Two Story Coffeehouse

Wow ~ It’s been awhile since our last blog post and so much has happened in the interim! We did,
indeed, begin “fiddling” with our Ambex roaster over the summer and Chris has dialed in a beautiful roast
for our inaugural Two Story offering - a Guatemalan coffee from the western highland region of Huehuetenango. It is a really delightful coffee with hints of chocolate and spiced honey and citrus. Chris is in the roasting room every Monday-Wednesday-Friday morning. Stop by and watch the process, it’s fun! We’ll begin fine-tuning our next offering soon, so keep an eye out.

You’ve probably heard by now that we are opening our second coffeehouse over on the eastside. We hope to be in the new space (old “Cups” location on Barnett Shoals) by the middle of September. The build-out is
almost complete and we will begin the process of training our new staff next week.

Speaking of new staff, we have a lot of new faces! Thank you for your kindness as we get all of our new
trainees up to speed! Several of our staff graduated and moved on to wonderful opportunities. Lauren moved
off to Kentucky for grad school, Caitlin took a position with AmeriCorp and Jessica is working with the national tour of Mutual of Omaha’s “Aha Moment”. We miss them and are always glad to hear from them! On the other hand, we’re looking forward to all that our new crop of baristas have to offer. Give them a smile next time you’re in!

We are excited to announce our new General Managers, Chris Barr and Matt Curtis. Matt and Chris have been working together for several months now, but just recently were “commissioned” as GMs. Matt is head of operations and Chris will continue to man our product development and training programs. Holly and Mark have also moved into management positions in regard to inventory and facilities. And, yes Kelly, hopefully this means that I will be able to sit and play with the babies more!

As usual, we want to thank all of our fantastic customers who continue to support Two Story and our mission of creating community and building relationships. You were awesome over the summer and we saw a pleasant increase in business over last year. As the school year ramps up, we welcome all of our student customers back and look forward to cooler weather, football and Pumpkin Spice lattes… or maybe a Toasted Marshmallow Mocha… no, make it a delicious Two Story Hot Chocolate… or Chai…or hot tea… well… there are just so many tasty options!
Stop by to chat and grab a cup… we’ll look forward to seeing you ~

Cheers,
Deandra

Two Story is quite obviously undergoing some changes.  We’ve said this many times before, haven’t we?  If there is a way to improve, we want to take it head on.  And, this time we want to focus on our staff!

We truly believe that we have one of the best groups of Baristas in town, but we do not want to stop there.  There is always some way that we can better as people, isn’t there?  For our Baristas, there is always some way to better hone a skill or the craft, to better communicate about our coffees, to explore the greater areas of coffee preparation, roasting, green bean buying, or even, simply and importantly, customer service.  We hold the simple (and sometimes difficult) philosophy that anything a person does he should do it to the best of his ability.

For this reason,  Two Story has put in place what we are calling the Two Story Barista Certification, or simply TSBC.

TSBC is the building block for all new Two Story Baristas as well as the continual education of all active Baristas in the craft of coffee and more explicitly, in the life of Two Story.  This is where, and how, we will be able to sharpen one another and push each other towards being better Baristas and better friends.

What does this look like to our customers you may ask?  Well, hopeful you may find that you sip on better and better coffees, cappuccinos, and lattés.  You may be witness to an increasing number of training sessions, coffee cuppings, and Barista discussions.  And, hopefully, you will be noticing that the service you receive will be a reflection of the fun and enjoyment that each Barista is getting out of serving you and being a part of Two Story.

What does this look like to our Baristas?  Each Barista will be required to attend or participate in 3 TSBC Events and 1 TSBC Service each quarter.  The Events will range from cuppings, to trainings, to latte-art throw downs, to seminars, etc.  The Service will consist of a small, 10 minute performance evaluation session where they will each prepare, present, and serve beautiful coffee drinks to be critiqued by a Two Story Coffee Trainer for the purpose of training, skill enhancement, and overall enjoyment.

We are excited about TSBC and the potential that it holds for the lives of our Baristas, our customers, and Two Story.

-Chris

TWO STORY IS HIRING! We are accepting applications for long-term employment starting immediately. Applicants must be able to work 30+ hours per week and have open weekend availability.

Applications must be turned in to Two Story by Friday, March 26. We will contact all potential applicants for interviews starting Monday, March 29. You can print off an application here or visit our website at www.twostorycoffeehouse.com to print off the application. Contact us with questions or comments, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@TwoStoryCoffee).

