Episode 40 - Bre Keith
From Two Pounds of Coffee Beans to No Turning Back
Motivation N'at Podcast
Full Transcript
Natalie [0:00]
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Motivation N'at. My name is Natalie, I'm your host, and this is where we take hot mess to high potential. Today I'm excited because I've got someone local back on the show again and we are in person. So bear with us because as always, tech difficulties are really fun time. We started a couple times already, but we are going to get there. We're going to have a great conversation. And if you were here for the episode with TJ from Commonplace Coffee, this is a great second discussion about the beauty of spaces, collaboration, and community.
So without further ado, I want to introduce Bre. She is the owner of Obsessions Coffee Roastery and an actual coffee shop right in the neighboring town of Homer City and was nice enough to not only come in person to the studio, but I think third time's the charm. We've had some weather that's gotten in the way of recording, but here we are and I'm just really excited to chat about your journey because there's so much that I read like when you post and I'm like, that's me. I get it. Like, okay. So Bre, tell us a little bit about who you are and how you got into this journey of coffee and community and you know, what did it look like? Because you've described it as kind of chasing a squirrel over time.
Bre [1:15]
Well, so I worked in healthcare for the past 10 years. I started as a CNA for three years and then worked as an RN for the past seven. I recently like retired from nursing this last past May to go full time with the business. I originally went into healthcare to, you know, help people and I guess like find that community. But, you know, healthcare has changed a lot over the years and it's different. Throughout COVID and stuff, things got a little crazy. I found that it wasn't as fulfilling as, you know, it was maybe in previous years. So I was just looking for something different, maybe more community centered.
Like I tried different areas of nursing, like I went into home health and stuff, which was good. Like I got to get out and meet people and get into the community and like help people. But just kind of wanted to help with more of like the outreach and like the small businesses and stuff like that. So like the coffee is kind of funny cause like, I never really frequented coffee shops. Never, never really did anything like I never went in the coffee shop, never roasted coffee before. I never worked in it. I was just like, you know what? That looks cool. So it was just like one of those hobbies. I kind of just like went out of control. And we had spoken about like ADHD and adults and like there's a new hobby every week. So this is kind of like one of those hobbies that just kept on going. And now I'm like in deep and now I can't turn back.
Natalie [3:16]
So you started with just a roastery, right?
Bre [3:20]
Initially. Yeah. So I want to say it's small, but really like we're micro. Like I started doing wholesale. But you know, with how small we were, I really just wanted to focus on like myself and my growth instead of just like roasting for other people. So my roaster itself can roast two pounds at a time. Like it takes me a long time to build a roast, like big wholesale orders. So after a few months of that, I was like, you know what, let's take it further. So I actually ordered a trailer from a company in Alabama. Big mistake. It was really, it was a disaster. Problem after problem with that. But that's what really got us started and out really, you know, out in the community and meeting people and kind of got the business launched.
The roasting business, it was fine. Got into like the event spaces. But there was limitations on what that license could do. Like I couldn't serve any drinks. I could only sell like the bags. So getting into the trailer helped a lot. I could actually get creative. And that was a big thing for me also — creativity, being able to actually like serve people something good and like something that they wanted to like come back for. So that's kind of the direction we wanted to go.
Natalie [4:54]
And the trailer — I mean, I love that you admit there were lessons learned along the way. But even, I mean, remember when you were really mobile with the trailer at first and, you know, around here in central PA, all it takes is one bad snowstorm and you're thrown off for weeks and the mud and the rain. And so you got this spot to kind of put the trailer down in Homer City and it was great. Main street parking. Like it's not like it's a hustling bustling area, but people had access to it, which was one of the key components. And now you've moved into the space next door. And that's probably been its own journey of epic proportions.
Bre [5:30]
Yeah, I actually started parking at the magistrate in Homer City and I had met Rachel at Disobedient Spirits and they initially kind of wanted me to do like a pop-up situation inside of Disobedient Spirits which is a distillery because they didn't really use a space during the day. But like logistically the space didn't really work with like the power and the plumbing and stuff like that. So, you know, I was on a hunt. I just wanted somewhere to park. I was sick of towing it around, sick of trying to like find some place to stick it. And she ended up getting me in contact with Natalie with Trendy Trades. And she's like, hey, you can park my alley, which was great. Like it was somewhere consistent that I could, you know, on the days off from my nursing job, I could set up there.
