the organizations we buy from, we co brand
it with that or another women producer.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
We buy from, as Katsia Duke out of Honduras.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And then, like I mentioned the nonprofit, our current collaboration
is Refresh Collective.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So shout out to them, Well, well, why don't you
give us your address again in your website if you'd
like to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, our address is four three four Springfield Pike in Wyoming, Ohio.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
We are Exit ten off seventy five.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
If you are trying to locate us in Cincinnati and
our web address is Wyoming Communitycoffee dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Very straightforward. So I have a bonus question for you,
and that is what's on the horizon? What's new that
you've been working on or thinking about for your business.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I think we're really focused on wholesale accounts and trying
to tell our story as a women owned business, specifically
with our collaboration with women owned producers. It's a fairly
unique story in the Cincinnati area, and I think the
more people find out about the opportunities there the better.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Well, thank you for being on the program. We've been
talking with Sarah Ashlemon, owner of the Wyoming Community Coffee
Shop in Wyoming, Ohio, and thanks again Sarah. If you'd
like to sign up with a mentor, or we'd like
to become a mentor, go to score dot org and
click on the appropriate link. Please subscribe to this podcast
(11:20):
and share the link. Thank you for listening.
Hello. My name is Michael Dawson. You're host of my
SINCEI Small Business Stories. In this episode, I'll be talking
with Sarah Ashland and owner of the Wyoming Community Coffee Shop.
We'll find out more about that, but first we'll be
right back after this message.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Did you know twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they had the support from a mentor.
My SINCEY Small Business Story is brought to you by
the volunteer mentors of Score Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization
that helps launch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year.
Our vision is to give every person the support they
(00:39):
need to thrive as a small business owner. Visit score
dot org slash Greater Cincinnati to request a free business
mentor or share your own expertise. You can also listen
and subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles,
and owning a successful small business.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome Sarah. Hello, So I did a little background and
your website has a great story about how you got started.
Tell us a little bit about what you were doing
and how you wound up opening a business.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, it's an interesting one. My background is actually in architecture,
not coffee, but I did grow up in a small
business in a small town, and so I know what
it's like to have a family, neighborhood business. And the
reason I really got into coffee was because our community
(01:30):
really needed a space.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Coffee shops are often referred to as third spaces.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
They're not your house, they're not your place of worship
or something, oh, your work. It's a third space where
you can get together with friends and other community members,
and we really were in need of one.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
And after a few years of looking around saying.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
You should do this, or you should do this, I
finally was like, Okay, maybe I should do this.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
If I go and buy coffee, obviously I could sit
there and drink coffee, But do you have like small
meeting space or anything like that, or just your facility
it's set up for it.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
When we first opened, we did actually in the coffee shop,
but we've had the wonderful problem of outgrowing our space,
and so now we have a whole meeting room and
events space next door in a business called the Workshop
and the coffee shop in the Workshop work hand in hand.
The Workshop is a great place to be able to
(02:26):
take a professional meeting or work quietly undisturbed during the day,
while the coffee shop is definitely more bustling and social.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
How did you find out about SCORE?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Googled everything.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I did, Like when I was talking to friends about,
you know, thinking about starting this, I believe, you know,
a word of mouth recommendation, and.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Once I found the website, I got really excited and
definitely jumped right in.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
How did the mentor help you? What role did he
play in helping you it started?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, he was great.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
We met a few times early on after I had
taken some of the SCORE basic classes, some of the
sort of small business one oh one.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
So I was able to take my specific.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Questions to my mentor and to have him sort of
review the worksheets and some of the early accounting setups
I was working on and just get his feedback. Was
really so helpful, and you know, he made me think
about the business a little differently asked questions that I
didn't wouldn't have asked myself, and had to go find
(03:37):
the answers, and overall it was extremely encouraging.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Did you have other resources that you called upon?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I can't remember if the small Business Administration courses are
separate from SCORE or not. If so, then yes, I
definitely took advantage of some of those. Otherwise, I just
really tried to call on my network of other entrepreneurials
and definitely other coffee shops. Did a lot of interviewing
and research and tell me about how you got started,
(04:08):
and what would you do differently, and what advice do
you have. And I've been you know, had the honor
of being able to do that for new startups now
and it's something I'm always happy to talk about.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, owning the coffee shops seems like a romantic idea,
but it's probably a lot of work, a lot more
work than most people think. What are some of the
challenges you face in the coffee business.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Well, I mean we.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Are a little bit seasonal, so in January it's a
little cold and people don't want to leave their house,
