Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 12 with Audrey Brahler

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome back to Community Connections and Tommers. I'm your hold
Drake Watson, along with Wendy Anderson and our special guest
Audrey Audrey Brailer. Thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Wendy, good morning, Good morning everyone. How are you?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Drake?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Doing quite fine?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Good, It's a great day out.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
It might be cold when the when the viewers, the
listeners listening to this, but it's actually kind of chilly
this morning as well.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
It is.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, Hi, Audrey, how are you.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Good morning, Wendy, I'm great, How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I am well. I am so excited that you're here
today because we have a lot of to discuss. So
first of all, tell us a little bit about you.
And who's Audrey Man?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
That is a load of question. Well, Audrey, there is
a girl that, when she was a teenager, realized that
she wanted to be her own boss. And at the
end of the day, I wanted to be able not
only to work for myself, but work for the community
as well and my employees, which is really what it's

(01:16):
come down to now.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Nice Okay, So you have three businesses in Saint Clairsville,
that's correct, yes, So what are they in order? As
how you started them.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Correct. So Giacinta's Gelato and Cafe is right there in
downtown Saint Clairsville. We established that October twenty ninth, twenty
twenty one, is when we were able to open our
doors to the public.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Wow. Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
And then last summer summer of twenty twenty three, I
took over the candy shop in the Ohio Valley Mall.
It was used to be CJ Buckets. We were able
to buy them out and we renamed Bear Necessities Candy
and Soda, and that became official guests of twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
And then most recently now I've been able to open
Audrey's Avenue Kitchen and Bar, also writ in downtown Saint See,
just a little across the street from Giacinta's, and that
opened July eighth to the public in twenty.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Four Now I have been there. Have you been there?

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yes? I have you?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Have You said you were.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Going to try to get I was there not too
long ago? Actually, okay, I could still, I could still.
I think I still got some of it in my teeth.
I got the meatball sub or the sliders.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yes, the meatball sliders are very popular for sure.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, the atmosphere in there is just incredible. I mean,
it's it's I like, I always like this when I
go to places. You can kind of see the history
of the building a little bit when you go in there,
but it's reworked in a way that feels just so comfortable,
and it's also nice like it's a it looks like,
it feels like a high class kind of place that
you're in, and it's really incredible And I can't applaud
you enough.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Thank you, thank you. It's definitely one of the more
unique buildings in Saint Clair's. It is.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
So tell us about so first of all, what how
did you decide to invest in the community of Saint Clairsville.
Why did you decide so?

Speaker 3 (03:14):
When I was younger, my family moved around a lot,
kind of jumped from state to state there for a
little bit for my father's job, and we finally settled
down in the area when I was about six years old.
And so to be able to be in a community
for almost twenty years now and not have to worry
about moving around, I definitely wanted to put my roots down.

(03:37):
I loved Saint Clairsville. I went to school at Saint
Mary's in town and then Saint Clairsville High School. I've
worked in Saint Clairsville and been part of activities in
Saint Clairsville since I was a teenager, and I knew
that's where I want my businesses to be. When I
just finally decided, hey, let's invest, it was going to
be Saint se Okay.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Do you just have that entrepreneurial spirit? I mean, how
did you get started? Did you just one day think oh,
I'm going to open up a restaurant.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
So restaurant wasn't the first idea. And I love to
tell people this. I was never in food service before Giacentus's,
never been a waitress, never had been a barista. I
put the time and research in to learn it all.
But at the end of the day, you know, it
was community need. Saint Clairsll needed a coffee shop. And
the reason that I thought I could do it that

(04:27):
I had some sort of business background is from my parents.
My father's a business owner. He's been my biggest business
consult and when I told my parents, you know, I
remember being fourteen and telling my parents, Hey, could I
do this? Could I open my own business? And that
be what I do for my livelihood. They said, sure,

(04:48):
if that's what you want to do, we'll support you
and we'll figure out how to do it. And that
has been one of my biggest blessings in life.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh that's awesome. You're very fortunate. Not everybody gets to
do that and have that support from their family.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Exactly, exactly, Okay, but go ahead.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
I was going to ask you why food and then
why coffee? And so what was it that at what
point did you realize that, you know, Saint Clairs possibly
needed a coffee shop, and then like walk me through
that process. You know you're thinking about that, and then
you decide maybe I could do this on my own.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, long story short, the initial idea was something Italian.
So we first came up with the gelato idea. I
love ice cream, I wanted an ice cream hangout spot,
and that changed to gelato, kind of filling in that
Italian background and the fact that there was nothing like
that around. Now you find out you have to sell
a lot of gelato to be able to stay in business.

