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

Kristin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Soul Brew is a coffee shop serving brunch and most importantly, “good vibes”. When I was in college I worked in a coffee shop in New Paltz and it had all of my favorite things in one spot. Coffee, tea, good food for the soul, good music playing, local art and always great customers around to pick up a good conversation with. “Wow, everything that feeds your soul in one place!” I always thought to myself. “Feed Your Soul” became the slogan for the coffee shop I wanted to open in my head, hence why we named the store Soul Brew. With that being said, Soul Brews mission is exactly that. We wanted to create a space that feeds peoples Souls.

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.

Our story is one of those turn “lemons into lemonade” stories.  My mom was a deli cook and I was stirring homefries on a milk crate by the age of 4. Worked in delis and waitressed all of my highschool and college days. I found myself working in a coffee shop by the age of 18 and my friends owned it. I worked my up to management and we worked out a verbal agreement for me to take a note on that location and purchase it. Last minute they decided they no longer wanted to sell it and naturally I was pretty devastated. I have to admit though, in my gut I felt a huge sense of relief. It’s like I knew something better was coming my way. Two days later I got a text from my friend who still worked there. She told me these customers came in every weekend, Jeff and Nikki, asking where I was. My friend told them what happened and Jeff handed her his phone number and said ” Please tell Kristin to call me. We have always wanted to get into the business and would love to back her concept”.

Of course, just being burned I was skeptical but Jeff and Nikki were amazing people from my interactions with them having been customers for a whole year.

After our first meeting together, at their home, I left knowing this was fate for all of us. Soul Brew was born that day. Jeff and I are the working partners of the business. He was the man of honor at my wedding and our partnership is what often people call a “unicorn partnership”. We truly are like yin and yang and work so well together. The start up of Soul Brew really adds to the Soul of the business. The fact that it all worked out as it did. I think customers can feel that it is something greater and meant to be as well.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

The pandemic. Phew, that was one for the books. Getting a phone call at 8pm one night that we lost 75% of our staff at the two stores we had at the time, made my stomach sink like no other time. My partner and I had to make a decision, are we going to stay open? and if so, how? We decided to put on our aprons and get in the kitchen and fill whatever position we could. We worked 100+ hours a week for months initially. We went from a sit down service business to a take out and curbside one overnight. It was truly one of those times where you think to yourself? “How are we going to do this?” and also “How ARE WE doing this?” while we were in it.

Watching so many other places fail around us and us keeping it afloat the way we did was a wild experience.
After it all, I don’t think my partner and I could’ve been more proud of ourselves for fighting through. There’s always a positive in every experience and in that one we gained a lot of new customers being that we were one of the few options people had at the time and they were able to discover us. We also opened our Bellmore location later that year by saving a coffee shop that didn’t make it through the pandemic and worked out for us. Extra shout out to the staff who toughed it out with us during that time. We will never forget that crew at that time, they truly helped save us.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Learning how to manage a team starting at 23 years old came with a TON of learning curves. Mostly the expectations I had at first without communication on my part. I had just assumed that everyone would know what to do. They accepted the position so they should just know and get it, right? Plot twist: everyone did NOT know exactly what to do. Advice for my partner and myself, our managers and anyone who wants to be in a position of leadership: proper communication is key. Literally EVERY detail, of everything at all times needs to be communicated and delegated. It is so important for keeping a team in sync. The other key is taking accountability. If your team is unhappy, you need to look at yourself first. It’s so hard to do sometimes, but if you don’t take accountability for the things you are doing right and wrong and lay them on the table for your staff to see, why would they do the same for you? It’s so easy to get frustrated when things aren’t going smooth and point fingers back and forth but a true leader needs to look at themselves at the top first and see what they are failing at first and then trickle it down. It gives you a new perspective on how to grow and change and also gives your staff a reason to respect you more for calling yourself out.
The third piece of advice is making sure if there is drama on your team, that you find the culprit and remove the source. It takes one person to create the virus of negative energy and vibes that will infect the whole team. It’s really important to remove them once you find out who it is. Good vibes only!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.soulbrew.coffee
• Instagram: @soulbrew_stjames soulbrew_huntington

Image Credits
all owed by Soul Brew. I do almost all of our content creation myself :)