Brickhouse Coffee Co. Comes to Geist Crossing Shoppes
Brickhouse Coffee Co. is a business built on fostering relationships through coffee.
Im a very relational guy, so Im very intentional when Im behind the bar with getting to know my customers, says Brickhouse Founder Jared Stayton. If youre coming in, we want you to feel at home. We want our house to be your house.
Brickhouse originally started out as a wholesale roasting business in 2013, and has since developed a retail arm, with Larry Hansen coming on as a business partner with Stayton in December of 2016. After opening a shop location in Greenwood in August of 2017, the Brickhouse team has launched a new coffee shop in the Geist Crossing Shoppes strip on Fall Creek Road, which opened in late July.
For Stayton and his wife Lora, opening up a coffee shop is a dream that dates back to when they graduated from Indiana University.
On the other side of our time at IU, once we got married, for whatever reason we thought itd be cool to open up a coffee shop down on Bloomingtons campus, Stayton says. Just understanding where a lot of youth are these days, we thought, Wow, what a great way just to love on a community and connect with a community in a very organic way. That was many, many moons ago that that idea had been talked about.
Strong in their Christian faith, the couple has always seen coffee as a great way to connect with individuals in a community.
Were Christians, and were very relational in our faith, Stayton says. I dont stand out on a sidewalk and evangelize with a megaphone, but I love building relationships with people, loving on them and meeting them where theyre at. If the opportunity presents itself, were never ashamed to share our faith.
Stayton eventually attended a barista school under the tutelage of Guy Pfanz in Muncie, where he truly caught the coffee bug.
That really just turned it from an idea of an entrepreneur owning a coffee shop to, Man, I really love this coffee industry. I love everything about it, from the farming to the preparation of a drink to the actual art and craft of it all, Stayton says. I really developed a passion for the coffee industry in its entirety at that point.
After working in Spain as missionaries for one and a half years, Stayton and his wife returned to Indianapolis where Stayton was met with a proposal to start his own coffee endeavor, leading to the start of Brickhouse Coffee Co.
Our church was talking about doing something with coffee with their bible college, and I ended up going to that bible college, Stayton says. They wanted me to share the vision I had for coffee. I did, they loved it, and they gave me the opportunity.
Originally founded in an old brick house in the center of Horizon Christian Fellowships 100-acre campus on Indian Lake Road, Brickhouse Coffee Co. has grown organically. As Stayton explains, his community-minded approach extends throughout the Brickhouse brand, including building relationships with coffee farmers.
Being a relational guy, its important to me to have a relationship not only with my importer but with the farmers we work with, he says.
As Stayton points out, Brickhouse Coffee Co.s El Corazón roast is a great example of the companys relational approach.
In 2018 I had an opportunity to travel to Lempira, Honduras, with one of my importers, and we met a cooperative of independent farmers there called Flor del Cafe that decided to come together, Stayton says. It was an amazing experience for me to go there, meet the farmers, hear their story and share our story.
Now with a new coffee shop, located not far from the brick house where everything started, Stayton and Hansen are excited to get to know other small businesses in the community in the hopes of lifting everyone up.
Weve got to lock arms together if were going to survive this together, Stayton says of small businesses as they fight through the coronavirus pandemic. Its not every man for himself. Its how do we collaborate with one another and point business back to each other so we can weather the storm together.
Stayton and Hansen look forward to building a new relationship with every new customer that comes into their shop – through coffee.
I want to make sure that we have a quality product, Stayton says. Beyond that, its how do we take care of our customers? We want to adopt them as family.
Visit Brickhouse Coffee Co. at 9771 Fall Creek Road in Indianapolis, located at Geist Crossing Shoppes. You can find them online at BrickhouseRoasters.com, or call them at 317-550-0034.
