Today we’d like to introduce you to Joy Booth.
Joy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We began to think of the idea for a neighborhood coffee spot soon after we moved to Stonebridge Ranch in 2015. The notion of a place where we could offer locally roasted coffee, freshly made treats, acoustic music, and a friendly spot where neighbors could gather developed in our hearts and our minds over time. Once we found an available space close to home, we knew we wanted to make it happen and the name seemed a natural fit!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Mostly. We opened the coffee shop at the same time that we opened our restaurant right next door–E.J. Wills Gastropub. Building both and designing both–as the shopping center was built from the ground up–offered a lot of opportunities, but also came with a number of decisions about how to maximize the space and what design elements to include. Once we were able to make our design ideas come to life, then it was time to manage the almost round the clock operation of baking overnight, brewing coffee to open the shop early, and running the restaurant all day and for late-night operations. We have modified our hours along the way, built a connecting doorway to allow passage for guests between both places, and expanded our menu too. Our philosophy of “always innovating” has allowed us to have fun, try new ideas, and be very responsive to guests’ suggestions as well.
McKinney Coffee Company – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
McKinney Coffee Company’s tag line is “sip, snack, savor” and we truly want guests to feel welcome and comfortable in our space. It has become an office-away-from-the-office for many local businessmen and women who enjoy our spot for individual meetings, team meetings, and even “pop-ups” for the items they sell, such as jewelry, artwork, and clothing.
We specialize in serving a daily brunch menu, as well as lunch and dinner, and we offer desserts as well as a full bar. Guests can enjoy traditional coffee drinks, specialty coffees, teas, and kicked up coffees (for grown-ups only)! We also offer late hours, live music on Saturday mornings, a customized catering menu for off-site events, and private event space.
In addition, we are stewards for the international Little Free Library program–the world’s largest book-sharing movement–and we offer a range of books for all ages that are free to borrow. Guests regularly drop off books they’ve already read and wish to share and can often be found browsing through our collection or reading a bit of a new book on each visit.
We also routinely offer classes open to the public, which have included yoga, chocolate tasting, floral arranging, and various arts and craft design.
We are most proud of our partnerships with local artisans who sell jams and other handcrafted items in our shop, like soaps and gourmet marshmallows. We are also proud to partner with other McKinney Chamber of Commerce businesses to organize donation drives and awareness campaigns for seniors and domestic violence survivors and to partner with the McKinney Police Department for our annual Coffee with a Cop event.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We define success as exceeding guests’ expectations. We love engaging directly with our guests and have come to consider many family. We look forward to their feedback and can only benefit from the opportunity to hear what went well and maybe not so well about their visit, and then quickly implementing any efforts to sustain or change our processes.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1910 N. Stonebridge Drive McKinney, TX 75071
- Website: mckinneycoffeeco.com
- Phone: 214-592-0146
- Email: mckinneycoffeeco@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mckinneycoffee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mckinneycoffeeco
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mckinneycoffee
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