And then she's like, hey, we bought this really old building at an auction. And this is my crazy idea. And speaking of those ADHD adults, Natalie is the same way. And she took me into this old, dilapidated building just full of junk. And she's like, do you see my vision? And I'm like, yeah, I see it. So we just, you know, over the last like next year, we kind of worked together to get that place, you know, up and functioning as a cafe.
Natalie [6:50]
And Trendy Trades is a secondhand store for clothing.
Bre [6:55]
Yeah, so she's a resale boutique. She used to do consignment I think a lot more but she mostly just buys clothing off people. She has like a select few that she gets like some really nice pieces from. And she used to get like some more boutique pieces. I think she just focuses on like, you know, her really good sellers that she gets from. And she downsized — she moved into the cafe space like with us so it's kind of like a mesh business at this point and we work together to, you know, like run both businesses.
Natalie [7:28]
And that secondhand clothing is taking off. So there's a chance — and we're, we have a university right here. I know we just had a Be an Excellent Vibe launch this week or a couple weeks ago and Riley had a ton of people there and it's all these college kids looking for secondhand clothes because fashion comes back around. Should have kept everything. I probably could have sold it for a good penny on eBay.
But it's a nice way that if people are coming in for clothes, they can grab a coffee. If they're coming in for coffee, they can peruse clothes. So the collaborative effort of having kind of Trendy Trades there with you and give you a chance to have more than just a trailer, to have food and other options. We're going to talk about soup a little later on because that's like my favorite part and I'm saving it to last. But why did you call it Obsessions? You have great logos, by the way, anyone that's into like sugar skulls and all that kind of stuff — this is the merch to check out. But how did it get its name and how did you kind of develop it to be a little bit different than what we see other coffee shops maybe looking alike in the area?
Bre [8:33]
We tossed around like me and my friends, like we tossed around some different names and stuff. It kind of just came down to like, it was one of those things like we wanted people to be like, obsessed with the product. And it was like one of those kind of like, obsessions that went too far, you know? Like one of those obsessive hobbies that kind of went, you know, into the business. So that's, you know, it's kind of where it came from.
And I had paid an artist to like, I gave them some ideas and I gave them rough sketches and I said, hey, make something out of this. And they came up with the logo. And then later we had someone colorize it to kind of update it because it was black and white, but now we have some actual color on it, which I think, you know, really made us stand out a little more.
Natalie [9:23]
Talk to me a little bit about how you've leveraged having ADHD, having this kind of tendency to get distracted into what potentially can be more of a superpower in business. And we hear this all the time. There's certain industries that it works really well in because they're changing, they're adjusting constantly. You have more space to be creative, as you mentioned. But where do you see that linkage happening with Obsessions? Is it more in the kind of drinks that you come up with, the services that you offer? Where does it really show itself and kind of highlight what power it brings?
Bre [10:05]
I think it's like, it's like a blessing and a curse at the same time. I can have like a million things going on in my brain at one time. And there's just, I feel like there's just like a bunch of ideas floating around in my head. And I think it's helped a lot with trying to just like bring fresh ideas into the business. Cause I feel like if you become stagnant in any business, you're going to end up falling behind and the only reason we've been able to stay in business is because we keep on updating and keep on moving forward. Because if we just kept like the same things all the time, I feel like people just get tired and that's why we try to update menus as often as we can without becoming like excessive with it.
The curse side of it too is like, sometimes there's just too much going on and I do forget like, you know, like key points of like ordering certain supplies and like keeping things straight. But you know, it's something I can work on, you know, keep lists and stuff. But I think it helps really well with the creativity and stuff with business. So.
Natalie [11:17]
And I have to say, your social media is really strong from a sense of if we're ever wondering what is the flavor of the day or the coffee of the month or any of those components or even if you're open or your hours are adjusting — it's really easy to find that on your Facebook or wherever that might be. Is that, for me, one of the hardest parts is actually getting my socials coordinated, especially if the one day a week that I set aside gets thrown out the window. So how have you worked with that component? Do you work with, as you mentioned, kind of list schedules? How do you come up with your content? Is it more about being consistent or more about how do I vary things up kind of day to day? What's that look like for you?
