Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan Ojala.
Hi Brendan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
A friend of mine bought me a refillable Keurig cartridge back in 2015. At that point I was drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee for the most part. Curiosity got the best of me and I went hunting for fresh coffee to pack into my new refillable Keurig Cartridge. This hunt took me to a local coffee roastery in providence, RI to score some beans. I followed that up with my next score- a propeller-like coffee grinder and I was in business. As rough as this first coffee setup was, it was sufficient for introducing me to the potential of coffee. I could taste the improvement from these slight improvements. Parlay that with the fact that I had recently dropped adding cream to my coffee as a personal health choice. I certainty was looking for every edge I could find because drinking coffee was not for enjoyment at that point, and every improvement was noticeable. Month by month through research and trial + error my coffee setup became more and more complex and capable. This realization that I could likely drink a different tasting coffee, every week, for the rest of my life is where this lead to and I decided that some day I was going to quit my corporate job and open a coffee shop and roastery. About 5 years later, wife Hannah and I were living in Boston, MA and I finally got the right opportunity to open a cafe in NH in the town I grew up in. We owned that cafe for about 3.5 years before selling it while living in California. As much as we enjoyed having a cafe, it ultimately wasn’t the best fit for us and we decided to push all of our eggs into the roasting side of the coffee sector. An opportunity to open a roastery in Lancaster came through a good friend and we decided to move from CA to relocate our growing family back the East Coast to hatch this idea and live closer to family. It’s now been about 3.5 years since Nostalgica began.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh, no. The first year, with the buildout costs, and lag time in acquiring customers, all you see is a plummeting bank account. As rough as that is, there were lessons and moments we will likely never replicate. Such as, how good the food tastes, and how convenient it is to dine out at a restaurant when you really can’t afford to. If you’ve never experienced that, you are missing out ;). After 6-12 months we started to turn the descent into an ascent. There are always struggles, particularly with navigating literally a global supply chain that coffee requires. But God has been so good to us and has guided us and gifted us blessings that can only come from him. We truly could be out of business without some of the unexpected wins we’ve had.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a specialty coffee roastery in Lancaster PA. We wholesale coffee to cafes, hotels, churches, and businesses. We also sell our coffee, retail, online across the nation.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I think it’s better to fail while living the life that you feel called to or born to do then to succeed living someone else’s life. If you work hard, and stick with it-I think you’ll turn any temporary failure into success. It could take awhile but it’ll happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Nostalgicacoffee.com
- Instagram: NostalgicaCoffee
