We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ndriqim Gashi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ndriqim below.
Ndriqim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I want to start by saying that i come from
a country where we have the most coffee shops per capita in the world, we basically run on coffee. And so i grew up around coffee shops, i worked in one when i was in high school and i have always wanted to own one. When i moved to the United States, i started working in food & service and after a few years, eventually i co-owned a fine dining italian BYOB restaurant in Lebanon, NJ. At that time i had moved to Clinton and so i frequently visited the coffee shop in the corner that was called Citispot. It was cute and cozy, sitting in the corner of downtown historic Clinton and so i always imagined turning it into a European themed coffee shop where i could also offer food and create an inviting atmosphere. where people could connect over coffee and food. When the owner whom i got to know over the years approached me with an offer for taking over, i couldn’t resist the idea of owning my own coffee shop which had been one of my childhood dreams. In short words this is how Jimmy’s Coffeehouse came into existence. Now almost 7 months later, i can say that it was worth it and i am proud to have become apart of this amazing community.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started working at a restaurant called Cafe Azzuro which is located in Peapack, NJ where i also lived for a couple of years, and that is where i got my food & service knowledge and that was me laying the groundwork for being able to run a business of my own. That place is one of the best and busiest restaurants in NJ so it was the perfect place to start. I was doing double shifts and working every weekend and holiday, pretty much gave me all the discipline and work ethic i needed.
I wanted Jimmy’s Coffeehouse to become a comfortable place where people feel at home and can get friendly and quality service at no cost. Coffee shops are not meant to be just a place where you can get a coffee, they should also be a place where you can share you story, share your problems, connect with good people and make new friends, maybe also meet the love of your life.
I am very proud that Jimmy’s has managed to achieve that. Now we are like one big family where we know almost every customer’s name and story and we love making their day by serving them a good cup of coffee every day. I have to say that opening my first coffee shop in Clinton especially has been a very fulfilling experience and im very proud of our team that works very hard every day to offer only the best quality of food and drinks.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Definitely word of mouth. Almost every new customer that started coming to my shop had said that they heard good things about us. I assure you that treating your customers right and making sure that they always leave happy is great marketing since it will always instill curiosity within other people that hear about that and will want to check you out!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When i co-owned my first business i was in debt and only had 400$ in my pocket, i almost missed my first rent. But quickly it turned into something great and we got really busy and i paid my debt and started making a living off of it. I dont know of its luck or manifestation but i guess that saying fortune favors the bold is somewhat true.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jimmyscoffeehouse.com
- Instagram: @jimmycoffeehouse
Image Credits
Jaime Berg
Andrew Serrano