Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kait Sukiennik. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kait thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I never knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would have these grand ideas, like, “Im going to be an interior designer” or “Im going to be a ceramic artist” but when the time came to actually do any of it, I lacked a lot of the confidence to make it happen. I have 6 years of full time college under my belt to get one undergraduate degree. I studied interior design, business, ceramics, more business and finally landed a degree in interior design. I went to 4 different schools on my journey. Funny part is, I graduated in 2009, in the middle of the great housing crisis, so no one was hiring and I took the only job I could find, which was filling government bids for Furnitures, Fixtures and Equipment. I was so unhappy, but felt I was supposed to grateful for the opportunity. I hiked a lot during this time, anything to counter being stuck in a cubical 40 hours a week. I would wake up early on a Saturday morning pick somewhere ish on the map and head out. One day in the spring I passed a U-pick blueberry farm. I had no idea what it was, so I stopped. I picked a whole gallon of blueberries for $10 and thought I’d won the lottery. I looked up jam recipes, and made my first batch of blueberry jam, and it was absolutely awful, but I was hooked. I began selling jam at a small local farmer’s market, and going out and picking more berries, and soon I had a side hustle I loved. During this time, I had an amazing friend in her 90’s who taught me to make biscuits because “if I was going to make jam, I needed to make something to put it on.”

Then I quit my job and moved from the big city back to my hometown of 14,000. I wasn’t in a great place and was looking for a sense of community, and I am so lucky I found one. We started a social club. Then started a fundraiser for the local soup kitchen (which is on its 13th year this year), and I realized our little town needed biscuit shop. A place I could make biscuits and sell jam. That everyone would feel comfortable in and that gave back in ways that weren’t being met yet. I was introduced to someone who was looking for something similar, but she wanted a space for art and coffee. We mashed it all together and came up with our first business venture, the Greenhouse on Porter. We rented a literal greenhouse with an enclosed building that was 17′ x 17′ in which we had a bathroom, a table, two benches and the tiniest commercial kitchen you’ve ever seen. We did it all, made all kinds of biscuits and jam, made pour over coffees, changed out an artist every month in our tiny shop and had monthly art markets we called the Opp Shop. We hosted a variety of shows, from local musicians to mini film festivals, and even had a biscuit tournament.

Although i spent years in the restaurant industry, I knew absolutely nothing about running a kitchen, much less a business or a whole restaurant, and neither did she. I’d always worked in the front of house, hosting or waiting tables. We figured it out step by step, and sometimes misstep.

We didn’t know if it would work, and at the time, to be honest, I didn’t really care, I wanted to do something that gave me purpose, and for whatever reason, this is it.

Kait, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I never knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would have these grand ideas, like, “Im going to be an interior designer” or “Im going to be a ceramic artist” but when the time came to actually do any of it, I lacked a lot of the confidence to make it happen. I have 6 years of full time college under my belt to get one undergraduate degree. I studied interior design, business, ceramics, more business and finally landed a degree in interior design. I went to 4 different schools on my journey. Funny part is, I graduated in 2009, in the middle of the great housing crisis, so no one was hiring and I took the only job I could find, which was filling government bids for Furnitures, Fixtures and Equipment. I was so unhappy, but felt I was supposed to grateful for the opportunity. I hiked a lot during this time, anything to counter being stuck in a cubical 40 hours a week. I would wake up early on a Saturday morning pick somewhere ish on the map and head out. One day in the spring I passed a U-pick blueberry farm. I had no idea what it was, so I stopped. I picked a whole gallon of blueberries for $10 and thought I’d won the lottery. I looked up jam recipes, and made my first batch of blueberry jam, and it was absolutely awful, but I was hooked. I began selling jam at a small local farmer’s market, and going out and picking more berries, and soon I had a side hustle I loved. During this time, I had an amazing friend in her 90’s who taught me to make biscuits because “if I was going to make jam, I needed to make something to put it on to sample the biscuits.”

Then I quit my job and moved from the big city back to my hometown of 14,000. I wasn’t in a great place and was looking for a sense of community, and I am so lucky I found one quickly. We started a social club. Then started a fundraiser for the local soup kitchen (which is on its 13th year this year), and I realized our little town needed a community spot community space. A place I could make biscuits and sell jam. That everyone would feel comfortable in and that gave back in ways that weren’t being met yet. I was introduced to someone who was looking for something similar, but she wanted a space for art and coffee. We mashed it all together and came up with our first business venture, the Greenhouse on Porter. We rented a literal greenhouse with an enclosed building that was 17′ x 17′ in which we had a bathroom, a table, two benches and the tiniest commercial kitchen you’ve ever seen. We did it all, made all kinds of biscuits and jam, made pour over coffees, changed out an artist every month in our tiny shop and had monthly art markets we called the Opp Shop. We hosted a variety of shows, from local musicians to mini film festivals, and even had a biscuit tournament. Everyone came. From new moms, or new to the area moms, to the older retired men. The high school kids, the poets, the writers. The kids back from college looking for their adventure, and everyone just sort of…meshed. It was incredible.

Although I spent years in the restaurant industry, I knew absolutely nothing about running a kitchen, much less a business or a whole restaurant, and neither did my business partner.. I’d always worked in front of house, hosting or waiting tables. We figured it out step by step, and sometimes misstep by misstep.

We didn’t know if it would work, and at the time, to be honest, I didn’t really care, I wanted to do something that gave me purpose, and for whatever reason, this is it.

In 2020 we opened our second location in Biloxi, then in 2022 we closed the Greenhouse on Porter due to circumstances outside of our control. While its very different (its in an old Subway and in downtown Biloxi and has no outdoor space) The Greenhouse still operates at its core values: to be a place for the community to come together, to provide a space where everyone is comfortable, and new friends and ideas can be made.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

As a coffee shop our main job is to serve incredible coffee in a timely manner with joy. Our most effective strategy for growing and maintaining clientele is one of our mottos: We want people to leave the Greenhouse having a better day than they were when they walked in, even if their day was already great. We talk to everyone that wants a chat, we love asking tourists where they are from. We know most of our regulars and, even though we’ve never met them, we know their families too. We genuinely want people to be happy and we do not take ourselves seriously, but we do take the job seriously. The sillier the pun the better. the sweeter the meme the better. We also love having a silly social media presence. I think it helps to make people laugh. We all need a good laugh all of the time.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I love our small team. When I hire someone, and at the beginning stages of them learning their roll at the Greenhouse I try to find their passion, what they are good at, and what parts of the job they like the best. Then I try to center some of their repsonsibilities around what they love the most. Of course they still have to do the basic job duties, but I love giving people projects they respond to. For example, one of our newer baristas is also an artist so she is involved in our monthly art markets, sometimes in the set up, and sometimes as a vendor.

People respond well when they can take responsibility for their actions and enjoy their work. If you can truly listen to your employees ideas and figure out how to implement some, it not only boosts their morale it makes them take a personal interest in the business.

I have 7 employees and 5 work at a time most days. I have a habit of telling people multiple times a day they’re doing great and theyre killing it. It’s my way of checking in, but also they’re almost always doing great and killing it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://biscuitsprings.com
• Instagram: @greenhousebiloxi
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/greenhousebiloxi