Restored Coffee

Intro, Coming Up, and Saltwater Suites

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the Topsoil Insider Podcast , where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns of the greater Topsoil area of North Carolina Coming up , join me for an interview with Ms Rene Hermawan , a young entrepreneur who's stepping into business ownership with style , grace and faith . Today , she'll share her journey of acquiring a little fancy and launching her mobile coffee shop , restored Coffee . Stay tuned , hello everyone , and welcome to the Topsoil Insider Podcast . My name is Krista and I am your host . Today I am interviewing Ms Rene Hermawan . She is the owner and head barista of Restored Coffee . Her mobile coffee shop currently serves Topsoil and soon down in the Wilmington and Carolina Beach area . So that means we'll be listing her in both the Topsoil Insider Podcast as well as the new Wilmington Breakout series . She's going to be one of the very first ones in the Wilmington Breakout series . I'm so excited . Welcome , rene , and thank you for joining me . How are you doing ?

Speaker 2 1:10

I'm good , I'm so excited and honored that I'll be on the Wilmington's one .

Speaker 1 1:14

Awesome . So first I want to do an introduction to Rene and Rene , I promise I am not going to just focus on your age , but I just want to . How old are you ? I'm 20 years old . Okay , 20 years old . The reason I'm just blown away by your age is because when I was 20 , I was not opening up my own business and I'm a little jealous and I wish that I had had my head on the way that you do

Welcome and Introduction to Rini Hermawan

Speaker 1 1:37

right now , and I just want to let people know that that's something so unusual and such a great quality about you and let other people your age know that it's entirely possible . So that's all I'm going to say . I was able to try Rene's coffee recently from her beautifully renovated , very stylish camper , which is now her mobile coffee shop , and I'll tell you about that in more detail later . I had her Burry Chocolate Mocha . Mocha is my favorite . And tell me about your connection with Burry chocolates here in Hampstead .

Speaker 2 2:12

I just really like all their things , especially their chocolate-covered fruit , and about a year or two ago I had the chance to buy their hot chocolate , which is literally like shaved dark chocolate .

Speaker 1 2:27

I want one right now .

Speaker 2 2:28

It sounds so good , but I was just like you know . This sounds like it would be very good at a mocha . I tried it one day and I was hooked . So I asked the owner , emily , if I could use it for my coffee shop .

Speaker 1 2:43

And she was like yes , I was like , give me five pounds of that . Awesome . I do love it when I see you know businesses helping businesses , supporting each other . I think that's just such a great thing that I see a lot around here in Topsill area . So tell me when and where you learned your Burista skills .

Speaker 2 3:02

I started working at Sundial Coffee and Tea maybe three or four years

Burry Chocolate Mocha

Speaker 2 3:08

ago I can't remember the date right now but I worked with Bridget , the owner , for about two and a half years and learned all my Burista skills there , cool .

Speaker 1 3:18

How did you decide that you wanted to open up your own shop , particularly a mobile coffee shop ?

Speaker 2 3:26

I was going into my senior year . I was doing that , trying to figure out what I wanted to do . I wanted to do something completely different , something I could actually genuinely enjoy and something that I could show my talent for , I guess . And I really liked making coffee , so I was thinking maybe I can do a coffee shop . And then one day my friend showed me this really cute mobile coffee trailer on Instagram . And I was like oh , that is such a good idea . So since then I couldn't stop thinking about

Barista Skills and Opening a Coffee Shop

Speaker 2 4:01

it . I was praying about it , I was like , is this something I need to do ? And finally I was like I just got to bite the bullet and start this process you know .

Speaker 1 4:08

So your inspiration came from when your friend showed you this picture of the camper . Otherwise , you had not been thinking about doing any type of a mobile Right . Okay , so tell me how you raised money to start your business .

Speaker 2 4:23

One of the things I did was I created t-shirts for everybody to get . They will not only have a piece of merchandise that goes with the coffee shop , but it's also channeling my inner art , and I created these shirts myself .

Speaker 1 4:38

That's what I was getting around to . You are getting to express your artistic talents a little bit , because you designed these really cool t-shirts . To me , those t-shirts have kind of a vintage feel to them . Is that just me , or did you intend for it to be that ?

Speaker 2 4:52

way , I did definitely want it to have like a more worn feel and almost look , which is why I chose comfort colors . I love all their stuff and it just naturally looks really good yeah .

Speaker 1 5:04

I love them . They look really pretty . So you were selling those shirts before you even had the camper . I think I already had the camper at this time , okay , okay , those same colors also carried over to . I'm noticing the same look and feel in the t-shirts in your personal style , even even your

Raising Money with T-Shirts

Speaker 1 5:23

website . It's all this very vintage , chill , soothing colors .