Bre [12:00]
I usually try to set like one day aside a week to actually schedule out certain posts. Like we do our soup of the day post and then, so I'll schedule those out and then like once a week, I'll put out like our soups for the week. So people know like on Mondays, they need to look out for that post so they know what's coming out that week. And then every morning at the same time, our soup of the day is coming out. So it's popping up in people's timelines at the same time. The graphic looks the same. They know what to look for.
And we just post really frequently. If we put something in our cold case, we're posting about it. If there's something new in the shop, we're posting about it. Just because with how like social media algorithms are, like you could post 10 things, but maybe 10 people out of a hundred are going to see each one. So you have to just hope that they're reaching the right people. And I think just like keeping frequency and consistency in mind when you're looking at social media is just a big thing. And my employees are really good at doing drinks of the day. And we actually just have customers that come in and be like, what's the drink of the day? And they get it every day.
Natalie [13:17]
My husband's one of those people sometimes, because just can't decide when there's a huge list of things. Are you self-taught with the social media aspect, like just observing and then, you know, saying, hey, that appeals to me, maybe we'll use it here?
Bre [13:30]
Yeah. I have, I'm really bad at social media, honestly. Like I feel like an old lady sometimes with just technology, like TikTok and Instagram reels and stuff. Like sometimes there's like way over my head. Whenever TikTok like came out, I was like, wow, how do you work this? And I still have no idea. I feel like our videos and stuff are pretty basic, but like what really worked was just like pictures. And I look at like our stats on our business center on Facebook and like our pictures always get the most views compared to like our reels or just like word posts. So we just always try to have a picture with everything. So I just try to keep in mind like what's actually being seen and just keep on doing that.
Natalie [14:19]
I think that's important because we get caught up in that — let's use the hottest trending song that's come out or, you know, here's the template that everyone's using. And, you know, that may not always work for your customers. And if you've got, we're in an area that is an older population other than the school. And I'll tell you what they like to scroll and, you know, take a look and that looks really good and let me stop. And I think for around here, food really does highlight off of the photos — eating with your eyes or drinking with your eyes in some cases.
So you've also got not only the partnership with Trendy Trades, but you work with Colton's Cookies, you work with the Yellow Creek Bread Company, which has the best sourdough options. You have a focaccia that is just to die for. And a whole lot of other things. So how have you gone about those relationships? Are they products that you used to purchase or still do, or are they things that have been recommended to you? And then, you know, how do they — how do you navigate back and forth? I know some things you stock, some they actually come in and take a table at the shop, but what's that process look like?
Bre [15:26]
Well, like Honey Badger Bake Goods — we did shows with them from like the beginning when I just sold the roasted coffee. So whenever we went into the trailer, like there was limitations on what we could do in the trailer too. Like I couldn't bake in there. So I got ahold of Stacey with Honey Badgers and I said, hey, what can we make that, you know, would go with coffee? So we tried things consistently. And one thing that really stuck was like her cinnamon rolls. So we sold those for a good like year before they started getting old, you know. Just cause like I knew her and she's right there in Homer City. So it was really great to just have her like right on the road and like, hey, can we get this? And she would try really anything. She tried making a basadi for us. She did coffee cake. Like she was just always up for trying new things.
Yellow Creek's right in Homer City too and we just decided to collaborate together. I think she actually contacted me and said, hey, I just got licensed. And you know, history from there — that was a no brainer because her stuff's good. Like Colton's Cookies, I actually like cold called him. I emailed him and I said, hey, I saw your stuff. Like I'm on the hunt for like new things. And he's like, I've never done wholesale. Like I have no idea. And I said, how about I just buy it off of you and then we'll just go from there. And those have just like taken off. Like people love those cookies. They're massive.
Natalie [17:03]
Yeah, I'm so — I can't go get a coffee without some kind of sweet, which is probably to my own detriment. But you know, they just go so well together. And we see that kind of everywhere. And I think the beauty is around this area, every coffee shop works with different partners. So it's also a conversation of if I know Yellow Creek is coming to Obsessions, I'm going to come get my coffee because I want to get some sourdough while I'm there or bagels or whatever it might be. And you know, vice versa, if you're definitely looking for, you know, something specific at one of the other coffee shops, you know, that's where you might go. But it's been really nice to have for a lot of places that only promoted during festivals or, you know, pop-ups that there is a home base now for some of them to be able to work out of. And I think it goes to show, like, shoot your shot. You never know who might want to partner or collaborate.