so you know, you have to think about that. One
of the things that I love about the shop is
the staff that we've been able to hire, getting to
know the employees and during their stint here.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
It's just really really a privilege and a really fun
thing to do.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
However, coffee shop employees tend to be somewhat transient. We
have a lot of students, especially college students, and so
when they graduate.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
I have to say goodbye, and that is really really
hard on me when I when I've fallen in love
and they're part of our family.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So that was that was something that I anticipated but
maybe didn't fully internalize until I had to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What would surprise people to know about the Wyoming Community
Coffee Shop That.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
It's not owned by the City of Wyoming. That we
got that a lot early on.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yes, we are a community focused organization, but we are
a private business.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
We're here to support the community, but we do.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Have to pay our own bills and try to stay
in the black. We just started roasting a couple of
years ago when we when I first opened the business,
that was not something that I had a goal of.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
That seemed very intimidating.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
But as we grew, and particularly as I gained staff
that became very interested in it, and I felt confident
that was a direction we could go.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
We did tackle that as part of our renovation. A
couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
We got a grant from Main Street Ventures to buy
our roaster and it has just been an incredible experience
and allowed us to not only further the careers of
our staff here at the shop, but allows us to
choose where we're sourcing our beans, and for us, that
gave us the opportunity to really further our mission of
(06:25):
supporting women owned businesses.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
We are women owned business.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And so we like to buy our beans from women
producers and collaborators, and this has really enabled.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Us to do that. So to roast your own coffee,
you're buying like green beans, I guess I mean process
it through a roaster which gives you that nice, rich
dark color of the beans, and then you grind those
and that makes your coffee. I would assume that in
a nutshell. Yes, okay, Now do you sell whole being coffee? Thanks?
(06:58):
A whole being coffee you just roasting for your use
in the shop.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Well know, we absolutely have retail bans and that is
a big part of our ongoing revenue stream. We are
just now branching out into some wholesale accounts to supply
other businesses. And we have a couple of partnerships with
some nonprofits where where you're co branding are the coffee
(07:23):
that we roast with their organization and a part of
the proceeds goes back to their organization.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Oh, very interesting, that's very good. I have I'm a
big coffee fan, so I do like coffee shops and
try to stop by when I can. So where are
you located?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
We are in Wyoming, Ohio, which is in the heart
of Cincinnati. That's the internal joke, well actually an external
joke because everyone seems to get confused. But yes, we
are an internal suburb of Cincinnati and we are on
Springfield Pike at four thirty four Springfield Pike. We are
(08:05):
close to Other businesses in our block include b which
is a smoothie and specialty food restaurant. It's delicious, Kindred
Flow Yoga, the Sticker Shop is in our building, and then,
as I mentioned earlier, the Workshop, which is our event space,
which makes for a pretty awesome women owned block.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
So there is lots to come and enjoy.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
So if someone wanted to use the workshop set your
space workshop, do they like go to your website and
sign up for it or how would that work? If
I wanted to rent the space for my use for
whatever that might be.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
There is a link from the Wyoming Community Coffee website
to the workshop's website, which then offers options for different
meeting and coworking spaces, and then a link to email
us if you're interested in booking a private event, which
we also offer at the coffee shop on the weekends.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So you're I'm going to go back to your retail
being coffee. I'm assuming it's branded Wyoming Community Coffee. But
do you put in parms Ohio? Do so people know?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
We have our address listed so that you know to
the people both our physical and our email address so
you can locate us. We also co brand it with
the if if it's a Cafe Feminino Coffee, which is
one of the organizations we buy from, we co brand
it with that or another women producer.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
We buy from, as Katsia Duke out of Honduras.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And then, like I mentioned the nonprofit, our current collaboration
is Refresh Collective.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So shout out to them, Well, well, why don't you
give us your address again in your website if you'd
like to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, our address is four three four Springfield Pike in Wyoming, Ohio.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
We are Exit ten off seventy five.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
If you are trying to locate us in Cincinnati and
our web address is Wyoming Communitycoffee dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Very straightforward. So I have a bonus question for you,
and that is what's on the horizon? What's new that
you've been working on or thinking about for your business.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I think we're really focused on wholesale accounts and trying
to tell our story as a women owned business, specifically
with our collaboration with women owned producers. It's a fairly
unique story in the Cincinnati area, and I think the
more people find out about the opportunities there the better.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Well, thank you for being on the program. We've been
talking with Sarah Ashlemon, owner of the Wyoming Community Coffee
Shop in Wyoming, Ohio, and thanks again Sarah. If you'd
like to sign up with a mentor, or we'd like
to become a mentor, go to score dot org and
click on the appropriate link. Please subscribe to this podcast
(11:20):
and share the link. Thank you for listening.
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