Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Tori Mininni, Future Coffee Shop Owner

Transcript

Tori Mininni, Future Coffee Shop Owner · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:00
  Rosar did this. I didn't do any of this.
• 0:04
  I I am so grateful to Rosar because they sponsored the show
• 0:08
  and they said, hey, we have this extra space.
• 0:11
  Do you want to do something like, yeah, I didn't know that
• 0:13
  it was going to be all this until I got here.
• 0:15
  So. So.
• 0:16
  Do you live around here? I'm Ryan, welcome to coffee.
• 0:44
  Nice to meet you. This is the espresso round.
• 0:47
  We're here at Coffee Fest 2026 in New York City.
• 0:52
  You just mentioned to me that you are opening a coffee shop.
• 0:55
  I am. I'm in the works.
• 0:57
  I'm at very early stages just trying to figure everything out
• 1:01
  but. Can I ask why on earth you would
• 1:04
  do such a thing? It seems like such a hard job.
• 1:07
  You can I, I was a hairdresser in make of ours for 10 years and
• 1:13
  I just felt kind of stagnant. I just wanted to change
• 1:16
  something. I worked at a coffee shop for
• 1:20
  like 6 months not too long and I loved it.
• 1:24
  It was like my favorite thing I've ever my favorite job I've
• 1:27
  had and it just see like the community of it because it was
• 1:32
  still the same thing with like being a hairdresser.
• 1:34
  You have your clients that you see all the time.
• 1:36
  You see your customers daily at the shop and everything.
• 1:38
  And I love that. But I always felt like I was a
• 1:42
  lot of the coffee shops are like the real chill vibe and stuff
• 1:45
  and like I'm very like, that's not like I, I'm chill, but like
• 1:49
  not all the time. So I feel like it, it's a place
• 1:53
  where I can like, I want a place that's like loud and like, you
• 1:57
  could be yourself there and you, it doesn't have to be a quiet,
• 2:00
  like quaint little place like I want it to be like maximalist
• 2:04
  fun. So I just figured I was like, I
• 2:07
  might as well just do it. You're just going for it?
• 2:10
  Yeah. Where is this coffee shop?
• 2:13
  Tentatively. Gonna be the Jersey Shore.
• 2:16
  OK. I'm hoping.
• 2:17
  Asbury Park. It's kind of hard in that area,
• 2:20
  right? There's so many great shops,
• 2:22
  like so many great ones, but I love it there.
• 2:27
  I moved there about a year ago and it's like my favorite place
• 2:30
  ever. So that's awesome in that area.
• 2:32
  Yeah. So now that you're like
• 2:35
  investigating this much more seriously, it's not just not
• 2:38
  you, you're actually working towards it.
• 2:41
  What? How do you feel the reception is
• 2:43
  bad? I mean, you're here at coffee
• 2:44
  fast learning, I'm assuming? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's a lot
• 2:49
  like I, I knew what I was coming.
• 2:51
  I've been to like shows like this, but for like beauty and
• 2:53
  stuff. But I've never been to 1 by
• 2:56
  myself. I'm here by myself.
• 2:57
  I'm just, like, gathering everything.
• 3:00
  I'm trying to pace myself, but every person I've talked to has
• 3:03
  been really great. It's making me, like, so much
• 3:06
  more excited. I thought I was already like,
• 3:08
  like, this is great. Yeah.
• 3:09
  But this has been really good. Is there anything in particular
• 3:13
  about starting a coffee shop that you're nervous about?
• 3:17
  The money aspects, like I feel like, oh, just the money, just
• 3:20
  the money, yeah. I mean, because it's so new to
• 3:24
  me. I don't, I've never like owned
• 3:28
  like anything. So just finding the right place
• 3:31
  for whatever they cost. Like the Jersey Shore is like a
• 3:34
  it's going to be a higher price tag, but I feel like all that
• 3:37
  makes it worth it. But just like the the money
• 3:42
  aspect is a little scary, but yeah.
• 3:45
  But then. It's got to start somewhere,
• 3:46
  right? I think that's a really great
• 3:47
  point though, for anyone that's thinking about starting a coffee
• 3:50
  shop. It's not just because you have
• 3:52
  to love coffee and you have to want to be of service to people,
• 3:55
  but there's this whole business side that people forget about
• 3:58
  sometimes. So you're going into an eyes
• 4:00
  open, Yeah. I, my parents own a business so
• 4:03
  nothing with like coffee or anything like that, but I've
• 4:06
  seen like how hard they have to work and I think I get that from
• 4:10
  them. My brother and I are both like
• 4:12
  want to do our own thing, start our own thing.
• 4:14
  So I'm very happy that I have that background and everything.
• 4:18
  So I feel like it's scary and like I get nervous all the time
• 4:21
  about it, but I'm, I'm excited for it.
• 4:23
  It's going to be really cool. OK.
• 4:24
  So the last question, no, I have two questions.
• 4:27
  Perfect. But they're the most important
• 4:30
  questions. Perfect.
• 4:31
  The first one is when you are out and about and you go to a
• 4:35
  coffee shop. What do you drink?
• 4:38
  I'm pretty simple with mine. I don't like something super
• 4:41
  sweet. I love simple vanilla latte.
• 4:44
  I love. I'm just now getting into
• 4:46
  matcha. I I tried it before.
• 4:49
  I feel like it's different at so many different places, but I
• 4:52
  feel like it's very like a lot of people are doing it now.
• 4:55
  So I do love a matcha. So just the basic like a vanilla
• 4:59
  latte or a matcha? OK.
• 5:02
  And the second most important question Your favorite Keanu
• 5:06
  Reeves movie. Can I tell you that?
• 5:08
  I literally have no idea. I know like I know I my friends
• 5:13
  roast me all the time. They know quotes from every
• 5:17
  movie of anybody ever. Oh, remember this scene I don't
• 5:21
  like and it's just, it's like, that's so funny you said that
• 5:24
  because I was out with them the other day and they were like,
• 5:25
  oh, this other movie. And I was like, I was like,
• 5:27
  don't even bring it up. Do you have any idea what you're
• 5:30
  going to name your business? So I'm thinking flourish because
• 5:36
  like I said before, like I've always felt like when I work
• 5:39
  places, like like I'm a, I'm a hairdresser, like I'm loud, I
• 5:42
  talk for work. That's like what I do.
• 5:45
  I want to be able to like have someone come in and they can be
• 5:49
  themselves and they can like bring their friends and they can
• 5:51
  grow and they can just have this like they can flourish.
• 5:54
  They can come in and I want to learn everything about my
• 5:57
  customers when they come in and like, like just see them kind of
• 6:00
  grow. Like I love that, like a
• 6:01
  community. So something along those lines.
• 6:04
  Well, thank you so much for joining us.
• 6:06
  For having me. Enjoy Coffee Fest and we'll see
• 6:11
  you next year and you can tell us all about.
• 6:13
  Yes, I. Can how your coffee shop is
• 6:15
  open? Thank you so much.
• 6:16
  Thank you. It's great.
• 6:18
  Of course, fine.