Bre [17:54]
Right, like Crumbs by Kenzie, our K-pop girl — she literally just brought us samples one day, and I said, you know what? That's something we don't have. Great. And we ended up just working with her, so.
Natalie [18:05]
Yeah. So I want to talk for a second about the coffee and drink menu because it's not all coffee, right? You do other things beyond coffee. How do you come up with your menus, your concoctions? Because just knowing places around here, there are some that have here's your three drinks of the day and you can make some other things, but it's limited in their syrups. I have another that literally has every syrup that's ever been created in the earth and it becomes overwhelming. And I find you're very much hot in the middle. Like, there's diversity, it changes with the seasons, but it's not overwhelming too much. So what does that look like? Are your baristas coming up with things? Are you developing them? Do the customers kind of come up with stuff that becomes staples?
Bre [18:50]
I would say a good mix of that. I take the reins on like our seasonal menus. And I look into like the seasonal flavors and you know, like, especially with like the fall — like a fall menu, I'm not looking at just like that pumpkin spice. I want to get into like the other flavors, like pecan and you know, like other things. Like winter, we got into fig — stuff you don't see as much. We want to get into like those other seasonal flavors that maybe other shops aren't tapping into. Cause I feel like you can only have so many like pepper mint mochas in the winter before you're looking for a different flavor profile. So we're always just looking into like what other things can we offer.
And we always try to do chai too. Like if we're doing a seasonal coffee menu, we're also trying to incorporate as many chai versions as we can because not everyone likes coffee. So same with like kids — like we try to make as many kids options too, because like I'm a mom. I want to be able to take my kids somewhere that has kids options. So we try to do that. And my employees are really good with just coming up with like new combinations and sometimes they make it onto our seasonal menu so that's like one less thing I have to come up with. And our customers are also pretty creative and there's certain things that they have come up with that I have transitioned into seasonal menus too.
Natalie [20:29]
I love it. And it makes you feel like you're a part of it when you can go in and do something like that or see the concoction you came up with end up on the menu. But it's not even just the mixes. You've done things like special cups, you've done, you know, different elements like that. What would have been some of those kind of unique approaches that mix it up beyond just the flavor profiles?
Bre [20:52]
Just like going back to like keeping things fresh. Like we did the holiday cups, those glass ones. Everyone thought they were really cute and I didn't want it like just another disposable like plastic cup. I wanted something that if like you're paying for it, I want it to be like a nice glass cup that people could keep. So just like a quality — like I look for quality as much as I can with that kind of stuff. And I feel like that helps those certain things stand out. That's just like another one of those things like, you know, those little things my brain — I'm like, we're just gonna incorporate that. And there's like certain things like I'm already on the summer thinking about what we can do in summer.
Natalie [21:40]
Yeah. And that's, I think with any of those businesses, you have to be six months ahead sometimes, especially when there's planning coming in. I know you host even classes that come, you know, and participate now that you have that space to have them there. So I'm sure, you know, that comes into consideration. Can you do this on this day and still balance out staffing? We're in a weird workspace.
Bre [22:06]
I think we're all feeling that, trying to find consistent, reliable employees. We definitely need more people, so I know it's not just us. So I feel like that's everywhere, yeah.
Natalie [22:20]
Yeah. What have been some of the lessons you've learned in starting up a business, moving from something like healthcare where — I hate to say it's been structured around, whether the structure works or not, it's its own debate — but you know, the component of now you're in it for yourself, you're setting the framework, you're setting the expectations, the goals. So have there been missteps along the way? Have there been things that, you know, that you wish you would have done differently or — are you more in the sense of let's embrace that lesson and at least not repeat it, but learn from it as we go forward?
Bre [22:58]
Yeah, lots of lessons. Like financially, the state doesn't make it easy at all to do anything and it's like just learning what you need to do to keep up on licenses and taxes and just like all the little tiny paperwork related things you have to do. That was a big learning curve for me in general, especially being like on more like the creative side of things. Like I don't really want to think about that kind of stuff — it's just a really hard thing for me to like set aside time in my day to kind of deal with. But yeah, part of business.
