Pink Elephant: Who We Are

After months of building our coffee company, Pink Elephant got its first account this week!

To begin, let me tell you our story. Mitch and I, two obsessive coffee lovers and budding entrepreneurs, saw our good friends at Oak Grove Coffee Co. in Wooster putting their love of coffee to good use — not just roasting their own coffee to have the freshest, most delicious cup at home, but making a successful business of it! We were inspired and our own coffee roasting dreams took root. With the help of our friends, that dream became a reality when we bought our 1 pound air roaster from Sonofresco, an awesome company from Washington State.

The shiny silver machine fit perfectly in our studio apartment in downtown Millersburg. It now sits on a special roasting table Mitch crafted from plumbing pipes and boards, which we painted blue of course. From there, we began ordering samples of green coffee beans from importers and began the trial and error of finding the perfect coffees — roasting, cupping and drinking cup after cup of coffee, a peaberry from Brazil one day and a single origin from Peru the next. We are caffeinated, to say the least.

Meanwhile, we got the legal work in order — licenses, permits, fees, labels and more. With the help of a friend, we designed our lovely elephant logo. For our packaging, we made stamps, stickers and developed a brand. I, being the social media freak that I am, went nuts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and now, the blogosphere.

Our first order came from a friend who needed a housewarming gift. Then came orders from family and friends. Last week, our first online order came in from a friend in Cleveland. Fun stuff!

Enter Creekside Coffeehouse & Cafe in Killbuck, Ohio. This quaint little coffee shop in downtown Killbuck is exactly the place for Pink Elephant —With a huge variety of coffee and espresso drinks, delicious food, a great atmosphere and awesome service by the friendly staff, Erin and Angie, the place is perfect. And the roasted red pepper soup with smoked gouda is to die for.

After sampling our coffee, they agreed to use it as their house brew and sell bags of our whole bean coffee for customers to take home. We're pumped!

The dream is to take this coffee business to the next level. This first account is the first step! Cheers.