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INDIANAPOLIS — It started with a cup of coffee, and now one Brownsburg couple’s cup runneth over with profits.
“My wife and I were thinking about what we can do as a family business that we could involve our kids,” Doyle Lowery said.
Lowery wanted to combine his love for a favorite morning beverage and people. That’s when the idea for A Cup Above Coffee Catering began to brew.
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“The first event we did before we had an espresso machine is when they did their community theater, and we did the intermission with drip coffee and some smoothies,” Doyle said.
It was a success, and now almost 15 years later, Doyle and Debbie find themselves still pouring over their work at businesses like Genesys.
“The exciting part about this, being mobile, you don’t have as much overhead, and we have a commissary, but we do not have a coffee shop. So the overhead isn’t as high. And another advantage to this,” Doyle gestures to the line of Genesys employees, “you know we come into businesses and schools and organizations and we roll in and set up and basically we are a coffee shop that comes to you.”
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Admittedly, the two say it wasn’t all sugar and cream at first.
“For me, it was really exciting because I have that entrepreneurial spirit. So I was very excited about taking this idea and running with it, but yeah, there is a side that’s scary," Doyle said. "I was like ‘Is it going to work?’ ‘Are we going to make it?’ ‘Are we going to pay the bills?’ And it started slow, and took time to build, and it’s grown through the years, and now we look back and we go, wow. Look where we’ve come.”
Their advice to other entrepreneurs? Study up on what you want to do and stay caffeinated.
“I would just say start small,” Debbie said. “And be patient. As you’re working towards something, always keep the end goal in mind. Like our mission statement was to serve others, and even though there were times that we were just exhausted, you know you just keep going back to that and doing our work. We just knew that that was our goal and it kept us going.”
LEARN MORE | A Cup Above Coffee Catering
