Natalie:  Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Motivation N'at. I am Natalie, your host, and this is where we take hot mess to high potential. And I'm super thrilled today to have someone on the podcast who is not only local to the Indiana PA region, but has reached beyond that. And if you mention the company that he owns, which is Commonplace Coffee, in this area, someone's got a story about one of the coffee shops. They've got a favorite coffee type. They've got something to share about it. And I think it's going to be a really wonderful conversation about just really what is Commonplace. What does it stand for? You're still involved after all this time, so hands on and doing more now. So with that, I want to introduce TJ Fairchild, who is the owner of Commonplace Coffee and TJ, a roastery and other things too. It's not just like one coffee shop, right? So I'd love to hear a little bit about this. Who are you? How did you get into this business? What does commonplace look like now versus what it looked like when it first started?

 

TJ:  Yeah, thanks so much for letting me join you today and having this conversation and appreciate those really kind words of introduction and statements. Was kind of getting me a little choked up there hearing, you know, just you describe the stories and the connections and just all these memories and moments are flooding my mind. So thank you for that.

 

TJ:  Yeah, it's been quite a journey for us. We certainly did not expect this to be what it is today. And essentially my wife and I started kind of in the coffee world as baristas in college and had a lot of coffee connections growing up in our family life. But we were chasing different careers, didn't expect to be entrepreneurial or in the business world at all. In fact, we were actively rejecting that for quite a bit of our college career and really looking into social services and kind of literary and philosophical kind of bends that we were pursuing. To end up in the coffee world was not necessarily a part of the plan from a career and business ownership angle, but we finished grad school and we really had very little direction about those career paths we were choosing and we found out about this little town. A friend of mine I was in grad school with had been here to Indiana — I'm in Indiana PA this morning — had been here and had an experience where they knew there was a coffee shop that had closed down and knew we were struggling. My wife and I were struggling to figure out what was next in life. Living in a Volkswagen van at the time when he called me and said, hey, there's this little town. You should check it out. The community really seems to want the coffee shop to reopen. So that's how we got into it. And, you know, one little retail store that we had no real expectation that it would work or that we would grow as we have.

 

Natalie:  And I think the idea of, I have to say, doing this in an area that it's not — Indiana PA is, I always call it, it's like semi-urban suburban, right? There's a university, anyone that's listened before has heard me kind of describe it, but it's not Pittsburgh, it's not Philly, it's not this place where you've got this huge downtown area where people are walking into work at 7 a.m. and things like that. I think the beauty of having the campus and the college kids is a great piece there. What I have loved about the area is this place that it highlights being able to congregate somewhere, right? That you can leave the home and find somewhere to sit with people and do work or be by yourself. And that's surrounding something that's not alcohol. And I've seen this a lot lately — bars were the place that you went and hung out with people. And now there's a whole generation of folks that are like, no, 10 a.m. is when my people time is. And still wanting to have, you know, good food, good refreshments, good things like that. And it's this resurgence of coffee shops. And I think you were really on the front end of that, as you described, like one closed. And now our area has multiples. But the hub location that you still have right here in town is one where we know the baristas, we know the people that are there, we know what they do on their side hustles and we're supportive of that. So this idea — and I want to know how Commonplace became to be the name, right? Because I've seen a couple interviews you've done where that's come up, but it really does evoke the vibe of what that feeling is. So how did you come up with the name of Commonplace in the first place?

 

TJ:  Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what you were describing too about Indiana as a whole — is that there is this kind of natural bend in this community to connecting. And there are many ways that you can do that in Indiana today. When we opened 23 years ago, I don't know that there were a plethora of options, which is interesting, but that's where the name comes from. We're seeking to find a way to kind of embody that mission, that real base mission of commonplaces of gathering people. It wasn't the best word to use describing, you know, a food product like, it's just commonplace. But in some ways, that's also part of it too — like something as simple as a cup of coffee elevated to this really magical experience, you know, taking something commonplace like coffee and using it as like that connective piece. The actual word itself started as, you know, us pursuing alliterating with the word coffee. So we wanted that hard C, K sound. We had already started down the path of seeing this as a real option, moving, opening the shop. And my wife and I both love Walt Whitman. She's reading Leaves of Grass, ends up with like the little tiny poem, The Commonplace, and she brings that up as an option and it just was instantly like, oh, that's not only the perfect word and alliteration, not only the perfect embodiment of the mission of Commonplace of like wanting to gather people, but it also — that poem is like kind of an anthem for our lives of sorts. Like we've homeschooled our kids, we are still in the process with our youngest. We love connecting with people on things that Walt Whitman celebrates in that poem. The common work, the trade, the work we're trying to engage with people through the Commonplace in the same way that Whitman is celebrating those common and ordinary things that are really anything but.

