Coffeehouse Stories, Part One: Ed's Study Aid

At 22, I left university and decided to open a coffeehouse. With about $10,000 to my name, and no idea where to put the business, or how to fund it, I packed up my car, left LA, and drove across the country looking for money and the best possible location for the cafe. I had the naive optimism only a young entrepreneur could have. 

The goal was to establish the cafe in an affordable town where specialty coffee wasn’t yet popular. My intended locations were large university towns, figuring they would be affordable yet provide a high volume of business. 

The itinerary included cities such as Boulder, CO, Madison, WI, Ann Arbor, MI, and Columbus, OH. All of those places had potential, but nothing screamed “this is it!”  

College Park, MD, was the first stop with major potential. The university had 50,000 students and the only espresso machine was in a bagel shop. It was a potential gold mine, but not quite th place I wanted to live. I wanted to open the cafe in a charming town, not a strip of stores on a commuter highway. 

From College Park, I decided to visit Charlottesville, VA, and Chapel Hill, NC before choosing a location. Charlottesville was beautiful, but had a relatively competitive coffee scene. Arriving in Chapel Hill, I thought “this is the place.” The town was charming and the retail area bordered the campus. Walking down Franklin Street, I was excited until Judge’s Roastery came into view. 

Judge’s was an impressive cafe, and nearly identical to the cafe I planned to open. Disappointed, but intrigued, I asked to speak to the owner. A tall, middle-aged curmudgeonly man named Ed came out from the back and said “yeah, what do you want?” I introduced myself and told him I had driven from California all over the US, and planned to open a cafe in a college town. Ed’s demeanor changed, and he said “really? I did the same thing two years before you. I was living in California, packed up my things, and drove across the country, trying to find the best college-town location for a cafe.” 

We were shocked at this coincidence, so I took a chance. I said “if you weren’t here, Chapel Hill would be my number one choice. My number two is College Park, MD.” Amazingly, Ed said “College Park was my number three.” I couldn’t contain my excitement. I asked Ed his number two and he said “Amherst, Massachusetts.”

I thanked Ed, got in my car, and drove the twelve hours to Amherst. I found the cheapest motel in town and booked it for a week. I spent that week walking the streets of Amherst, counting foot traffic, and marveling at how busy Antonio’s Pizza was. Antonio’s was a hole in the wall doing $10,000 per day (in 1994 dollars!) of sales, selling nothing but pizza by the slice and cups of soda. It was probably the busiest pizza place in the US. Although Amherst had five or six coffee shops, none were serving exceptionally good coffee, and the success of Antonio’s hinted at the enormous business potential in Amherst. 

I found a charming location tucked away from the main street, surrounded by trees and next to a pocket park. The space had beautiful old wood floors, brick walls, and a tin ceiling. It was 1100 square feet, and it was perfect. After a tough negotiation with the landlord, I signed the lease.

A few months later, I opened Rao’s Coffee. During those first months, shockingly, people would come in everyday and tell me I was going to fail, and that their town didn’t need another cafe or an outsider. It was heartbreaking, and the future battle with the town is the subject of the next story in this series. 

Once Rao’s was established, I called Ed in Chapel Hill. “Hi Ed, I opened the cafe in Amherst, and I named a drink after you, Ed’s Study Aid!” “Yeah, so what?” Ed was back to his curmudgeonly self. A year later, Ed called and said “we’re coming up! I’m taking my managers on a road trip and we’re coming to see your cafe.” Underneath that gruff exterior, Ed cared, and it was a blast hosting him at the cafe. Ed sold Judge’s a couple of years later, and I lost track of him. But i will be forever grateful he pointed me toward Amherst.