Espresso à la Carte
Jacksonville, FL
As a young Floridian bride of a native Oregonian (my late husband Chris grew up in the East Moreland area of Portland), we visited Portland often and enjoyed the coffee culture immensely. We had a desire to introduce the cutting edge coffee “vibe” to Northeast Florida via a specialty coffee catering company. Bellissimo provided a custom training day for my late husband and I, and in 2006 we launched Espresso à la Carte. We had the pleasure of including our espresso bar at some of the area’s most prestigious events and venues.
We considered ourselves pioneers in a sense, and it did well. However, it cut deeply into family time so we closed the company for a number of years so I could focus on the children who were growing up fast! Then Chris battled cancer, a battle he lost three years ago. My focus became establishing a “new normal” for our family and getting two off to college. Then, it was time. We collectively decided that we were ready and excited to re enter the specialty coffee catering business!
We reestablished the company this spring and I quickly realized I wanted this next generation (ages 20, 18 and 16) to benefit from the training Chris and I had received through Bellissimo. We packed up, flew across the country, braved the snowy roads, and had a full day of customized training. It was a day full of laughter, learning, concentration, extracting, frothing, sipping, measuring, and most importantly to me–a day of transferring the passion for excellence into this second gen. The kids are excited to build on this training, and their excitement has already garnered bookings for the espresso bar far into 2018.
To me, coffee fosters and symbolizes community and connections, and this day of training brought that together once again. The trainers and staff were wonderful and made it a truly great experience. We feel connected to people who can help us as we encounter new challenges and opportunities in our business. And we have new friends we can visit every time we visit Portland. Certainly, this was a day we will remember for many years to come! Thank you, Bellissimo, for the confidence and credibility you provide, and for the community you welcomed us into.