Harvest to Pour: Business of Beverages

Exit 11 Coffee with Angela Garland: Balancing entrepreneurial vision with practical business ownership skills

Episode Summary

We sit down with Angela Garland, the CEO and co-founder of Exit 11, a coffee business in Washington, Missouri. She shares her entrepreneurial journey in starting a co-working space and drive-thru coffee business, the challenges and risks involved, her approach to coffee roasting and sourcing, and how she has scaled the business while maintaining a focus on customer service and community involvement. The interview also touches on Angela's management style, the importance of understanding personality types, and her plans for future growth and expansion.

Episode Notes

Show Notes

Angela and her husband Scott started a co-working space in 2015 and added a specialty coffee shop in 2016.
In 2018, they opened their first drive-thru coffee stand, which ended up being more successful than the co-working coffee shop.
They bootstrapped the business in the early days, keeping their corporate jobs and living conservatively for the first 18 months.
They tested their business idea by offering samples, leasing a property, and using savings to mitigate risks.
Over time, they expanded into roasting their own coffee beans and making their own syrups to improve efficiency and quality.
Exit 11 has grown to 8 drive-thru coffee locations and a co-working center, with plans to potentially franchise the model in the future.

Lessons Learned

Understand your product and industry, even if it's not your passion - Angela wasn't a coffee connoisseur, but she and her husband loved coffee and were willing to learn.
Carefully manage finances and risks when starting a business - they kept their corporate jobs and lived conservatively in the early days to bootstrap the business.
Leverage your complementary skills and personality types - Angela and her husband balanced each other out in terms of being analytical vs. people-focused.
Focus on efficiency, quality, and customer service as you scale - they invested in their own coffee roasting and syrup-making to improve their offerings.
Be willing to adapt and pivot as needed - they shifted from a co-working coffee shop to a more successful drive-thru model.

Exit 11 Coffee

Facebook

Instagram