Today we’d like to introduce you to Aya Azzam.
Hi Aya, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story starts when I interviewed at a local coffee shop and roasters in my hometown city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My first day was meant to be the very first day of the covid quarantine shutdown in 2020. I spent about two months starting my training online, by watching videos of cafe safety, steaming milk, dialing in and pulling the perfect espresso shot. It was an interesting time to say the least.
Fast foward a couple months, my fiancé and I decided to move to Dallas once we got married in November of 2021. I worked at a local shop here for a few months, before I got a teaching position as a history teacher. I knew that I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop of my own, one that had the level of detail of a specialty shop and the level of creativity of a shop that people would want to drive to visit.
After teaching for about two years, I decided to leave to have my first baby. A couple months into motherhood and I had a feeling like now is the time to do something with my future plans of opening a coffee shop. Maybe not quite the brick and mortar dreams that I had long term, but probably something more compact and easy on my schedule of being a first time mom.
I presented the idea of a coffee cart to my husband, knowing i’d want him to be partner in the business – side note, he is super social butterfly, whereas I am not really on that level. So we’d make the perfect team.
We laid out all the details, completed all the research for the beans we’d source from a local roaster (shoutout Eiland Coffee Roasters.) We knew which supplies we needed to the cart’s plumbing, which espresso machine and grinder we’d want to purchase. All the details really, except for one main thing… the name of our business that we wanted to start in less than a month.
Crazy, we’re stuck on the one thing and it happens to be the very thing that our entire branding revolves around. We were super stumped to be honest. Nomad Coffee? Nah. Levant Coffee? Hmm not it.
It really took us like a good few weeks, it drove me a bit crazy. I thought, maybe I’m just overthinking it. Simplify things. The name could be right in front of me. My husband walks through the door, asking when I want to leave tomorrow morning for our weekly tradition, for our Friday coffee.
There it was… Friday Coffee. Best day of the week, best day to have a morning cup of coffee.
Fast forward a year and here we are, over 60 events done, 10,000+ cups of coffee served. So I would say that the first few months weren’t the easiest, but the more people we met, the more events we did, the more confident we got in our product.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road. In this business, I’ve learned that it’s one thing to be a barista in a cafe and that’s your only role. But it’s an entirely different game when you’re the barista, the manager, the machine technician, the owner. It’s a crazy game out here.
Our first event went really went after I got past the first 5 minutes of nervous shaky hands. And figuring out why my steam wand wasn’t working – turns out I just didn’t click the boiler button which is what controls the steam power.
Another event fail is me rolling out my cart solo, super happy that I packed up in under 30-minutes. Only for the wheel of the cart to completely break off rolling on the doors threshold.
Some other struggles include figuring out exactly how much supplies to pack, cups, syrups, beans. And somehow always forgetting to pack something and running to the nearest Walmart or target to buy a new one.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Friday Coffee Co. is an elevated coffee catering experience. Bringing the coffee shop experience to businesses, private events, schools, and more. We make specialty espresso based drinks like Americanos, Cappuccinos, Cortados, Lattes, Matcha based drinks and more.
Brand wise I’m most proud of how much people have fallen in love with our aesthetic and branding. Now we know we search a mean specialty latte, but a client telling us that one of the reasons they want us at their event is because of how nice our cart is… it just warms our heart.
We bring the specialty coffee shop experience to your private event or business. We keep your guests caffeinated with amazing service. We offer a model that allows you to build your own experience. We offer additional items like custom cups, a fully custom branded cart with your business logo or couples names for an engagement or wedding. We also have add-ons like matcha to your menu, refreshers, hot chocolate for events that have kids. Our goal is to provide a specialty drink, while also allowing our client to feel like the cart is customized to their event.
We also started an event that takes place every two months called the Friday Social Club. We’ve hosted a total of four social markets where we invite creatives of all types to bring their work, allowing them to showcase their business to the customers that come by for the event. We’ve had events in Garland, Allen, and Richardson, hoping to have the next one a little closer to Irving.
Any big plans?
So far we’ve expanded to two coffee carts. So we’re hoping to expand to a couple more, maybe even a warehouse. The big goal, is a coffee shop. It really is always been the end goal, which we’re being super patient for the right time. But hearing guests ask at every event where our coffee shop is located because they’d love to visit, just keeps us even more motivated to make that end goal come even sooner than planned.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fridaycoffee.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fridaycoffee.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Friday-Coffee-Co/
- Other: https://share.google/vilURRDvUcRIEzQxD
