Have you ever pondered the true value of a barista or the complexities of tipping culture within the coffee industry? As we unfold these intricate layers, we guarantee an enriching brew of insights and stories with our esteemed guest, Michael Harwood, co-owner of Vignette Coffee Roasting. Be prepared to discover a world beyond your morning coffee pick-me-up, as we unravel the delicate balance between a warm, inviting café environment and ensuring a fair living wage for the hardworking baristas. We also venture into the innovative concept of pay-as-you-can models, and how they could potentially stir up the coffee scene.
We invite you to embark on a journey of love, laughter, and entrepreneurship with us, as we navigate the highs and lows of running a coffee business as a newly wedded couple. Michael brings his diverse experiences from theatre and nursing to the coffee industry, offering a unique perspective on the myriad facets of coffee. And, it’s not just all work and no play. We'll also share the delightfully quirky tale of our raccoon mascot, and its surprising role in brewing positivity within the industry.
Finally, let's plunge into the rich and robust blend of coffee culture and community support. As we reflect on our global travels, we realize how different perspectives can enrich our understanding of the coffee supply chain. We'll delve into the significance of barista and craft culture, with a focus on the importance of continuous learning to propel the industry forward. We're proud of Vignette Coffee's commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences while nurturing our local community. Get ready to grind through these stimulating discussions and deepen your appreciation for your beloved cup of joe!
https://www.instagram.com/betterwithacupofcoffee/
https://betterwithacupofcoffee.com/
Have you ever pondered the true value of a barista or the complexities of tipping culture within the coffee industry? As we unfold these intricate layers, we guarantee an enriching brew of insights and stories with our esteemed guest, Michael Harwood, co-owner of Vignette Coffee Roasting. Be prepared to discover a world beyond your morning coffee pick-me-up, as we unravel the delicate balance between a warm, inviting café environment and ensuring a fair living wage for the hardworking baristas. We also venture into the innovative concept of pay-as-you-can models, and how they could potentially stir up the coffee scene.
We invite you to embark on a journey of love, laughter, and entrepreneurship with us, as we navigate the highs and lows of running a coffee business as a newly wedded couple. Michael brings his diverse experiences from theatre and nursing to the coffee industry, offering a unique perspective on the myriad facets of coffee. And, it’s not just all work and no play. We'll also share the delightfully quirky tale of our raccoon mascot, and its surprising role in brewing positivity within the industry.
Finally, let's plunge into the rich and robust blend of coffee culture and community support. As we reflect on our global travels, we realize how different perspectives can enrich our understanding of the coffee supply chain. We'll delve into the significance of barista and craft culture, with a focus on the importance of continuous learning to propel the industry forward. We're proud of Vignette Coffee's commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences while nurturing our local community. Get ready to grind through these stimulating discussions and deepen your appreciation for your beloved cup of joe!
https://www.instagram.com/betterwithacupofcoffee/
https://betterwithacupofcoffee.com/
Hey guys, welcome to Couple Connections. I'm Portia and we're here coming to you from our virtual cafe Better with a Couple Coffee. We are savoring relationships with coffee lovers around the world and sharing their experiences that have been better with a couple coffee. This is another one of the special episodes. Here at Couple Connections I have Michael Harwood, the co-owner of Vignette Coffee Roasting in Greensboro, north Carolina, my hometown. He has been in the coffee industry for decades. There's so many stories, history, so much education, so much knowledge. And welcome to our show.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. It's always great to talk to awesome people who care about coffee like you do and as your listeners do, so thank you for having me today.
Speaker 1:My friend Maria. She works for the O'Henry Magazine. She said hey, check out this coffee shop. They have a coffee shop and then they have a roaster. They roast coffee and then they give classes. So I walk in and, because they're open three days, people are lining up and he was just so kind he was still talking to us while other people were coming in because we were so green and new to his shop.
