We recently connected with Erica Covington and have shared our conversation below.
Erica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
Most small business owners have a desire to see their business grow, and while that looks different for everyone, for us, scaling up required fully stripping down. We didn’t add to our employee count, we reduced it; we didn’t enlarge our space, we went smaller; and we didn’t increase our supplies, we were able to cut back. All of that seems counterintuitive, but by doing these things not only did we reduce our overall expenses, but we greatly increased our reach and the impact we are able to have in our community.
When we opened Chatuga Ridge Coffeehouse, we had a beautiful brick and mortar storefront that was everything I had ever dreamed. I poured my heart and soul into the space; the art on the walls, furniture, music – it was all me. More than anything my vision was to create a community gathering space where people felt like they were at home, warm, cozy and inviting. A place where people could just be, with no agenda or time constraints. Based on the feedback we received we had reached that goal. Unfortunately for us, the adage, “location, location, location…”, was the kicker.
Our location, while timeless and beautiful, was also a 20-minute drive away from any sort of town, surrounded by National Forest, lakes, rivers, and campgrounds, with only one restaurant, a gas station, and Dollar General nearby. Really, we thought this would work to our advantage, however we soon found that although we were in the same county in which we grew up, we had never truly appreciated the differences of each part of our community.
When we opened in August 2022, things went well for about a month until the new wore off. For those in our close circle, who would normally have stopped in for a cup of coffee every day, the drive was simply out of the way. For the locals in the area, most of them enjoyed their coffee at home. Then of course, a main bridge which was shut down right before we opened, caused a major detour, and ultimately rerouted the largest part of our local customer base completely past our store. As we ran fully into the fall season, we realized business on the mountain is incredibly geared toward the spring and summer months and we weren’t going to make it through the winter without going belly-up.
After all the planning, setup, relationship building, and countless dollars spent, we were watching our dream crash and burn. We knew we had a good thing as our coffee consistently had good reviews, most of which included “best coffee I’ve ever had”, so shutting down didn’t seem like a viable option. We had to think outside of the box if we wanted to save what had become a great reputation for our business, that seemed to be dying purely because of location.
So, we took a leap of faith, bought a concession trailer, and hit the road. Within a week we had tripled our online views, doubled our followers, and were getting booked for event after event. Overnight we were asked to setup outside of schools, city halls, other businesses, and all of that on top of private events. Within a month we were so busy we made the decision to close our storefront and focus on being mobile.
Going mobile didn’t just increase our overall reach, it also changed how and what people ordered. We quickly found our new customers weren’t interested in plain, black cups of coffee; decaf coffee orders became next to none, and it was clear Signature Drinks were the way to go. Because of this change we cut our weekly coffee order in half and were able to reduce the number of supplies needed such as sugars, creamers, stirrers, etc. Thanks to our Signature Drink menu we’ve been able to control our flavor and syrup costs more easily. When it comes to general overhead, my husband likes to say, our only real bill is the gas we put in the generator. Then there’s the huge bonus that we’re no longer renting a space but have invested in our own business by purchasing our concession trailer.
We may have been forced to think outside the box, ultimately to scale down, but the blessings from it have been undeniable. We have become an established part of our community and continue to grow. As to when we will open another brick and mortar, only time will tell, but our mobile is a classic that will never die. Thankfully, for now, “location, location, location” is something we can decide for ourselves. And just like that we fell into another age-old adage “the best things come in small packages”.
Erica, 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?
Chatuga Ridge Coffeehouse started simply as a solution to a problem.
I’ve been the sole proprietor of Covington Business Solutions [CBS], an all-encompassing accounting firm, for seven years. 90% of my clients are remotely located outside of my home state, so I’ve focused on keeping everything virtual. Because of my business model, I’ve always been able to work from a home office. However, as the infamous year 2020 came to a close, my family, including my parents, brother, husband and our kids, decided to purchase some land together and make a major shift to our lives. We all moved into our respective homes on the property and my husband and I started a mini-farm. There was only one minor issue – where we had moved had no wi-fi. For two years it wasn’t a huge issue for me as I was able to work off a mobile hotspot, spent lots of time in coffeeshops, and worked at my in-laws when I needed something a bit more robust. But when I took on a highly involved client, one I was working with daily, my husband and I knew somethings had to change in order for it all to work; we brought him home out of the work force to continue homeschooling our two boys, and began to look for office space to rent around our home, space that included wi-fi. We were basically searching for a needle in a haystack.