Natalie:  I love that. I think it's a great lead in to one of the things I wanted to explore with you personally in a way, because there comes a chance when you're like, do we make this bigger? So you've got your first location. It does have that kind of feel. And Commonplace has grown in the 23 years that you've been open. When was that first conversation of, do we take this further? What's next? Is there something next? And what was that growth journey like, especially for you and your family and then for the business as a whole?

 

TJ:  Yeah, that conversation never happened. Like it is so bizarre. I mean, it really is as simple as in the same way that that first conversation happens around potentially opening that first store. That has been the consistent theme of how Commonplace has grown. You know, my friend in grad school, Ray, calls me and says, hey, there's this small town, coffee shop has closed, the community wants a new space. It becomes an opportunity to us that we had not even laid out a plan for or thought through. We'd kind of obviously had little dreams here and there, but nothing was like, let's strategize and think through this — write a business plan. Nothing. When we opened our second store, the CEO of the hospital here locally was just kind of talking to me in a side conversation one day in the original store saying we'd like to have this like welcoming addition to the lobby of our hospital with aroma and with kind people. And the third store was like we had a human moving — that worked with us for years — moving to Pittsburgh from Indiana. We were so sad that we weren't going to work with Andre anymore and then somebody pulls us aside when we're delivering coffee in their store and they said, will you buy our store? We're moving back home. They are not native to the U.S. and they were moving and there's no way we can raise the money for this. And then it just so easily, we found a way to make it work. And Andre was our first manager at our fourth store. Opportunity came in the exact same way, with Drew and Frank with our fifth store in the north side — we had this opportunity that came to us that someone who was opening a coffee shop that we were helping, they were like, we can't do it anymore. Our daughter is sick and we have to put attention to her. And we also had this person that lived a block away, Frank, that we're like, let's open this store. All of it has been this organic opportunity, us reacting to something where we saw a need in the same way that we did in the first store. It's bizarre, but you know, I can't take the credit. Julie can't take the credit. I can't imagine like that moment of strategy and like projecting that this was going to work. It just was these obvious signs of a curvy path, but obvious signs that this was like what was next. So we took that step.

 

Natalie:  I'm so glad to learn that because we're in a world now where everyone feels like they have to have everything mapped out, like to every extent before they even take the first step, right? And the first step can be a fall off the cliff or it can be like an explosion of something amazing. That idea of just kind of take the leap and, you know, trust that things will come to fruition and guide us on kind of where we're meant to be or what we're meant to do. And I'm curious now how that is. You kind of mentioned you were helping another coffee shop at some point and the conversation of we don't all have to be in competition with each other — that there are ways that businesses that are like each other can assist and help and grow and be robust. So as you've kind of gone on this, we trust the path that we're on. The curvy journey takes us where we go. How do you help or work with those other similar type, you know, business owners? Do they reach out to you? What is that additional kind of line of work looked like? And how do you coach people to feel that? Because that's hard to learn and really trust.

 