Speaker 2:It's fun having that kind of engagement on the bar. Actually it is a little bit of a juggling act sometimes Mandy's with me more days now on bar which helps us engage in a little bit more of that conversational energy. Even now Trying to balance that is a huge part of what I believe a cafe experience should be. So thank you for your questions and your engagement. It breaks up the kind of latte, latte, latte latte kind of factory like barista setting that we can have sometimes, where we just keep our heads down because it is a lot of work to dial in and have everything, just the right temperature and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1:We as consumers that are not behind the scenes. It's fast, especially in the morning, those peak hours, right and you guys are in a zone and a lot of times you go to those places and it's not as warm and inviting because you guys have to process these orders and tell us what's it like on the other side, like what you guys have to deal with.
Speaker 2:I mean, I love that question and I appreciate that question because I feel like there's a lot of dialogue out there right now about service work and tipping culture and what value is there in a barista? And, frankly, a lot of it can feel hurtful just to feel diminished, especially somebody who's a bit older and has chosen this as a career. So I do appreciate that question.
Speaker 1:Oh, wait a minute. Why do you feel like it's a little bit hurtful? What's going on?
Speaker 2:there. Well, there's a conversation. I think people are very price sensitive right now with inflation, as they should be. Wages compared to purchasing power are pretty low right now for most of us. We're used to having access to certain nice things and at the cafe we certainly want you to come and enjoy those nice things. But also looking behind the curtain, and how are people who are creating that products? How are they being not just paid but treated and all those questions and tipping is sort of the guests perspective on that through line to payment. So those of us who haven't worked in service don't quite understand what wages versus tipping and what take home pay often is.
Speaker 2:There's been a big conversation in Greensboro, especially the last month, around one cafe in particular, but it could be probably said of, I would venture to say, 75% plus of the cafes in North Carolina or the United States, that baristas might feel underpaid. There's an argument to be made that it is lower skilled work, that maybe we're button pushers and I should not make very much just so we can keep that cost of the cup low. So that's one side of the argument. The other side of the argument is that as workers we have to make a certain amount to live. The philosophy around living wage, I mean there's debate around that, but I mean at the end of the day you have to pay your bills. So is it an entry level job? Perhaps? Sometimes I would say there are cafe establishments that will treat it more like that and maybe those establishments having that be like your very first job when you're 16 or 17 or 18 and making a little less because you're learning skills, maybe that makes sense, maybe you can kind of quibble where that minimum wage should be or that living wage should be. But then for other places that are serving more of an experience and nicer coffees and this is to say nothing of price paid to farmer producers, which is a whole.
Speaker 2:Another part of this conversation Isn't it about how we support our brothers and sisters across the world? You know, not just in our backyard, but the people who are unseen behind that. There are places, I think, that can bear a higher wage. Maybe tipping is a discussion we have there as to whether that needs to be added on onto the guest burden or not. But there probably need to be higher wages for certain places and an understanding that you might get a lower quality fast food coffee experience to others with lower wages there.
Speaker 2:But I think right now people are really confused and are conflating everything in coffee work together. So there's there's no stratification in the average person's mind. And this is our job as baristas people who are serving and educating again, to invite in and help understanding grow and not just for, like refined flavors, like that's beautiful, but that's not the core of it. The issue, the core of the issue is how do we develop an appreciation for something that is nicer in the cup, cleaner, sweeter, more enjoyable, probably healthier for you, to be honest, and then also doing better for workers on the service level, farmer, producers.
Speaker 2:But again, that balance there is key and I think we just need to acknowledge that for a long time the system's been a little imbalanced. So we just have to do our best to communicate and not be overbearing about it necessarily, but through very like good hospitality, quality, consistency, kindness, openness, help people develop that appreciation on their own terms. But it's business by business and the devil's details on what small businesses versus larger businesses have as resources to pay people pay for coffees and all of this. It's a mixed bag and it's a messy conversation but it's worth having because dignity and respect are always worth a conversation to me.
