We recently connected with Jennifer Elinburg Carrie Walton and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jennifer Elinburg thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Brightside Cafe was a 4-year dream of Jennifer’s (special educator for 21 years). After many attempts to get things started the Lord put her dreams on hold. In February of 2024, Brightside Cafe Buford was founded. Jennifer and Carrie met through the Elinburg’s gym and hit it off immediately. Carrie loves coffee and Jennifer had a passion to help adults with special abilities reach their full potential in the workplace. After talking about their loves, they knew that this opportunity was limitless so they found a building that would fit their needs. The day they found the building was magical in every way. God showed both of them that this was the place that was perfect for what they had in mind. Throughout 2024, Jennifer and Carrie would interview, hire, and do Brightside on the Go so that employees who were waiting on the cafe to open would have a chance to work in an environment that would be much easier than the cafe. They were awesome. They went to golf tournaments, school functions, and church functions. In December 2024 the cafe was finally set to open. The Grand Opening was in January 2025 and the employees have been working hard to make Brightside Cafe the place to be!

Jennifer and Carrie provide opportunities for the employees to create special events for Brightside Cafe After Hours, drinks of the month, and encourage them to make Brightside Cafe their home away from home. Many of the employees love to Karaoke so they hold Karaoke nights for the community. The place is packed out with people from the community who love to sing as well.

On any given day you can see the employees being a cashier, drink maker, or server/caller. They use an apron system that designates what their job for the day is. Some employees have specific jobs they love to do while others love any chance to do something different every time they work.

The purpose and mission of Brightside Cafe is to give our employees the opportunity to feel and know success! We want them to have the chance to connect with the community while working in a safe and understanding environment. We truly believe that EVERY person has something they can be good at…you just have to find what that is and really dig in.

Jennifer Elinburg, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Brightside Cafe is set apart from other coffee/smoothie shops because it is truly more than coffee…it is a mission. Our mission is to provide opportunities for success and feelings of purpose for our employees who have special abilities. We say that it is more than good coffee…it is coffee on a mission.

We want the vibe to feel happy, give hope, and breathe success. Our goal is that when people who come not knowing who we are or what we do, that there will be life change because they can see with their hearts and open up to all of the possibilities our friends can have when given the chance. We have seen life change from so many of our customers already. It is truly special to watch.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a strong tool to help build any business. The world is hurting and wants to see the positive stories. Brightside Cafe is a positive story in a world that can be sad. Seeing the stories of our employees and how they are being successful gives hope to the world. We have built our following through reels, stories, and others sharing.

If we could give any advice it would be to post post post and share share share!!! The more the better!

Any advice for managing a team?

HAVE FUN!! You will never work a day in your life if you love what you do!! Our employees love to have fun, and we love to give them opportunities to get out of their comfort zone. Listen to the ideas of the people who are helping you build your brand…they know what others like. We have added so many items to our menu because our employees love it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www,brightsidecafebuford.com
• Instagram: brightsidecafebuford
• Facebook: brightsidecafebuford
• Youtube: [email protected]