TJ:  Well, that — and you know all the other areas of what we have done — that all came as an organic response to the first person that asked us. They walked in the store and just said, we've been working on this project for quite a while. We don't know how to do what you did, essentially. And we're standing there like, I mean, along our journey, our path, we had several people — not just Ray, who told us about the first store, but also through the process of opening that store — there was Greg and Connie, there was Bernie, there was Cole, there were all these people that helped us imagine all the different facets, you know, from a financial standpoint, a feasibility standpoint — here's the location. And then someone comes to us and says can you help us with this project that we're stuck on? It was like, yeah, we just did that. And it immediately became a reality that like this is our chance and it was within the first year of opening — this is our chance to give back to the people that have invested in us. And if our mission is really gathering people at its base, then helping other people open shops even when it may be close to one of our locations or potentially in conflict or competition — if it is hitting that base mission, let's participate and let's spend time thinking through. In those early years it was just me being friendly or them potentially participating in some of the activities of our shop. To now, we have a very robust program. Thankfully, other people in our organization — much smarter than I am, much more organized than I am — have created a system. And that system helps people literally from scratch to deciding whether they want to do the project and mapping out a plan. We have a project timeline. And then after folks open, we still participate in those projects and are available for answering questions, doing continued training. We just helped a cafe that doesn't even use our coffee, but we're helping them with leadership training, organizational chart structure. Can't even believe I'm talking about this. Like this was not in my DNA 23 years ago, but we've had all these people help us. So really we believe it is our job to pay that back in a way — if that's not too silly of a way to kind of conceive of it — but we really kind of owe a debt to the world, to the universe, to humanity, really to the coffee industry. We've been the recipients and now it's our turn to give back.

 

Natalie:  And it brings to mind, and I've said this on a couple of the episodes — the idea that comparison is the thief of all joy. So if you're always looking at someone and going, well, how can I be better? Or how can I be different? Or it's you versus us versus we're in this together. If we have a robust community, people will leave the house more often. They will engage more. They will say, hey, well, let's go there tomorrow and here today. And so you create this kind of ongoing network of trust in the business community in a lot of ways by doing that. So it doesn't always have to be, are our deals better or are our offerings better? Now, I do know that you've had some amazing partnerships when you're creating your different roasts. So I think of the one with Brian Reynolds, the Pirates and stuff like that. It is very Southwestern Pennsylvania in so many ways, which is so fun to see, but it has this element of, we're not just the run of the mill coffee shop — we're tapped into culture that's much bigger and beyond that. So how have some of those relationships come to fruition? Is that been them reaching out to you, you kind of just be in conversation going, you want to do a roast with us? What would it be like?

 

TJ:  Yeah, I feel like the least — what's the word — deserving person for the connections we've had. We've had opportunities to work with the Steelers, with the Penguins, and the Pirates. I'm not a huge sports guy. Like I loved sports growing up and still have a couple of hobbies with some sports, but I don't religiously watch sports. I have become, you know, living in Western PA, a black and gold lover, but still not totally tuned in. But those partnerships are so lovely, you know, getting to meet folks that have such a platform to use to do beautiful things. Those partnerships have come in much the same way as I'm describing Commonplace — has come to fruition and grown organically through mutual friends. You know, I'm thinking of Jameson Taillon, the pitcher, former with the Pirates. I met him at one of our coffee bars that sadly had to sunset in the pandemic, but in the Strip District. He was in recovering from a surgery and he was sitting at the bar and I just walked over and started talking and then we became Instagram friends and then we started talking about an opportunity to use his platform and our platform to raise money for a really lovely Pittsburgh-based charity and nonprofit. That's how Brian Reynolds came about and we're actively working with one of the players from the Penguins now about a partnership that will start later this year. But it's been so fun and such a cool connection. Beautiful people there.

 

Natalie:  So I have to ask, what makes a good coffee? Like what, when we were actually looking at the roasts and the beans — and I asked because my husband and I have very different tastes. He's like, a little fruit, a little spice, a little this. And I'm like, it has as much chocolate roast as you can get in mine is where we go. There are so many different ways to look at coffee. And in the world where K-cups are always kind of the quick go-to, what should we know about what makes that good?

 

