Valentine's Day Might be Slow for California Coffee Shop

Heart N' Soul Coffee House is a small restaurant and coffee house located in Green Valley, CA. I spoke to the owners Kathay and Warren BeMiller about how their business is affected by Valentine's Day.

Heart N' Soul started out as a small coffee house doing the majority of their business in the mornings with the commuters stopping in for donuts and a coffee. Heart N' Soul became very popular with the locals and they were encouraged to serve more and more food. Currently they serve coffee and specialty coffee drinks with every kind of syrup and flavor that you can imagine. Many customers tell them that this is the best coffee they have ever tasted. In the mornings they also serve donuts, bagels, and yummy breakfast burritos. They serve sandwich's and salads all the time. Their most popular sandwich is a chicken salad sandwich, that is Kathay's specialty if you ever go here you have to try one. The also have different specials all the time. Every Tuesday they have tacos, Wednesday they have spaghetti, and Fridays they have baked salmon and fish and chips. They also do many different catering events will all different kinds of food.

When I spoke to Kathay about Valentine's Day, she said she assumed it would be a slow night for her. She said the morning should be the normal because people still have to g to work, but most people will probably have big plans for the evening. A few years ago Heart N' Soul had a Valentine's Day dinner that did really well and customers keep requesting that they have it again, but Kathay says "It was fun, but it was a lot of hard work". Kathay is a perfectionist when it comes to what she will serves her customers, so she spends a lot of time preparing when she does dinners or catering. They know it will be slow on Valentine's Day but Warren says " you can always count on the regulars" . He explains that there are certain customers that they know they will see every evening, and certain people the know they will see everyday Wednesday for spaghetti or every Friday for Salmon. The BeMillers were debating if they should just close of the evening of Valentine's day, but they decided they have to many regular customers that depend on coming in for dinner. They didn't want to disappoint anyone by being closed an evening.

Kathay says business has been slow since Christmas. She says the have definitely been feeling the effects of the recession, "when people don't have extra money, they don't go out to eat" says Kathay. Its hard for small businesses to survive when their business is based on something the is a luxury, not a necessity. When people have to watch their budget, eating out is usually the first thing to go. Fortunately for the BeMillers' they have a lot of local support, Kathay says "its the locals and the commuters that get us through the slow times". Its likely that Heart N' Soul has so much local support because of the BeMiller's great relationships with the locals. Many of the customers just walk in and say "I'll have my usual" and Kathay knows exactly what they want. Kathay knows some of regular customers orders so well she starts making their drinks when they pull up in the parking lot.

The one thing that is obvious is that no matter what the economy does or what happens when the holidays come and go, is that Heart N' Soul will see it though. The BeMillers' love owning Heart N' Soul, and they have become close to many of their customers. Its Obvious to anyone who goes into Heart N' Soul that this isn't just a job to Kathay and Warren, its easy to see that they really love what they do.