Summer’s officially at an end. As the days grow shorter, we’re turning our attention to the local small businesses serving up hot drinks to keep us warm on these increasingly cold autumn mornings, and provide welcoming communal spaces where customers can gather.
Koninkrijk Koffiehuis, Chester
Rachel and Mark Betzler are the owners and operators of Koninkrijk Koffiehuis, a European-themed coffee shop and cafe located in downtown Chester. The couple opened their shop in 2019, driven by a love of cooking, coffee and people, Rachel said. They drew inspiration from Mark’s mother, who was Dutch, and visits to his extended family in the Netherlands.
Originally from the Sacramento area, the Betzlers bought a vacation home in the Lake Almanor area 20-something years ago, Rachel said. In 2018, they decided to move to Plumas County full time and open a business. When they arrived, they asked neighbors what sort of business would be most welcome. People told us they wanted food and a place to hang out, Rachel recalled, “and we decided to make that happen.”
Koninkrijk offers espresso drinks alongside an array of Austrian-inspired pastries, calzones, quiches, cookies and traditional Dutch boterkoek (buttercake), all made in house. Rachel hopes to add more menu items in future.
Opening the business was an entirely new adventure. Rachel previously worked in business administration. She said she learned her restaurant skills “by playing in the kitchen … I love doing that.”
Her advice for new and aspiring business owners is to do your research, and be prepared to be flexible. For example, in the beginning, she offered two to three different varieties of quiche at a time. In response to the popularity of the dish, she upped that to five or six options during the high season from May to August. “Changing what we’re doing day-to-day keeps things interesting,” she said.
There are challenges as well. Rachel is “mostly a one-woman shop.” Finding employees is difficult; there are few applicants for entry-level roles like dishwashers and cleaners. Currently she has just one employee, an eighth grader. The idea of expansion is attractive, but not really feasible at the moment.
For now, the most rewarding aspects are seeing familiar faces come in the door, making food and providing a community space where people can come together. “I enjoy what I do and I hope they enjoy it as well,” said Rachel.
The Valley Grind, Greenville
The Valley Grind opened in its current incarnation in May 2022 — but the sign beside the service window reads “Established 2021.” That’s because owner Rachael Goings and her husband had previously purchased the Sierra Sunrise Coffee House. They had remodeled the space and were about a month from opening when the Dixie Fire swept through downtown Greenville, destroying the business. Seven months later, they opened The Valley Grind in a sunshine yellow trailer on the same spot, offering coffee and espresso drinks as well as breakfast and lunch options.
Goings credits her sister and brother-in-law with naming the business during a brainstorming session. It felt right to include a reference to Indian Valley in the name, she said. Goings is a Greenville native, born at the hospital on Hot Springs Road.
Opening the shop was Goings’ first experience owning a business. Everything was a big learning curve, she said. It took huge dedication. Consistency is the key. “If you want to run a successful business you have to be there every day. You have to be really dedicated.” But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a good work/life balance, she added, joking, “I’m still working on it.”
“If you want to run a successful business you have to be there every day. You have to be really dedicated.”
Rachael Goings, The Valley Grind
These days, Goings does a brisk business, with roughly 60 to 70 customers a day, mainly locals. She has six employees. The road crews working State Route 70 between Quincy and the Greenville Wye are quick to endorse the drinks and food. Since The Grind is a trailer, remaining open through the winter months has its challenges, from chilly working conditions to frozen pipes. Goings’ goal is to provide the same great customer service on each and every visit.
It’s rewarding serving the community, she said, especially after the devastation. “It brings me so much joy.” She also enjoys providing a meeting space for residents. From the kitchen, she often hears cheerful exchanges as customers bump into one another in the outdoor dining area. “It really just brings people together,” she said. “I love to hear the laughter outside.”
“I love to hear the laughter outside.”
Rachael Goings, The Valley Grind
Goings believes small businesses are key to rebuilding the community. Housing is vital, of course, but residents won’t be drawn to a community without businesses. It’s what makes people stop and spend some time, rather than simply passing through. She hopes to see more merchants opening their doors in the future.
Brewhaha, Quincy
Within the walls of 91 Bradley St., three small businesses unite under the umbrella of Quincy Provisions: Carey Candy Co., owned by Amy Carey; Bell Lane Baked Goods, owned by Susan Uskahoff; and their joint endeavor, the coffee shop Brewhaha.
Carey has been a stalwart of the Quincy business community for 30 years. She opened a candy store in East Quincy in March 1994, after having hosted home chocolate parties. She quickly outgrew that original space, relocating to Main Street across from Plumas Bank. She moved into the Bradley Street location in 2011, after the building owners reached out to her. It was such a large location that she knew she’d need an investor to cover half. Instead, she found a partner in Uskahoff, a high school classmate.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York and an experienced pastry chef, Uskahoff supplied baked goods to Brewhaha as a cottage business for about two days before she and Carey made the decision to centralize all three businesses under one roof. “This is so stupid! I’m putting a kitchen in back,” Carey recalled Uskahoff saying.