TJ:  Yeah, I'm sad this couldn't be a three-hour conversation just on that question because that might get me going too long here. So cut me off. But essentially, you know, it starts for sure way earlier than when we touch it as a roaster and before you touch it as a home coffee enthusiast, right? There's so much that happens. What is the tree type that is growing that coffee? What soil did it grow in? How was it harvested? Was it harvested at peak ripeness or was it harvested a bit out of that peak scenario? Coffee grows as a seed inside a cherry. How was that fruit removed from that cherry? That has a massive impact too. And how is it transported to us? And then when we receive it, we're doing multiple different roast profiles to try to unlock the magic that's latent inside that coffee bean. The process still isn't over. When we hand that bag of coffee over, then there are all these parameters. How fresh is the coffee from roasting? How is it held in that as it's degassing post-roast — held together in an airtight container with the ability to release some gas out without letting oxygen in? Then how is it ground? What does the particle size look like? How long is the water and coffee together? So many parameters that go into that coffee, but rest assured, even with all of that data, it is fairly simple for the home barista. In fact, in a lot of ways, I recommend the lowest tech possible — like a simple AeroPress or a simple pour-over setup, a V60 or a Chemex. With you saying you like the more chocolatey end, some of the brew methods are a simple fix, like a French press with a large particle size, long contact time — that's going to lean more towards a body-forward, heavy coffee flavor regardless of the coffee itself. And then where it sounds like Josh is probably going to like more of a nuanced cup with the fruit and acidity forward, you would use like a V60, shorter contact time, smaller particle size. And you know, that's one of the favorite things to do too is to host experiences where we can just say, hey, what is your brew method at home? How can we help you achieve that best flavor? And a lot of it is just simply water temperature, the grind size is appropriate for how long that water and coffee are together, then getting that time right. And then waiting for a second to cool, which is one of my favorite parts of the coffee story. Coffee has to brew at like almost boiling point, right? Like a little bit lower than boiling point. We can't receive flavor on our palate at boiling point or almost — like it's too hot. So letting it cool is kind of like another one of those gifts from the universe of reminding us to take a moment — settle with your thoughts or have a moment of conversation with your friend or read that next page of the book while your coffee cools post-brewing. Then have that time where your palate can receive the flavor, and that to me is like the magic moment.

 

Natalie:  And also to smell it because it's more than just the taste. I mean, talk about a smell that everyone can recognize — that smell of the coffee. And you've given me some ideas now in our own home, because we do French press usually, which I love, of course, but maybe we'll try a few other things for the other half.

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TJ:  Yeah, maybe you could surprise him one day and do like a little setup. Let me know. We'll talk offline about some opportunities there for alternatives.

 

Natalie:  Most definitely. So I think — and I just wanted to share this with you and hopefully it'll encourage other people too when they're thinking about, how do you even have a conversation with someone you don't know about any of this? But as you mentioned kind of how you met Jameson Taillon, I remember being at a conference and we were talking about where we were from and they were from the North Side Pittsburgh area. And I was from out here and I said, yeah, well, what kind of — we actually asked about coffee because we had our little conference coffees, right? Who knows what they are. And, you know, they mentioned a few and I said, oh yeah, I live right down the road from one of the original Commonplace. And they were like, oh, and it was this whole thing where it immediately launched into, oh, I love that shop. And I didn't realize how many locations they had. And oh, so when I'm here... And so it was this whole piece that just really — even if you haven't sat next to each other in the same store, having the same type of thing, you're still able to make this human connection with people. I think that in a world where social media is taking a lot of the human piece out of it, it goes back to the original — like, where can you go and physically be present with someone? Or how can you physically and emotionally connect with people? And what has it been like to watch that take place? So not only to be a part of it, but then to actually see these relationships build.

 

TJ:  Yeah, it's incredible. You mentioned social media and that disconnect and that need for gathering. 23 years ago, 24 years ago, when Julie and I were really kind of grappling with this idea and concept of why we would invest time and energy into this concept — we'd take walks in the evening and we'd through a neighborhood see the blue light emanating from people watching television, right? And just they're in their living rooms. And now to have those little TVs in our pockets and we do it individually — instead of like now I wish people would sit together and watch television, right? But the whole concept of gathering and connecting like what you're describing has been from the very beginning of the thoughts of Commonplace being that glimmer in the eye before it actually really exists. And to now see that it's happening even worse with social media and with that individualization, the way we connect with that screen. It is incredible to be able to participate in watching people have conversation, whether it's when they're standing in line waiting to order and you observe people that you would never imagine having conversation just accidentally in that moment, or like how you and I met the other day. We're in the coffee shop, Julie and I having a coffee, and then we get to meet you face to face and we had all these things going on in that moment. An old friend brings a gift in that moment, another friend brings her daughter, we're having these conversations and we're participating in people's lives in this real sense. And this is like our livelihood — we get to do this to feed our family, but we also get to see how these relationships happen. You know, we joke all the time in some of the stores about how people find their apartment through a coffee shop and talking to a barista. Or buying a used car, finding a new friend that's interested in something you're interested in that you didn't know, or having that accidental conversation over the latest news issue. It is unbelievable that we get to do this work together and see people really connecting genuinely.

