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Peoria Times
BUSINESS
December 9, 2021
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Peoria’s Well Coffee Co. puts community first BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI AND JACK WU Peoria Times Staff
Copper Hills Church lead pastor Brad Klassen and family life ministry pastor Kevin Kubala have one goal with Well Coffee Co.: bringing Peoria together. “We’re trying to build a place where community can happen,” Klassen said. “It doesn’t matter whether someone comes to our church or buys a cup of coffee. It’s about building meaningful relationships between people.” Well Coffee Co. in Peoria is owned by Copper Hills Church, but, Klassen said, it is not a way of proselytizing. “We want to be a community place where people can come, be safe and relaxed,” he said. That reflects the name of the café, which was taken from the New Testament. “Chapter 4 of John’s eyewitness account of Jesus’ life, Jesus is heading from Jerusalem to the northern part of Israel,” Klassen said. “He stops at a well that had been there for a couple thousand years. He sends his entourage into town and sits at a well.” A woman approaches who has strug-
Copper Hills Church lead pastor Brad Klassen, above, helped found Well Coffee Co. along with Kevin Kubala. (Photo by Cassandra Tomei)
gled with relationships and “has a checkered past.” “She doesn’t come to the well when everybody else would, so she can avoid those looks and whispers,” he said. “She comes at noon. She sits down with Jesus and, contrary to what would be culturally appropriate, Jesus engaged her in conversation. She dis-
covered who Jesus really was for herself.” Klassen is interested in guests having the kind of conversation that the woman had with Jesus. “You can be whoever you are,” he said. “We want you to be loved and cared for and get a great cup of coffee.”
Abrazo hosting RN virtual hiring event BY PEORIA TIMES STAFF
Nurse recruiters for Abrazo West Campus are holding a virtual hiring event from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16. Hiring leaders and recruiters will conduct phone interviews to discuss openings for nurses in the telemetry, observation and neuro services depart-
ments. Abrazo West Campus, located at 13677 W. McDowell Road in Goodyear, is a level one trauma Center and primary plus stroke center, with orthopedics, spine, stroke, cardiology, general surgery, maternity and other services. It is also a teaching hospital, with doctors from Abrazo’s emergency medicine, general surgery and in-
ternal medicine residency programs completing rotations at Abrazo West. To RSVP for the Dec. 16 virtual hiring event, contact Wendy Fitzpatrick at wendy.fitzpatrick@tenethealth.com, call 480-433-3140 or visit calendly.com/tenet-recruit1/15min. Additional job openings can be viewed at abrazohealth.com/careers.
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Klassen called Kubala “the visionary behind Well Coffee Co.” He’s the manager, too, but it goes further than that. “We knew we wanted to do a community-oriented focused coffee shop, and he has 20 years of restaurant experience in our city,” Klassen said. “He was a natural to lean on. It’s just right in his wheelhouse. When we talked about the vision, he took it and he ran with it.” Well Coffee Co.’s menu has the standard coffeehouse drinks — espresso, traditional macchiato, cortado, Americano, cappuccino, latte, matcha latte, turmeric latte, chai latte, cold brew, nitro, iced tea and drip coffee. There are creative twists to it as well. Café Affogato features a scoop of gelato topped with hot espresso. Espresso tonic blends a double shot of espresso served over tonic water. Among the customers’ favorites is the hot or iced honey lavender latte, which is one of the rotating seasonal options. Guests will also find local treats and pastries from the likes of Baker Wee on West Thunderbird Road in Phoenix and the Chandler-based vegan home bakery Sugarloaf Lane Bakery. They’re among the small businesses that provide drinks, pastries and ingredients. “I’ve seen so many businesses take shortcuts,” Kubala said. “I have a passion for people who do things with the highest quality. I want something that has no shortcuts.” The price of better ingredients does not come at the cost of the customer or the staff. Drink prices rival those of larger coffee shops such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. Kubala said profits do not concern him as much as building a place where SEE COFFEE PAGE 13
