MONROE — Paesano’s Coffee is now open on a prime corner along Fryelands Boulevard, ready to hand out java and frappes to the church-goers, neighborhood residents and industrial workers who populate the area.
It’s just the latest business venture for entrepreneur Bob Argento, who also runs a doughnut shop and a real estate company in Monroe, as well as completing occasional painting projects.
“I’m doing whatever I can to make a living,” Argento said. “I just enjoy business. It’s fun.”
Truth be told, the native New Yorker really dreams of running a pizzeria. But coffee followed doughnut holes a bit more naturally.
“A really good cup of coffee in this town would be good,” he added.
Paesano’s Coffee opened March 13 and already has its regular customers. Along with coffee and espresso drinks, the shop creates cold frappes and has a 99-cent kids menu with Italian sodas and strawberry smoothies, among other liquid treats. There’s also free Wi-Fi.
A drive-through window offers cups to go, and Argento hopes to see its use grow beyond typical morning rush times.
An Italian theme is carried through the store. In Italian, “paesano” translates to a friend from the same village, Argento said.
Bags of organic, fair-trade coffee go for $12.99. The shop only uses two blends: a medium roast — its “sorriso,” or smile, blend — and one dark — “fango” for mud.
Coffee roasted by Vinaccio
Although it bears the Paesano’s label, the coffee is roasted by Marysville-based Vinaccio Coffee.
Contract roasting isn’t a big part of Vinaccio’s business, owner and roaster Michael Jemmett said.
“Bob’s a good guy, and I want to see him succeed,” Jemmett said.
Keeping the Vinaccio name purely in the background lets Jemmett protect his brand, which is used at two coffee shops he owns and operates, in Sultan and Marysville.
“I like to keep the Vinaccio name more to ourselves and our first two stores,” Jemmett said. “It’s Bob’s shop, everything’s Bob’s — I just roast his coffee.”
Paesano’s fills a void in Monroe after the closures of Vinaccio Coffee shop in a Kelsey Street retail strip and Fiddler’s Bluff Coffee Company on Main Street, a couple years earlier.
The Monroe Vinaccio store was operated under a license and was not owned outright by Jemmett. It was, as he put it, “our first, only and last franchise attempt. … We decided to part ways on that venture.”
Tough business
Even in java-junkie Western Washington, the coffee business can be tough going, particularly in a recession.
Sip Coffee in Lynnwood’s Newberry Square, by the 164th Street Park &Ride, is the latest to search for a buyer.
Vinaccio’s, which opened its Marysville shop on 64th Street NE in March 2007 as the economy started to tank, has seen its own tough times.
“But ultimately sales have increased every month since we opened the shop, even in the recession,” Jemmett said. And the company has plans to open a third shop, along 88th Street NE in Marysville, if the economy thaws enough for the development to be built.
At Paesano’s, the small crew of eight employees is running a tight ship. And having gotten a “good deal” on the corner store, Argento is in it for the long haul. Staff were all trained in the same methods. He hopes to eventually add an audio station before the drive-through window where customers can place their orders.
“In this town, you can’t fool around. You’re selling a $3, $4 cup of coffee, you can’t mess it up,” he said. “You can advertise all you want but, this town, it’s word of mouth. … Something that’s not good is not going to make it.”
Paesano’s Coffee
Where: 14655 Fryelands Blvd. SE, Suite 109, Monroe
More info: 360-794-2922, paesanos@verizon.com
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