Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanya Mollenhauer.
Hi Tanya, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Nate and I bought the coffee shop in April 2015. This was our first attempt at a restaurant business. We have always had a heart for hospitality and wanted to bring that to our city.
In the beginning, we saw the coffee shop and our home life as separate entities. This was a model that wasn’t fitting well for us or our 3 girls. We changed our thinking to the coffee shop being an extension of our home and involved the kids who at the time were quite young. Now that they are 20,17,14 they have all helped and worked in many ways over the last 8 1/2 yrs.
Our motto at James Gang Coffeehouse is “Where Coffee and Community Come Together”. That’s exactly what we aim to do. We enjoy getting to know our customers and their drinks or food. We enjoy welcoming our customers each with a smile and great service. We offer delivery so we get to go into the community daily bringing food and smiles to hospital and clinic workers, teachers, city staff, and of course community members’ houses.
Many of my staff are high school age or a few years out. We enjoy being a team and learning together about hard work, fast pace environments, and letting each of their skills shine when they use them in various ways to make the business a better place each day!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Along the way, we learned a lot about the hiring process and how to share expectations right at the interview.
We grow all the time by desiring to sharpen each other with our drink, food & other skills. During times of food distribution issues, we have learned to become creative and adaptive to overcome obstacles.
The greatest obstacle was getting to a place financially and finding the right person to come alongside and help me manage. This has brought so many benefits to the business having that assistance and daily partnership of a manager.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Nate and I have the heart to raise the next generation with strong life and work skills while loving customers with awesome hospitality, food, and drink. We would say we are known for our great hospitality and service. That is something we take very seriously and always want to be a consistent factor when you visit us.
Now for our local community, we try to meet needs that are sometimes specialized with bigger orders for business meetings or parties. So when we receive a call from someone about an event we try to do all we can to shape it to their desires within our abilities and offerings. What we are proud of brand-wise is our staff! They carry out our motto with the greatest smiles and with love. Without them, this business wouldn’t be what it is. The chamber voted me “Business Person of the Year” in 2021. That is an accomplishment of our whole team shining bright.
We offer online ordering, carry-out, and in-house dining with a large patio & delivery.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Sharing about their experience at JGC online or by word of mouth is our greatest tool!
Contact Info:
- Website: JamesGang coffeehouse.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/james_gang_coffeehouse?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamesgangcoffeehouseeatery
