By Jullette Doro
Staff Writer
SUNDERLAND - For two brothers and coffee retailers from
Amherst, the recipe for a successful business is one part dreaming and
two parts hard labor.
Sean and Darren Pierce fulfilled their dream of owning a business
together eight months ago when they opened Java Hut on Route 116.
And while business is finally picking up at the small café
and restaurant - where the dive-through window at the former bank
branch may be the biggest attraction - the brothers admit financial
success is still a long way off.
"For the past eight months, we've just been trying to build the
business," said 31-year-old Sean Pierce. |
The brothers' wish to get into business
began to take shape four years ago, when 29-year-old Darren Pierce was
living on the West Coast and met Jeremiah Pick, a San Francisco-based
coffee roaster. With the growing trend of cafés
across the country, the brothers thought coffee was the perfect
business venture.
For $4,000, the two bought a computer, stationery and a few pounds
of coffee and became the sole distributors of Pick's coffee in New
England and New York.
But retailing, they say, was their goal. A few months later,
the brothers opened the Java Hut after months of negotiations with the
town of Sunderland to open a cafe and restaurant in the former
Heritage Bank for Savings building in the Squire Village Plaza. |
The town at first opposed the
drive-through window,. But the brothers stuck with their idea,
and in February, Java Hut opened for business.
"The drive through is what's different. I would have been
hard to make this work without the drive-through," said the younger
Pierce. They said they rely on commuter traffic on Route 116 for
most of the business at the cafe.
Getting the business perking has involved sacrifices and hard work,
the two say. They estimate they saved about $100,000 dollars by
doing all the construction work on the cafe, except plumbing and
electrical, themselves - from building the bar to painting the walls.
Despite the labor they provided, the brothers are still well in
debt on the venture, with a $35,000 loan and several credit cards that
have been charged to the limit. |
Darren Pierce said the
restaurant is so far doing about 50 percent less business then he had
hoped. And with limited financial resources, marketing is their
biggest weakness, they admit.
But they are confident the business will be a moneymaker soon
enough. They have expanded the cafes food menu to a fuller
selection of sandwiches and deli items and added live music on
Wednesdays and weekends. And in a few weeks the restaurant will
have live jazz on Saturday mornings.
Though they say they might not have undertaken the project if they
had known the cost, they said it has been worth it.
"This is our big venture. We put everything we had into
this," said the younger Pierce. "There's so much to be said for
doing it and trying it. Most people just talk about it, but are
too afraid to do it." |