 

Natalie:  Well, and on top of that, you have so many opportunities with relationships within the business. And so not only through food providers or bakery folks — Josh and I joke all the time, his niece makes the best scones in the world. And I said, the moment you're old enough to actually make this a business, let us know. We'll drop some off at some of the places and be like, do you want to come in on this? But even the artwork — when I first walked in one of the first places when I met my husband was he took me down to Commonplace. And I walked in and on the walls was the art of Seth, who is a small artist out of Thomas, West Virginia. And I have his prints all over my house. I mean, I probably have 30 of them. And I went, my God, they know about him here. And I was so excited. And I was like, I haven't seen that one. Let me go look at this. And it was this instant like, I'm not the only one that knows about this like beautiful, like secret special thing. And the same with the food and all of that — they work with those groups. So to elevate other people and places and businesses that have nothing necessarily to do with coffee, but they're very adjacent because of the atmosphere. What have some of those favorite partnerships been like for you?

 

TJ:  It's been incredible. Yeah, I love that you know Seth. He's become a dear person in my life and I feel like so much of his art and then even some of the thoughtful words that he's writing too — it's definitely not poetry every time, it's definitely not just storytelling every time, but all of those pieces of writing on his prints seem to convey some part of connecting in Commonplace in the same way, or like understanding the earth better, understanding connecting with people better. I love it. So definitely through not just Seth, but so many artists have been such a cool partnership. I remember the earliest conversations between Julie and I thinking about every Commonplace — not every Commonplace at that point, but every wall in Commonplace would be open. When we opened, we wouldn't put just canned art you'd find at the local store. We wanted to find people in the community and allow them to show off their art, which ended up being a consistent thing, still is a consistent thing today. And that's the way we met Seth was organically through that North Side location. We got to actually visit his studio — two of my sons and I down in Thomas, not too long ago — was incredible, and again, all of that through that coffee relationship. I am thinking of the pop-ups that we do at all the stores and especially at the store in Indiana where we have a big space where we can have people. We've had young folks, you know, doing very simple things, drawings and things they make, crafty things that they're selling and connecting with people. To others where they started showing up with an earring they made or something, and now they have a full shop. They had their start here, being able to have a very small pop-up experience to now having their own shop. It's been incredible to be a part of that as well. The opportunities through coffee are just mind-blowing.

 

Natalie:  So I have to ask who comes up with some of the ideas for the in-shop engagement pieces. So over the last just year, the ones I remember — there's always a book to write down songs to potentially put on the playlist within the shop. If anyone's watching this online, you can see the snowflakes behind TJ. That was one of the things over the winter was here's paper, cut up a snowflake, here's a little way to how to do it, but have your own. The stones this summer were by far my favorite. I made the ugliest painted stones in the world. But as you sit there and you're waiting for things and you're like, okay, here's like three colors. Let me see what I can do. So where did those ideas come from and what's next? Are you willing to share a little hint of what might come in the future?

 

TJ:  Yeah, well definitely we've got a lovely marketing team that kind of conceives of things and tries to bring them to fruition in a variety of different ways. And I think the person that has come up with the most for those kind of guest engagement pieces at the bar is — I mentioned Frank a second ago on the North Side — his wife Belle. Both of them are kind of those founding folks that we worked with to open that shop, and Belle is just super active and thoughtful about these things. So a lot of them come from her brain and she helps kind of figure out how to get all those pieces to the stores and then in some instances like the stones, having to re-up that inventory because it's been so popular — we ran out of stones right — that is another just such a lovely piece of what we were able to do together.

