Let’s Make this Coffee Shop Happen

Coffee shop lovers understand that the coffee shop is more than just a place to get coffee. To some, the type coffee is even immaterial. Good coffee, second to good conversation or inspiration, is a bonus. In modern times, the coffee shop has become the hub of civilized society. It is a place where people collect, where inspiration is birthed, and where work is made personal. It’s a place that begets creativity. Indeed it is the center of a town. There are many great things about Jasper, Alabama.Having a coffee shop is not one of them.Sure, there are places to get sufficient coffee, but no place exists in Jasper that is a nostalgic, community nucleus that I’m talking about. So when my longtime friend Holly Jaye Rivers mentioned something about starting a coffee shop, I perked up.After a trip to Nashville, Holly and her husband Erick were driving through the quaint town of Franklin, Tennessee when they noticed a little place called “The Frothy Monkey.” Evidently, this locale left such an impression on them that they started tossing around ideas for their own coffee shop as they blazed down I-65 toward home.“At first, it was a joke,” Holly says. “But then we started to come up with names. By the end of the trip, we decided we’d give it a try.”For the Rivers, “Neutral Grounds Coffee Shop” is the brainchild. Imagine this: a place to go in downtown Jasper to get coffee, visit, conduct meetings, grab a muffin, read a book, study for a test, and—wait for it—connect to WiFi! (#byejack’s)Yes, a community place. A place where people can gather and tell tall tales and big fish stories and break up with their boyfriends and read the Gospel of John and conduct a million-dollar business transaction, all in one fell swoop.Holly and Erick surmised that Neutral Grounds was doable, but there was one problem. Coffee shops don’t just pop out of the ground like wild mushrooms. They take lots of time, planning, and—you got it—munnnaayyy…So Holly and Erick decided to do something very unconventional. They decided to ask for donations to kickstart their idea, an effort called “crowdfunding” that is organic as the beans they’ll eventually roast. They set up an account on fundable.com, said their prayers, ate their vitamins, and waited for the benjamins to come in.Community funding of a business is a novel idea, and often Walker County, Alabama is the last place on God’s green earth to discover novel ideas. In the past, funding efforts tied to websites have met considerable blowback and skepticism when intentions are not pure. This sort of “give me money because I want it” approach often won’t fly. As a result, Holly and Erick had a lot of ‘splainin to do.People wanted to know that need was legitimate, that Holly and Erick weren’t charlatans, and that their money would go to good use. Some want quid pro quo. “What will I get in return?” was the common question. A) Ownership interest? B) A free t-shirt? C) Personalized mug? D) A pat on the back?Possibly all of the above, except A (and the personalizing part of C), depending on the size of the donation. You may give $200, and have a boxful of stuff to take home with you, but you won’t own the business.It’s the gospel of grace, business style.So the money trickled in as Holly and Erick feverishly checked their page, where generous citizens believed in their dream and others asked questions and gave anyway. As it stands now, Erick and Holly have $5,000 and change in their coffers, over a tenth of the way from their ultimate goal of $50,000.And they need YOUR help to make it.If they don’t reach that goal, none of the money will be drawn from donors’ accounts and the Rivers will go on with life. But that’s Plan B. Plan A is to have a bang-up coffee shop.Holly and Erick understand that this is probably not going to be a huge moneymaker for their family, because there is often a tight window of profit with a small town coffee shop. They just want to do something nice for Jasper. To provide something of which this town can be proud.“All of the proceeds to go the idea,” Holly assures. “This is a community-centered business and we give you our pledge that none of the contributions given will be used for personal gain.”“We are people of faith,” Erick says. “From the outset, we said ‘God if this is something that is going to work, let it succeed through the fundraising’.”Unless you’ve been in a silent monastery for the last ten years, coffee has become the number one drink in the world, as over the last decade Starbucks has seen growth in unprecedented proportions. For the fiscal year 2014, consolidated net revenues at Starbucks increased 11% to a record $16.4 billion (that’s with a B).But some people, particularly in rural areas, haven’t warmed up—no pun intended—to the idea of a $3 cup of java. They’re content getting the ol’ gas station, watered-down sugary stand-by for 75 cents. In essence, sugar water. Erick and Holly assure that they understand this dynamic. “A cup of coffee is going to be between $1.50 and $1.75,” Erick says. “We’ll have our own roasts.”But to work and work well, they’ll have to be more than coffee, right?“We’ll have muffins and a bagel slicer and some breakfast options,” Erick says.And books. They’ll have books.So how can Jasper help? First, by donating. Holly and Erick are $45K from their goal, so if 1,000 people would give $45, they would make it. Or, if 2,000 people would give $22.50. Or, if 500 people would give $90 bucks.No one cares how you slice it, just as long as they get there.Second, by joining the rest of the world by being receptive to really good coffee. Good coffee is often an acquired taste, and it is something that Jasperites will have to embrace. It’s a mindset change. Take it from me, a coffee addict, that sippers quickly discover that it’s worth forking over a little extra change to get coffee of quality. It’s like when you’re a kid and you watched the movie Independence Day and thought it was the greatest movie ever made, but then you got a little older and watched Godfather and realized Independence Day wasn’t that good.Yeah. Sort of like that.What Holly and Erick have done is give the town of Jasper a chance to do something truly extraordinary. We have an opportunity to invest in something that this city can enjoy for years to come.What do you get out of it?A coffee shop. 78To help Erick and Holly achieve their dream of a community coffee shop, please visit: https://www.fundable.com/neutral-grounds-coffee-companyPhotos by Al Blanton