(05:42):
So we brainstormed what can we pair with this and
if you go to Europe, if you go to Italy,
Gelato shops are also coffee shops. Those two pairing together,
that is the pairing over there. So we decided to
do that as well. And once we were able to
get that corner building right there on Main Street, it

(06:04):
was a no brainer. This is the coffee shop. This
is now the hangout spot for Saint ce Oh it is. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Kids love it. Yeah, especially in the fall. I see
a lot even in the wintertime because you have those
big outdoor heaters so you can still set outside. It
might be a little chilly, but you have those heaters.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Doesn't bugs some people coffee?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. So that corner building was
such an eyesore in Saint Clairsville, and for you to
change it into what it is now, it's it's breathtaking. Honestly,
you made such a huge impact into Saint Clairsville.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Year and a half that building took us. And my
favorite story is the fact that that building wasn't for
sale and as we were looking through for properties, it
was very hard to find any in Saint Clairsville at
the time, and it was my mother's idea. She's the
one that said that yellow building on the corner, that
would just be the perfect location, and we found a

(07:04):
realtor who knew the owners who'd let us in, kind
of wore down the owners a little bit to let
us sell it's or to let us by, you know,
for them to sell sure, And in April of twenty
twenty it was made official. And what's so funny about
that story is once we did make it official and
we saw the condition that building was in, Oh, my

(07:28):
mother wanted nothing to do with it. She was like,
I'll see it when it's all set and down, when
it's all fixed up. And I just kept telling her,
this was your idea, this is your idea.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
It was a bad shape, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
It was. That was the complete overhaul of the building
down to the bare bones, all new electrical, plumbing, hvac.
You know, we try to restore the original flooring. We
tore down the ceilings to expose the original beams, the walls,
I mean, just layers and layers and layers from over
the years just getting torn out of that building.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Wow, I remember. I mean there was a long period
of time every day and I would just see it's
all they're still working And at that time, I didn't
know what was going to go in there and they're
still working on it, still working on it, and then
all of a sudden, I see, oh wow, this is
a beautiful blue building with you know, coffee inside, and
it's it's one of the best spots to go in
town for coffee or whatever you have.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
We really did have the advantage of being seen of
when we were renovating that building. I mean from day
one we tore the side room off that building, and
the conversation started, and that conversation kept going and kept
that momentum for that year and a half while we
were renovating. So that first day that we opened, we

(08:36):
had over eight hundred people come through our doors ready
to may.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
They were ready, We were ready, just we could not wait.
So you actually went through the Charlie Wilson Leadership program
at Union Local.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Correct. Yeah, so I spoke with the students that were
part of it.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yes, So how did that make you feel?

Speaker 3 (08:57):
I absolutely loved it. I loved it. But you know,
I've done my best to be a great role model
to younger students and even my employees for as long
back as I can remember. And actually one of my
employees was a part of that program. So to be
able to go there and speak in front of them,
and it was real nice seeing her in the crowd.

(09:19):
She was kind of a leader herself. She was making
sure she was asking questions and sparking the conversation as well.
And just to be able to have those conversations with
the younger crowd and in part whatever wisdom I can
to them so that maybe one day they'd be sitting
here kind of talking about the same stuff. Yeah, how

(09:41):
cool would that be?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I think that's you know that I applaud you for
doing that, you know, to being able to spark interest
and and spark the leadership out of someone else's personality.
They may not know that. Oh okay, well that I
didn't mean to be a leader, but now I get
I am a leader, and you are definitely a leader

(10:02):
in Saint Clairsville. So you also partners. You partner with
different local small businesses too.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Tell us about that, correct, So as a small business
it's to be able to market and drum up the
different customer base can be challenging at times, so ideal
it it's always ideal to be able to partner with
other small businesses nearby that are close to be able
to kind of how do. I want to put it

(10:36):
plan your activities together, so instead of just one person
having a sale one day and trying to bring people in,
if business A and business B are also, that's going
to just drive more people. So now I've got my
customer base and their customer base, and hey, we're doing
this event together. Go check out this place too. Now
we're sharing customers and getting the word out for all

(10:56):
small businesses. So that's going to bring more people, and
it's going to bring more business in than if we
were just doing it on around. Being able to work
with the other local small businesses is you know, can
make or break events for sure?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
I agree, and you go ahead.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
I think that collaboration is important and it's I'm glad
you touched on that because we had somebody earlier on
the show who said that he has a small business
in you know, that main street area, and he's like,
even that when the avenue does well and when people
are going there, and when that opened up, it helped
my business out because people are just it drives more
people to that to that area specifically, and then they're
going and spending money all throughout that that part of town.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
And that was exactly our goal it was to not
we weren't competing with anybody, And people even ask me,
why open it twenty seconds from your other location? Why
compete with yourself? And I'm like, I'm not, I'm not
competing with myself. There are two very different ideas that
are now complimenting each other and just bringing in new people.