 

Natalie:  Well, and it helps get out of the mind. I mean, there are so many times where you run in to get something like you're getting your fix for the day, your caffeine, and you never really disconnect. You're still on your phone. You're still like kind of in yourself. And to have that moment of, what is that thing? Like, oh, that's a little hands on. Oh, that's a little nostalgia from my childhood — to separate and have that space to just breathe. And it's a theme that I'm kind of hearing about this. It's like, take the second, breathe, trust that you don't have to have the next step planned out for you. Welcome the conversation that feels so weird from someone that you never would expect to say hello to you. I think that, you know, embodying that is just, it's a culture. That's not business to me. That is something you can't put your finger on. You can't make a chemical analysis or a formula for how do you create this. It really has to be in response to what's around you. And then embracing those opportunities as they just kind of present themselves time over time.

 

TJ:  Yeah — you hit on something that's really one of my favorite conversations. I'm thinking of like another kind of joke we have in the shops, is that there are times where a guest may forget to pay because we're having such a connective moment. It's magic, you know, it's nothing short of magic sometimes that way that human engagement happens. And really like, this has never been just a transaction for us. Like even from the beginning, when we first opened those doors and we're starting to engage, it was hard for me to push the buttons on the register. You know, we push a button on the screen now, but there was like a physical register back then and it was just like, does this have to be a part of this equation? Well, yeah, because I've got to pay rent. At that time we didn't have staff yet, it was just Julie and I — we're going to have to pay people too. But at the base of it, this has never been a transaction. And those individual moments between the barista and the guest, or between the person who sources our coffee with that coffee producer living continents away — that's not just a transaction. And then the way we approach all of the business, whether it's consulting with a client or not looking at this as just this money exchange for intellectual property or for a good, we're looking at really connecting with these folks and being open to what possibilities may happen as a result. So I think that's why we've had those opportunities come up. It's not just looking right here in this moment of exchange — we're trying to be in community with them.

 

Natalie:  Couple weeks ago, I had a guest on and I asked him what a message was for his daughter who was 16, and he said that relationships shouldn't be transactional. And so I love that it just came up again — that if they're transactional, it's always a what did I do for you, what do you do for me, what do I do for you? And then the moment someone's not in a good place, all of a sudden that relationship falls apart, right? And we're in a world of lots of things happening, lots of pressures on folks, lots of stuff. So having safe places where there is not that judgment and you have that component. So how do you take a little bit of this into like, how do we take this into our daily life? So like, I'm not going to go open a coffee shop tomorrow — maybe in a few years now, but not right now — but how do we take this idea and institute it? Or how have you, or people that you know, practiced this more than just, hey, this is what pays the mortgage, what pays the rent, but every element of life?

 

TJ:  Yeah, I mean I think the main kind of encouragement I would share is to really think about who are those people in your life that you can be intentional about gathering with? And taking time. It's really easy at the end of a day to be worn out and want to just kind of go inward — and I celebrate that, right, like we need that restoration and recreation. But there's also something really beautiful about like, still even if you don't have that energy, you don't have that space in your schedule, to protect a moment where you are gathering people. And even when it's not convenient, it might be a little difficult — really digging into, do you belong? Who are your people? And investing in that. That's a way that I believe that Commonplace has organically — not just in the shops — happened. We have participated whether it's with staff or guests in our home or meeting them somewhere even outside of a Commonplace. I hear stories of our managers bringing staff into their home, or connecting deeply with a guest. All these memories are coming into my mind now of guest engagement and a young child writing a card to that barista, all as a result of those deep moments, right? You can't really necessarily order that on the internet and get that deep connection. So figuring out ways that you can engage the community, I think, is my message there.

 

Natalie:  No, and it makes sense because I think that knowing that it's okay to not be fully out there and fully open because you need to do it for yourself, but then also understanding that makes you a better person for when you do engage with people or when you do invite them in. And the running joke with me and my friends is that our favorite thing is to sit next to each other and not talk — to just be present in an instant, you know, where when something pops up, you can talk to each other, but it's not an expectation of, okay, here's today's agenda and here's everything we're gonna do while we hang out together, but very much more fluid. And in a world that becomes so over-structured in so many ways — okay, like when's your time off? When's this? What's your weekend plans? And every calendar is full and your calendars are automated and everywhere — to give yourself the freedom and the opportunity to say, hey, this weekend, we're not gonna plan anything. And if something pops up or I see something on social media that says this pop-up is happening or this little event is happening, that you get some freedom to do that. And I think that's one of the hardest things that people have had over the last few years — how do I just rest for a minute in order to bring my better self forward for these engagements? But you can rest together. It doesn't have to always be separate.