As far as like mistakes and stuff, like as an employer, I think it takes a while for anyone to kind of settle into like their management style. And I'm still learning what works. But I feel like consistency — letting things go too long was a big one for me and being taken advantage of definitely has happened. So I feel like moving forward, like standing up for myself will be a big change that I'll need to make in the coming future as we grow.
Natalie [24:18]
And I hear that a lot, especially from female leaders in the 40 and under kind of range — not wanting to be involved in conflict and just like, hey, if we can keep everyone happy, everything goes well. But sometimes we can't. And then to your point, the conflict becomes more aggressive in the end than it might have been had we dealt with it in the beginning. Yeah, but it takes time to determine how you're going to navigate that. And I know I was a remote supervisor, which was very different than being in person and having to be face to face with someone and confronting some of those things that might come up or the different generations that are involved.
Bre [25:01]
Yeah, yeah. But definitely like every new hurdle comes with like an opportunity for me to come up with a new policy at this point. So at least it's helping me come up with, you know, roles in place that I can keep things flowing normally. So mistakes, yeah, they've happened. But you know, we're moving forward and getting better. Like, I feel like everything's a jumping off point that you can grow. So.
Natalie [25:29]
Yeah. And I appreciate mentioning the paperwork aspect. I know I support one of the local animal rescues and we're still trying to get the charitable license through for this year because it's one paper that doesn't have a signature that I think is on there, but it's not. And you go back and forth and you know, same when you're doing quarterly taxes or like, I just at some point was like, I don't know money. Let me get myself a — I will spend money on the tax person and the financial advisor. But that just is another realm of local services that I know I've met a couple of local bookkeepers and I'm like, oh, okay. So if your energies are creative and how many other small companies have we mentioned, you know, sitting here that probably are in that same realm — there's opportunities for those type of services too. So if you're not a creative person, doesn't rule you out being able to have a small business even in this type of area, right? For sure.
So are there other groups that may be behind the scenes you work with? Locally you mentioned kind of the Homer City municipal building and I know they do events, holiday events that you've been a part of. Indiana County has events and things like that. So what are some of the business groups that you engage with?
Bre [26:45]
So like as a town ourselves, like we try to come together and just do as many like town events as we can. So most of the major businesses on main street — like we're coming up with like new things to do. It's usually like Trendy Trades, myself, Disobedient Spirits, Wave Riders, Sweet Shop, Home Slices, whoever else just wants to get involved, like Fox Pizza — like we'll come up with a date. We'll say, hey, this is the date for this. Like, we have Homer for Hounds coming up in April, which is with the Indiana County Humane Society. So we usually do that once a year. And we donate a lot of proceeds to the Humane Society. And we just, you know, we come together and just like come up with fun things. And we do them on Thursday night. And you wouldn't believe how many people come out on a Thursday night just to have fun.
Natalie [27:39]
Yeah. And I — okay, I have to put a plug in here for Home Slice because she mentioned it. If you are in the Indiana County area, locally listening, they have the best peri pizza that I've ever had. And that is — I know there's probably people not from Southwestern Pennsylvania listening to that going, what is that? It's potato on pizza dough, but it is really great. And so even in that small stretch, because Homer City is smaller than even Indiana borough, which is right here where we're recording today, which is also still very small. And you still have all of these little nuggets and these gems.
And the other thing, especially in the summer, is you've got the Hoodlebug Trail. So a rails to trail system that really runs through and I was just thinking, wow, we could just bike down there and then pop off and get a coffee and get some caffeine because it's uphill coming back. But you've got other streams, so it's not dependent necessarily maybe on just car traffic having to come off the main drag into town, but other ways that people kind of get to you. Do you see that? Like more foot traffic maybe than normal, especially come summer months, not only because it's warm, but because you've got this exploratory system.
Bre [28:51]
Right. We do get like in the warm months, we have a lot of people bike in, which is pretty cool. And we have a lot of walkers. Like there's a lot of people that just walk to us. They live, you know, in town. It's a very walkable town. And I think that's like really nice because they can walk up and down Main Street. So it makes Main Street like really friendly to, you know, those who live there. It's good for the businesses, you know, walkability wise and just having a trail that close too.
