Small Business Startup: CaffeineHolic

“Everything started with my grandma,” she said.

After her grandmother’s coffee stand, her mother opened up her own coffee shop and the coffee legacy began.

Ms. Le moved to Seattle in 2017 to go to college. She said it wasn’t difficult to find Vietnamese coffee in Seattle due to the high Asian population, but she said it was still missing something.

The coffee beans that are used in the coffee at CaffeineHolic are directly imported from Vietnam.

“That literally makes a difference,” she said.

She moved to the north country because her husband is in the Army, and she noticed that there weren’t any places that sold Vietnamese coffee besides a Vietnamese restaurant.

The Vietnamese coffee beans are personalized based on what Ms. Le is looking for.

“We got it (perfectly) mixed (for what) I like,” she said.

Shipping can take up to a full month, and is pretty expensive. She said the shipping fee can cost as much as the product itself.

The shop opened on Jan. 24.

Ms. Le said paperwork was one of the more difficult parts of opening the business.

“I was an international student, so basically I couldn’t do anything until I got my paperwork permission last September,” she said.

She relied on the help of the owner of Flavor of Philippines and Two Hot Dogs because she said she didn’t know how to start a business.

Another struggle was funds, Ms. Le said.

“We obviously didn’t have anything; we just decided to give it a shot, and just went for it,” she said.

She said a loan was received from the Watertown Local Development Corp., or Watertown Trust.

She co-owns the coffee shop with her husband, Sgt. Michael Kellbher, but Ms. Le said the shop is her priority, while her husband is in the Army and supporting her.

“I’m glad that he’s supporting me,” she said.

Ms. Le said meeting the customers has been the most rewarding part of owning the business.

“(The customers) love it, they love the coffee, they love the environment because we don’t have a coffee shop like this in Watertown,” she said. “I’m just so happy to hear that they enjoy the coffee because it was a little scary to bring something new to a small town like this and I’m glad it’s worked out. I literally appreciate every single customer.”

She said that the coffee is not made for the business, but for the person that orders it.

“We have such good Vietnamese coffee, so I just want to share it,” she said. “It’s also not only about coffee, but about the culture as well.”

The connection Ms. Le has with her customers is extremely important.

“I’m always trying to make customers feel welcomed and it’s a really important part,” she said.

People that may not enjoy coffee, may enjoy Vietnamese white coffee which is normally just a sweeter Vietnamese coffee.

In general, Vietnamese coffee is generally more sweet than American coffee, with less of a coffee taste.

The name CaffeineHolic stems from an inspiration Ms. Le had from a coffee shop in Seattle. The logo is also from the structure of caffeine.

“I want (the logo) to be right enough for customers to recognize it, but wrong enough for them to pay attention,” she said.

Ms. Le said she had a customer give them a try because he said the logo was wrong.

The coffee shop will also be offering tea, and energy drinks in the summer.

She said they plan on being in the north country for a while, and she said she and her husband plan to expand into more than just a coffee shop.

CaffeineHolic sees a lot of customers from other employees that work in The Paddock Arcade, but Ms. Le said it’s hard to get outside customers to her store. Ms. Le said it’s difficult enough to get customers in one door, let alone two sets of doors.

She also cited the parking around The Paddock Arcade as difficult as well.

For people that may have never tried Vietnamese coffee before, Ms. Le has some advice.

“You just need to give it a try and you’re going to love it.”