At least, we don’t think there should be.
When you run a small business, especially one like The Nest, you start to realize pretty quickly that the people walking through your door become part of the place.
You learn names.
You learn orders.
You learn who wants their coffee a certain way, which ice cream flavour a kid is going to ask for before they even get to the counter, and who is probably going to sit in the same chair they always do.
You notice when someone hasn’t been in for a while.
You hear about new jobs, new babies, bad days, good news, breakups, vacations, illnesses, celebrations and everything in between.
That’s something we don’t take for granted.
Because there are much easier ways to buy coffee.
There are faster ways.
There are drive-thrus, apps, delivery services and giant companies designed to move as many people through as efficiently as possible.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But that isn’t what we’re trying to build.
We want The Nest to be the kind of place where somebody notices you walked in.
Where the person behind the counter actually talks to you.
Where you’re allowed to stay for a while.
Where kids can be kids.
Where someone sitting by themselves doesn’t feel strange for doing it.
And where, over time, strangers start becoming familiar faces.
Small businesses survive because people choose them.
That’s a pretty incredible thing when you think about it.
Nobody has to come here.
Every time somebody walks through our door, they’re making a choice to support us instead of one of hundreds of other places they could spend their money.
That choice pays our staff.
It keeps the lights on.
It lets us buy another bag of coffee beans, another tub of ice cream, another case of milk.
It allows us to support local organizations and causes.
It allows The Nest to exist.
So no, we don’t really see people as transactions.
Of course we need to sell things. We are still a business.
But we hope what happens here is a little bigger than that.
We hope someone comes in for coffee and ends up having a conversation.
We hope a family comes in for ice cream and makes a memory.
We hope somebody having a lousy day leaves feeling slightly better.
And we hope that eventually, when you walk into The Nest, it feels a little bit like walking into a place where people know you.
Because without the people who come through our doors, The Nest is just a room with a coffee machine and a freezer full of ice cream.
You are what makes it a Nest.