Natalie [29:24]
So before we talk about soup, I got to talk about balance in life. And you mentioned you've got a little one at home. I know coming — the reasons we had to, we rebooked was weather and school was canceled, sickness. Those are not just things that disrupt maybe one or two things, but there are things business owners have to work around, especially when you're small and you're kind of a key person. What have been some of those core things that you found help with that, whether it's taking kiddo in or empowering people to kind of take those decisions that need done that day. If you're not there, has remote life helped even when you are a service or kind of consumer based business?
Bre [30:05]
So like in those events like I think my core employees that we have right now — like we have worked really hard together to be able to just like function without one of us there. If I'm not there or like school's canceled, like I'll either bring my son in and he sits there and he reads books and he'll play his tablet or whatever and like we'll get what we need done and I'll take him home. I also have employees like if their kids — you know, don't have a full day, there's a delay — like we'll work together to make sure that they can go and take their kids to daycare. You know, I try to be like as friendly and cooperative and, you know, like keeping workplace balance in mind as much as possible with my employees too, because, you know, it comes back to me and like loyalty and helpfulness.
And I think like our customers see that too. Like if we're like, hey, you know, the weather's really bad. I don't feel comfortable having my baristas come in in general. Like I think they appreciate that to a point. Like, you know, I understand that. And then like if they're like, where's so and so today? I'm like, you know, like school was canceled, at home with kids. Like, okay. They understand that too.
Natalie [31:33]
And that's the community piece, right? You get to know each other. You know your baristas by name. I know we have that with a few of the places we go or the servers or the managers, because they live right here in the community with you and they get to know everyone. So let's talk soup. I have to say, you have some of the best soups that I've had. I — not that I'm a connoisseur, I don't make them all that often myself, but they're unique in a lot of ways. And so who comes up with the recipes and what are some of your favorite soups that you have done or the most popular ones?
Bre [32:11]
Yeah, so I do all the soups. I am teaching a couple of the girls how to do some of them, but right now I'm pretty much doing most of it. I don't have any recipes. I'm a person that's throw that in there, a handful of this, sprinkle of that. So people have said about, can I have a recipe or can I have a cookbook or this? No. I'm sorry, but I don't know what's in there. Like everything's my eye and smell and you know. I would say like our most popular ones — like we do a chicken gnocchi soup that's gone over really well. We recently did a chicken, I think it's pastina, I think is how you pronounce it.
Natalie [33:03]
Little pastas, right? Yeah.
Bre [33:05]
Yeah, that one went really well too. Like I'm like on Pinterest a lot and just like scrolling and just looking at different things, like not necessarily even getting recipes — which is like, that looks cool. And like, we'll just mimic the way it looks and just like try to come up with new flavors of stuff. Like it is, you know, keeping things fresh.
Natalie [33:27]
Yeah, I would say if you ever do want to do a cookbook, I would a hundred percent buy it and promote it probably. Because you had a kielbasa and pierogi soup and I've never heard of such a thing and if listeners can tell by my pierogi pizza mention, pierogi is near and dear to my heart. But those are things too that you can sell the ebook version. So just saying — if as you're teaching the other one of them wants to write some stuff down, maybe we get a Homer City soup collection.
But I think too — and then it's available the next day — because if someone comes in at 7 in the morning there's not gonna be soup there waiting for them at 7 a.m. You get the cold fridge that you put the leftovers in for people to have. And that's actually what we did, we took a couple quarts of soup home for the weekend that time. But are there any other things that you are anticipating expanding to? So you've got, you know, the kitchen kind of set up now, you do sandwiches, you've got the soups. Is there a next gen thing coming for Obsessions in the next year or so?
Bre [34:33]
Well, we would really like to expand ours a little bit. So that's like our next next step. After that, we're looking at a mobile setup. That's not a trailer. Like we would really like to have like a cart for indoor events. We've had a lot of people want us to set up at their weddings. And right now we just don't have the capability of that. Like I would need double equipment, like another espresso machine and then a cart. So that's on our list. Also need more staffing for that. So that's like a whole other, you know, set of hands that we would have to have.
