Today we’d like to introduce you to Cecilia Hurt
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The Owls Nest started a month before Covid hit! We grew up in the small little town of Joshua, Texas and decided after we got married we would raise our children here. We had tried all different types of business and nothing really ever took off. In High school I had, had lots of serving positions and worked in the service industry for the most part. I worked at this one particular cafe in a small town and became very close to the owner. I would always tell him this looks so easy I want to own a small little cafe and he would always tell me NO run for the hills! Well years later I was sitting behind my desk in a pediatric center and I decided to start the journey at looking at small little places that could possible hold enough people to serve. I called around looked at a few spots and one just HIT me! I was ready for the challenge! I went back to work and just started saving money, creating menus, plans for a new business. I finally called the landlords back negotiated a deal and that afternoon the place was mine. I came home told my husband I signed a 5 year lease on a space for a small cafe and he was in disbelief. His exact words were “not the restaurant industry”! Well too late I already did it hehe! They gave us 3 months for free to do any kind of work we needed to get the place all ready for set up. I kept my job those 3 months and we got to work after each day of working our normal 8 hour jobs THEN a month later COVID hit! I thought oh no what the heck did I just get us into? I was already committed so we began during shut down just building the place up every single day. Every thing just fell into place from the tables, chairs, furniture, even our big stuff like refrigerators and stoves. Because covid had hit and everyone was ordered to stay inside lots of places were going out of business. So we were just getting handing all kinds of things for our new venture. Two months later restrictions were lifted and we were ready for business. Just one cook and one employee ready to take the town on! Soup, salad, and sandwiches the only one of its kind in our small little town. We had so much business and really gained some life long customers. After being there for a year and a half we got a call from another company asking us to put our cafe in their shopping strip! We were really beside ourselves because our goal when opening this up was to expand BIGGER and this was the BIGGER we had wanted. Another one of Gods blessing for us! We negotiated our rent and we got settled in to our new space in a couple of days and we were back in business only this time we added MILKSHAKES!! Now we were soup, salad, sandwich, milkshakes! Business took off again for the second time and we were off to a fresh new start! Now we are celebrating 5 years in one of the hardest industries there is. We have managed to stay afloat during covid, inflation, and even a major recession. All by the grace of God! We don’t know what is in store for us next or if this is our last year but were are pretty excited to see what the future holds for us!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No way! From not ever running a business especially in the service industry, to covid, inflation, and a recession. The odds have definitely been stacked against us but the community and our customers keep showing up when we need it the most. Our first obstacle being covid and not knowing if we would operate normal after signing a 5 year contract. Then years later we would face the biggest inflation of our time especially in food. Our lettuce at one time was $23 a case and in the midst of inflation we were seeing prices in the $60 price range. A little after everything started struggling our marriage suffered because of the strain of every day life and a small business in a small town. I was focused on trying to find a way to succeed not knowing I had already succeeded I just needed to trust the process and my loyal customers. I was served with divorce papers moved out of my home and didn’t know if I would eventually lose my business. I had to be willing to back off of the restaurant a little more and focus on my family and what matter most. We finally worked it all out, moved back home and set shorter hours for our business. Now just the struggle of people showing up to eat in our cafe because prices are high every where you look and then we have BIG restaurants now coming in to our community! The struggle is always real you just have to be will to make the necessary changes and keep growing with the community!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Owls Nest Cafe ?
My name is Cecilia and I am the owner of a small town cafe right outside of Fort Worth, Texas. I went from 11 employees at the peak of our restaurant to now cooking, cleaning, and washing the dishes. I have 3 employees that help out around here when we need it. Our cafe specializes in Soup, Salad, Sandwiches, Milkshakes, and gathering people around our tables for good conversations and love.
I am most proud of how far we’ve come with such little experience!
We want readers to know that it’s ok to have faith and take BIG risk you just have be confident in your decisions and go for it! The road to what you want may take a turn for the worst but it’s the fight to keep going because you deserve it! Here we are 5 years later in our small town and we have so much to be thankful for! Our community has shown us so much love and support throughout the years and although we think we are coming to the end of our road we are very happy with the journey!
We specialize in our homemade, local, healthy food options to fit your everyday needs!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for us has been this place! The Owls Nest! We set out on a mission to be entrepreneurs, bring people a healthy eating option, and gather people around our tables for good conversations. Over the years we have watched so many great incredible things happen around each one of our tables and around our own. We set out to grow and get into a BIGGER space and we did just that in less than 2 years. Success to us consistent growth especially in a constant growing industry, setting goals that challenge you, and working hard to achieve them!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: theowlsnestcafe
- Facebook: The Owls Nest Cafe
