Acorn and Oak Coffee Company was established on January 7th, 2020 by a husband and wife team, David and Rachel Aziz. They figured it would be slow going since they were both still working full time but then the world shut down, and suddenly they had time to focus on it.

Since then they’ve made great strides with their business.

In March of 2021, they started renovating a vintage two-horse trailer, transforming it into a mobile coffee bar. The finished product debuted in May at the Amherstburg Farmers Market at GL Heritage Brewery. They’ve since served at other markets, weddings, birthday and retirement parties, and more.

Earlier this year they opened their brick-and-mortar Coffee Bar inside REC Health & Fitness in Essex on January 7th, 2022 – their second business birthday!

A fun fact about David and Rachel, who are both originally from Leamington, is that they started out in the same grade school before the school board changed the boundaries while they were in fourth grade. They even have pictures together from a first grade play!

I had the opportunity to interview Rachel and Dave about Acorn and Oak Coffee Company and their entrepreneurial journey over the last couple years.

1) What was your motivation for starting a business?

Rachel and Dave Aziz:
The motivation for us was always to build a business where we could work together. We will have been married for five years this coming October, but have always worked completely opposite shifts and would only see each other on our Mondays off, if we were lucky. Now we get to work alongside each other every day.

2) What advice would you give to others who might be considering starting a business?

Rachel and Dave:
You will definitely not be able to do everything yourself, and you will burn yourself out trying.

We have a mountain of people behind us that helped us build our business — family, friends, fellow business owners, market regulars that have become friends. We absolutely would not be where we are without them, and we are so grateful for each and every one of them.

3) Who are your target clients?

Rachel and Dave:
Anyone that loves coffee! Sometimes people sheepishly admit that they normally drink a big chain’s coffee at home, but we never want people to feel bad about it. We’re just here to provide good coffee, no pretensions.

4) How would you describe your services and products in 200 words or less?

Rachel and Dave:
We provide small-batch roasted coffee, with a focus on eco-friendly options and quality beans that farmers and producers are paid a fair price for. Our coffee is available in stores around the county, as well as on our retail shelf at the Coffee Bar. We hope that a cup of our coffee makes your day a little brighter, whether we’re making it for you or you’re making it at home.

5) What is your business motto?

Rachel and Dave:
We don’t so much have a motto, more like a focus on building relationships with our customers.

We love getting to know our people. It’s such a great thing to not just know someone’s name and order, but also what they like and don’t like, a little bit about them. It makes the whole experience so much more special.

6) What do your clients say about your business?

Rachel and Dave:
We started out as a vendor at the Amherstburg Farmers Market in 2020, and the response we got when we were just a tent and a table with our coffee was fantastic.

When we added the coffee trailer the following year, people would come up and tell us how cute it was, and how much they loved it. Those kinds of reactions made all the work that went into it so worth it.

Then Cheri and Ryan at REC Health & Fitness invited us to try some pop-ups at their fitness studio in Essex, and the response from the town and surrounding areas was so amazing.

We definitely weren’t in a place where we were ready for a full-blown space of our own, especially in the midst of the pandemic, so being inside the studio was the perfect next step for us.

7) What are your plans for business growth? New services and products that clients can look out for?

Rachel and Dave:
We’d like to continue expanding our menu at the Coffee Bar, as well as adding more stores around Windsor-Essex where you can find our coffee bags!

8) How has COVID affected your business and what have you done to COVID-proof your business?

Rachel and Dave:
Since we basically started right before COVID and all of our major growth has been done during it, we don’t really know any different. That being said, we have absolutely noticed a huge shift toward supporting small businesses, which is absolutely amazing.

9) What are your most popular items and gifts?

Rachel and Dave:
Our most popular coffee option is our Mighty Oak — our only blend and one we originally put together as an Espresso roast, but found that it also made an excellent Dark Roast drip coffee. It’s not super dark — we purposely tried to make it approachable for everyone. It’s also what we use for any espresso-based drink at the Coffee Bar.

*  Brightly Boxed:
We’re big fans of the Mighty Oak blend at Brightly Boxed and have featured it in several of our gift boxes over the past year!

10) How do our readers find you?

Rachel and Dave:
Our new Coffee Bar is open Tuesday-Sunday from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m., located inside REC Health & Fitness in Essex, in the No Frills plaza.

We are on Facebook and Instagram, and our email is acornandoakcoffee@outlook.com

~ Contact Acorn and Oak Coffee Company ~

Location:
31 Arthur Avenue
Essex, Ontario, N8M 2N1
– inside REC Health & Fitness (No Frills plaza)

Website:
Acorn and Oak Coffee Company

Facebook:
Acorn and Oak Coffee Company

Instagram:
acornandoakcoffee

Email:
acornandoakcoffee@outlook.com

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