Christmas Holiday and a new Business.

Anyone who has opened their own business knows it takes a tremendous amount of effort.  This is usually performed by the business owner and his family.  Sometimes this "labor of love" can be very consuming and sacrifices are made.  These sacrifices are usually time spent doing anything else, financial sacrifices and sometimes cheerful and happy mood sacrifices...  But for the most part, when that opening day comes, you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of all your labors...  Nawwwww.  Now the real work begins.  More sacrifices, financial, time, and sometimes, the happy cheerful moods...

This year as we opened our business in Spring Lake, NC- we had the Christmas Holidays fast approaching.  We opened with a bang, and expected a slow down as regular commuters, service members at FT Bragg and other business hours adjusted for the holiday season.  Well, we underestimated that everyone would still want to stop in for coffee, a latte or a chai on their way shopping.  While we are very grateful for this and love to give everyone who comes in a little "holiday in a cup" we realized that once again we, as a family, would be sacrificing a bit for the business.  So we found ourselves, December 25th, at the shop in our Christmas pajamas. (We ran a special, everyone who shows up in Christmas Jammies got 25% off- it worked great).  We brought with us a few board games, we played an epic game of Risk, and we took breaks, a lot of breaks, to serve coffee to those who came by to see us.  A new business can be demanding, the holidays can be demanding, but this year I wouldn't have traded Christmas at the shop for anything.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Now Open in Spring Lake

First and foremost I am pretty excited for our store opening in Spring Lake.  Located at 106 South Bragg Blvd it's only about 1/4 mile from the Spring Lake gate to Ft Bragg on Butner Road. We hope you take a few minutes and come by to try one of our delicious espresso drinks, brewed coffee, smoothies or frappe's.  I hope to see you there.
So, a quick word about coffee.  We have an amazingly roasted blend for our espresso.  The beans have a full rich aroma when you open the bag, all of the beans are uniformly roasted (which isn't always the case) and the pulled shots pour out like melted chocolate.  The creme is smooth and sweet, the shot holds a bold flavor that is great by itself but also mixes well with flavors and steamed milk.  Overall, I am very happy with the product that The Morning Jump produces.
Finally, I have another interesting perspective on something.  Customers.  I really haven't been in a customer oriented business before.  Just having retired from the Army (our customer service there gets... varied reviews...) I did work for a convenient store for a while when i was in High School, while we had plenty of customers i don't remember really doing anything special then to make them happy.  So considering my background I was curious to see how things would go as we opened our doors.  Here is what i have found- Everyone I interact with I share my passion for coffee and business with.  I love the chemistry of coffee, the emotion of coffee and I love business and all that is involved with running one.  So far the customers seem to like it, and fortunately, the coffee too.  See you there!