Speaker 2 5:29

It's an obsession .

Speaker 1 5:30

Is it really ? Is it Because ?

Speaker 2 5:32

honestly , I do really like all those colors and probably half of my closet right now is those colors , but I definitely wanted to maintain a specific brand .

Speaker 1 5:41

You definitely have that going . You've got a strong brand and I don't even know that you didn't have someone helping you create the brand , or did you ?

Speaker 2 5:50

I did my friend Olivia . She has her own website design company , Olivia Lauren Design Co . Okay , and it's her company and she helped me create a website and she also helped me kind of form the restored name and assisted me with finding colors that I really liked and that went really well together and she created my whole website .

Speaker 1 6:14

It's a beautiful website . Thank you , I'm gonna get to that

Branding

Speaker 1 6:17

in just a minute too . I really do love the website . I do wanna ask one quick question Can you share one of the biggest challenges that you faced getting your shop up and running ? Is there one particular challenge that really stands out to you there ?

Speaker 2 6:32

were many challenges , but I think one of the biggest challenges is just figuring out how to build out the camper .

Speaker 1 6:41

We had no experience in that area whatsoever so it looks like it was a giant task . Yes , I admire you and I know that you had a lot of help from your family as well .

Speaker 2 6:51

Yes , definitely . My dad helped a ton , and then also my fiance and his dad helped , so even a few people in our neighborhood lent a hand whenever I needed something we didn't have , which was awesome , oh , great .

Speaker 1 7:06

Texas Village . Okay , so let's talk about the trailer . Tell me where did you find her and what condition was she in when you found her .

Speaker 2 7:14

So a little fancy was . I love that name so much . She came with that name and she was located in Asheville . When we went to pick her

Challenge of Restoring Lil Fancy

Speaker 2 7:24

up the week that I decided like , hey , I'm going to do it . Out of a vintage camper my fiance had jumped on Craigslist and found her almost immediately , which Craigslist a lot of times I think is a little sketchy right now , I agree . But for some reason I felt like maybe this is like a sign , like I definitely need to get it right now . So I did pray over that night and I woke up and I was like I'm going to call this lady and if she ends up not selling it before I call her , then that means I don't need it . But she was like , okay , if you come get it this weekend , it's yours . So sure enough that we got , yeah , I just hopped in the car Six hours there , picked up the camper . It was a little bit more rotted than we thought from the pictures .

Speaker 1 8:12

Obviously , the tires and stuff must have been in good enough shape to get you back here .

Speaker 2 8:16

Surprisingly . Yes , we did stop before taking our trip out . We stopped at one of the gas stations , put air in it and we had to add these trailer lights . Oh , okay , they're just magnetic ones , but we ended up using like 20 zip ties to put it to the camper .

Speaker 1 8:32

Definitely looked a little hillbilly , but it got the job done Exactly Okay . So six hours back . And then what happened when you started digging around or taking her apart ?

Speaker 2 8:43

Yeah . So as soon as we got back , basically a couple of weeks after that , we slowly started tearing things out and we saw more rotten wood , Maybe a little mold here and there . Oh no , Lots of rust . So we were like , oh boy , my dad was not excited about it at all . I was like it's okay , it's gonna work out .

Speaker 1 9:05

Well , it certainly did , because it looks amazing . So how long , from the moment that you got her home until it was ready to roll and serve coffee , how long did that take ?

Speaker 2 9:17

About two years I didn't . Oh , wow , yes . So I was still in school . I was a senior in high school when we first got it , so I was trying to still do school while also figuring out this business stuff . And the year after that too , I decided I might as well finish my associates degree . So I was in school during that too . So we only worked on it a little bit between there . But when I finally graduated college , that's when we like full on started .

Speaker 1 9:43

So , when you guys were tearing it apart and trying to rebuild it and put it back together , what were some of the biggest challenges ? With little fancy ?

Speaker 2 9:50

Definitely the rotten wood , because it was like it was basically every single wall and we were like what are we supposed to do with this ? Was the frame still solid or you had to ?

Speaker 1 10:01

like reframe the whole . Thing .

Speaker 2 10:03

Wow , we probably didn't do it how it was supposed to be done . I think a lot of people normally take the middle skin off the sides and completely rebuild it . We didn't do that . We just kind of replaced certain parts of the camper with new wood Electrical . We did hire somebody to help with some of that . We hired them to do a little bit of the electrical and then also the serving window . I imagine that would be very difficult . Yes , that was one thing where we did not want to try to do yeah .