(11:58):
Any type of business is going to help the other
businesses because you're going to come in for Audrey's Avenue
one evening, but now you're gonna see the different pizza
places we have. You're gonna see the diner up town,
and you're gonna come back because you want to go.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
There right now. You also partner with local businesses Euphork Donuts, yes, right,
and don't you partner with someone in Pittsburgh for your skies.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Or not recently, but we have been doing the Euphork Donuts.
He's out of Wheeling and he approached me before he
opened his location. Let us taste out those donuts. I mean,
they were absolutely amazing. Cameron Mitchell, the owner, They're amazing, dude.
He's running a very successful business himself and has been

(12:44):
incredibly helpful too. Just the little things. How are we
getting the donuts from Wheeling to Saint Clairsville. We have
the donuts two days a week, Fridays and Saturdays. And
at the beginning, before he opened his location, he was
just bringing them to me, super helpful. And when he
opened Busy, I came to him. I would get the
doughnuts both days. And now that I've opened my other location,

(13:07):
now now he's bringing them again, and it's just kind
of that back and forth. What do we need right now?
What do we need to make this work? And the
working together to make it happen.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
That is the to me. That is like that partnership
between small businesses is dynamic. You have to be able
to do that to ensure your success and their success
because it's not just about you, it's about everybody else
in that circle of that makes you successful. And I

(13:37):
think that's important. So over the time, over time that
you've had your your businesses, what changed have your approach
changed in your investment in the community. How has your
approach like from Giacenta's then the Bear Necessities and then

(13:58):
Audrey's have Kitchen and Bark. How has that changed or
has it changed?

Speaker 3 (14:03):
The change has been slow and gradual, I would say
because you find out right away as a business owner,
you have to cater to your customer base. You're not
opening you can't open a business just to do what
you want. That's never going to be the case. You're
catering to that customer base and what they need and
basically what they need so they keep coming back. So really,

(14:28):
from the start we knew this is for the community.
So my focus has always been on the community. What
does the community need, what do they need to see
in town? Again, I mentioned not having food service background
when I open Giacinta's. You know what I told myself, Man,
at least this isn't a full service restaurant. I'll never
do that. And here we are because Sacy needed it.

(14:56):
The amount of people, you know, somewhere we want somewhere
to sit down, We want somewhere to enjoy a glass
of wine with dinner. That's not out by the mall,
that's not a chain restaurant. It was much needed, and
so in the back of my head for the last
couple of years, how could we do this? How is
this going to work? And then when I was approached
beginning of twenty twenty three by a local built some

(15:21):
local property managers. They were like, hey, we have this location,
will you do this? I just I had to say
yes because that would that seemed like the logical next step.
What else does this community need to start bringing more
people in? And at the end of the day, you
can have retail shops, you can have fun little stores,

(15:41):
but people are gonna come for food and they're going
to stay for food.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
So that's where trying to We're trying to build that
base so that all these other ideas can be explored.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Now, what went into you talked about the gelato and
the coffee thing for Giocinta's or what into the you know,
the thought process of Auter's Avenue and how you decided
to turn that into what it is.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Right sure, so I knew I want we needed something
that had alcohol, and at the end of the day,
Saint Clairsjo was a dry town that had to get
voted in and we wanted to make sure that this
wasn't just some sports bar pub or tavern, that this
was a full restaurant that has a full bar so

(16:30):
you can enjoy those drinks, but you can also get
some good food. But we couldn't be just like any restaurant,
we had to have some other different idea too, and
that's how we came up with our menu. Our menus
two parts tapas and load of baked potatoes. Tapas are
smaller sized plates, shareable dishes. You and me are going

(16:52):
to get a couple. We're going to try some different things,
and next time we come back, we'll try a couple more.
But if you're wanting that big meal, those loaded big bait,
they're going to fill you up. And that has been
a winning combination so far for this menu, and overall,
I think just having somewhere where you can go and

