We’d like to introduce you to Sagebrush Cafe.
Hi Eric, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
So many hours are spent wondering What If…? We talk about what could be, what we’d love to spend our time doing in a perfect world, if only we had the chance.
We never stop projecting like this. It’s human nature. But this also means we can get perpetually caught up in that What If mindset. Spinning out ever more detailed dreams. Weaving a tapestry of ideas. Waiting for the day that our chance comes to bring those ideas to life.
Then one day we realize that our chance isn’t going to just show up. It’s not going to arrive like a postcard in the mail.
To get a chance to do the things we dream about, we have to make that chance. If we ever want to live in a world where we’re doing the work we really want to do, we can’t think of ourselves as the hopeful recipient of good news. We have to take the role of author and sender. We have to fill out that metaphorical postcard. Put a stamp on it. And send it out into the world.
And that is what we did.
In 2009, we opened our boutique coffee shop in the Quartz Hill area of the Antelope Valley. We chose this location for a few reasons. We live in Quartz Hill, and we like it. The people are genuine and down to earth. The desert sky is a clean, clear blue. And there is an air of possibility. A sense that it’s possible to bring new ideas to life here.
We also chose to open in Quartz Hill because we felt that our community had a real use for a space like ours. A place for people to gather. A place for people to show art. A place for small performances. In short, there was a need for a casual culture hub. And we wanted to create a space like that.
So, we set to work and spent our time sketching out our idea. Then we did the hard work of transforming it into a real, living breathing thing.
Thirteen years later we’ve served tens of thousands of lattes, watched oat milk and Matcha each take prominent places in the café landscape, and partnered with other small businesses on community projects – most recently a collaborative craft beer that made its way into the local Trader Joe’s (thanks to our partners at Bravery Brewing and the good people at Trader Joe’s).
In short, we took a little idea and put it in the real world. That’s our story writ small. But writ large, our story includes a whole bunch of people who have contributed to our space as staff, as customers, as artists, and as community members.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We opened our doors during the Great Recession and roughly ten years later the Covid-19 pandemic hit, so, yeah, there have been some bumps along the way.
Everyone had to deal with these things, obviously. These were bumps on the road for all of us. At the same time, we think everyone realizes that small businesses are especially precious, fragile things.
Systemic events like recessions and pandemics can hobble a new business or a shrink an already small profit margin. And, honestly, it can be scary to be an independent business in those circumstances. There is so much that you can’t control.
We could talk about supply chain issues that are still ongoing. We could talk about heat waves and road blockages, machine breakdowns and vendor problems, and all sorts of things that have happened. But our focus is and always has been on getting things done.
It always simplifies things to remember the basics. We’re a coffee shop. We’re providing a service. And from there we just focus on making that happen.
And, for us, we understand that we’re involved in something larger. We’re part of something.
We don’t have a drive-thru. We serve folks in person. We get to know people. And it’s an honor to be able to say that – to say that we are a part of our neighborhood, bringing something positive to the Quartz Hill community.
We’ve been impressed with Sagebrush Cafe, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are an independent coffee shop, and we also function as an art gallery. We pride ourselves on being authentic. We shop local, sourcing our goods in LA County. This kind of local orientation is really central to our whole ethos.
In keeping with that, we’ve been developing a gift shop zone in our space, and we buy exclusively from independent artisans, which helps to support small businesses and has the added benefit of making us a stand-out location for unique and artistic gifts.
Of course, most of our business is coffee. Hand-packed espresso shots are the foundation of much of what we do, but we also serve organic tea and a very creative menu of specialty drinks.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
Luck has played its biggest part in our business when it comes to our staff. Hiring is a tricky thing, as anyone who has ever been in a position to hire new staff knows.
We have been lucky to have some dedicated and truly caring staff members – people who care about what it means to keep a little business like ours alive and who care about other people too.
The range of talents among our staff has also been a source of amazement – bakers, artists, graphic designers, all working as baristas but bringing so much more to the table.
In a big-picture way, we can honestly say that we have had the good luck of bringing on some great people, watching them grow into their role in our space, then continue to grow beyond that.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://sagebrush-cafe.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sagebrush_cafe/