Speaker 1 10:33

Is there anything that you would do differently if you had to do it all over again ?

Speaker 2 10:40

It may have been smart to get a camper that was in better condition , but it turned out good so I can't really complain about that . I think something else I would do differently is the layout like where the fridge is in relation to the espresso machine . It does make it a little bit more difficult to move around when there's more than one person .

Speaker 1 11:00

Gotcha . Yep , yep , that makes sense . Yeah , while you mentioned the fridge , the fridge is so cool , that's cute . Okay , where'd you get the fridge ?

Speaker 2 11:07

I got it at Home Depot and it actually was on sale , so it looks like it came from like the 70s .

Speaker 1 11:14

It's so cute Right .

Speaker 2 11:15

I'm obsessed . I keep telling Caleb , my fiance , we need to get one for our house .

Speaker 1 11:19

It's really cute and it's also in the video that you have on the homepage when your hand's reaching for that really cool doorknob . So , speaking of that website and the video on the homepage , I just love it . I think when I first saw your webpage is that new , the video is that new .

Speaker 2 11:42

On the front on the homepage , the video yes , that was added , I think , in the last month or so .

Speaker 1 11:48

I thought so because I looked at your video a while back , like on your opening day or something , and it was a beautiful website , it's completely beautiful . But then when I'm prepping for this episode , I look at it like that video is the coolest thing and that is branded because I don't remember seeing that . But I'm super unobservant so maybe I missed it , but there's a lot of shots of you working in the coffee grounds and the coffee beans and reaching for the fridge and again that whole vintage look and feel . It's just so pretty , so good job on the website .

Speaker 2 12:21

What was your friend's name again ? So that was Olivia Lauren . Olivia Lauren Is her company , Olivia Lauren Designs Co .

Speaker 1 12:28

Great job , Olivia . I need to call you .

Speaker 2 12:30

Oh , and the video . The video was by Hudson Vernon and he is a growing

The Website

Speaker 2 12:37

videographer . He's more out in the Leland area , okay , but he's starting to do small businesses and he's already done two videos for me and they're absolutely beautiful .

Speaker 1 12:46

How long did it take him to film all those parts and pieces and then put it together for you ?

Speaker 2 12:51

For the one on the website . He was there about an hour , an hour and a half . That's it .

Speaker 1 12:57

I'm not even that insane , so good . And the shots of the marshland , the front , showing that we live in the coastal area . He shot that for you , or that was that stock footage that he just uses , or do you know ?

Speaker 2 13:10

I could not tell you . I'm pretty sure he probably shot it himself .

Speaker 1 13:15

Really pretty . I love it . Okay , let's talk about that restored coffee name . You mentioned earlier that your friend helped you come up with that name . Tell me about the process and how you eventually just landed on restored coffee .

Speaker 2 13:27

So restored , took a long time to get to . My family was putting an input on what I should name it and it kept going in the input jar . Everybody had different ideas of what to name it . I even did . I even went on Google and was like meaningful words and the words were either too hard to pronounce or just very typical . You could see that everywhere you go . Typical for a coffee shop , exactly .

Speaker 1 13:57

Do you remember some of the ones that were coming down the chute ?

Speaker 2 14:00

Marocchi , which not a coffee shop name , but I think there's already a business around here named Marocchi and I couldn't tell you what it means anymore but it was something cool . And then obviously all the bean names like anything like Hebrews or yeah , different fun names like that . They just weren't hitting me the same way .

The Name, Restored Coffee

Speaker 2 14:23

So I wanted something unique , and restoration had come up a few times , I think for my mom or something like that , and I was trying to find a name that really encompasses the camper , my faith , coffee all together . So somehow restored came to mind and I was like that's perfect , the camper has been restored . Caffeine restores your energy , the Lord restores your soul , you know all together . So it just kind of hit me , I guess .

Speaker 1 14:56

So when you first heard restored coffee , did you feel it right away , or is it something you had to kind of do over ?

Speaker 2 15:03

I think it may have been mentioned a while ago when we were brainstorming , but I think it was said more like restoration , so as soon as like restored came out , I was like yes , that's it .

Speaker 1 15:17

It definitely feels right , I love it , I think it's perfect . But when I look at you and I look at the camper , it just , it works , it really works , thank you . Let's talk about your products . So you have the standard hot drinks the espresso , the Americana , the latte , the drip coffee Cold brew is kind of a big deal right now too Cappuccinos , loose leaf tea and chai and , of course , the chocolate mocha . Oh yes , but when I was looking at your list , I didn't . I don't know what a cortado is . Can you tell me what a cortado is ?

