Cool Beans Coffee
It’s not every morning that you sit in a hand-build coffee shop & get sung to by a customer.
How did I get here:
After launching my app, Koota, in August, I wanted to connect more with the community I am trying to build. To bring attention to the local scene in Norman, I reached out to coffee shops for interviews. Nicki, the owner of Cool Beans, invited me into her unique world:
“If you want to come in and talk to me while I’m making drinks that would be fine…”
Fantastic! I had no clue what to expect.
When I arrived, Nicki gave me the only seat in the place: a stool between the sink and the chest freezer. Any more seats would be in the way, when you are as busy as Cool Beans was that morning. So there I was, inside Cool Beans with the morning heating up and Nicki kindly letting me talk to her between lattes.
For background: Cool Beans opened in 2013, but Nicki hasn’t always been in the coffee seen. In fact, Nicki hasn’t always been in Norman. It wasn’t until she became coach of the OU Volleyball team that she moved down.
Nicki grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. In college she played Volleyball and earned her Master’s Degree in Exercise Science. After college she began coaching, which brought her to Norman in 2007. Nicki remembered working out before going to work, and the struggle of getting coffee quickly: “they would have 5 minutes left on my French press, but I needed to go!”
As she was in the middle of these coffee hold-ups, she and her husband realized the need for a local, Drive-Thru coffee shop in Norman. Her husband, a Norman native, loved getting coffee at drive-thru shops when he lived in Alaska. When Nicki was convinced that she found a need, she said “I can do this.”
Not one for taking the easy path, Nicki and her husband decided to build their shop from the ground up, literally. Nicki’s husband owns his own fencing company, Blue Jay Fencing, and is “kind of artsy,” (which apparently translates to “capable of designing his own coffee shop”). His name is on the architectural drawings with the city, and they worked together to raise the building.
“We made the decision to do it, we had all the plans and everything done with the city, and we were like ‘OK, we’re doing this,’ so we just jumped”
The first few months were crazy, as they tried to spread the word that they were in business. Nicki said they tried everything from buying ads in magazines to handing out free drink coupons and giving out t-shirts. At the end of the day, Nicki and her husband’s community is what helped her the most. She said they told their friends, and their friends told their friends, and it just kept getting better and better. (It also doesn’t hurt that year-after-year Cool Beans has been voted into the top 5 “Best of the Best” Norman coffee shops.)
For Nicki, the best part of running a coffee shop is that it grows her family:
“It’s super cool… when people ask you what you do & you say ‘I own Cool Beans’ & they respond ‘Oh my gosh, that place is amazing!’ … just being a presence in Norman is really cool. It’s definitely challenging, but when you hear all of the good things it… makes it worth it”
Ironically, at this point in the conversation Nicki had to pause to understand the last drink order. The Iced Caramel Macchiato was a change from this customer’s typical order, a Caramel Macchiato, Extra Shot. “We have some regulars who don’t even have to order anymore” she tells me.
Nicki continues: “It’s fun seeing people post our stickers on social media.” (links just for you: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) Her regulars ask how her family is, how her day is going, etc.
“In starting a business, I definitely chose the right one: you’ve got great employees, you get to listen to music, talk to people, and make drinks. It’s a really great environment to work in.”
It was at this moment that I heard “I’m in a singing mood” from the ordering window. All the sudden I understood what Nicki was saying: here was a regular, singing “Plastic Jesus” to the barista.
“You can write about that!” Nicki said, laughing. Apparently they are used to everything from jokes and songs to Christmas cards and life stories.
Going back to her family, Nicki explained that she & her husband work together on both businesses as needed. His business is more seasonal than hers. As the temperature goes up, so do the fencing requests. He helps around the coffee shop, and she does everything from managing paperwork to building fences when needed. It has only been recently that Cool Beans has been stable enough for her to find this balance. Still, according to Nicki, “there is a certain level of stress in the house.” As her friend says:
“It’s funny how we all quit our 40+ hour work week jobs to work 80 hours for ourselves”
As she finds this balance, her toddler is now her morning workout. She works early mornings while her husband watches their daughter, then works from home while her husband builds fences. Their weekends are for family time.
As she finds this rhythm, Nicki wants Cool Beans to stay true to the original vision. Someday Nicki may expand Cool Beans to a second location in East Norman, but for now they are focused on doing what they do well. In Nicki’s words:
“I want us to do what we’re good at, and stick to that instead of trying to branch out to things that we’re unsure of…”
Over the past 5 years, Nicki’s vision has led Cool Beans to become a mainstay in the Norman coffee scene. I’m excited to see what Cool Beans will do over the next 5 years.
So here’s the last question: is the coffee good?
I say: yes!
I’m a black coffee kind-of-guy; I had an iced black coffee then, and have been back for more. I have now also tried their vanilla almond milk latte… I’m not to the singing-to-the-baristas level yet, but maybe some day?
But don’t just take my word for it, try it for yourself! When you go, say hi to the staff; you just might join a new family!