Many of you may have seen the renovations to the front porch already.  You may be asking yourselves why we are closing in one half of the porch.  As I’ve said many times before, we are constantly changing and renovating Two Story.  If there is something that we see that we can do better or can help us meet our mission, then we must do it and we will.  The front porch renovations are no different.  So, what’s the big news?  What’s the big surprise?

Two Story will soon be roasting our own coffee!

Coming this summer, you will be able to drink Two Story Coffee at Two Story.  Not only this, you will have the opportunity to experience the roast, cup the coffees, watch, taste, and smell the process.  You will experience the benefits of perfectly aged coffees that are roasted to order right on the front porch of Two Story.

This is an incredibly exciting transition and period of growth for Two Story.  We have been blessed as a coffee shop to serve the best coffee in Athens to the best coffee-drinkers in Athens, and we now want to take this one step further and roast the best coffee in Athens.

1000 Faces Coffee have been good friends to us and have helped Two Story tremendously in its infancy and still today.  The coffees they roast are fantastic and their heart for local community is inspiring.  Head Roaster, Ben Myers, has done an excellent job with 1000 Faces and with the coffee that we see roasted.

Some may then ask why we would roast our own coffee when we have roasted coffee crafted and provided by 1000 Faces.  The answers to this question are full of potential.  I will focus on three main reasons as to why Two Story will roast.

One, we strive to continue this excellence in coffee.  The importance of single origin, specialty coffee, which we roast to perfection is our philosophy.  We will be creating our own roasts that remain true to the simple and complex natures of the beautiful beverage, coffee.  1000 Faces and Two Story will remain friends and allies in creating excellently crafted coffees and building a unique Athens coffee culture.  1000 Faces has an extensive knowledge and expertise in green source buying and brokerage and skill in roasting and training that Two Story hopes to continue to utilize.

Two, consuming the volume of coffee that we consume at Two Story, roasting our own coffee is simply cost effective.  While this is a benefit that cannot be ignored as a business, I truly believe that the true benefit (even that of sales) is found in equipping our staff and our community for success, which embodies the third and most important reason.

Three, the ability to take our coffees into our control and have our community and staff involved in the entire process will greatly enhance our skills as Baristas.  These skills that make great Baristas are about more than just coffee.  Great Baristas are first great people.  Coffee enthusiasts with humble hearts, concise language, clear motives, ambitious and passionate characters, compassionate and generous spirits, and excellent relationships in their midst are some of the attributes that we believe make people and Baristas great.  Roasting world coffees that Two Story Baristas turn around and serve will help us meet this goal by equipping the Two Story family with even more knowledge about where our coffees come from, the taste notes, the details of roasting and cupping, and the ability to educate, relate, and be in community with the customers of Two Story.

Two Story must invest fully into its staff and community just as a friend invests fully into his friend.  We strive as people, friends, and as Two Story to build and cultivate relationships and conversations.  If we do this, then we believe that we have been successful.  Excellent relationships is our measure of success, and excellent coffee is in large part how we hope to get there.

We are excited about roasting and we hope that you are as excited to sip on Two Story Coffee as we are.  More details will be made available to you as they flesh out for us.  Feel free to ask us questions.  Come find me, Two Story’s owners, Rob and Deandra, or any one of our Baristas and find out what we’re doing.  Experience the changes as they happen and soon you will experience the coffee as its roasted.

-Chris

This brings me great joy to be able to share.  Two Story now has a Wi-Fi hot spot powered by Wandering Wifi.  As you connect to Two Story’s Wi-Fi, you are welcomed and asked to accept the terms of a User Agreement.  Once you accept the terms of the agreement, you are directed to Two Story’s website and from there you are free to surf the internet!  It is simple, clean, fast, and stable.  And, the best part is that if you do experience any difficulty connecting to the internet, you can call Wandering Wifi’s support line, and friendly people will help walk you through any issue that you may be having trying to connect.

From my previous blog post Wi-Fi and Our Journey, I received great feedback about our decisions, issues, and solutions.  Thanks to Matt Farmer for his input.

As, I said before, while using customized pass codes–that a customer would receive with a purchase at the bar–would help the issue of non-paying customers, I believe (at least I hope) that there are other solutions and ways to address this issue without hindering the entire community.  Because let’s face it, sometimes you like to come in and get settled into a spot for a minute before you purchase a coffee or a gelato, or maybe you simply are driving-by and need to stop on the front porch to check your directions real quick on your way out of town.