Natalie [35:08]
I did a brunch wedding, Josh and I did, and that was one of the things we wanted. We didn't end up doing it, but like what a great idea. And especially for late weddings, it's getting that little hit, you know, while everyone's doing their photos, being able to get over and get a latte or an espresso. So fingers crossed that that works out. I know I think that would probably be definitely in demand.
I do want to take a second just to say, hey, you've been also great. I know we've talked about lessons learned, but being honest about things to customers so that they're not caught off guard. And I think in a world where so often we want to run the highlight reel, right? I remember we came in once and it was cold in there and you had just posted the week before about, we're running heaters. Like there's no insulation. You know, we've done this upgrade. It's also zero degrees outside. We're really sorry. And my husband was with me and he was like, wow, it's cold. I was like, it's okay. I knew about it. And so there's not this element of surprise and you can make that decision of do you want to do that? Is that just something kind of inherent? Because I know there's a lot of folks that are like, I'm not saying anything until someone asked me why it's cold in here. And instead you went above and beyond. You're like, no, hey guys, here's the situation, here's what we're trying to do. And next year, hopefully, you know, we'll have an even further piece. Was that — and was it helpful because it stemmed off questions that folks might have had, or, you know, what was the thought process?
Bre [36:34]
Yeah, like that was a whole big thing because, you know, we have really cold winters and that building is ancient, like 1800s. And yeah, no insulation whatsoever. And they're still actively like insulating the whole building. So it wasn't something we expected to have issues with. So we've been like adding on HVAC equipment as we go and as we find issues. Like we didn't know how things were going to work.
So, you know, as we're like, man, like it's getting cold in here, like we have to figure something out as far as heating. But we like didn't want people coming in and being like disappointed right off the bat. So we're like, hey, like welcome in, but just letting you know, like we're having issues with the heating. I feel like, I don't know, people are — if they're already looking at social media, I want them to know ahead of time. Right. Like I don't want to be like sneaky. Like, come in here. But like, you know, it feels like lying if I'm like, come in here, it's really nice in here, but like, it's cold.
Natalie [37:34]
Yeah, because I think about someone that wants to come in and maybe sit and work for a while. Maybe if that was their plan and they walk in and they're like, I can't work, they might just leave right away. But if they are like, can't work there today, but I can still go get my coffee, they're going to use their time and effort, get the coffee and go to the other spot where they might do a drop down. So it gives that chance to have that kind of educated decision about it. But I know that it is — it's hard when you know, you work really hard and you're running into now we got to put money into HVAC and now we got to do all these things. But as you mentioned, we're in a state where there is old houses everywhere. My home that I had in Pittsburgh didn't have insulation. So like it is something that we definitely experience on a regular basis and when you're in those growth phases there's stuff you're going to run into. Leaks in roofs, windows, all those things.
Bre [38:21]
Yeah. So, I mean, it's still a work in progress. Like the building's big and they're working on stuff upstairs, like putting apartments in and stuff. Like things are still happening. So hopefully like next winter, you know, we're good.
Natalie [38:39]
Well, I think we're getting to a point where I want to give you a chance to really promote — we're going to drop this episode in a few weeks. So if we're thinking about kind of what's coming up in April, what's a flavor someone can look forward to this spring? Or are there any events — you mentioned the Homer for Hounds piece — or anything that just from a message of, hey, I'm listening in Texas, I can't come up and get any coffee necessarily from Obsessions, but you know, where should people look? So sorry for the multifaceted question, but a little bit of what's what for right now — our local folks tuning in, what can they expect? And then for other places, what do you have advice for someone that's starting something up or customers that are looking for how to find their local spot?
Bre [39:25]
So, what's coming up for us? So we're doing a new menu this look on St. Patrick's Day. So that's gonna be our cereal menu. We're like Lucky Charms, let's do that. So we're doing a bunch of different cereals and that's gonna run until like maybe early May and then we're gonna jump into like our spring menu which is gonna be like flowers and florals and a little bit of fruity stuff. We'll run that until like late June where we jump into like our fruits for summer. So like just keeping that in mind — we're going to be switching some things up, keeping things fresh for, you know, our menu drops.
Homer for Hounds April 16th, I believe it's a Thursday. So, you know, it'd be really great — three to 7 PM if everyone came out for that. Money's going to a good cause. We have a lot of vendors that come out for that. So if you're looking for something to do, that'd be the time to come out. Yeah. As far as like starting up a business, if you're thinking about it, I mean — also just do it and see how it goes. I mean, what else could you really do? You either jump in or you don't. I mean, I say jump in.
