We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lindsay Gallegly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lindsay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss? What did you learn from them? Maybe you can share a story that illustrates the kind of boss they were or maybe you can share your thoughts on what you think made them an awesome person to work for?

This is a tough question because I have been lucky enough to have several amazing employers before I became an entrepreneur. So top 3 because they all deserve to be mentioned: 1) John Kennedy, Pizza Al’s (Morgantown, WV)
2) Paul Reitano, Rocky’s Pizza (former owner)
3) Cepeda & Landrus Lewis, Growing Tree Chiropractic (Mooresville, NC)
But in my journey to entrepreneurship, Paul had the biggest impact. I went to work at Rocky’s Pizza when I was 24 years old. I had already had one big girl job but was switching gears after deciding I wanted to pursue opening a café. I had no idea how to do that and decided working at a locally owned restaurant was a fine place to start, plus I loved pizza. So it felt like a win-win.
Paul opened Rocky’s Pizza, named after his grandfather, and was dedicated to honoring his memory through his classic Italian recipes. I have never met someone so passionate about crafting a menu full of flavor, fresh ingredients, and Italian heritage. My hometown hero Pizza Al’s may hold the title of my favorite NY style slice of cheese pizza, but Paul made some of the best specialty pies I’ve ever had – and don’t get me started on the pastas! He worked in his restaurant 6 days a week, that I know of. But he has stories of sleeping in the booths when he was building out the space. He was the first person I met that was living the American Dream: he started with basically nothing and built a business, literally, from the ground up. It was amazing. He worked tirelessly to make sure every customer had the best food around and made it an affordable price for the suburban area we were serving.
I started out working part-time as a cashier and part-time in catering sales for the business. Unfortunately, I’ve never loved cold calling and didn’t do amazing with the catering sales. (Sorry Paul!) But it wasn’t long before I started picking up more shifts, helping in the back of house, learning how to prep the salads and sandwiches, and even helping cook the actual pizzas themselves. And it was on those quiet weekdays when I would hang out in the back kitchen with Paul and another cook, Kevin, that I learned the most about running a restaurant. Paul and Kevin became my work family. Kevin was like the goofy dad and Paul was like my older brother. And in that back-of-house kitchen we had some of the best conversations. We talked about life and food and love and business. I learned so much about the day-to-day business operations. But I learned more about balancing running a restaurant with family time – because one can’t thrive if the other is crumbling. Paul knew about my coffee shop dream and was the first person to suggest I should make it a mobile business. I hated the idea at the time – but he wasn’t wrong, it was a great idea.
Paul had the patience to teach me the tangible skills to switch roles within his business. But he also taught me the why behind everything: why he makes a sauce this way, why this ingredient is in this location, why the schedule is a certain way, why ingredients come from various vendors.
Unfortunately, Paul eventually sold Rocky’s Pizza and I left the restaurant a few months after the new owners took over. It just wasn’t the same without his heart driving things. But I was fortunate to stay connected with Paul and his family. I have been babysitting his daughters for the last five years and have had the distinguished privilege to be lovingly called their aunt and Paul (and wife Ockie’s) little sister.
He still continues to mentor me, even if he wouldn’t admit it, and offers restaurant advice and insight at every turn. He is one of my biggest cheerleaders and I couldn’t be more thankful.