 

TJ:  Yeah, I love that. That silent moment together.

 

Natalie:  Tell us a little bit about how we can find out more information about Commonplace. So where are the locations? Can people order online what they would like? How do they find out just more about everything that you've got coming up, including those kind of community events — it's not just, OK, well, what's on the menu? But like, hey, here's what's going to be happening over Valentine's Day in February. Where can they find that info?

 

TJ:  Yeah, our website has all or quite a bit of that information if not all, and that's commonplacecoffee.com. But our social media, I think, is probably the most active with calendaring and giving that point back to the stores and where those things are happening. You know, Commonplace Coffee is our Instagram handle, that's probably the most active, but we do have some connection through Facebook and LinkedIn so that's a great way to connect with us. As we've mentioned the first store was in Indiana PA — we have a couple stores here in Indiana and the bakery is in Indiana that we produce products that are then distributed to the stores. And then we have stores in Pittsburgh. Our latest is in the North Hills, which we've kind of never gone outside of like that Pittsburgh proper. And in the Pittsburgh region, this is our first chance. We connected with a library there that has a beautiful mission and does way more than just kind of book checkout — they're super engaged with their community, all different age groups. It's so cool. We're in the North Side, the South Side, and we have kind of a few stores around that east end side of Pittsburgh — Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, Point Breeze area at Rockwell Park. So yeah, that's where you can find us.

 

Natalie:  And for listeners that aren't in the Southwestern PA area, I think that this is also just a pitch to go out and find the local coffee shop who may or may not have a social media presence, right? So asking around — and I think that's one of my favorite things — what's your favorite cup of coffee? And people will tell you the secret little coffee shop down the street. And it's rare that I feel people mention an actual chain. The chain might be the fallback of the big groups that are out there, but there's usually somewhere and it has to do with the environment of where they're like, yeah, you can go get the best Americano, the best latte, and there's a comfy space to sit and they've got good wifi, all those things that kind of come in well. So getting out there, getting a feel for what's in the local community. And then I have to ask, as we close up, two questions — one which is, what is your favorite cup of coffee? And then what are some of the other local businesses that you like to relate to or be involved in here in Indiana, PA. Because funny enough, when I was mentioning starting this, it was with the photographer, John Blanchard, who was just on, and he goes, you have to get TJ. Like it was just without a doubt — he was the first recommendation. And I've loved that I've actually found more and more by having those conversations — the next person relates over. So yeah, favorite cup of coffee, and what other kind of local businesses do you find yourself engaging and spending time with?

 

TJ:  That's so sweet. I love Jonathan. I struggle with the favorite coffee question that comes up a lot. I kind of have a bent toward the birthplace of what we consider specialty coffee — that'd be a fun conversation, just what specialty coffee means, right? From Ethiopia — Africa in general tends to be one of my favorite origin areas in general, but Ethiopia and naturally processed Ethiopia in particular tends to be like, okay, that's super interesting. And I love seeing people kind of have a reaction to that coffee that have never had it before. It's just a fun conversation starter to be like, well, coffee can taste like that. But on a daily basis, my go-to order is a cappuccino. I think it's a lovely representation of — you know, it's a shorter milk drink. Milk is textured a bit differently, a little bit cooler than a latte would be presented. I love seeing the barista artistry mixed with that espresso that is, you know, not only pointing out again the barista's artistry, but also harkening back to those producers and the soil and the terroir and the coffee tree itself. So that's my favorite order right now. And then the other businesses here in Indiana — I cannot stop going to Josephine's and Nap's Cucina Mia. They consistently are just my favorite place, not just because the food is great — which it is — but it's that it's another Commonplace for me. It's a belonging space. We love going there. Sometimes it's hard to just be with just my family or just my wife if the two of us go in, because these are our friends, people that are also going, but even the folks working there. We love them, they're a part of our lives. Several other little places in Indiana as well — I'm thinking of similarly communal space at Brunzie's, going to Create and Curate and supporting Sam and what she's doing with the community development. And some of the other coffee shops too we love to go to locally — Artists Hand — and just trying to get out of kind of our Commonplace bubble and experience coffee in those communities too is really lovely.