Natalie [40:48]
And it's risky — you leave a guaranteed income. I mean, I've just done it. And last night was one of my spirals where I was just like, oh, that bill came out and that's feeling rough. But to your point, if you don't stick with it — and this is actually an episode release in this week that we're recording — talked about, we're negotiating our own potential. And so if you stop, it's your decision to stop.
Bre [41:11]
Yeah, yeah. I think like if it's something you want, like you just have to kind of go all in, whether you're working your other job or not — like mentally, you have to kind of go all in. Can't be like, have to go straight for it. And you have to be willing to put a lot of work into it and know that you're probably going to have like a mental breakdown or two here and there because it's inevitable. Like it's going to happen.
Natalie [41:39]
And know that stuff may be uncomfortable at times. And I think what we hear a lot from people that have had failures is that that failure though leads to kind of that next iteration of who they are or the business that they run. And if you don't go all in, how do you ever really know what you were capable of or what this could have resulted in for yourself? And I think, you know, there's the beauty of the community that you sit in and all these other small business owners that you can rely on or bounce things off of at times when you're going through it. But what about now, our time to do with them when we're still young and able to?
Bre [42:14]
Yeah, like why not do it right now? You know, if I fail I fail, whatever. But like I put time into it, I put effort into it. So you know, if it all goes away, it's like oh well, I tried right?
Natalie [42:27]
And time is a weird construct. We might think that we did this thing and it should be really successful tomorrow. And I mean, even with this podcast, the last month was my first month of major steady growth. And I'm like, is this a sign? It only took eight months, you know, but it's not an overnight success. And when you're in communities like this that I think have gone through so much change in time — we've had the Homer City power plant, you know, just kind of go through its thing. We've lived through the coal life that now we're starting to see iterations of, the universities coming back to life after COVID. And you never can predict any of it.
Bre [43:05]
You never know what's going to come up. It's like staying flexible. Cause you have no idea what's going to come your way.
Natalie [43:14]
Yeah, and being receptive of it — that open door thing of, you know, one door closes another one opens. Yeah. So Bre, where can people find information about Obsessions? If they want to either look at what you do sell online or find out more about your location, websites, socials? What does that look like?
Bre [43:32]
We mostly do all of our socials on Facebook and Instagram. We do a little bit on TikTok but like most of it's gonna be on Facebook. We get most of our engagement on there. We get most of our customers from Facebook and Instagram. We have some stuff on Google. We try to keep our menus updated on Google. And we're going to be doing online ordering through Square pretty soon on our Squarespace — just getting that set up has been quite the issue. I'll say that.
Natalie [44:06]
So hopefully people will go ahead and check that out. You heard a little bit about what you can find on the socials. So if you're listening and you are like, hey, I'm going to be in that area — maybe there's kids coming to the university or anything like that, or you're local here. Got a lot of local listeners. You can check it out, find out that soup, go test it out. It is so good. I'm telling you. Head out to Homer for Hounds. Keep in mind, you know, what kind of coffees or refreshers or things that you like. You had a glitter drink last year, I think, that my friend took about 20 pictures of because no matter which way she photographed it, it looked great. And don't be surprised if you see something new come up.
I think we've had some great messages through this, which is don't be afraid to reach out. If you've got something, take it in, share a business card, engage. We build off each other in so many ways. So Bre, last messages for folks as we wrap up today.
Bre [44:58]
No, I honestly I think we covered like a lot.
Natalie [45:02]
We moved fast. It's the ADHD brains going from thing to thing. So thank you so much for being here. We'll make sure to tag all of this stuff in the episode. If you are watching on YouTube or Spotify, you'll see us overlay some photos of different things along the way and make sure to do that old like, subscribe, do whatever it is. So you can come back and hear more about our local series where we're interviewing people just like Bre in the community here in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, but also driving into those pieces about being business owners, starting out, learning from all of these journeys that we're on. And we're so happy that you were able to join today, Bre. So thanks so much. And thanks everyone for tuning in. We will talk again soon.
Bre [45:41]
Thanks for having me.