Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke and Trevor Schultz.
Hi Brooke and Trevor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Trevor and I met in Sydney, Australia where quality coffee is essential to the urban culture. For our first date, we took a walk through the Surry Hills coffee corridor and stopped for a latte and a long conversation. Some of our fondest memories of our time in Australia are sitting over coffee, it became routine for us to walk up to our local cafe. The whole experience was always excellent: beautiful aesthetics, curated furniture, quality crafted coffee – going to our favorite cafe in Sydney was an experience we cherished.
Even from the early days in our personal romance, we always dreamed about the possibility of opening our own space one day. We loved the way a local coffee shop created a community and left a unique mark on the area.
When people find out that Trevor & I met in Australia, they usually ask us how we ended up in Utah County of all places, especially because we don’t have any family ties in the area! Our story is a little bit geographically confusing. After we got married, we were living in LA for some time, but things really started to change when I got pregnant with our first child – nothing will make you think long-term quite like finding out there’s a baby coming soon to tag along with you! We searched for somewhere we would be able to raise a family and start a business of our own. We had visited Utah a few times, and I hope I don’t sound crazy for this, but it just felt right! We’ve always been the kind of people to follow our instincts and take on big risks.
So, in proper risk-taking fashion, we threw all of our time, money and energy into building our own local coffee shop. From the very beginning, this has been a passion project, not just a run-of-the-mill business endeavor, so we decided to name our shop James & Joan (or JJ’s for short!) after my dad and Trevor’s mom who passed away before they were able to be a part of this chapter of our life. Now married, with two kids, and a business we’re proud of, not a day goes by that we don’t think about the impact they’ve had on us, and we know this is a legacy that they would be proud of.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
You probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that opening a business with an infant and being pregnant with your second isn’t all smooth sailing!
Of course, there have been obstacles along the way, but we’re grateful for the unique journey we’ve been able to take.
We always knew it wasn’t going to be a clear and easy path to our opening day because honestly we weren’t really as financially qualified as you would want to be to open an establishment like this. From day one, we knew we wouldn’t have enough money to just google “how to open a cafe” and pay our way to an easy opening day, so we immediately started finding creative ways to cut costs and focus our resources without compromising on the quality of our customer experience. This meant late nights, early mornings, lots of DIY, cutting ideas we wanted (but weren’t essential), and it really meant we had to bring to the table a start-up-type, entrepreneurial energy every single day.
We were absolutely determined to find a way to make it work, and yeah, there were a lot of days I remember where we heard bad news, or got ridiculously out-of-budget quotes or unexpected expenses. When those days came, it was really easy to feel like we weren’t good enough, rich enough, experienced enough or “whatever” enough for this. Those are the days that really tested how much we wanted to make this happen, and we’re only here today because we chose not to give up even when it seemed like all the odds were stacked against us.
Another obstacle we faced regularly was just a really loud amount of negativity toward our idea. It’s kind of funny to look at in hindsight, but at the time, it was not easy to hear person after person tell us we were crazy for wanting to put our money into a craft coffee business in Utah County. I cannot even count how many times people told us we were better off cutting our losses and quitting while we still can. We were called crazy for months, and it started to take a toll on our confidence.
We definitely understood the risk of opening a high-quality coffee shop in an area without a well-established coffee scene, and we were aware of the stigma in our area, but we knew that there was space for a budding coffee scene here, and we were excited by the opportunity to make our contribution. 8 months into operations now we can say confidently that all of these negative voices were definitely wrong! The community here has been so generous to us and embraced our shop, and it just goes to show that Utah County is far more diverse and inclusive than the common stereotypes that people circulate.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
“Coffee Co.” is in the name, but we’re so much more than just coffee makers. Our cafe specializes in high-quality handcrafted drinks. Our top-tier beverages include coffee, tea, and so much more, by focusing on ethically sourcing high-quality ingredients to pair with our excellent craftsmanship. Innovation is the standard here, which makes JJ’s the perfect place to get to know someone new, or get to know something new about someone you already think you know.
We go out of our way to source all of our ingredients as locally and transparently as possible. If you pick up a bag of coffee beans from our shelf, you can read the name of the farmer who produced it – that’s how transparent our supply chain is and we believe transparency is essential to ensuring everything in our shop is the absolute best quality and produced as sustainably as possible! Our coffees rank among some of the best roasts in the world, our syrups are made fresh in-house with real/natural ingredients, and our bread is locally hand-made by our unanimously appointed shop dad, Scott (@scottsbread on ig to grab a loaf)!
What matters most to you? Why?
Without a doubt, the most important thing to us is the PEOPLE that make our shop come alive. Our staff has become family to us, and they are the sole reason our business has taken off so well. I can’t say enough how proud we are of the way they take care of every single customer with such a special pride and genuine kindness. So, we wanted to hand over the mic over and let some of them answer what is most important to them. Here’s what they had to say:
“Quality over quantity!” – Chris Harbin
“All of the wonderful connections made <3” – Jenna Larson
“I love that JJ’s took a chance to bring experimental coffees and new menu items to a community that is new and sometimes questioning to specialty coffee. We’re always willing to recommend new things to people to get them more comfortable with our types of drinks and the way we do things.” – Kristy Kelland
“The environment! JJ’s is a belonging environment that celebrates differences and creates a safe place for not only the employees but the people who come in. Going from being a regular to working with this crew and getting to know our regulars has been an incredible experience. The baristas, the open communication, the amount of respect, the good attitudes the fantastic owners- all make this the absolute best place to work!” – Rocky Ellis
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jjcoffee.co
- Instagram: jjcoffee.co
- TikTok: jjcoffee.co