Speaker 1:You know what it is, and this is what I'll say about that. I've experienced going to coffee shops now where you go to the register and you start paying and then it asks you what kind of tip do you want? To custom tips. And I'm looking for the first time I'm looking at it, I'm like, why am I going to give you a tip when you're just going to get my coffee? You know, this is my thought process. And then it just dawned on me.
Speaker 1:I saw what it took for them to make just plain coffee. I order a black coffee with one bag of sugar and the raw and like cream they have to put it in and then they stir it right. I'm thinking, you know what they didn't have to do, that at least I can give them a dollar, an extra dollar for a tip. And then on top of that, they're having to deal with all of these other specialty orders and it's just not one latte that they're making. They're making multiple orders and it has to be in a timely fashion because, let's face it, during the rush hour people are trying to go in and they're trying to get out fast and these people are busting them butts.
Speaker 1:And when I went into Michael's coffee shop. He was the only one there and there was a line and he was still genuinely nice and bad. If I were amongst the powers that be in a discussion room, I would present. This fact is that we need coffee, we love coffee, so there should be a little bit more respect to these workers, baristas, the owners, because without them we wouldn't have our coffee, we would just be making it on our own and half the time we'd be screwed it up yeah, and I have some quibbles with tipping culture.
Speaker 2:Just period. You know the root. The root of tipping culture is not a pretty one, and here's the thing, though. In the States we like to keep costs low on things, right? So if we remove tipping, every cafe item will get more expensive. I think the the bargain is with tipping not everybody can always afford to tip 10, 15, 20 percent, and I think that's okay because we have other guests who make up for it. I've operated a few small occasions of running a coffee business as a pay-as-you-can model, and it's a really interesting model that I know some cafes do full time. It's not our choice, but one thing that I like about that philosophy is that if you can give 10 dollars, 20 because that experience matters to you, then you can, and it affords somebody else the experience for something that they can afford. I think tipping gives a little bit of that give and take. Now, I don't know that people think about it like that, but it effectively does kind of play out like that and wait a minute, as you can.
Speaker 1:What is that? What is that?
Speaker 2:to expand so there's been a few craft fair events or like eco fair events or something that I staffed for various coffee companies and instead of charging, let's say, three dollars a cup or five dollars for a latte or whatever it is we just put out a sign that says everything is pay-as-you-can, and so we have some recommendations for what might be appropriate.
Speaker 2:But then you'll have people who really enjoy the experience and will draw out 40 dollars in there for three cups of coffee because they can, and what effectively it subsidizes other guests who might take a cup for free.
Speaker 2:In my mind, that is kind of a beautiful thing. As far as running a business like that, that's not our choice right now, but we try to keep costs low and then make it clear that tipping is optional here because we understand the sensitivity. Yet what we're trying to infer by our diligence and the experience we're creating and the quality that we're proffering is that this is worth something to you. This is valuable it's like you are articulating so well it, that ritual, that energy, that connection, that community, that third place. Those are important aspects that we do value in our culture and it is worth supporting, maybe not forking over a bundle every time, but giving enough to where it's sustainable for not just the business owner but for those workers. And again, there's some gray areas in here, but on average I feel like having your perspective is always appreciated, because the most important thing is respect and care for each other the money is a token of that.
Speaker 2:That's all it is. It's what we need to get by on in a functional way, but really, in that transactional sense, it's a token of. This is how we value this, this is how I appreciate this thing, and to get that value, to sustain that, to know that people care about something better for every person in that custody chain of coffee gives me hope. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm all about the experience first of all. When they come into your shop and you're sitting there, you're talking, shooting the breeze and you're making our coffee, you know it's a fun experience that you want to, you want to carry with you. You're paying for an experience and I think we are in control like you as a business owner and myself as a consumer is how great of an experience it's going to be. But okay, moving forward, let's get a little bit lighter because I want to talk about something. So when you guys go on to his shop, his website, or you buy a bag of beans, it says vignet coffee and coffee roasting right, but you see a dog on raccoon. What's that about?
