Daily Grind | By Don Johnson Billy Langwell prepares salad bar items for the lunch crowd at Koffee Kake in Terrell. Langwell credits the shop’s homemade food with creating a loyal customer base.
the rent means selling a lot of coffee, and each shop has taken steps to draw as many customers as possible while creating a customer experience that has the small-town feel that separates them from the national chain coffee shops. While the stores have come to reflect the personalities of the proprietors, a short conversation with the people in each shop is enough to reveal that they are all making it work with the help, support and hard work of family and friends.
Koffee Kake
Langwell worked for a previous Terrell coffee shop when it closed more than five years ago. With the support of his sister Debbie Weiss and his mother, Glenda Langwell, the first location of Koffee Kake came together on Rockwall Avenue.
“I think the majority of what brings people back is the food. People come here because it is just like their grandmother’s or the quality of food is just so different from what they can find at fast-food restaurants.” — Billy Langwell
Weiss, an experienced businesswoman, also lent her creative talents to the operation. Mother and son managed the day-to-day operations, and over the first several years, the business grew. In 2010, Koffee Kake moved to its current spot, a historic home on the north side of downtown Terrell. “My mother and I have literally worked on these buildings from the ground up, on our hands and knees scraping paint,” Billy Langwell said. “We have shared in everything from the cooking to the cleaning, and it has literally been the hardest work I have ever done in my life.” All of the attention to detail has paid off in many ways, though, with customers appreciating every change and improvement that comes to the store. “Customers become like family, and they come to see the decorations we bring in or new things on the menu,” Langwell said. “Just a subtle change in the interior, like when we added a huge rug, and we had people coming in for a week just to see it.” While coffee is central to the business model,
the baked goods, sandwiches, salads and other dishes that are made from scratch daily may be what cements Koffee Kake into the minds of customers for repeat visits. “I think the majority of what brings people back is the food,” Langwell said. “I wasn’t originally going to open a lunch place. It just kind of morphed into that on its own. Now people come here because it is just like their grandmother’s or the quality of food is just so different from what they can find at fast-food restaurants. Everything is from family recipes; you can come in and eat healthy if you want to, and everything starts fresh every day.” Economic pressures have put the squeeze on many independently owned shops, but expanding product offerings and catering outside events has helped Koffee Kake grow through the adversity. “We haven’t really seen the down economy,” Langwell said. “Terrell has been very good to us. We have such a loyal clientele, and we truly care about our customers. You think of having a little sandwich shop, and how much fun that would be, and it is true, but it is also very, very hard work.” Not that he is complaining. The Langwells are in the kitchen before sunup, getting the day’s products into the oven. After the ebb and flow of the day’s customer traffic, Billy Langwell said a little bit of reflection is order before starting the cycle all over. “I am in here at 4:45 every morning, with 14- or 15-hour days, but every day is different because you don’t know exactly who will walk in the door,” he said. “The last thing I do at the end of the day is pour myself the last cup of coffee and go out onto the porch, and that is my time. It is hard work, but it is my niche, and I love it.”
Lazy J Coffee
As a successful corporate accountant with 20 years of experience, Grice could have stayed in the business world, but she was miserable. At a personal turning point in her own life, and with the support of her husband, William, she risked her savings and retirement money to open Lazy J Coffee in November 2011. “I did not research all of the details, but I saw the place, I knew where we wanted to be and just jumped in,” Grice said. “I won’t lie, it has been a struggle. Between three times the building flooded and road construction, there were times that I just cried and prayed, hoping that I could meet payroll and not bounce any checks.”
KAUFMAN COUNTY LIFE SPRING 2012
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