Speaker 2 15:49

So a cortado is just equal parts espresso and milk . It's , I guess , a stronger drink , but also creamy at the same time . It comes in like a tiny little four ounce cup , and adorable that sounds like something I would love .

Speaker 1 16:02

Okay , next time .

Speaker 2 16:03

I see you , I'll be getting the cortado .

Speaker 1 16:05

Am I saying it right ? Yes , perfect . And then you have something called a white kopi . Am I saying that right ? Yes , what is that ?

Speaker 2 16:13

So a white kopi is actually an Indonesian drink , because my dad's from Indonesia .

Speaker 1 16:18

Oh really .

Speaker 2 16:19

So that's kind of how I tried it . Yes , and it's a powdered drink , so you mix it with water and it's creamy and it's probably more like a

Coffees and Teas

Speaker 2 16:30

dessert than a coffee . Is that on ice ? Is it hot or cold ? You can get it iced or hot , okay , and kopi means coffee .

Speaker 1 16:37

So it's a white coffee Gotcha . Okay , I'm gonna have to try that too . Yes , for anyone that has issues with drinking milk , I just wanna let everyone know that you do offer milk alternatives .

Speaker 2 16:49

Yes , oat and almond milk .

Speaker 1 16:51

Excellent . What other flavors do you offer ?

Speaker 2 16:54

So I make all my flavors in-house , you do ? Yes , ah , I did not know that . Okay , yes , that was something very important to me because , for one , most of the chain places you can get flavors from , they have a lot of added stuff in it and I just really didn't like that .

Speaker 1 17:13

Yeah .

Speaker 2 17:14

And also I save a whole bunch of money just making my own at home .

Speaker 1 17:16

Oh really , yes , and you give me some examples of the flavors and how you make them .

Speaker 2 17:21

Yes , so I have vanilla hazelnut caramel and then I've been making like a seasonal flavor , usually for the base of all those . I start with just a simple syrup , sugar and water and then I add in like extracts or cook it a little bit more to make it caramel and stuff like that yeah , okay , gotcha .

Speaker 1 17:41

And where do you purchase your coffee ?

Speaker 2 17:43

So we , get it from a roaster in Raleigh it's called Oak City Roasters and they are delicious . We tried all these different types of coffees and just didn't hit like Oak City did . And actually one of the owners is in our wedding , oh really , yes , my fiance was friends with him for the longest time , so that's how we were introduced .

Speaker 1 18:05

Oh , that's really cool . Yeah , do they . What ? Do they ship that to you , or ?

Speaker 2 18:10

So far we've been able to just meet up . They have like a little , I think , vacation home out this way , so they just bring it with them whenever I need it . Perfect , yeah .

Speaker 1 18:19

So let's talk about your events . Can you tell us a little bit about the events that you service ?

Speaker 2 18:24

Sure thing . So I can basically do most events . I can do private gatherings , corporate events or sometimes I'm just randomly scheduled throughout the week . Right now I'm mostly event based , but I hope to eventually have like a consistent place that I'm parked each week so I gain like a little following .

Speaker 1 18:45

Yeah , as a consumer , I would like to let . On Tuesdays I can find her here or there .

Speaker 2 18:52

Yeah , I think that would be great .

Speaker 1 18:54

Tell me about some of the private gatherings that you've already done .

Speaker 2 18:59

So so far I have done one wedding and I really would love to get into more weddings because , that's my favorite thing ever . And then community events . I would say I've done grand openings for other businesses , which have been super fun and where I first met you was a third year anniversary for Coastal Home Store .

Events

Speaker 1 19:25

Tell me how businesses I was just thinking for the corporate events some companies that I've worked for in the past would do employee appreciation day and they would have someone come out . So I can imagine that that would be a good idea for all you local businesses to thank your wonderful employees by having restored coffee come out and service them , especially in the morning when they're sleepy .

Speaker 2 19:46

Yes , that would definitely be so fun to do , and also like teacher appreciation days . Yes , I think I'd like to get into that eventually .

Speaker 1 20:05

So I would love to hear about your future plans . Do you have any future plans that you're looking forward to with regard to restored coffee ?

Speaker 2 20:15

Yes , so I was kind of saying earlier weddings . I really want to get into doing a lot of weddings , almost making that like a primary source of event that I go to , but also , eventually , I would love to open an actual coffee shop . Oh , that would be so cool .

Speaker 1 20:33

Yeah , mm-hmm . Are there any future plans in your personal life that you would like to know ?

