The West Side not only houses Soul Craft but has become a place where people want to spend time
By: Baye Scarborough, UCBJ Contributor
Read part 1 HERE.
Soul Craft (SC) opened the doors to its brick-and-mortar in 2019, but the spring of 2020 would change the world forever, and SC would face far more than just the normal bumps in the road an upstart small business normally faces. It would travel through a landscape of turmoil.
Was there a time when Anna wanted to throw in the towel? She says, during the pandemic, SC fought to pay the light bill.
“When 2020 hit, it was like bat down the hatches and pivot. How do we make this work,” she said
Tyler was working at Advanced Cleaning Service at the time.
“Thank God for Tyler’s job … because it was doing well through COVID,” said Anna. “So I’m very grateful for that. I was working 60- 70 hours a week, and we were open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the very beginning, eventually, I realized this was not sustainable. And the thing about it is like, even though someone loves you so much, like you, you are the only one coming for you. It’s terrifying and a realization that this is what life is like, I have to speak up and tell people what I need because no one knows how I am doing,” said Anna. “After all, I had not said anything. So anyway, it was working all these hours. I was like, I can’t keep doing this…. Then, once I finally did realize I needed more help, and shortly after, we ended up hiring more people, mostly college students. We’ve had so many people in and out the doors, and, you know, most of them, like 95% of them, graduate and go on to be what they’re made to be. I think that’s a beautiful thing to witness.”
Throughout our interview, the conversation was a wonderful walk down memory lane and reminded me of those I have met over the years as a loyal customer.
To name a few:
- Dani, one of the early bakers whose creations in the kitchen were unparalleled
- Emily and her radiant energy
- Kate and her brilliant managerial skills
- Nia and her kindness
- Bo and his ability to befriend anyone
- And, of course, I am biased but my husband Reid who has worked there for almost 5 years this year
Anna now sets aside time for herself and her marriage, and hearing her speak about boundaries was refreshing. She says her boundaries allow her to be fully present both in SC and as a person as She and Tyler travel, soon to Ecuador and then Italy. Anna will then go solo on an adventure from Italy to Geneva where she will climb mountains with a group of ladies.
The West Side not only houses SC but has become a place where people want to spend time. It has grown and become something beautiful. There is a rise in coffee shops across the Upper Cumberland.
“We may not offer something, but another shop might, so we refer people to go there because that’s where you can get that. We want to support other shops and bring each other up because there are enough people in this community to support all this,” according to Anna.
Recently, SC began roasting its coffee, a process called Easy Tiger Roasting which allows more freedom in the way their coffee tastes. Coffee starts as essentially the pit of a cherry and then must be initially roasted to certain temperatures to get certain flavors in coffee that consumers enjoy.
Why is that important?
“My heart and goal are that we know these farmers, I just don’t know how to get there yet. I see it, and that’s the thing I can see this long vision, but the minute details, I have no idea,” said Anna. “And, I mean, we leave that up to God and the universe. I believe knowing where our coffee comes from is vital, I want to lock the door if we’re not paying people well for this coffee. That’s why coffee prices have gone up astronomically. I read an article that said prices have risen over 100% since June, but we might as well shut the door if people aren’t winning all along the way.”
Anna says everyone can be successful.
“The farmers deserve the most success out of everyone because the coffee farmers are hand-picking coffee cherries. You get two beans in a coffee cherry and they’re hand-picking all of that, which is hard work, and they deserve to be paid for that. So, for me, I want to know those things. I want to know where this coffee came from, this is who picked it, this is how they’re processing it, and all those things. So, we were on the road to that. We’re working with some people and trying to accomplish that but just the coffee market right now is kind of crazy,” she said.
Along with roasting their coffee, SC opened a second location last summer across from Tennessee Tech, a location Anna acknowledges is one of their dreams.
“We were in college or just graduated from college, and we saw this service station right next to campus and we said that it would make the coolest coffee shop with the garage doors and all this stuff. It eventually came for sale and actually, my friend listed it,” said Anna. “I don’t remember how much it sold for, but we had no money, and we were like, there’s no way we could buy it, and it was just unfortunate. So, we watched it sell to David. We just said oh, well, you know, we move, you know, and every time we would pass the shop, we would still say, “That would be such a cool place for a coffee shop.”
Over 10 years later, when they weren’t even looking for another place to start a second location, Tyler got a call that would quickly change that.
“I got a phone call from Tyler, and he said someone has called me and wants us to open a second location,” according to Anna. “And immediately I was like, absolutely not, things are good right now! We had just bought a roaster for Easy Tiger Coffee Roasters. We were in the thick of like what that looks like so, no, I don’t want to do that. Tyler said, well, why don’t you think about it?”
Lucky for all of us, Anna eventually caved. One hour didn’t feel like enough time to gather a full glimpse into the soul of SC Coffee. What does the future hold for SC? The sky is the limit, and projects are brewing, so to speak.
“Thank you for believing in us and supporting us. I mean, a lot of these people that come in here, have been coming for years now, and we have a lot of new people specifically at the campus, which is so cool. How beautiful it is to have created something that people need, want, and find joy in,” said Anna.
Today, shop locally and grab a coffee, talk to the person taking your order, and meet more people in your community. Here is to your coffee being the perfect temperature and to you glimpsing joy inside your cup.
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