Speaker 2:we have the pleasure of working with an incredible design artist. We tried to wing it at first with the brand art. We tried to do it in house, but we quickly realized to build a brand that is public facing, you have to pay artists. How finding somebody who worked as a brand artist specifically was important because basically they brought that level of professionalism to how things on the bag should be laid out. This person was not a coffee specific brand artist, necessarily. They were more focused in the world of craft beer. But we like their portfolio examples. They're very creative, thoughtful, communicated well in terms of what the brand was speaking to and helped us so greatly in terms of really tightening up our understanding of what it means to share an experience with people.
Speaker 2:Mandy and I are both cut from a craft coffee cloth. We are not marketing people, branding people, but what we do care about are other people, that service aspect of coffee and the craft of coffee. So we allied ourselves with our buddy cooper, who was able to kind of fulfill a vision for us, and where the name and the logo came from are kind of independent stories but they tie together. So the raccoon I'll start with, because it's actually a little ridiculous and hilarious. I've been a barista for a long, long time wait a minute.
Speaker 1:What's the long time you?
Speaker 2:look young, thank you. So I worked my first copy job in 2000 and Two and so yeah, so it's been going on 20, 20 years. I've taken you breaks, for I worked in theater and film in New York and Then I was training to becoming a nurse it nursing assistant for a time being. Oh, my goodness, I know it's like couldn't be more.
Speaker 2:I'll say in terms of science or art. But this way I love coffee because it brings the art and the science and the human interaction and helping people to feel better, right all together. So here I am opening yet another morning shift as a barista, which I still do, I'm still a barista, right, and I'm opening the shop and it's this beautiful little you know stucco Building set back in the woods in Chapel Hill. It's off Franklin Street, downtown, but it's set back in the woods so there's some wildlife around it, sometimes deer and other animals. We had had a problem with some of our early morning bagel delivery going missing. We were tasked to solve this and one of our solutions was to get this big Tupperware bin that the bagel company would deliver the bagels into and seal it and secure it near the door. So anyway, one morning I'm walking up and Through the flowers and bushes, I hear the bin being moved away from the door and I was frightened, to be honest. I mean, you're by yourself opening the cafe.
Speaker 2:I think most morning breezes can relate to this feeling of a little bit of trepidation Sometimes when you're hearing the noise in the cafe or something moves, and so I kind of jump and I look around and I can't see anyone and I kind of rub my eyes because it's like 536, am Kind of look again, still can't see anybody, and my heart starting to race a little bit and I creep a little bit closer and the bin starting to move again and all of a sudden I see these two little Beams of light looking back at me and it goes and kind of like makes a little sound to me. I jump back and I screamed and then I like to be composed myself. I was like wait, this is some kind of road in or something like this isn't like I don't need to be scared of it. So I walked right up to it and I like started like shaking my finger and like yelling at it and it was like uh-uh, buddy, like these are my bagels and just like this gain honestly, and started dragging the bin away.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Towards the natural area, the entire bin and it was All maybe adult raccoon, but not. Not a big raccoon, but it was. It was very strong and didn't care like that. I was there.
Speaker 1:The raccoon yeah you know, if you guys you can visualize. You hear the shaking noise.
Speaker 2:Right he comes out and the raccoons like, right, like I want these vehicles you've been getting them for for a minute, so you know it's kind of used to it. I guess just needed some cream cheese and it's gonna be all set. Yeah, it was kind of humiliating moment because I did not scare it off and I had to go inside and grab a leaf blower to finally chase it away. But that was the raccoon behind our story. And why raccoon? Well, our name, vignette, is a little. I mean, it's a French word, it's hard to pronounce, it is a little unknown. There's several meanings behind it. But basically the raccoon was a little way to humorously undercut that, to provide a little bit of a hook. It's really cute when parents bring their younger ones into the shop. There's always like a lot of excitement around. Like, is that a raccoon or a lemur or like what you know?
