Secrets
46 January 2010 Â www.specialty-coffee.com R ecession? What recession? Sales volume at Iowa City's Fair Grounds Co eehouse and Bakery was up 37.5 percent compared with the same period in 2008. Christine Alexander, founder and owner of the 2,460-square-foot shop, is happy about the increase, but she isn't kidding herself that it's all her doing. We had a ood here last August, and the winter before that was one of the worst in history, she points out. So gains this year are being measured against a very low base. As grateful as Alexander is for her recent success, she isn't just basking in it, but is expanding her e orts to make even stronger strides for the future. On the drawing board for the shop are to renovate and make active use of a 400-square-foot patio, introduce lunch specials, install a refrigerated case, develop a full-scale catering menu, add more evening-oriented special activities, and promote the business through a twitterTM campaign. All these measures are intended to enhance Alexander's core business providing students, faculty and sta at the University of Iowa, as well as residents of Iowa City and nearby Coralville, with 100-percent Fair Trade organic co ees accompanied by high-quality vegan and vegetarian food selections. While no meat or eggs are used or sold by Fair Grounds Co eehouse, the store does utilize milk for beverages, and it serves cheese, about half of which is vegan, but the rest dairy. Despite the health focus, which extends to wheat-free and gluten-free o erings, Alexander insists that the popularity of her restaurant depends more on her understanding of the mainstream palate than it does on the needs of people seeking to avoid allergens and irritants. Where co ee is concerned, Alexander is steadfast. Once I understood what was going on in the third-world co ee-producing countries, I had no choice but to sell fairly traded beans, she says. I have to pay up to double for my whole beans at times, but this is an area in which I won't compromise. Fair Grounds currently purchases beans from Grounds for Change, which is a member of 1% for the Planet and, through this organization, donates a percentage of sales to the Northwest Shade Co ee Campaign, Save Our Wild Salmon and Islandwood. According to the owner, brewed co ee at $1.85 a cup outsells the specialty drinks. Nevertheless, she says, We do seem to sell a lot of mochas (we make our own chocolate here), and because our all-fruit smoothies are fairly priced, we sell those rapidly. We also use award-winning syrups that are made from natural sugars (Stirling), and I think we make the best lattes in town. Of the 12 specialty drinks on the menu, the most popular seem to be our homemade chai and green tea lattes. e chai features a syrup recipe that I invented. e green tea latte is, I believe, the only green tea latte in town that doesn't come from a mix. We make it from ground Japanese matcha green tea, mixed with a small amount of water. Alexander cites lots of anxiety, a few health problems and a divorce among the casualties of her struggles to build Fair Grounds Co eehouse into the success it is today. She also gives a lot of credit to her bank, which really worked with me during the hard times, she says. By my third year, things started to turn around. I became a better boss, relying more on my gut when hiring employees. I also have learned to let my employees help me. I still get stressed and exhausted, but not as o en. SCR i ? Wh i ? S l l I Ci ' F i FAIR GROUNDS COFFEEHOUSE Iowa City, Iowa www.fairgroundscoffeehouse.com Mon.-Fri.: 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat.-Sun.: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. No. of Employees: 6-10, highest when the university is in session Year founded: 2005 BY AL AN RICHM AN