We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chuck Pfahler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chuck below.

Chuck, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Several years ago my wife and I took a short trip to Mexico City for no other reason than to just get away and have fun. While we were there, Oaxaca quickly became a recurring theme. We would meet people that had just traveled to Oaxaca and they would tell us how we needed to go. We would visit coffee bars and the coffee they were serving was beautiful. Of course when I asked where that coffee was produced, it was from Oaxaca. We would try chocolate and that chocolate was from Oaxaca. We were hanging out with a cafe/roastery owner who shared some mezcal with us. It was the first time we tried mezcal and we absolutely loved it and as you can probably guess, that mezcal was from Oaxaca.

As we were leaving in the airport, we were having a beer like we usually do while waiting for our plane. I hadn’t yet finished my beer and I was feeling light headed and dizzy. When I started looking around, I could see the lights swinging back and forth.. it was an earthquake. The epicenter of that earthquake was in Oaxaca and we felt that tremor all the way in the airport in Mexico City. I knew immediately then that Oaxaca was calling us and that we had to go. I know that it’s a strange take away from an earthquake, but I just couldn’t shake it and I knew that there was something for us there.

We have a mission to connect our customers with our producers, to know where our food comes from and to celebrate a seasonal menu. Not only are we sourcing coffee from Oaxaca, we’re also bringing back textiles from a women’s cooperative, we have connections with some of the worlds best mezcaleros and mezcaleras and we get to share their stories with our customers during mezcal tastings. We’re bringing back chocolate and also ceramics. In addition to all that, we’re now taking people there on tours to directly experience Oaxaca firsthand.

Chuck, 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?

I’ve been in the specialty coffee industry for over twenty years now. I started a small roastery called La Terza Coffee. My mission was to supply my customers/wholesale accounts with the highest quality coffee I could source and also provide them with the tools and skills necessary to promote specialty coffee. I supplied coffee for some of the best cafes and restaurants in the city. As La Terza grew, our products and services began to grow too. We began offering coffee cups, sleeves, syrups and teas. We then started offering coffee machine sales and service along with water filtration solutions. We kept barista tools in stock and developed a training program to help build barista skills behind the bar.

During those days, I was roasting, managing customer relationships, sales, running deliveries, servicing espresso machines, setting up espresso bars at Farmer’s Markets and special events. I was running thin and realized pretty quickly that I was building something much bigger than what I could do myself.

I sold the business to a friend and I stayed on to consult and help grow the business and used that time to reflect on what I really wanted to do and accomplish in my career. I quickly saw that my passions and talents were best directed in starting a community driven brick and mortar espresso bar and Adesso Coffee was born.

For over 2.5 years we worked on building the brand while converting an old laundromat into what Adesso Coffee is today. I wanted to open in Mason, a community 25 minutes north of Cincinnati, where I grew up. Something felt really good about coming back to my hometown to serve. My wife, Nora Martini, is a set designer by profession and has an incredible eye for transforming spaces and making them feel inviting. That sense of feeling welcomed and being at home is exactly what she has achieved in our space and what are customers feel each time they come in.

Adesso means “Now” in Italian. I chose an Italian name because as an Italian I wanted to honor and uphold authentic Italian espresso traditions and to celebrate a menu built around simplicity and seasonality. I envisioned a cafe with an authentic community. built organically through hospitality and conversation. I envisioned a space not defined by just being a shop where goods are bought and sold, but I envisioned Adesso as an experience. Our graphic designer and dear friend, Lisa Ballard came up with the tagline, which you’ll find. on our sign today, Adesso: Coffee + Moments.

We are an espresso bar featuring traditional Italian espresso drinks, seasonal lattes that change with the seasons, drip coffee, manual brews and teas. In addition to coffee we serve wine by the glass or by the bottle. We offer craft cocktails using local ingredients, spirits such as mezcal, brunch, lunch and dinner options, live music, subscription services like our coffee club and wine club and we use our space for community events. We do all these things to help create an experience or moments, where people feel inspired and feel that sense of togetherness.

We faced a lot of challenges to get our doors opened during those 2.5 years. It was a long and difficult road and then finally we got to open in March of 2020. Our grand opening day was the very day the stay at home order was put into effect here in Ohio. But despite all of our challenges and everything life threw at us, we held fast to our dream, worked really hard and our community rallied behind us and supported us and helped us get to where we are today.

We’re currently working on a second location.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When I first started roasting. coffee it was very much a hobby. Back in those days, we didn’t have the wealth of resources that are out there today just a few keystrokes away. I created spreadsheets and manually data logged my roasting profile and took detailed notes. I became obsessed with finding that perfect roast to bring out the fullness of flavor that I was after. I locked into something that I loved and loved sharing it with others. I decided that I wanted to start selling freshly roasted coffee to friends and approached a local coffee shop who agreed to buy a small amount from me.

The roastery was built from a couple of popcorn makers and I roasted when I wasn’t working my full time job at the time. The business slowly began to grow, so I upgraded to commercial equipment and could work more efficiently. I was able to take on my roasting and soon found myself taking off days from work, so that I could work more to fulfill orders.

Once I established a solid customer base and took a step back to see that I was using vacation time to work to fulfill orders, it was apparent that I needed to make that jump to roasting full time and working for myself. I never looked back since.

It was scary and I had lots of reasons why I couldn’t or shouldn’t make that leap but I made the clear decision that I wasn’t going to be held back by excuses. I could always come up with new ones. I realized that it simply came down to just doing it and making that jump. It wasn’t a blind leap of course. I had a solid foundation behind me and the drive to work hard, I had everything I needed to succeed. I just had to get out of the way.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Social media has played a key role in communicating with our customers, primarily through Facebook and Instagram. I’m posting regularly there to communicate new drinks, upcoming live music events, inform about new menu items like our food, share pictures of life around our cafe, promote our coffee club and wine club, etc..

I also use direct marketing campaigns like email marketing to directly reach our customers that have signed up to get notified of Adesso news.

We also use a loyalty program through our POS. Once customers purchase a certain amount they are rewarded with a free drink which is all tracked in our POS. The program has been a huge success and has helped us see a healthy flow of regulars that take advantage of this program.

We have new tee shirts on the way just in time for the holidays.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.adessoisnow.com
• Instagram: adessocoffee
• Facebook: adess0coffee
• Youtube: Adesso Coffee

Image Credits
JENNA D BURKE