Speaker 2:like the kids figure it out, and you know a lot of adults, I think, just kind of find it like cute and like funny and we take our coffee very seriously, like we're very like, earnest in our approach, hopefully with some humor, and the raccoon kind of indicates that it's like we want to do a good job but we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Speaker 1:Yes, because there are some people in the industry that man. So this is just a little overboard. But you know what? Maybe you guys should invest, especially for kids and for, like, holiday gifts. Get these little stuff for a coons to sell. Okay, so you have a partner and your partner in crime is Mandy and she guys is his wife All of the married couples out there who are in partnerships together. Not every married couple can work together, but you guys can tell me how wonderful is that to be with your lovely wife. Mandy guys have both been in the industry together for quite some time. What's that like?
Speaker 2:That's right. I mean it's it's a challenge, but it's the best challenge I could hope for. Every day of my life, our day to day it. Honestly it took a lot of that cliched word, communication, understanding each other, how we're feeling, what the expectations for the day are, what the limits are in terms of when do we bring up work responsibility, when is appropriate, when do we need to have downtime? Because when you do something like this so intensively together, being intentional about that time off is important, which is hard to do because our brains are spontaneous and always want to remind us of the thing at 930 at night and we give each other some grace on that sometimes, because sometimes we're just so excited about something. It just bubbles up like raccoon plush, like I'll probably mention that tonight at like 10pm as we're going to bed.
Speaker 2:Right, opening a business with somebody while you are fairly newly married is one of the ultimate crucibles of our relationship and it's either going to make your break here. For us, it made us because we already had a solid foundation, but that foundation was acknowledging also that there was work to be done and continue to understand each other more deeply in those weaker moments, you know, instead of understanding, like I'm just hungry, like we need to stop, you know, and like being with each other in that way, like general reminders and supporting each other over time, has actually made the job a lot easier, because you have somebody who understands you so completely that they see you and they're like here's a croissant and like pushes it in your face because they're like so what you need now? And I can do this because I'm your wife and it's exactly what I need, right? Mandy's been a head roaster for well over 10 years now I mean, it's probably closer to 15 at this point whereas I've touched a roaster maybe 20 times in my life. So I'm not the one meant to roast the coffee, but Mandy is.
Speaker 2:And when we have this idea like bringing it all together cafe roasting, sourcing, education, tech and like what why did we want to do the holistic thing? So that we could help people understand it. Because that's what helped us is to start seeing that custody chain more clearly, start to peer behind the curtain. So Mandy and I, kind of joining forces, really allowed that to happen. In a way, when I had business plans in the past about striking out on my own, I never really felt complete and Mandy really opened the door for me to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:I have a question here. It's been a journey for you, as you had mentioned, and you were in theater, you were a nurse. Then you came back to coffee. Did coffee choose you or did you choose coffee when you first started out?
Speaker 2:I love that question. That's such a unique question. I've never been asked that before. I kind of feel like coffee chose me because I wasn't really thinking about it from a career standpoint, because most people don't. Even today. If you go on a thread online, you'll see most people being like you made a mistake if you're working in coffee when you're older, like they'll actually say that and I'm like, wow, I guess I get it, because I thought the same thing when I was younger. What kind of industry would we have if there was just brain drain? Once everybody was 25, they just got out of the industry right, and so some people will have to stay in and work on it, make it better, push the ball up the hill. So I think coffee chose me because I chose theater and film from a directing and stage craft and stage management standpoint, and then I kind of chose nursing. Couldn't really hack it, I think, a good job. I care about people deeply and I was one of those people that would get in my car and feel very sad because I was working with people in their last stages of life and it was a pretty heavy segment to be in. And so, to answer your question, I think coffee chose me.
Speaker 2:I was working as a barista. I was kind of taking the healthcare classes, nursing thing, and my boss at the time was basically like you need to do this barista competition. He's like you worked in theater, you would be great at this, and I was like I'm not an actor. I was like I'm not really an actor. He's like, oh, it doesn't matter, you know, you care about coffee. It seems like I was like, yeah, you know. Basically, do you know? I enjoyed working with it. I had nowhere the knowledge base that I have now, and so I felt a little bit of like imposter syndrome for the most part, anyway.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, hold on, got to cut your off right here, rob. You got to explain to us. What in the world was he talking about. You're an actor. You got to do this barista competition. What does that have to do with the press tea in China?
