We were lucky to catch up with Elle Welch recently and have shared our conversation below.
Elle, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
At Lakeshore Coffee Company, almost everything that comes out of our shop is sourced locally through other small businesses. We are proud to be able to lift up other small businesses while providing a quality product in our own.
To us, this matters. We are putting our money straight back into our community – and that is important, especially with times like they are!
On top of that, it allows for better quality control and improved quality overall as we’ve found that our local vendors love to collaborate/improve with us. It’s really been a great way to do business. Our costs are a bit higher than the average coffee shop for this reason, but we feel the benefit outweighs the cost.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Lakeshore Coffee Company was established in 2022 in Andover, Ohio, and we opened our second location in Mentor, Ohio in February, 2023. Stanley Sirrine and I are the owners, and we opened these shops to create an inclusive space with a quality product in two towns desperately in need of a good local coffee spot!
On top of our espresso and coffee selection we also offer a variety of loose leaf teas, breakfast and pastries. We truly have something for everyone and are always looking for fun ways to grow our menu!
Our Mentor location is at 8595 Mentor Avenue; Mentor, Ohio 44060 in a historic home! We love its charm, and are open 7a-3p daily there.
Lakeshore Andover is open April-December 7a-1p on weekdays, 7a-3p on the weekends. We are located at 411 E Main St., Andover, Ohio 44003.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media is tough because there are so many ways to do it! I do all of our social media posts, and you quickly find out what type of content works and doesn’t.
I am by no means an expert, but the biggest thing I’ve learned is just being consistent! The more you are in front of people the more they see your product, the more they will visit you.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
My business partner is my significant other! We decided to open a coffee shop as a side hustle that we enjoyed. We live in Andover and were driving 40 minutes for coffee, so figured why not let’s learn and try something new! It has grown into so much for us, and now it is a blast also getting to share this experience with our son, Theo.
Contact Info:
- Website: Lakeshorecoffeeandover.com
- Instagram: @lakeshorecoffeeco
- Facebook: Lakeshore Coffee Company
Image Credits
Sky Photography and Elle Welch