Since then, the two have offered candy, pastries, coffee and gifts from their shared space. “We work really, really well together,” Carey said. The combination of businesses helps to keep the flow of customers steady, minimizing the impact of seasonal ebbs and flows. For example, the candy business is strong from October through March or April, depending on when Easter falls, but it drops into the red during the summer months. Now, with the other businesses to draw customers, candy sales may still dip into the red a little, but they tend to remain more stable. The shop has become a community gathering space frequented by musicians, who often play in the afternoons. Local men’s and women’s groups — even a crochet group — also meet there.
One recent success was the addition of an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant bathroom in the Bradley Street space — it’s one of the few available downtown. Since the shop doesn’t offer table service, a bathroom isn’t a legal requirement, but customers expect it, Carey explained. It took four years, a $20,000 grant obtained with the help of the Sierra Small Business Development Center, another $12,000 over and above that — but the bathroom is now a reality. The owners celebrated its competition with a toilet paper party.
Like many businesses, big and small, the shop struggled during and after the COVID pandemic. Finding staff was particularly challenging. “I’m shocked that we’re <still> here,” Carey said. Over the past nine months, things have improved, and the shop has started to receive more applications for employment.
Those employee relationships are among the most rewarding aspects of running the business, said Carey. She and Uskahoff pride themselves on mentoring their young staff, empowering them and teaching them about the working world — from the rules governing tips to protecting personal information. Carey herself had great business mentors in the owners of the old DuPont Power Tool, who set an example of service and giving back to the community that Carey works to emulate.
Also challenging are the hidden costs that customers don’t see. Many customers aren’t aware, for example, that tips left via credit card are subject to credit fees and payroll tax, said Carey. Energy costs are also going up. Over the last six months, the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. bill has been approximately $5,500 higher than the same time period last year — and it’s expected to increase another 5% in October.
“It’s a challenging environment,” said Carey. “Much more challenging than when I started.”
Nevertheless, Carey envisions plenty of opportunities for small business owners in Quincy. On an average day in September, Brewhaha sees about 210 receipts, many with multiple customers on the tab. Those are customers that could just as easily patronize other downtown businesses during their visit. Sometimes business owners see other establishments as competition, but that’s not accurate, Carey said. People like variety. With more options available, more people will come. That’s why malls work.
“If someone else is open in town, it helps me. … Everybody does a lot better if there’s that choice.” Right now, she adds, restaurants are particularly in demand.
As for the future, Carey said her goals are always ever-changing. She’d love to redo the dining area with matching furniture, and to see Quincy in general beautified: “Live where you live,” she said.
“Live where you live.”
Amy Carey, Brewhaha
Millie’s Ice Cream & Coffee Co., Graeagle
Peggy Smitten had plenty of experience in both small business and ice cream when she purchased Millie’s Ice Cream & Coffee Co. in Graeagle three years ago. She previously owned both a Baskin Robbins franchise and an independent restaurant in Fallon, Nevada.
As its name implies, coffee and ice cream form the core of the shop’s business. When Smitten took over management in March 2022, she augmented that with a selection of gifts, homemade chocolates, breakfast burritos, a mini doughnut machine, and a grab-and-go fridge with drinks and snacks. She’d like to add more, but the older wiring in the historic red-and-white lumber company building can only handle so much. She also added an outdoor seating area, a popular place for socializing and people-watching even when the coffee shop is closed, since there is no seating in the adjacent park.
Early on, the most challenging aspect was logistical: getting products — especially ice cream — delivered to Graeagle. Now in her third season, Smitten said those kinks have smoothed out. Smitten has four employees, two in high school, two in college. The business flourishes in the summer months, peaking over Fourth of July weekend, and is still going strong in October. For now, the shop remains on its summer schedule, open seven days a week. As the weather cools, and visitors give way to locals and second-home owners, Smitten will drop a day or two mid-week, depending on the volume of custom.
In the future, she says, she’d like to turn a horse trailer into a mobile shop in order to do events and farmers markets. But to do that, she’d need a manager — ”another ‘me,’” she said.
Smitten has been visiting the area since childhood, passing through on the way to a family cabin in Truckee. When the shop’s former owners started thinking about retiring, she was immediately interested. By then, she’d sold the cabin due to the high cost of fire insurance, but the former owners helped her find a little place in Plumas Pines, and she moved to the area full time.
For her, the most rewarding aspect of the business is interacting with the customers, especially the children. “When we’re not too busy we let children scoop their own ice cream,” she said. “We try to make it an experience kids will remember.”
She also appreciates the slower pace and welcoming spirit of Graeagle, where all business owners know one another. “We want people to come and experience Graeagle, and enjoy, and relax,” she said. “I remember when I used to come here <on vacation> this feeling of — ’ahhh!’ — peace. And I see that in the visitors now.”
One last drop
This is just a small sampling of the coffee houses serving our county. The shops we visited — Koninkrijk, The Valley Grind, Brewhaha and Millie’s — are as different in their presentations, spaces and business models as are the communities of Plumas themselves. But they each display a shared commitment to customer service and community.
