Today we’d like to introduce you to David Nordyke.
David, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My first cup of coffee was when I was around ten years old. My mom liked to drink Taster’s Choice – an instant coffee powder that you stirred in with hot water. I asked her for a taste one summer morning. I didn’t have another cup of coffee until I was 24 years old! Needless to say, it did not taste good. But, like a lot of people, my interest in coffee was renewed when I had a vanilla latte from Starbucks. It was dessert in a cup! I happily enjoyed these for quite some time. However, when my wife and I were married, we had a few duplicate gifts, so we returned them to Dillard’s dept store for a store credit. Having more place settings, pots, and kitchen towels than we knew what to do with, we decided to get something fun. We spotted a small home espresso machine way up on a shelf and decided to give it a whirl. With little knowledge of coffee & espresso brewing methods, I did my best to recreate what I was getting from my Starbucks vanilla latte – I even hunted down bottles of their vanilla syrup around town. I enjoyed making at home what normally cost me $4 a pop.
About one year or so later, coffee shop opened in our neighborhood. I decided to stop in one day and have my usual vanilla latte. What I experienced that day caused my coffee journey to took a drastic turn. It was the best cup of coffee I’d ever had. “That,” I said to myself, “that is what I want to drink every day.” From that moment on, I was on a quest to find out everything I needed to know to have that same cup of coffee each day – without the $4 price tag of course. I’m sure I annoyed the baristas and the owners with all my questions about espresso machines, grinders, steaming milk, pouring latte art…all the things. But they were gracious and answered my questions with enthusiasm. That next Christmas, my family, gave me my first pro-sumer espresso machine and a barista training class and I was forever hooked on the art and pursuit of the perfect cup of coffee. That pursuit led to a desire to open a coffee shop, with the sole purpose of showing others how amazing coffee can taste (without loads of milk and sugar), how complex it is, and how they too can enjoy better coffee than what they are currently drinking at home, work, or otherwise. And hopefully, bringing them along a similar journey to pursue that perfect cup.
Eventually, I purchased what was Generator Coffee House and Bakery and rebranded it to Rosalind Coffee.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We definitely faced some challenges in our first year that nearly all small businesses experience. We changed the name of a place that had been there for eight years, so there were some customers and people in the community that wondered why we would do that. We changed the menu a little and brought in a new approach to coffee and what a coffee shop should be. And that was tough for some people, including the staff. We had to work hard to win them back and I believe we did. Once people understand that you’re trying to improve upon what came before and not just change it for the sake of change, they begin to see how much better it is and they love it. And that’s a beautiful thing. It’s so meaningful now when customers give us compliments and we see them enjoying themselves in the shop. Staffing is hard in any business, but especially in retail. We had some turnover when I first took over the business and that left some pretty big holes to fill. However, we are lucky that being a barista is a very intriguing job. It offers flexibility, a fun atmosphere, and at the same time challenging. We have an amazing staff now.
On a personal note, my mom passed away about eight months after we opened. So that was hard.
Please tell us about Rosalind Coffee.
We are a specialty coffee shop and offer high-quality espresso, coffee, pastries, and small bites. We source our beans from all over the world and roast them right here in Garland. We also feature other roasters such as Eiland Coffee and Tweed. We are known for several drinks such as our Lavender Love Latte and our lemon lavender cookies that are made in-house. All of our cookies, brownies, pies, and quiches are homemade along with many other items that we offer. We make several of our syrups in-house as well. I’m very proud of how many items we make ourselves. This business would be a lot easier if we just purchased them from other vendors. But you can sometimes lose some authenticity and quality in your products when you do that. We have the ability to experiment with new goodies and make something really special for our customers to enjoy (like our herb and cheese waffles 🙂 I’m also very proud of a grant we received from the Garland Chamber of Commerce. I am so thankful they believed in what we are doing and chose to support us. We used that money to purchase our first roaster.
We are also unique in that we host events. Our space is beautiful and charming, so it’s a lovely venue for parties & showers. We’ve even hosted several weddings!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have been more sensitive to the community that we stepped into. I misjudged what the response would be to some changes we made early, and I think that hurt us at first. Looking back, it would have been wise to spend a longer amount of time easing into the transition of new ownership and getting to know our customers and the community before making some of those changes. The people of Garland are fiercely loyal. Which is a retailer’s dream. Now, I’m thankful they are loyal to us 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 107 N 6th St
Garland, TX 75040 - Website: www.rosalindcoffeetx.com
- Phone: 972-494-9449
- Email: buzz@rosalindcoffeetx.com
- Instagram: @rosalindcoffeetx
- Facebook: facebook.com/rosalindcoffeetx
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