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Meet Truett Mickey of Bean Fosters in Golden and Littleton

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Truett Mickey.

Truett, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In early 2012, while supervising at a corporate coffee shop, I started to write out how I would operate an independent coffee shop differently. I started going to tastings with roasters, attending Chamber of Commerce startup seminars, visiting shops for sale, and talking with owners. Within about six months, I had most of a business plan for a new startup coffee shop, leads for funding, and plans to work towards opening a shop over several years.

Plans changed when my wife and I stumbled into a shop called Read, Write and Brew in Golden. We had visited the shop following a Craigslist post about a business for sale, and the opportunity was too good to pass up: a 2,500 square foot used bookstore with 10,000 books and a small coffee bar, operated six days a week by one owner-operator with no employees, breaking-even on expenses, and available for a fraction of the cost of a startup.

We jumped on the opportunity, scrambled together our savings, and gifts and loans from family and friends, and one week later, July 1st, 2012, we had the keys. On July 16th, 2012 we re-opened as Bean Fosters.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
They say nothing in this world worth having comes easy. We have put in our time of living with family, working 70 hours a week behind the counter at less than minimum wage, equipment failures, having a child as small business owners, losing and firing employees and all the other challenges with owning and managing a small foodservice business. But it’s all been worth it – this business has been an incredible joy and blessing to our family and community.

Most recently, we opened our second location, Bean Fosters – Littleton, on April 13th this year. Negotiating a new lease, construction, managing employees, inventory, and quality control across two locations have brought all-new challenges. I expect over time those will be worth it too. What’s the worst that can happen, right?

Please tell us more about your work. What do you do? What do you specialize in? What sets you apart from competition?
We specialize in serving fresh, locally-roasted, single-origin craft coffees, traditional espresso beverages, specialty teas, house-made sweets and light eats in friendly, comfortable environments. The bookstore is certainly a memorable selling-point in Golden, and we’ve replicated some of that feel in Littleton. Moments that have made me proud: I remember a quiet regular approaching the counter and thanking us for a year of serving his coffee. He said he’d just gone through the hardest year of his life, and that our shop had been a haven and place of comfort during that time, and he left us a $100 bill in the tip jar.

I remember locking the doors at the end of our grand opening in Littleton: accomplishing new beginnings, seeing lots of family, friends, and lots of regulars from Golden making the trek down to see our new shop and congratulate us. Lots of children’s fingerprints all over the front of our brand-new counter, and all over the glass of our new merchandise fridge – that’s a measure of success for me. I remember an acquaintance telling me she’d walked into our shop for the first time and she felt like she’d walked into a family, and it only took a few minutes until she was included.

I don’t really think we’re that far set apart from other local coffee shops: we all want to serve great product in great environments with great service. I have no grand plans to revolutionize the specialty coffee industry – I just plan on loving the communities I’m in. We can’t all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The success of Bean Fosters has been a gift that I can claim very little personal responsibility for. I have been privileged with a lifestyle and family and friends and an awesome wife that has enabled me to take this crazy leap. Many people in the world are not given this opportunity. We’ve been gifted with the best employees we could ever ask for. The small companies we work with that roast coffee and produce milk and bake pastries and distribute tea are incredible. And our customers are the dream: they have always been so fiercely supportive. Thanks for all you do!

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Image Credit:
Bean Fosters

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