Today we’d like to introduce you to Jorik and Cat Blom.
Jorik and Cat, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
RE:defined Coffee House came from the vision of ex-Dallas Cowboy Kenyon Coleman and his wife Katie. Their desire was to have this place be an extension of their living room; a place where people can comfortably gather together, over an amazing cup of coffee, and do life together. When Kenyon called my wife Cat and told her about what he wanted to do, we just had to jump on board. It was at a time on our lives when we could see things lining up, and it was clear that we couldn’t say no. None of us have done anything like this before, so it was quite the leap of faith. Together, our intention and desire is to have a place that cultivates community and connection between all walks of life.
Having very little experience in coffee, Cat and I started an internship with Avoca Coffee Roasters in Ft. Worth. It was there that we were immersed in the coffee culture, day in and day out. We learned everything from the importance of exacting measurements, to the balance of employees, to working registers again, to making people smile that haven’t had their coffee yet, steaming milk, tamping espresso, French pressed coffee…. the list goes on and on. Kenyon and Katie, with our other than partners, Daniel and Lucy Molina, were the ones that built everything out. Katie did an incredible job decorating the shop. Her vision included super comfortable seating in small separate living room areas, one sitting area is complete with a beautiful, modern fireplace. She also created a workspace/desk area for people that need to settle in and get work done. The best seat in the house is in our back nook, complete with bench to ceiling tufted cushions and a gigantic, sparkling chandelier.
Now, 3 ½ years later, RE:defined has more than exceeded our vision for community and desire to become your ‘Third Place.’ It has grown to become a beautiful part of the Grapevine community. We have watched, with immense joy, RE:defined become not just a coffee house, but a home. This became evident when we began the process of expansion. We asked our guests to write a short little paragraph to the City of Grapevine, stating why they love RE:defined, and what RE:defined means to them. What followed blew our minds. 75 letters came pouring in from people who took the time to sit down and write about what RE:defined means to them. That book of letters was confirmation that we are succeeding and touching the lives of the people we serve. We are now poised to begin the build out of our second location, opening early 2018.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been an incredible road so far, we have made some mistakes, learned some valuable lessons, and celebrated some incredible victories. Being the Operations side of the partnership, we had a lot of things to figure out, not to mention being a husband/wife team. I was a bartender all over the world for 18 years, and my wife Cat has a degree in business finance. This being our first venture out on our own, it was amazing and challenging working side by side together. Finding the right combination of “staying in your lane,” while remaining teachable and open for input has been crucial. If things aren’t right at the top, the trickle down can and will be detrimental to your entire team. We recognized this from the beginning and realized that any argument we had would negatively impact the atmosphere, so we learned/are learning how to honor each other with each challenge that came our way.
Another challenge we bumped up against was finding the balance between working the floor and actually building our business. Especially in the beginning. We’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, that you have to let go of control and empower someone else to take things off of your plate. This is probably something that we will continually grow in, in the years to come.
RE:defined Coffee House – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
RE:defined Coffee House is not just a coffee house, but a home. This has become our tagline, and for good reason. Our guests know that they are welcome to stay and work, chat, read or hang out for as long as they need. To truly become a part of a community, you have to spend time in that community. Let’s face it, you really do want to go where people know your name, will greet you with a smile and serve you the most amazing, hand-made cup of coffee that you’ve ever had. We love getting to know our amazing guests.
We create amazing drinks using our own unique simple syrups made in house, from scratch. Everything is weighed out to the gram. Consistency matters, whether it’s your V60 pour over, to your melted chocolate mocha, French pressed house coffee, or your shaken iced tea. Many of our ingredients, and all of our baked goods are local. We love partnering with local businesses, together supporting our local community.
We are so proud of our baristas. We tell them time and time again that they are more than just baristas. They have the opportunity to change someone’s day. They have the opportunity to make someone smile, to effect change in their community one person at a time. A majority of the feedback people give us is not just singing the praises of our drinks and incredible atmosphere, but more about the people serving them.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our proudest moment so far was receiving news from Yelp! that we were among their chosen top 100 Businesses in North America 2016! When you work so hard to do everything with excellence, getting news like this was so exciting. We were nominated and won to represent Fort Worth because we “crush it both online and off.” This honor included being flown out to San Francisco to attend their Coast-to-Coast event, and meet up with the other ranking business owners. We spent a few days hearing the stories of their greatest accomplishments and failures, how they overcame hurdles not unlike our own, meeting CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, and celebrating together each night with the best food and drinks, Yelp! style. What an accomplishment.
Contact Info:
- Address: 220 N. Main St.,
Grapevine, TX 75022 - Website: www.redefinedcoffeehouse.com
- Phone: 817-488-2828
- Email: info@redefinedcoffeehouse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redefinedcoffeehouse
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redefinedcoffeehouse
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/redefined-coffee-house-grapevine
Image Credit:
Jorik Blom
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