Today we’d like to introduce you to Patti Snell.
Hi Patti, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story. As a result of being a lifetime serial entrepreneur, I have a lot of starts but what keeps me going is ingrained perseverance.
All my success and failures have led me right here. I am the Happy Mad Scientist with coffee and tea.
I have been in the food business for more than 40 years. I started selling baking at a local farmers’ market when I was 14 years old. I opened my first bakery in the basement of my parents’ house in a small town outside of Toronto. Along with the bakery, I managed 2 Tea Houses and served tea to the Queen of England in 1989. I opened my first retail bakery in 1990, 2 months after our first child was born. I opened a larger second location when our second child was born and quickly realized that the bakery business is tough with a young family. I sold the bakery business in 1991 and was a full-time mom. We had a 3rd child in 1994.
My husband accepted a job in Dallas in 1994 so we packed up and moved to Plano. A newborn, 2 year and 4-year-old, no car, no phone, and no health insurance. Crazy time in our lives but we planned to only live in Texas for 3 years. We are now at 28.
From 1994-2007, I kept busy teaching Texans how to ice skate, opened school stores, sold kids and beanie baby clothing. I taught a drama class in our elementary school and performed more than 10 performances for more than 100 kids. I strongly believe that kids need to see Mom and Dad both working.
In 2006 a “For Lease” sign was posted on the only historic home in west Plano and I immediately called. After 18 months of renovations, restoration, permits, and monthly town council meetings I decided my lazy days were over and I opened Patti’s Place Tea Room & Bakery in the Historic Wells House, February 13, 2008. The line on opening day wrapped around the building. Remember, this was the biggest crash for Dallas/Plano restaurants. Patti’s Place thrived. Gourmet tea was a relatively new thing to Texas and I won Best of the Big D for the best cup of Texas tea. I also brought one of the only historic homes in West Plano back to life.
It was at this time, I found out that I couldn’t drink caffeine anymore. WHAT? I love coffee. I searched for good decaf coffee but there were no local roasters in Plano and the decaf coffee available in the grocery stores was all instant. I decided to buy a roaster and roast my own coffee for Patti’s Place and decaf for myself.
I was presented a proposal to sell the restaurant in 2011 and I was wanting to focus on just coffee and tea, so I sold. I arrived home with 250 varieties of tea and my coffee roaster. I delivered orders on my motorcycle and roasted coffee in the laundry room of our house. That’s when the fun began. I created coffee flavors like Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie, Nutty Butterscotch Toffee, and Vanilla Caramel Kahlua. I even have a coffee flavor that tastes just like Dr. Pepper.
When I arrived home with 250 different varieties of tea, I found out my husband, preferred Crystal Lite. Yikes! I began experimenting with different blends of tea and I came up with a line of iced teas that are green tea-based that taste sweet, no sugar, no calories. Healthy Hydration. Flavors like Peachberry Palooza, Splash of Summer, Mango Tango Tangerine, and Blueberry Bash. We now have a gallon jug in our fridge 24-7. I still have about 75 custom blends and of course all the regular favorites. I collaborate with local breweries that use my tea blends in their beers. Tea can be used to replace water in everything you make. Being creative with tea is so fun!
Now that I had a pretty good product line, my only goal was to get on the shelves of Central Market. After 18 months and a whole lot of free products, I was given 4 skus at the Plano store. My brand was Patti’s Place Coffee. I will never forget my first demo. Everyone that approached my table said the same thing, “oh I don’t like flavored coffee, flavored coffee is terrible, flavored coffee is not real coffee…”. If I was lucky enough to get them to try my coffee, I sold it. I believe there is no wrong way to drink coffee and if you’re putting flavored syrup in your coffee, you like flavored coffee!
I must come up with a line of unflavored coffees but how on earth do I stand out with every coffee roaster roasting unflavored coffees. Mine had to be unique. I woke up in the middle of the night with Barrel-Aged Beans. I was one of the original creators of this type of coffee. I have a single malt scotch, bourbon, spiced rum, and maple crown royal.
In order for me to be a vendor at Central Market, I had to roast coffee in a commercial kitchen but I couldn’t afford to open a roastery so I opened The Craft Kitchen at Patti’s Place. It was groups of commercial rental kitchens that allowed me the space to roast coffee but also rent out the extra space to food-based entrepreneurs to jump-start their businesses.