(17:15):
try something different is not only good for the Saint
Clairsal community, but we're finally bringing people from other communities
as well, and.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's what I always that's one of my biggest challenges
is to get also we all know that that the
river is the nucleus of the Ohio Valley, but to
get people to cross both ways. There's really cool things
here and Wheeling. There's really cool things in Saint Clairsville
besides them all, and I love them all, I'm not

(17:44):
putting them all down, but there's also those small businesses
and when I always say you have to really try
to support your small businesses because they support you and
your baseball team, your softball team, you're wrestling team, whatever
it is. You know, I'm sure you ask a lot
to donate or to supply something. So how do you

(18:10):
balance the community's needs with the need for you to
have sustainable financial.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
It's definitely a hard thing to balance because we, like
you said, we are asked a lot, and there are
certain seasons where we're asked more than not. And I'm
honored to be asked. Sure, because we get people from
Martin's Ferry, from Barnesville Belaire, across the river, from wheeling
and whatnot, for sporting events or fundraisers, for almost really

(18:41):
about anything, and at the end of the day, I
would love to be able to contribute to every single
one of them. How amazing would that be? That would
be amazing, Yes, But it's just balancing the financials too.
We are a small business. I have, you know, expenses
that come every month. I have only a certain budget
that I can go for each month. I have to

(19:01):
have that budget if I want to remain successful and
be able to stay open. Because I want to stay open,
to be able to continue to sponsor. So it is
a very hard balance and it's almost a shame that
we have to pick and choose, but we do. I
do tend to, you know, a little, a little closer

(19:22):
to where we are. We sponsor more and every once
in a while branching out now events where it's gift
cards or something little. We try and do as many
of those as possible because that does help us get
our name out, maybe bring a new customer in or two.
But those larger sponsors, especially for sports teams, we do
try and stay a little bit more local because that's
the only viable option we can do.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Absolutely what goes into getting people and growing that customer
base and getting people from around the area, not just
Saint Clair's Ville or maybe not even just Saint Clairs
Billing Wheeling, but from you know, the Upper Ohio Valley,
the Western Ohio Valley, you know, different places. What goes
into trying to lure them in and get your name
out in that way and correct me if I'm wrong.

(20:06):
I had some pushback on this a little while ago.
Is there a billboard on the interstate There is?

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yes, Okay, we do like.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Billboards, don't we. Yeah, that's okay. It's just for Wenday
and night. Yeah yeah, but yeah, so what goes into
getting you people into.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, and that's just it. It's marketing. Marketing is a
huge part of business that I feel some business owners
sometimes forget about a lot of times when there are
budget concerns, marketing is the first thing to get cut
and it's understandable because you have to pay your employees,
so you have to buy your product. You need to

(20:42):
keep the lights in the water running. So advertising is
more of this optional item in your budget. But at
the end of the day, that's what's only that's what's
going to drum business back up. So I do have
a set advertising budget that I have every month, and
that's determined based off of the life one's sales. It's
based off of the season, and that has been I

(21:06):
think are one of our biggest reasons why we are
maybe driving some more people in doing these different commercials
every once in a while. Having that billboard and the
way that I've set my businesses up, they're all technically
under the same parent company, so that parent company has
that billboard. So I'm changing so I have Audrey's Avenue

(21:28):
up there now. Gia sentas Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
So does that that's interesting to me. Are you able to,
let's say, for whatever reason, just this scenario, one of
those businesses may be struggling, however you had a really
good month in the other one. Are you able to
then take some funds and kind of you know, place
things where you'd like.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
So that gets messy it would? You know, there are
two separate accounts, and I try and keep it as
separate as much as possible. At the end of the day,
it's one tax return. Yeah, so my AC out and
handles that stuff though. But uh, fortunately I can say
right now I haven't had to do that, so I

(22:10):
haven't run into that issue so far.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
Uh do you think if you ever did run into
that issue, having that in the cards would be beneficial
to you? Or would that cost too much of a headache?