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I mean, my boss at the time was very involved in kind of developing this competition circuit that's called the barista championship and there's a US level, there are regional levels. It's evolved over time but it still exists and it's a way to prove to yourself and to others that you can do certain things on bar with coffee. You generally have 15 minutes to make 12 drinks serving four judges espresso, milk based drink and what's called a signature beverage, which is an espresso based creative beverage, and you're also giving a speech at the same time. So in this way my boss thought, with your theater background, you can bring these elements of blocking and props, scripting and rehearsing, that kind of discipline to bear, and he was actually right. So it was interesting that many cycles into my life became a skill set that was effective for me.
Speaker 2:I entered the first year in the Southeast regional and came in the bottom third, had just brought like a coffee we served in the shop and hadn't thought too much about the roast or the coffee and went through the motions on the rehearsal process and did okay. But you know, learned a lot of lessons, took a lot of notes, I watched other people, I watched video myself and I came back that next year, which was 2011. And I had no expectation of doing that. Wow, just doing better, just doing better, making myself, my company proud and the producer representing their coffee. Well, and it was a much more intentional routine. I picked a coffee, I worked on the roast with the head roaster at that company and ended up winning the Southeast site here.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it blew my mind, like I said, really unexpected. I mean I felt like an amateur. Still, Most of the people around me, I feel like, had more experience than I did, because I'd taken a lot of time in between working in a cafe to be in theater and educate myself in nursing. And it was amazing. I got to go to Brazil on a fully paid trip for three weeks thanks to a very generous green importing company.
Speaker 2:And that three week trip it's cliche for a coffee professional to say this, but I mean it really shifts your perspective when you see small family sized farms that are just two adults and maybe some kids helping out here and there, and then you see a huge scale farm with tractors and everything in between and you start to understand what it means to value coffee, to care about it, to put its best face forward, to do better for everybody in that supply chain.
Speaker 2:I mean it changes you. It's not that everybody has access to travel, nor does travel make me a better person, but what it did do is afford me an opportunity deep in my perspective and share other people's perspective, which is a value to me intrinsically. When I came back, I was a different person, I feel like and I just I wanted to be more of an advocate and an educator and it changed my approach on bar, where I'd always been kind, but learning how to engage in the way that was going to really move the industry in the forward, in a direction that I felt honored people throughout the custody chain.
Speaker 2:That just ended up being a central mission to me.
Speaker 1:Is that why you offer so many things within your business?
Speaker 2:As far as you're bringing all of these things to your customers in order to provide them with the best experience, what we're trying to do is offer our experience, all the things that we've learned over the last 20 years, to the community through our cafe, or what we call our tasting room here. That's open three days a week, but we also know that that's a limiting proposition. Three days a week is not a lot and it's one physical spot. We don't want to take over the world, because good coffee happens on a local level and that doesn't mean you can't mail a coffee and it's still be good. But what I mean to say is that when you're talking about craft culture, barista culture, training and education, keeping machines running smoothly so they're not breaking down, understanding what your machine's doing, so that you don't feel that imposter syndrome, that's what we're here for and that's when I say coffees should be local in that way is that we can provide that reassurance, that knowledge, that education, that support so that you can do quick PMs, preventive maintenance, you can take care of things and we're here if you need us and often I'll bop over to you in five or ten minutes and there's no cost involved.
Speaker 2:Why? Because it's just taking care of each other and their neighbors. This is our community. It can help with equipment. We can help with bigger tech projects and there's probably a reasonable price to work out for those things. But when we can leverage our knowledge and help people in a way that helps them feel better not that they can't do it on their own, but just that in our coffee specific way we can offer that perspective and share that perspective to allow that growth to happen, and then that usually brings success with it. Because when you're taking care of people and you have a good product and you have that good triangle of experience going on, then people want to be there and people are going to support that. Greensboro is going to support it.