We are a community-gathering place, and we hope to always be.  For this reason, the internet is remaining open until we exhaust ALL romantic, revolutionary, dreamer, and idealistic methods of asking our customers to please patronize the bar as they utilize this space and the internet.  And our recent decision to continue to provide open and free internet was filtered through this mission.

I hope that you find the new Wi-Fi to be stable and secure and easy to use, and please help yourself to a cup of coffee…

It is our hope and focus to always be open with the Two Story community regarding our business and our decisions. Like all businesses we should constantly be striving to enhance your experience within our doors. However, unlike many businesses, we truly want to ensure that we are striving for this—for you.

With this in mind, one of our greatest frustrations for you and us has been the Wi-Fi within Two Story. There is no hiding the constant drops in service, the inability for you to connect, our incapacity to accept credit cards, etc. As a community gathering place in this age, we need to be able to offer you a reliable Internet connection to ensure that you can study, work, check your emails, or stay connected with your friends when you are here and do this regardless of how many other Two Story friends and customers are also trying to do so.

We have made attempts in the past to add access points and replace hardware to fix the issue of “poor Internet.” We have even contracted out I.T. Professionals who have been unable to deliver and subsequently dropped the job. But, we believe that we have once, and hopefully, for all remedied this issue.

You may have noticed that in the past 3 or 4 weeks from writing this, that the Internet connection has been more stable and reliable. We finally found a piece of hardware through the help of Connected Technologies (a local I.T. Provider) that has been able to enhance your Wi-Fi experience greatly! Consequently, we have experienced zero (0) downtime on a whole!

We hope this has proven helpful to you and that you have been able to notice a difference. However, we are taking this one step further. We are partnering with Wandering Wifi, an Atlanta based Wi-Fi solutions company to bring an even faster, more stable, and more reliable hotspot to Two Story. Quite honestly, compared to your experience in the past month, we (Two Story) may be the ones to truly gain an advantage by making this switch to Wandering Wifi. They will be able to offer support and scalable potential for our Wi-Fi needs as our business grows and expands. It is a vital business relationship that we are thankful to have from this point forward. And we can expect the new Wi-Fi to be in place and functioning by the middle of March.

Partner With Us

We would like to ask for your help and support as well. One of the issues that arise for a business who offers free Wi-Fi is the tendency for patrons to utilize the Internet for hours without patronizing the business. Two Story has a unique house and location that makes it extremely conducive for studying and work, and this was our initial and current vision for Two Story. But, even a house this size has a tendency to reach capacity quickly.

Whether you are here only briefly or for a full day of studying, working, or socializing, please help Two Story by patronizing our coffee bar for food and drink.

It is our hope and strong goal to keep the Internet open and free to our community. When being faced with the decisions to charge for Internet or require our customers to retrieve a password at the bar to access the Internet, we are choosing to keep the Internet open and free at Two Story. While requiring each patron to visit the bar for a password would enhance our sales, we believe that it would hurt our mission as a community-gathering place, and our mission will always come first.

For this reason, we simply want to be able to offer this space, coffee, conversation, and community for many years to come. So, please partner with us by visiting our bar as you utilize this incredible space. I mean grabbing a cup of coffee can’t be that bad…

Chris

What are your thoughts on the Wi-Fi at Two Story?

2010 is here, which means that Two Story is in it’s second year of business.  For those of you who have been around from the beginning, you will remember that we opened on Halloween night of 2008!  Opening night seems like so long ago, but then conversely its memory is as fresh as the New Year.  For most, a new year means a new beginning, and Two Story is no different.  But, before we start again we needed to rest and reflect on where we’ve been.

For this reason, like most of our community, we enjoyed a holiday break ourselves this season.  We found rest in being closed from Christmas Eve until January 2.  In this time, however, our owner, Rob, did manage to make a few renovations to the end of the bar.  It seems that every time we close for a few days, we manage to renovate or improve some part of the house or bar.  We believe it necessary to keep moving and to keep improving.  There is always something we can do better, and our eyes are constantly in tune to find what we can do better and how best to improve upon this.

We hope that you come in soon and regularly to taste the new coffees as we make them available, to see the new faces in the house, or to experience the new renovations and improvements to the house.

We want to thank our regulars, coffee lovers, our community, our neighbors, our one-timers, our every-day-ers, our staff, and our friends for all of their support and love over our first year.

We look forward to 2010 and to all that it will hold for us as a coffeehouse, as friends and family, and as a community in Five Points.  You can bet that Two Story will continue to grow and adapt…and yes, you can expect a few more changes.