When Tina Mitchell, owner of Blend Coffee Shop, saw the unused
retail unit in the busy Church Piece area of Charlton Kings, she
also saw a gap in the market. "I couldn't believe there wasn't a
coffee shop here. It's a perfect location - near schools and
the Stanton community rooms,' she says. "I really wanted to open a
coffee shop for the area."
Despite never having worked in retail, Tina has, in just twelve
months, established Blend as a popular village meeting place. Many
regulars helped her celebrate on Saturday September 3rd - the
business's first anniversary - with children's entertainment and a
birthday cake shaped as a foaming cup of cappuccino. "My twenty
years in sales and customer service at Spirax Sarco have helped,"
says Tina, "but there was still lots to learn - even just how to
look after the coffee." Tina has designed Blend to be friendly and
approachable; facilities include a baby change area, toys and free
Wi-Fi.
"I have a big family of customers and I love meeting all of them
- it's a total cross section. In fact, in the early days my
regulars helped me fine tune my offering, so it feels like I'm
providing what they want," says Tina.
She supports local suppliers, whenever she can, from the
tradesmen who refitted the shop, that had been boarded up for
several years, to food producers such as North's Bakery, Godsells
Cheese and Winston's ice-cream. Her coffee is a single origin
coffee, coming from one estate, supplied by Clifton Coffee in
Bristol. A percentage of profits is returned both back to the
farmers and to a charity called Coffee Kids. Blend is also featured
in the Cheltenham edition of the Independents' Day
Directory.
Setting up a new business is always a risk, especially at this
time. Tina considers that it took about 6 months to get
established, as she began to get regular customers. She has also
taken on an extra member of staff to help at weekends. "Setting up
Blend was a big step and I'm very happy that it's what I want it to
be and it's what Charlton Kings wants it to be," she says.