Happy 2022!
During this time of year, Jeronica and I are always nostalgic about what the promise of the new year meant to us when we first got going on Nirvana Soul together. This dream caught fire with a vision board party around new years 2018. We set an arbitrary grand opening date of New Year’s Eve 2019. (We even knew what we were going to wear!) Although we didn’t hit that date – we actually opened September 2020 – we’re always inspired by the clarity and hopefulness that new years bring.
We had three main goals for 2021. (We like to work in threes. It feels manageable and achievable.):
Figure out this roasting situation. Do we want to continue a partnership, use a micro-roasting machine in our shop, or open our own official roastery?
Step up our merchandise game. Should we do collections or just continue with what we’ve had, but more? How much more can we really do?
Get a van. Can we hit the road and visit our followers where they are?
Streamlining our operations continued to be a top priority. We learned more than ever these past few months that we have to get better processes in place and keep building on the culture we’ve created, especially if we want to expand. With all of the other things we already have going on and all of the new things that pop up, we can’t lose sight of the progress we want to make.
On the aforementioned goals, the roasting situation became much more urgent than we anticipated. We never intended to roast our own coffee ourselves, since that wasn’t part of Jeronica’s original dream. But, when you open yourself up to whatever is out there for you, plans change – and, in this case, for the better! We decided to go all in on opening our own roastery and roasting our own beans, which has given us more autonomy to grow in ways we couldn’t have imagined before.
And as roasting became more urgent, the other goals became less within reach.
Particularly, and sadly, the van. The van was the goal we were most excited about at the beginning of 2021. We had this big idea that we’d get a Sprinter of some sort, all Nirvana Soul branded out with our coffee and waffle equipment built right in. I even thought we could bring plants and our yellow tables and set them out front so folks could really get the full experience.
Yea… so that’s all really expensive. But the good news was that the money for the van was able to go to the roastery, which made more sense for where we ultimately want to be.
Then came merchandising. We already had a few things that we launched with: hats, a couple of t-shirts, a mug (and an upside down logo mug, by accident). We started this year with masks. And not just any masks: super cool Henry Masks, another Black- and sibling-owned brand, at the suggestion of a friend. Then came Nirvana Soul hoodies and “Sisters” crewnecks, both of which we love. So much that we kept them up through the summer! We also brought in baseball-tees, Fellow mugs, “Sisters” crewnecks in black, tote bags, and beanies. Not a bad year for merchandise.
(We also gifted our team zip-up hoodies for the holidays. A fun bonus!)
As we look ahead to 2022, our dreams just keep getting bigger and bigger. Here’s what we’re thinking for the new year:
Open 2 new shops
Step our content game up
Get into big box retail
We’ve been open about wanting multiple locations, and we’re on our way with shop #2 coming soon in Cupertino! The reason why it matters so much to us to have multiple shops is that 1) we truly believe in the community we’re building and want to fulfill our mission of bringing more people together through the power of coffee & tea, and 2) there aren’t a lot of Black- or women-owned multi-location companies out there, especially here in the Bay Area. Visibility is so important. This business isn’t just about us; it’s about all of those people out there who need to see it’s possible. And, it’s possible to do it by simply being you.
Opening more shops will continue to be a goal of ours every year, but getting to these next two is a challenge we know we need to overcome to prove our business can thrive in different environments with all the many obstacles that will inevitably come our way.
Secondly, on the content side, we’d really like to expand our reach, formats, stories, and channels. Our strength has been and always will be our customers and supporters. You all come by or order coffee or merchandise, enjoy your experience, and tell your friends all about it online. You’ve really made it easy on us! We also post to social media almost daily, and still, we have so much more to say. In order to do that, we’ll be experimenting with TikTok (I know… we’re late!), podcasts, video, and more.
Over the first year plus that we’ve been in business, we’ve been fortunate to be a topic of curiosity for other aspiring entrepreneurs, companies, and media. In interviews, we’re often asked similar questions about our journey, our team, the artists and musicians, etc., and we love answering those questions every single time. We’ve always believed in the power of telling our own story. It’s why we started this blog all those years ago, before we even had a shop. And in telling our own story, we’ve been even more fortunate to get to hear other peoples’ stories. We want to continue sharing this platform that we’ve all built together with as many people as we can.
Finally, with the huge investment made in the roastery, it’s time to start getting our beans out into the world. We have a great team working hard to solidify our blends and single origin roasts. Alex and Dap are making more progress every day; they’ve already been able to create a Holiday Blend, improve our espresso, and they have a medium roast on the way. The plan is to reduce our external partnership and roast primarily on our own. We’re getting there.
And once we get there, we’re hitting the streets. We’d love for Nirvana Soul to grace the shelves of big retailers and coffee shops alike, as well as your home. We’re so proud of what we’ve created so far! Getting more and easier access to our beans throughout the Bay Area and beyond is a big, but very realistic, dream.
(There also might also be a surprise coming out of the roastery that would greatly increase convenience and accessibility without sacrificing quality, in the next year. Stay tuned.)
So that’s what we’re working on. Another crazy, hard, big, scary year is ahead of us: The Year of Operations. But… WE CAN DO HARD THINGS! We hope that our transparency in sharing our goals will motivate you to shoot for the stars too.
We wish you a beautiful 2022, full of everything you dream of. Let’s do this! 🥂
-Be’Anka
PS. We actually did get a van this year! It’s a 2010 Honda Odyssey that we’ve removed the seats from to transport things to and from the roastery. It’s been a God-send! Sometimes the blessings don’t show up the way you wanted them to, but they still show up. Be open!