Mocha Mocha Me, Coffee & More!

Posted September 14th, 2007 by DanandRob
in

Background

It all started when Robert went to Seattle to visit his sister in ’93. As you know in Seattle there is a coffee cart on just about every corner, so of course he got hooked on Latte’s, but when he returned to Mchenry ,he could not even find a Starbucks, much less a coffee house.
The closest one at the time was in Chicago, so, he called Dan and said you must try this Latte thing. Well at that point they were both hooked, and then they started thinking hey! We can do this.
Around this time a friend of theirs approached them and asked if they would be interested in going into business with him and viola! The Halsted Street Café was born.
After working in Chicago for about a year they found a spot in the town where they lived that was perfect, so they packed their bags and set up shop on Riverside Dr. in McHenry, Illinois.
They had everything set to go except a name.” We had a few in mind, but nothing that we felt stood out.”
Then one afternoon as they were driving, they remembered a drink one of their customers at the Halsted street Café used to order ,he would walk up to the counter and say “Mocha Mocha Me, please !” and as the say …the rest is history.
Fast forward to 1999, they had been in business for three years and they were really tired of the cold and that was a really bad winter, so, they closed up shop and moved to Beverly…Hills that is (actually it was Reseda but close enough).
Fast forward to 2003, our friends, Kari and Cameron Watson said “you really ought to move to Arizona, the houses are cheap” So we took their advice and moved to Surprise to begin our new life as Arizonians.
While we were hanging out in downtown Glendale, AZ we thought “how cool would it be to open Mocha Mocha Me here in Glendale, so, We prayed about it and lo and behold here we are
Mocha Mocha Me is a coffeehouse that specializes in Fresh Whole bean coffee and Fresh loose leaf tea as well as any drink concoction you can imagine, Hot, Iced or Frozen ,if we do not have it ,we will get it!. We also have a play area for the kiddies’ as well as Live music, D J’s, Karaoke and Open Mic every Tuesday. We also feature Chess, Checkers, Backgammon and just about any other game that you can think of.
We are located at: 7448 W Glendale Ave
Suite 120
Glendale,AZ 85303
623-518-2906
mochamochame.com

Keys to Success

We are very community oriented and we truly care about our customers and employees alike. We feature a play area for the kiddies so the parents can actually enjoy their coffee.We also feature Live music as well as Karaoke and clean Comedians but, our passion is our Fresh Whole Bean Coffee as well as our Fresh Loose Leaf Tea which we get from all over the country and the world.

Special Events

We have Open Mic every Tuesday Ft. Comedian Shane Geant and Realman Records recording artist Paisley Yankolovich
Thursdays we have Karaoke w/Rob M
Fridays we have" 40 Days of Community" study group from 6-7 and then Live entertainment from 7:30-9pm.Saturdays, HouseBlend Ft D.J. Rob M on the Wheels of Steel

Target Customers

Our target customers are the people who really love great Coffee,Tea and a nice Ice Blended drink.
We cater to mothers and the younger generation but , we try to make everyone feel like they are part of our family!!!

Challenges Faced

We are only 3 weeks old and it took us a long time (8 Months) to get open. We are in Glendale, Arizona in August so our season has not really started yet. We are in a brand new mall 2 miles east of the Cardinals/University of Phoenix stadium so people are not used to us being here yet. We are doing grass root advertising i.e. fliers, coffee coins and such so it is taking time for people to discover us but when they do they tend to become regulars. Our biggest challenge has been changing the concept of what people think a coffeehouse should be and what good coffee and tea taste like.

Where We're Headed

We will begin to roast our own coffee and blend our teas in the next year and we would like to have a mobile coffee truck as well as 3 stores by 2010. We have a great concept,everyone thinks we are a franchise so we know we are on the right track.

Other Info

Originally we started our on- line coffee business to quell our passion for coffee and knew it would take time to build, but found it was the coffeehouse that was our real dream. We decided to open the store because we knew that was where our money was to be made as well as putting ourselves into a position to help the community and with the excellent location we have found we believe we can make our dream as well as other peoples come true.