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

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories 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?

The best boss I ever had, was my aunt and uncle. One of the first places I ever worked was at my families restaurant, Seamus McDaniels. Growing up I was immersed in the hospitality culture at a very young age, so it was only a matter of time before I decided to make it a career of my own.
I started working at Seamus when I was 16 and on and off i was there til my late 20’s. I started as a hostess and busser, was promoted to a server and bartender, and then eventually became the bar manager.
The greatest thing I learned working for my family, is that nothing in life is given, the harder you work the further you will go.
My uncle was living proof of that, starting at a young age he worked his way up from busser to chef. He loved what he did and was willing to teach anyone who wanted to learn . His compassion showed through even when times were hectic. My uncle taught me how to be tough yet fair. He taught me that no matter what family always came first, no matter how crazy the restaurant was he always had time for others.

I saw first hand what it took to run a business, even though back then I had no idea what it actually entailed. I learned that everyone who worked for my aunt and uncle were just as important as they ( the owners) were.
That anyone who walked into their establishment should be treated as a friend invited into their home. Seeing the way they made people feel was the reason I fell in love with the industry. It honestly did not matter if it was someone walking in off the streets looking for food or a celebrity, everyone was welcomed with love and respect.
My aunt would say the greatest part of her job was being able to be apart of others celebrations and seeing the joy her and her husband’s business brought others.

My family taught me about hard work, patience, understanding, respect for others and love for good food.
I credit all that I am to my family.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up in the hospitality industry, my love for good food and the chance to create started at a young age. Providing people a welcoming environment with delicious food has always been a passion of mine. I understand that there are a million places to grab coffee, ice cream, baked goodies and breakfast, that’s why it is essential that our team understands our guests are not just numbers. We strive to make EVERYONE feel comfortable and welcomed, food just tastes better when it’s served with love. As corny as that may sound it’s the truth.

We work hard to ensure our product is served with quality, so from time to time you may experience a little wait but it’s only because we are making sure we do things right.
With each new day we learn ways to operate, we try our best til we know better, then when we know better we do better. We love to hear about your experiences good or bad, this is how we grow <3

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel like in life we are consistently pivoting, to pinpoint a specific time in my life is tricky. Having the ability to stay flexible, I feel, is crucial to the success of running a business and maintaining a healthy work/ life balance, unfortunately that ability does not happen overnight.

When I first started Sweet EM’s, it definitely was tough finding my groove. I came from a job where my schedule was set and didn’t vary often. I was a new mom, (which has its own challenges) my husband had just changed careers, there were a lot of moving pieces in my life.

When owning your own business one of the challenges you face is staffing especially starting out. To maintain consistent operational hours you can not just close because someone couldn’t come in or you do not staff to fill the scheduled times needed, so my schedule became unpredictable. It was hard, really hard, I broke down a lot, I had a new baby so my sleep schedule was out of whack, I was working from 5am-9pm everyday, I was struggling. I think I became use to the constant chaos in my life.
As if things in my life were not crazy enough, a pandemic hit and everything I thought was hectic and unpredictable multiplied. Chaos turned to panic, I was scared, I was also forced to stop and take a moment to re group, which looking back I am forever grateful for that opportunity.

Sweet EM’s closed our doors for a little over a month, at first it was really scary, I became depressed, I did not think we were going to be able to come back from closing. I eventually surrender to the unknowing, there was really not much I could do about the situation and to be honest at the time I felt burnt out. Then day by day I was able to rest, spend time with my family, talk with friends, and not worry about daily operational duties which was nice.
I did worry about re-opening, and what the future looked like but that felt like nothing compared to the stress I had previously.

I feel like the crucial pivoting point in my life, was during the time I spent at home during the lockdown period. This time gave me the opportunity to focus on what is important to me in my life and why I choose to own my own business. This time also allowed me to see that it’s ok to slow down and give myself a little credit for all I have accomplished ( which was hard t0 do). I gave myself grace and allowed myself to take breaks when i felt overwhelmed. I learned to accept help when offered. I also realized that life is unpredictable and most times you can not control what happens, sometimes you have to break it down and take things week by week, day by day or even hour by hour.

When we reopened, we kinda hit the ground running making essential changes to the business, allowing us to navigate through the first year of the pandemic. Re-opening the business felt like a new start, a chance to change my ways and rediscover my love for what I do. Facing all of these challenges has honestly made me a better person.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My approach to managing my team is patience and understanding. This business is my dream, I understand that devoting a majority of my time to making this place run is my responsibility, not theirs. I try my best to make it pretty accessible for my team to take time off when need. I believe when people love where they work, they do their best work, so it’s a goal of mine to make this a happy place while working hard to maintain our standard of quality .
We have lists EVERYWHERE ensuring they have the right provisions to do their jobs correctly with minimal stress.

I listen to everyone and implement good ideas when given. I can not be there 24/7 so I rely on my team to give feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Every day is new, every day we look for ways to improve what we do.
Open communication is key.

Contact Info:

• Website: sweetems-enterprise.square.site
• Instagram: Sweetems6330
• Facebook: Sweet EM’s Coffee & Ice Cream
• Twitter: SweetEMs18
• Yelp: Sweet EM’s Coffee & Ice Cream
• Other: linktr.ee/sweetems

Image Credits
photos by Megan Cobb