Speaker 1:So are you saying, as far as the technical aspect of it, if there's a coffee shop, say within Greensboro, here, that may buy your coffee like a large coffee shop? Because that's what you do, you roast beans for other businesses as well.
Speaker 2:So if they have machines that need some technical work and you provide that for them sometimes as well, right, yeah, I have fairly extensive tech experience just along the way, because when you work for small companies growing up, you end up wearing a lot of hats. A lot of issues are actually pretty simple fixes, but you have to know what you're looking for. We can help that in a very low cost way just by bringing that knowledge to bear. Now, that's not to say, hey, you have a 10 year old, 20 year old espresso machine that hasn't been maintained. Maybe that's like a bigger deal. We can help with those things. But there's also even more experience techs. If it got into the surgical element of something like that sophisticated that we can recommend locally.
Speaker 2:North Carolina is a fairly active coffee estate. People don't think of the southeast as being like a coffee epicenter. You think of Seattle or San Francisco, places like that. But North Carolina has some amazing roasters, some amazing tech companies. We're not the only ones doing work out there. Mandy and I are still a two person company.
Speaker 2:So if it was a big enough project I probably would refer to somebody with the capacity to dedicate more time to it. But for all of our local partners getting your machine installed, having preventative maintenance, check, water filter replacements, all those little nitty gritty things on your machine and grinder. We're there for you 24-7 and I really like to do that because you know why. I was a barista honestly crying on bar one morning 15 years ago, having broken a grinder, and the patience that the person I called had for me is something I will never forget. And I can do that to alleviate stress or concern or, frankly, small businesses need to stay up and running. It's a huge stressor to be down for even a day sometimes, so just to give people peace of mind that we're here, we've got equipment we can loan and we can fix most things pretty quickly for you.
Speaker 1:Michael, you are a treat. I can talk to you forever and I can't wait to meet Mandy. Where can people find Vignette coffee? Or you have your own website.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So if you just go to vignette coffeecom that's our website says vignettecoffeecom you can also just google it and like every spelling of it will basically lead to us. And then we have our tasting room here on West Market Street at the intersection with Guilford or Guilford College Road, here in kind of like Southwest Greensboro. So we're here those three days a week. We also do classes, as you know and mention. I've been an educator for just about as long as I've been a barista, and then we also have a lot of local partners here in northern roots, and home grounds are two cafes, both on Elm Street and State Street, that do a beautiful job. If you're looking for a little food, the Sage Mule is a great brunch spot that serves our coffee lawn service down in Le Bauer Park. If you're looking to relax, they have a great splash pad for kids down there and the field is great for having a picnic. So lawn service by Little Brother is an amazing spot to hang out.
Speaker 2:Tobara we just popped up within High Point. We're trying to grow and bring on partners who share our excitement. They don't have to be on a coffee level that we deem worthy, that's not a thing. But having that care and passion for your guests, for community, for service and understanding that coffee can be that catalyst that does that. That's what we're looking for in terms of growing those partnerships and some even further afield Cincinnati, pittsburgh, raleigh. I think we even sent coffee to Australia one time, which was kind of wild. But local is our jam, because we can be there in real time. We can help you work through the stumbling blocks. And again it's a little bit about the coffee, but it's mostly about you feeling good and sharing that feeling with your guests, and that's what brings us success. I feel like Absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 1:The common denominator for us all is that we love coffee. We may have different stories, we have different lives that we've led, but it's just been an honor, so I'm grateful for for you being on the show, michael.
Speaker 2:I couldn't have said it better myself, and it has been such a pleasure to get to spend more time with you and your guests and for anyone that has a chance. We are always welcoming and excited to have you ever into our space and look forward to serving you. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1:Awesome, my brother. Thank you so much. We'll talk soon, okay.
Speaker 2:All right, be well.
Speaker 1:I'm Portia White and I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsor, betterwithacouplecoffeecom. If you like what you heard, please rate and review our podcast and join us again soon at Couple Connections.