Speaker 2 20:39

us about . So , yes , next month . Yeah , today's September 8th . Yes , next month , october 20th , I'm getting married . Awesome , I'm so excited , yay , congratulations .

Speaker 1 20:51

By the way , thank you . You did mention that you would be moving in with your fiance after you're married , and where will that ?

Speaker 2 20:59

be . So we are moving more towards the Carolina Beach area , which is sad , yes , because I am moving away from a lot of friends

Future Plans

Speaker 2 21:08

, family and just this community that I've been able to get close with . But it'll also be fun get to know new people , new businesses .

Speaker 1 21:16

And that is why I wanted to let everyone know that maybe I shouldn't have prefaced , but they probably picked up on it . But that is why we are gonna be putting you here . We're gonna launch you here in the Topsoil Insider podcast , but we are gonna actually put you over in both locations so you'll be in the breakout series as well because of that . So if you were to open your brick and mortar , I imagine that you would put it somewhere a little further away from

Getting Married and Moving to Carolina Beach

Speaker 1 21:39

us .

Speaker 2 21:40

It does make me sad , unfortunately , because I just met you . Well , if you go more out in Wilmington , then you'll be able to yeah , so far , my Wilmington folks .

Speaker 1 21:47

they're coming here , thankfully , because I don't have a studio or anywhere where I can control the sound yet down there , but I'm working on it . So now we're getting to something that I'd like to do with everyone at the end of their episode . It's called Final Thoughts . So I just wanted to find out if there's any advice that you would give to other young entrepreneurs that are looking to start their own business , because it's a daunting process and now you're not just speaking to entrepreneurs , period . What about someone younger your age ? What can you give them to let them know that it's okay to take that risk ?

Speaker 2 22:27

Some advice I would definitely say if you have the idea , just go for it . Don't be scared , because there was many times where it took me longer to do stuff just solely because I was scared to do it . Yes , I was like I can't do it and I was like I can't do this . So don't be afraid to just do it , even going into it and not knowing anything about it , and also don't be afraid to ask for help . That's a big one . Yes , it's probably definitely a 100% , a pride thing , but a lot of the time I struggled with asking for help because I wanted to do it all myself . But it's okay

Final Thoughts

Speaker 2 23:00

to get help from other people and also don't be afraid to pray about it . That really , really helps you a lot , and helps with your confidence .

Speaker 1 23:12

Yeah , someone told me , when thinking about opening up a business or just trying anything new , just try to gain as much confidence as you can and even if it's a daunting path , just go in confident . Now have confidence in yourself that you're gonna do it . And even if you make a mistake or even if it doesn't work out the way that you wanted to , there's always lessons to be learned and the process is more about that journey and learning as you go along . 100% .

Speaker 2 23:42

Yeah , and it's okay to be scared , honestly .

Speaker 1 23:45

Totally Okay . The last thing I have for you is what is the one thing that you really want the listeners to know about you , rene , or about restored coffee ?

Speaker 2 23:55

I think the one thing I would love people to know is everything that has happened so far and everything that will happen is 100% given to God's credit and also for God's glory .

Speaker 1 24:08

Wonderful . Thank you so much . Okay , so we had to give out that contact information . You wanna go ahead and tell the people how they can get in touch with you ?

Speaker 2 24:17

So you guys are more than welcome to call us at 910-660-1224 . And then , if you wanted to book us or needed to figure out information , we have a website RestoredCoffeeCocom . And an email RestoredCoffeeAtGmailcom .

Speaker 1 24:38

You are on both Facebook and .

Speaker 2 24:39

Instagram . Yes , you can find us at RestoredCoffeeCo . Okay , is there anything else ? I'm just super excited to meet new people and form like a just a happy community and find ways to serve others .

Speaker 1 24:54

I love it . You're doing a great job . It's very impressive . It's very impressive , thank you . Okay , so , thank you , listeners , for joining us today for another episode of Topsoil Insider , also for our Wilmington Breakout series , and thank you , rene , for joining me today and telling us all about Restored Coffee . Thank you for having me . Hey , thank

Contact Information

Speaker 1 25:16

you for joining me today on Topsoil Insider . If you liked today's episode , please hit the follow or subscribe button so that you can get the Topsoil Insider podcast delivered automatically to whichever podcast platform you're listening on . And if you're a business owner and you wish to set up a pre-interview or you want to advertise , please email me at TopsoilInsider at gmailcom . Please also find and like the Topsoil Insider Facebook page . I provide links to the new podcast there each week , as well as providing photos of the businesses that I'm highlighting , along with any of their upcoming events . So , hey , let's do this again next week . I'll see you around Topsoil .