Fortunately, a beautiful spot was open, right next to our post-office, in a space that had previously been a restaurant. The price was too good to pass up but the space was huge and unnecessary for what I needed for CBS. But, it had wi-fi and was only 5 miles from our house, so we had to jump on it. And that’s about the time the idea for Chatuga Ridge Coffeehouse hit me. Because of CBS being fully remote for so long, I had spent countless hours inside of coffee shops drinking down cappuccinos and getting work done. So I thought, why not do that here? Except this would be my coffee shop. The income from the coffee would pay the rent and it would be nothing gained or lost. I figured I could set hours that worked best for me, and I could work while also running the coffeehouse. And just like that my husband and I got to work on setting up shop, very literally.
From concept to opening day, things took about seven months, and by then, the entire reason we had rented the space and ran with the idea of a coffeehouse to begin with, CBS’ newest client, had breached our contract. Suddenly CBS didn’t need the space anymore and I could have gone back to working from home. Zack, my husband, could have easily returned to the workforce and I could have resumed homeschooling our two kids and taking care of our mini-farm, but we had fallen in love with Chatuga Ridge Coffeehouse, or ChRCH for short. We loved that we had created a space for people in our community to gather together over a warm, or cold, cup of coffee. We were overjoyed there was conversation and cultivation of relationships between folks that may have otherwise never spoken. We were meeting people from all over and were hearing amazing stories. What we had envisioned had come to life and we weren’t willing to let it die. So, #ChRCH became not just our brand, but our lifestyle.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I know since 2020 we’ve all had to pivot in one way or another, be it in business or just life in general. For us it seems as though nearly everyday is a new pivot point. Moving 30 minutes away from the nearest town, starting a mini-farm, homeschooling, running a full-time accounting firm, bringing my husband out of the workforce, starting a second full-time business – it’s just been one pivot after the next since 2020.
My husband and I have two little boys, Liam (7) and Ephraim (6). After COVID it was clear a lot of school may have to be done at home anyway, so why not have full control over it ourselves, so we started kindergarten via homeschooling in 2021. We were dead set that would never change, but faced with losing everything we had put into our Coffeehouse or making a major life-change, even things we thought were originally non-negotiable, became a point of conversation. Because our only option was taking #ChRCH on the road, we went from a 1200 sq. foot store front, to a mobile-business, based out of 150 square feet. Needless to say, we were forced to make concessions. For us that meant homeschooling had to go, and making that choice was by far the most difficult we’ve made thus far.
Realistically, the choice we made to place our boys in school has had a profoundly positive impact on us all. Because our boys are less than two years apart, and we live in a tiny home, there is never any personal space. Add that onto being homeschooled and really, we all needed some time away from each other during the day. The pivot point wasn’t something me or my husband necessarily wanted to do, but once we got to talking about it with the kids, they got excited. They didn’t have a ton of social interactions outside of church and #ChRCH, so it was a welcomed change. Is it perfect? No. Do I wish we could still homeschool? Yes. Especially now that we’re mobile and could literally travel anywhere with our coffee. But is this the season for it, now? No. I believe it will be one day, and when that time comes, we’ll pivot again.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My business partner is my husband, so I couldn’t help but to answer this question. I also think a lot of husband and wives make great business teams if they would only give it a go, so maybe this will help someone out there.
Late 2014 I received a call from my mother who was overjoyed to tell me about this guy she had heard about that would be “just perfect” for me. As I was in a relationship I brushed it off and told her she was just being silly. At that time, I had spent nearly three years in Atlanta, GA, as the Director of Financial Services for a boutique accounting and tax firm. I was happy in my career and my relationship.
Oddly enough, in a very short time after I received my mother’s call, I was notified by the firm’s owner they had decided to sell to a large corporate entity and my contract would be absorbed, however there was going to be a major cut in pay. I was given the option to stay with the new business, or I could leave with no repercussions. Again, oddly enough, at the exact same time what I thought was a great relationship turned very nasty and it seemed like my entire life was falling apart.
Little did I know then, it was all falling together.
Since my relationship was null and void, and my career in Atlanta was taking a turn financially for the worst, I decided it was time to cut my losses and move home. About a year prior, my folks had moved out of my childhood home and into a smaller place closer to the center of town, so I knew I was moving home just as a reset. I was so excited to come back just long enough to get on my feet and get back out there again.
I hadn’t gotten my bags in the door and on the guest bed before my mother reminded me of that boy that was “just perfect” for me. She told me all about how his mother had told her about him. It was all a very southern setup. Little did I know, he had just recently moved home with his parents, right next door.
Its easy to say it could have just been a rebound relationship, and it could have been, but we decided we wanted to go for it. We wanted to choose each other every single day. No matter what. And here we are. Nearly 8 years later, running our business together. No regrets.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatugaridge/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chatugaridge
Image Credits
Sarah E Photography, LLC – Sarah Yarbrough