I got into the other 3 Central Markets in the area and the need for rental kitchens was also increasing. I opened up 3 more rental kitchens while growing with Central Market. The rental kitchen business was too time-consuming and to be honest a huge distraction so I sold the Craft Kitchen to one of my foodies in 2017. I opened my own space in the Design District and finally, Coffee & Tea Junkie is focused and ready to really grow.
By the fall of 2017, I was expanding to all 10 Central Market stores and I had a handful of wholesale clients. I got a call in October 2017 from the coffee buyer of Central Market and it was not to talk about expansion it was to tell me that I was being discontinued. We had grown too much, I guess. I was completely crushed. I didn’t even have a website. Note to self, never have the bulk of your sales coming from 1 vendor. I decided to use this time to rebrand to Coffee and Tea Junkie and create a more sustainable business.
In the spring of 2018, my website went live, I rebranded to Coffee & Tea Junkie and spent 2018 trying everything. I got on Amazon, picked up more wholesale clients, and created some new coffees. I created the Coffee Junkie and Tea Junkie advent calendars and they sold out immediately. 2019 was the year of tremendous growth on my website and then for Advent season.
Then Covid hit. All my wholesale and office contracts closed and my lease was to expire in May of 2020. Was I up for recreating this business, again, or do I simply let the lease expire? NO! I was able to extend my lease till the end of 2020 but I had to find a new space. Our rent was taking a real hike and the space was just too small. Our online sales in 2020 exploded 1000% and Advent season was double from the previous year. I found a space that I was able to build out, with room to grow and I moved February 1, 2021. I but had no electricity till the middle of March, no hot water till the end of April and I didn’t get my CO until the first of June. The momentum I had created in 2019 was dwindling. Once we got our CO, we were able to jump into gear, and even though we weren’t really selling until June our sales increased by 25% over 2020.
We are currently selling online in Canada and the USA, in a grocery store chain in Hawaii, and at numerous small retail shops in the USA.
Here we are, 2 years of COVID and I know 2022 will be an even greater year for Coffee & Tea Junkie. We have plans for new products, new grocery, and retail opportunities, and perhaps my final start, Caffeinated Kindness. More information on that to come.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Never a smooth road. If you’re gliding, you’re about to climb or fall. The only constant is change. I had many struggles along the way but I think the most difficult ones involved items out of my control. Struggles with grocery buyers, global pandemics, landlords, supply chains, etc. I have learned that you must constantly improvise, adapt and overcome and you if you do you won’t be a starving start-up for long.
We’ve been impressed with Coffee & Tea Junkie, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Coffee & Tea Junkie we roast and blend all Organic, naturally flavored coffees and teas. Our coffees and teas have no sugar, no calories, and are naturally flavored. No other coffee company is roasting Organic, single-origin coffees with such unique flavors. We have more than 30 flavors and more than 100 varieties of tea.
I am the happy mad scientist with coffee and tea.
Rebranding to Coffee Junkie and Tea Junkie was my proudest moment. We hold the trademark for Coffee Junkie and Tea Junkie in Canada and the USA.
We sell wholesale to grocers, cafes, and offices, on our website coffeejunkie.com and on Amazon.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in a small town outside of Toronto in Canada. I was a very athletic kid; I figure skated every day during the winter and played baseball in the summer. My school report cards all had a common denominator. I was very social, chatty and was often lated coming in from recess because I had to do one more swing or one more toboggan down the hill.
As soon as I was old enough, I loved cutting the lawn. We had a fairly big property and never had a riding lawnmower. I loved the time to myself and the clear thinking that was the result. To this day I cut the lawn as a stress release.
My parents got married at 16 and 18 and had 4 kids before my mom was 25. I am the only girl with 3 brothers and not working was simply not an option. My parents struggled financially but were always supportive.
I sold Mary Kay cosmetics when I was in high school so that I could use great skincare and not pay full price. I lived in an area that required a car so I had to make money. I got the idea to start selling baking at a local farmers market when I was 15 years old.
I met my husband at 16 and we have been together since 1980… crazy.
What I learned about myself growing up is that I loved creating things. I enjoyed baking so I wanted to take food science in university. I was a couple sciences short so I went into Hotel and Restaurant management. I quickly found that I loved the business side of the food and beverage business better than running a restaurant.
I was impatient to get started at my career and my bakery business was growing so I started my first real bakery in the basement of my parents’ house when they went away on vacation.
Contact Info:
- Email: coffeeandteajunkie@gmail.com
- Website: coffeejunkie.com
- Instagram: Coffee and Tea Junkie
- Facebook: Coffee and Tea Junkie
- Twitter: Coffee and Tea Junkie
Image Credits
Foster Snell