 

Natalie:  And I love Josephine's. We'll be there this weekend. They also have Funky Brunch, which has the best French toast in existence. If you're ever in Indiana, they do brunch, I think, every day but Sunday or Sunday and Monday. And they have this French toast that's probably two inches thick. You need a full week to recover after it. But breakfast pasta and breakfast pizza and things like that — absolutely incredible, insane, family owned, definitely just awesome. So glad you mentioned it. Maybe we'll have to get them on in an upcoming episode for sure. It'd be great. So TJ, as we wrap up, any other final ideas, messages, thoughts on this journey, thoughts on what's next for Commonplace? Is there anything that you know that's next or any just closing remarks?

 

TJ:  That's incredibly kind to open it up like that, and I don't know why this is on my mind but something that just kind of has been in the back of my mind as we've been talking is that one thing that we've really struggled with is that I am not a business person, right? Like we have struggled as this organization has grown to essentially 11 addresses — even though we only have eight coffee shops, we have two production facilities. You know, the structure of Commonplace has changed over the years. We have a hundred employees now. That's incredibly daunting to a person like me who is not organized, is not structured like that, is more relational than leaning on these kind of business entrepreneurial parts of life. And we have had to realize where our weaknesses lie internally and find ways to gather other people that are more structured. I mentioned earlier that we've got an internal team that's helped us structure the consultation business, and we've tried all these different ways to participate with hearing our staff and seeing what ways are we missing and how can we be present and hear your needs? And so we've tried to respond with figuring out better benefits, figuring out better compensation — because my brain just doesn't naturally go there. And so having to appeal to different strengths — we haven't gotten it right a lot, but we've tried really hard to go back to that base message of gathering people and how does that inform how we help our structure of our organization? It's a real business now. We owe it to our team to be careful and to appeal to where I have weaknesses, where we have weaknesses internally, to find people with those strengths or systems with those strengths to help be sure we also hit that financial sustainability. It's a key value of ours based on how we can help our team. And that's been — you know, I'm still struggling with how to figure that out 23 years in — but I don't know, that's just something that it's been hard to admit my weaknesses personally as we've grown, and hard to admit the weaknesses of the organization. But in those moments when we have, that's when we've been able to actually see ways to actually help and grow in ways we wouldn't have if we hadn't been willing to kind of enter those hard parts of conversation and reality.

 

Natalie:  One of my good friends, Julius Boatwright, calls that strategic vulnerability — that there are right times and necessary times to open up and have those discussions and say, I need a little bit of help. Today is not the day. And I think that's a mark of a great leader — when you say, I can't do this and I can't do all of it. And I'm only as good as the team that surrounds me, that fills all those gaps so I can focus on the thing I'm really good at, those relational components. So I think that we're seeing that right in action with you, and hopefully it's a message to folks to not be afraid to not be everything. We can't be everything. We would burn out so quickly. And to ask for help and ask for it in a way that just lifts others up — interestingly enough, that, hey, you are so much more knowledgeable in this area, and so let me elevate you to be a part of this conversation. I love that as kind of a closing thought and it really just ties into this idea of we're always taking kind of our little mini hot messes that we have and turning them into what the beauty of tomorrow looks like. And so I'm so thrilled to be somewhere that has had 23, almost 24 years of Commonplace Coffee. Hopefully we have 23, 24 more. And just thank you for taking the time to have this honest, pure conversation with me and with the listeners. I think it's going to be really resounding and hopefully everyone goes and gets their cup of coffee if they don't already have it as they listen, and thinks about some of those notes of different things and everything that went into that one little cup that's in front of them — because it's fascinating as you laid that out, kind of every little component that can play into what it is. Well, thank you, TJ.

 

TJ:  So many hands have touched it. Thanks for the time together. This was great. And I really appreciate you wanting to have a conversation together.

 

Natalie:  Awesome. Well, thanks everyone for listening and we will talk again soon. Check the show notes for how to find TJ and more about Commonplace Coffee. Thanks everyone.