Speaker 3 (22:20):
What's that? Like? I believe it would be beneficial because
that is kind of the main reason that I set
that up the way that I did, kind of a
safety net, you know. So, like right now at Giacentis,
we've been having espresso machine issues. That's going to take
a little bit to get fixed. And at the end
of the day, if it means you know, we need

(22:40):
to take a little bit more out. If Audrey's Avenue
is doing good, Giacentis isn't going to go under, and
vice versa.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Surely I wouldn't have thought I don't own a business,
but I wouldn't have.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Puzzle pieces, right, It is a lot of puzzle pieces
for sure.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Wow, what would you say? What would your advice be
to someone who maybe whether it's an employee or someone
aspiring to own a business, such as yourself. Maybe they're
a student, maybe at OUI you know, what would you
say to them kind of looking back? I mean, you're
you're a young person yourself, but if you had to
look back, maybe not as far as Wendy has to,
but just maybe a few years ago, show, what would

(23:19):
you say to them? I'm sorry, Wendy, that's okay.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
That it is possible. A lot of people have asked
me how have you done it? And I, you know,
I hate to say I've just done it. This is
you know, it is become my job to make sure
that these businesses are running and succeeding. And it's possible
to learn how to do that, and there's resources out
there for it. I've worked with the Belmont County. Uh

(23:46):
it was the Community Improvement Corporation of Belmont County. They
got me in contact with the Small Business Development Center
that works through OU and it's a free service for
you know, young business owners, small businusiness owners here in Ohio.
And they have been you know, huge helps and consults
to me over the last few years. Any question that

(24:09):
I have where I'm not sure, like, hey, how you
know am I doing this part right? Or this is
the situation I have right now? What's your thoughts on
how to handle it? They have that real life experience
which is more than I have at this point in
my life, that they can share with me. You know,
they help me develop a business plan. I went from
writing my thesis paper in college to writing a business

(24:30):
plan that summer for Jiacinta's And it was quite the
change from going from my literature theory thesis paper to
now this business plan that I have to present in
front of potential investors. And they helped with that kind
of that change. You know, how do I go from
this to this? And I remember my consult telling me,

(24:51):
like Audrey, this isn't a paper that you're getting graded on,
you know, get out of your head. With that, like,
you know, get your points down, you know, almost like
this a conversation piece. How is this business going to succeed?
And how am I going to make it succeed? Right?
And I just needed to be ready and be ready
to do that.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
And now I know that Cindy Warhes runs that Small
Business Development Center at Ohio University, and I know that
has been a wealth of knowledge for a lot of
small businesses.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Cindy is absolutely she really is, and.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
That is something that I also send a lot of
people to her because I know that she has she
knows exactly what to do, how.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
To do it.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, wow, you have you have some really cool stories.
And I think my hat goes off to you. I really,
I'm really really proud of you and what you've accomplished
in Saint Clairsville. And I know I ask you this
before we started. So you're taking a breather right now.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
I will be. Audrey's Avenue is still pretty new. Yes,
it's a lot of work. We're still figuring some things out.
I'm very still hands on with that right now. But
you know, this was three businesses in three years, so
people have already been asking me what's next. What's next.
And I have a whole notebook of ideas. I've had

(26:15):
this whole notebook of ideas since I was a teenager.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Would you be able to let us in on, like,
you know, maybe a glimpse of what one of those
ideas might be.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Well, there's always a need for Italian markets and delis
in town. Okay, little fun retail shops that I want
to do.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
I've had somebody actually come at come at me at
the office, at the Chamber office and say, we do
need an Italian market in this area. We do not
have one.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
And if somebody else is able to do it, I'm
gonna support them one hundred percent. You know, they're gonna
be part of that small business thing that we got
going on downtown and we'll be good to go. There
is so much room for opportunity and for really any
downtown area if we can just get a couple people
that are willing to invest and put in it, Yeah,
any downtown can improve. You know, I'm just focusing on

(27:04):
Saint See right now, of course. But you know my
father's businesses in Cambridge. A couple of his employees came
up the other weekend and they looked at me when
they came into Gessentus and they went Audrey, there is
so much happening in Saint Clairsville. There is, and so
that the fact that some outsiders are seeing that. Now,
if we could get those local people to understand and

(27:25):
see that too, like, hey, this is happening. We are
making this somewhere people want to come and people want
to be yeap, that is the ultimate goal.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
You're right, it's so important to support our local businesses.
I could just shout that from the rooftop. It is
so important to support our local businesses because that is
the success of the communities. We don't want that to
go away, exactly.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Exactly, Well, we.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Don't want you to go away either. We'd love to
continue talking to you, but we are about out of time.
So it's been a pleasure talking to you. It's been
really insightful and not and yes, we greatly appreciate you
carbon out the time to come and talk to us.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Thank you both. This has been great.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, we're excited to have you and see what you
have in the future.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Well, for Audrey Brailer, Wendy Anderson, I'm Drake Watson. This
has been community connections and commerce. You can reach us
at OUI podcast at Ohio dot edu with any kind
of feedback or comments or suggestions. Again, that is OUI
Podcast at Ohio dot edu. This has been community connections
and commerce. Thanks for listening.