Lindsay, 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 get asked a lot how I got into this business. And beyond my obvious personal love of coffee, it really is because of the community that forms around a simple cup of coffee. In the past when I worked as a Missions Coordinator for a local church we talked about the ‘third space;’ somewhere people spend their time. Usually places one and two are home and work. The ‘Third Space’ has changed over time as our culture has changed. At one point in history it was the local church, other times it was the kid’s soccer field. Now, we see a lot of people spending time at the local coffee shop or brewery, especially in the millennial generation that I belong to. So in my call to missions I felt led to go where the people are in that third space. Which brought about Joy Coffee! I want to spread the same joy that I find in my faith to others so they can experience it as well. Sometimes it is by overtly sharing my faith, sometimes it’s just with a smile or a listening ear. Both are equally important in my book. And eventually we hope to open a brick and mortar café space so we can expand our product offering to include local beers to fully check the box as the third space. And selfishly, my love for coffee is closely followed by an appreciation for local craft beers! I guess on paper I really do come off as a model millennial in a lot of ways. But what I really want everyone to know and takeaway from this, is that Joy Coffee is about more than just coffee. And while there is a heavy spiritual component to this, we are also actively searching for ways to be better partners in our local community to show tangible ways we are giving back. Currently we source our coffee beans from a missions based coffee roaster (Coffee4Missions) and buy tumblers for retail from Welly who gives back a portion of their proceeds to help provide sustainable water sources around the world. But we are searching for other ways to support our local community. Currently we are exploring options for local dairy providers where we could purchase milk and bakeries to keep us stocked in yummy pastries. But as the business grows, we hope to partner with local groups helping individuals reintegrating into society whether it be from homeless, addiction, incarceration, etc. to offer short-term or long-term employment opportunities. Along with that, we hope to use our future café space to host resume writing workshops, mentorship opportunities, and more. We really want to be a place for all members of the community to come together for the collective good. And we want everyone that walks through our doors, whether to clock in for their shift or grab their morning cup of coffee, to know they are loved and appreciated in that space.

Have you ever had to pivot?

To be honest, this entire start-up process has been a series of pivots! As the owner of a business that is still less than a year old, we’ve already pivoted so many times you would get dizzy just thinking about it. When I first had this dream/goal/vision I was hellbent on opening a brick and mortar café. When I formed the llc to get things going, it was with every intention of opening a brick and mortar café. I had a local commercial realtor start searching for space and everything. So many people, and I mean probably close to 50% of the people I told about my idea, asked ‘have you considered a food truck instead?’ I heard the suggestion so many times I wanted to be sick as soon as the words would start to come out of their mouths. And now, I’m working on a coffee truck and I love it! Granted, I still plan to move into a café, but I realize how much more flexibility this gives me. And also, the more opportunities I have to reach portions of the local community that I probably wouldn’t normally see in a café space. I made the decision to start off mobile because it was the only financial path forward. But now I realize it was a blessing in disguise this whole time.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I’m embarrassed to say sometimes it feels like there have been more of these moments than there should have been considering we are coming up on our one year anniversary. But starting a business is TOUGH. I knew starting with a big loan would be hard; but it’s one thing to logically know it and another to physically experience it. It also didn’t help that in the same month we began operations I also purchased and moved into a new home and then two months later got married in a not-so-small wedding that we had been planning for the better part of a year. So my attention couldn’t be given to my baby business 100% of the time – and it really needed it. So after those first three months I had to be all in. Thankfully I had set aside enough working capital to get through those first few months. But things got really tight after that. I spent every moment I could making sure we were booked for events, crunching numbers to make sure all of our bills would be paid, and figuring out how to just make it through to the next month. But through this entire journey I have consistently prioritized paying my team well as one way to show my appreciation for them and their time. And this investment has been well worth it. I also have never sacrificed the quality of the product I’m serving for the bottom line. You best believe there were days when I had pennies in the bank and had ideas for how to skimp on something and save a little product. But I refused to let the brand image I was building suffer for a short term gain. I just reminded myself that I am in this for the long haul and I need to do things right from day one. So I’ve had to learn to just be consistent. Consistency in my commitments, doing what I say I’m going to do. Consistency in my product, continuously delivering the same great product my customers are coming to know, love, and recognize. Consistency in my management, continuously showing up for my team and running this business to the best of my ability. Even consistency in my social media presence, showing up for my online community, however small it is, to showcase the love and joy we’re finding through our products and time on the coffee truck. But most importantly, consistently showing up for my customers as my most authentic self and consistently delivering excellent service and a great experience. Because even on the bad days when I’m checking the balance of the bank account every five minutes, my customers came first, my community came first, my team came first. And that’s what mattered most.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joycoffeecompany.com
• Instagram: @joy.coffee.co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoyCoffeeCompanyLLC

Image Credits
Photographer: Dave Higgins, Mill City Images (Instagram: @millcitydave)