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

Courtney , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

A part of our mission is to link arms with other local small businesses. We have had such an organic success in our small business due to the support of other small businesses. It’s a matter of having each other’s back. For example, we were introduced to the owner of Pop Of Confetti. We did a popup at her store for a Galentines event where we met Justin, the owner of JC Desserts. We were able to establish a great friendship with the owner of Pop of Confetti, where we went back to show love and support with future Pop ups. We then established a growing relationship with Justin. We even used him for our wedding cake and desserts. But it’s a matter of how we look out for each other. Small businesses support each other by giving shout outs, helpful growing tips, etc. As a small business we strive to do the same. We want to use local products in our drinks. Fresh local grown strawberries for our Strawberry Coquito. One day when we have our own store front, we want to continue showing our love and support for the small businesses we have grown with. We want to use their products in ours. And show case them as they grow.

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?

Loquito Coquito RVA started when the COVID 19 pandemic hit. Tyrone would make Coquito during the holidays for me. It was one of those family traditions that tasted so good and left you wanting more even when the time ended for it. We both kept our corporate jobs during COVID. The first Christmas season came upon us and we wanted to help share joy to those around us. We offered our traditional Puerto Rican drink to those in the Bon Air area. People loved it! What started off as something to make people smile turned into a full time small business. We continued throughout the year to make the rich and creamy drink. We then changed with the wave of customer needs. We started to offer a variety of season flavors from Nutella and Cookie Butter to Strawberry and Pineapple. We even had popup flavors like Ube and Dirty Chai that people fell in love with. I am a full time Registered Nurse and Tyrone works as a manager for retail AT&T. Not one of us has a business back ground but have grown organically through trial and error. Our end goal is to establish a store front where our customers can come and experience Puerto Rico while staying in RVA. We want to bring the taste and styles that Tyrone grew up cooking in the kitchen with his family.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is one of the hardest things to do. Social media platforms at first were very foreign to us. We watched all the How Tos and signed up for self help classes. We grew at first by sharing to our local RHOBA page. This is the Real Houswives of Bon Air. Which was the first of our clientele. Then we would do giveaways with other local businesses to help grow our audience. This helped get our name out there to potential groups that might not know about us and our product.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner is my one and only Husband, Tyrone. We met over 12 years ago when I needed a new phone outside or graduating high school. It’s funny because most people are shocked when they hear we are a husband and wife duo business. But we learned through many trials how to separate the business from our relationship. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.loquitocoquitorva.com
• Instagram: Loquito Coquito RVA
• Facebook: Loquito Coquito RVA

Image Credits
Joey Wharton