We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jalil And Starr Roberts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jalil and Starr, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Kuumba is the sixth day of Kwanzaa and it means creativity. The Kuumba principle means to do always as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
After we scrapped our original business plan and went through the name changing process it kept coming to the top of our list. The meaning is aspirational and embodies how we want to show up in our community.
Jalil and Starr, 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?
We are an independently family owned and operated coffee shop.
Jalil is a former math teacher and collegiate athlete, self professed sneaker head, sports lover (Knicks, Jets, Mets) and Scrabble guru from New Jersey.
I (Starr) am a customer service connoisseur, B. Smith admirer with a passion for hospitality. I have worked in the health care and financial services industry, have an undergraduate degree in Business and a Master’s in Coaching Psychology. I am originally from a small town outside of Philadelphia.
We opened Kuumba Coffee in 2020 with the support of my parents, Henry and Crystal. My Aunt Del attended barista training and worked at the shop daily for one full year. My Dad still handles processes like sales/property tax, etc. while my Mom works in the shop several hours a week, and makes the zucchini bread and chicken salad from scratch. Our son, Dominic, spent the last year working at the shop and helped expand our menu and his fiancé, Haven, has filled in while we were understaffed. Our daughter in love, Erica, recently learned the coffee making process so she can pick up shifts when she has capacity.
The menu includes specialty coffees, teas, pastries, smoothies, soups, sandwiches and salads; many are vegan friendly. Some house favorites are the avocado toast, breakfast sandwich, vegan breakfast sandwich, chicken salad on croissant and zucchini bread which are made in house
We host Silent Book Club 20 West twice a month, Shut Up & Write every Saturday morning, game nights and community fundraisers. In addition, we have a curated retail area where we sell vinyl records, books, stickers, drinkware, etc.
The care we show our patrons is what sets us apart. Our goal is to remember our regular’s names and drink/food choice. If you are planning to bring a group in, you can call ahead and we will reserve a table(s). We have been known to surprise some parties with flowers, balloons, etc.
Several of our tables have gold plaques with names and quotes. They are the official tables of customers turned friends, that have been rockin’ with us throughout our journey.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Our biggest business pivot was to open a full fledge coffee shop. Our initial business plan was to open an indie bookstore with a coffee kiosk. The space was acquired, the name filed with the state and business plan was in full motion when we realized the other independent bookstore in the city relocated directly around the corner.
We pivoted pretty quickly and sent two of our family members to barista school to learn more about the coffee making process and changed our name. Although it was not our original plan, we already had contacts, etc. since we were already incorporating coffee into our space.
Our biggest piece of advice to entrepreneurs is to remain flexible.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
We purchased our building in 2019. Unbeknownst to us, CoVid would enter the scene in 2020. Our scheduled opening was March 2020 but we weren’t able to open because the health department wasn’t conducting inspections.
When we finally opened our doors on June 15, 2020 social distancing requirements were in effect and our dining room had periods of being closed. We offered curbside pickup during those periods. Although we experienced a business disruption/delay we were still responsible for paying mortgage, utilities and other operating expense. Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify for PPL and other resources because we didn’t open until after their qualifying time frame.
It was a tough time, we’re now in year four and we are still here! We are incredibly grateful to God, to our incredible community of supporters and to those (not mentioned above) who have served the community alongside side us; Dominic S., Rhonda, Shirley, Monet, Deja, Obi, Ben, Ashley, Shak, Ayla, Brea, Ellyn and Shay.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kuumbacoffee.com
- Instagram: @kuumbacoffee
- Facebook: @kuumbacoffee
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kuumba-coffee-douglasville
- Other: Instagram @silentbookclub20west
