Meet Mike O | bean here coffee

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike O and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Growing up I’ve always wanted to have my own restaurant or coffee shop, primarily to do something i love and enjoy and hopefully pass down to my kids, but more importantly to have an avenue to give back to the community. Food & coffee is about people first and foremost, what better avenue to give back than through this medium.

What should our readers know about your business?
I started bean here coffee in my garage, roasting coffee after hours and selling at farmer’s markets on weekends, all while i was also working a full-time job as a branding and design manager for a law firm the rest of the week.

Spending downtime working on the business, including experimenting with drinks and drawing up my own blueprints for what would now be my first retail location in Sienna, I also took various roasting, barista and coffee business school classes to prepare myself for taking that leap and going out on my own, leaving behind a fairly stable corporate job that I’ve had for well over a decade. Even when scouting out a retail location i spent countless hours doing my own traffic counts at various times of the day/week/month/year.

Bean Here Coffee sets itself apart from pretty much any of the other coffee shops in its side of town by sourcing freshly harvested, high-grade, single-origin specialty coffee from across the globe and roasting it locally in our own roasting facility, called “the coffee lab” just down the street from our Sienna location. We also utilize our locations to help other small businesses get started… the coffee lab, for example, has several studios that we rent out to small business (one is a boutique, the other is a cake decorator), a kitchen we rent out to those wanting to get out of the cottage industry limits, often partnering with them to also offer their product for sale at the coffee shops, and event spaces for a variety of non-profits, churches or groups needing a space to congregate. We’re always happy to mentor and support our fellow local small businesses and organizations at every opportunity, and we also give back to many local organizations throughout the year.

Like any small business, there will always be challenges, but you have to see the silver linings and try to work your way around it. We’ve encountered freezes, hurricanes (2x), extended power outages, equipment failures, an errant driver that drove into our shop, and, of course, the pandemic. I’ve come to see most of these as more of an opportunity to give back and help pull the community out of the rut that we, ourselves, are experiencing. During many of these events, we open up our spaces for people to just hang out, stay warm/cool, charge up, and even giving out free product until things settle down. Yes, those tend to be further losses in the end, but again it’s people first, one of the big drivers for me to have bean here coffee in the first place.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d say my best friend will probably just be hanging out at the shop with me, as i don’t get to go out much myself, often working well over 100+hours a week. 🙂

BUT! I’d say, at least in the near vicinity, to check out some of the local spots in the area. Texas Biergarten or Brandani’s would be a great place to have lunch. There’s also a hidden Thai gem inside Gridiron Bar that’s great for dinner. If we were going to do some creative things, Rustic Glitter has some arts and crafts classes on offer in their cute studio, or if we wanted to do something different, The Glazery is also pretty cool. And all are locally-owned and operated businesses that I’ve seen start from scratch and grow their way up, too! There’s actually quite a lot of good places to go within just a 10 mile radius, but these are just a few.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Joanne Jurica – Rustic Glitter TX
‪(281) 467-0438‬

Website: https://beanhere.coffee

Instagram: https://beanherecoffee.us

Facebook: https://beanherecoffee.us

Image Credits
All photos were shot by me. 🙂