Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
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They are often experimental and sometimes supplemental to other forms of employment. While pop-ups appear in a variety of forms, the consensus among those who've done them—and survived—seems to be that temporary, mobile coffee setups come with a unique set of challenges that differ from the obstacles faced in a brick-and-mortar shop. They can also come with a unique set of benefi ts. Challenges Lindsey Pitman of The Daily Press in Charlotte, N.C., and Trade & Lore Coffee (see article about Trade & Lore on page 22) in Asheville, N.C., perhaps articulates it best: "Coffee people are obsessed with the control of variables, and pop-ups certainly present a challenge to that control." Lindsey is a veteran to the coffee pop-up concept. She opened her fi rst shop, The Daily Press, inside of a concert venue in Charlotte in 2014 before opening Trade + Lore (a co-ownership venture with Sarah Winkler and Brock Kehoe) in Asheville in April 2016. While Trade & Lore is a stand-alone shop, during the months leading up to its opening, Lindsey, Sarah, and Brock hosted pop-up shops around the Asheville area. "The Daily Press was an experiment to see if it'd be worthwhile to open a brick- and-mortar, if people would embrace the kind of shop I wanted to open, and honestly, to see if I could make it as a business owner," says Lindsey. She found that the answer was a resounding yes, though she notes, "There are diffi culties that accompany sharing a space with another business that you just don't experience when you're the sole owner of a place." For Lindsey, the primary diffi culties came in the form of discrepancies between herself and the venue owner about how to equitably use shared space. "With the constant setup and breakdown of our tables, decor, equipment, and supplies, it just became really diffi cult to know that when you get to the shop tomorrow, it won't look the way you left it yesterday," she says. "You have to deal with the fear of things getting stolen, moved, or broken when you aren't there. Pop-ups like that are certainly possible, but they take a lot of work." In addition to her arguments concerning the negotiation of a physical environment, Lindsey also hit on another pressing challenge; the amount of hustle that pop- ups require. "The challenge with pop-ups is defi nitely in the constant drive of constantly needing to book events," concurs Will Shurtz. Before Will opened Methodical Coffee in Greenville, S.C., he owned and ran a pop-up called Vagabond Barista. "Vagabond did everything from brewing at weddings, to traveling to schools such as UConn Law to set up brew bars and speak on coffee and entrepreneurship," says Will. "We traveled anywhere, setting up brew bars for conferences in Las Vegas, to schools in Massachusetts," he says. Will soon discovered that the amount of travel necessary to sustain that kind of business was exhausting. Sure, the constant change of location offered him an adventure and, he says, an opportunity to share "the gospel of good customer service and wonderful coffee," but he admits that the cross-country pop-up lifestyle probably isn't for everyone. Will was 19 when he started Vagabond, and he says that "getting out and about and going to the people" seemed like a creative way to make a living in coffee. Anyone who knows Will can attest to the relentless and electric positivity he exerts. He's perhaps one of the most universally loved fi xtures of the Southeast coffee community, so it's not diffi cult to see why Vagabond was such a successful venture for him. It's illuminating European espresso DWLWVÀQHVW [ Blended and Roasted in America ] Malabar Gold ® (650) 366-5453 info @josuma.com www.josuma.com Blended to be perfect by itself. Remains equally perfect with milk. 73 www.baristamagazine.com