Up until last December, Shoreline resident Cathy Forinash assumed it just wasn’t the right time to pursue a dream of owning a coffee shop.
“I was talking to two engineers and they said I must really like my job,” Forinash, 42, said. “I do love the company I work for, but I don’t necessarily love what I do. So I shared with them that I would love to own a place like Richmond Beach Coffee Company (RBCC).”
A week later, she received word that her neighborhood cafe was up for sale and that her friend and work colleague, Christy Miller, was interested in being her business partner.
With one month as co-owners of RBCC behind them, the community coffeehouse duo has made serving coffee their main priority but continue to cultivate ideas for their new business endeavor from one another and from the Richmond Beach Community.
“For a lot of people this is part of their daily routine,” Miller, 52, said. “A dad, a grandma and a two-year-old come in here every Saturday. Each time the little girl has gotten progressively more interested in talking to me.”
When it comes to her relationship with her new business partner, Miller knows she and Forinash have individual strengths to contribute to the business.
“I don’t operate any of the machinery,” she said. “I’ve made coffee before but mostly I work in technology and Cathy is the general manager. If I have anything to say I channel it through Cathy so there’s no crossfire.”
The women share a love for good coffee, good chocolate and Spanish wine after traveling together to Barcelona in September. While in Barcelona, Forinash said she learned why people talk about European coffee and wondered why the same quality wasn’t being served back home.
“I guess I had never had good coffee,” Forinash said.
But their history really dates back to the mid-1920s to another community and business, according to Miller.
“We’re related by meat,” she said, explaining that her grandfather purchased a butcher shop from Forinash’s great-grandfather who was also a butcher in Dryden, Wash.
Whether related through meat or brought together by coffee, Forinash and Miller said they want to support local vendors who use natural, artisanal ingredients. Customers can select pastries from Alki Bakery, enjoy Panini made with Beecher’s cheese and sip coffee from Highland Coffee Company and milk and cream from the Smith Brothers Farms. Daily soup specials and clam chowder from Arnie’s Restaurant will also be a part of the coffeehouse’s menu.
The partners also hope to add a patio near the drive through and have a wine bar once they receive their liquor license. Longer business hours are also being considered for several week nights beginning the first week in February.
“We’re going to have to figure out exactly what longer hours means,” Miller said. “We have to see what makes sense.”
The pair will host a Sweetheart Dessert event on Feb. 14-16 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and hold a grand reopening of the RBCC during Super Bowl weekend on Feb. 2-3. But don’t expect to watch the football game there they said.
“This is your sanctuary, so if there are any Super Bowl widows you can come here,” Forinash said.
Other plans for RBCC will surround trying to organize a Jazz Walk similar to the one in North City and performances by community musicians. Artwork from community members will be showcased on the newly painted, yellow walls.
“We want to give people a chance that may not have a chance for a showing,” Miller said.
Although excited for changes, Forinash and Miller said they like the memories and good karma associated with RBCC. They met one of the original owners, Ken Lyons, before they purchased the business and were impressed. They promised to keep a few things, namely a red rocking chair in memory of Lyons’ wife, Linda, who died in 2002.
“Ken is just a wonderful man,” Forinash said. “…We’re also happy to keep (items) here in her memory.”
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