The Soul-Led Sessions
Real conversations with soul-led business owners diving into what it really took for them to build a life and business they truly love — rooted in purpose, passion, and aligned success.
The Soul-Led Sessions
12 - How Three Siblings Built Sunrise Brew Coffee from the Ground Up
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Just steps from the beach in St. Augustine, Tessa, Maggie & Mitchell of Sunrise Brew Coffee are proving that great coffee has the power to bring people together. As siblings building a business side by side, they've created far more than a neighborhood café—they've built a welcoming community where meaningful connection comes first. Originally from Utah, they quickly fell in love with St. Augustine and its incredible support for locally owned businesses, making it the perfect place to bring their vision to life. From cozy craft nights and seasonal themed events to plans for adding beer and wine, they're continually creating new ways for people to gather, connect, and enjoy a true "third space" beyond home and work.
This inspiring conversation explores entrepreneurship, family business, leadership, work-life balance, and the courage to start before you feel completely ready. Tessa, Maggie, and Mitchell share what it's like building a business as siblings, opening their café sooner than expected, and learning every step of entrepreneurship along the way. Drawing from previous jobs, managers, and life experiences, they've intentionally created a culture built on kindness, genuine hospitality, and mutual respect—striving to be the kind of leaders they always wanted to work for while empowering their team to make every guest feel like family. It's a heartfelt reminder that success isn't just about building a business—it's about creating a place where employees feel valued, customers feel welcomed, and community always comes first.
Check out Sunrise Brew Coffee on Instagram: @SunriseBrewCoffee
And on their website: https://sunrisebrewcoffee.com
00:00 Welcome to Sunrise Brew Coffee
00:35 The Story Behind Sunrise Brew Coffee
03:10 Dreaming of Opening a Coffee Shop
04:50 From Coffee Truck to Café
06:35 Taking the Leap into Entrepreneurship
10:20 Why St. Augustine Felt Like Home
12:00 Building a Business as Siblings
14:10 Why St. Augustine Supports Small Businesses
17:00 Creating Community Through Coffee
19:30 Working with Family & Spouses
22:00 Building a Culture of Kindness
24:00 Learning Entrepreneurship as You Go
29:15 Creating a True Community Gathering Place
31:30 Balancing Multiple Businesses
34:20 The Vision for Sunrise Brew's Future
39:00 Morning Routines & Entrepreneur Life
42:00 Advice to Their Younger Selves
46:30 Where to Find Sunrise Brew Coffee
Connect with Host Leandra Sweet: @TheSoulLedSessions
I moved here to St. Augustine, Florida to live my dream life. It didn't take long to realize, other people did too. People who took a leap, followed what they loved, and built something of their own in this magical little town. The Soul-led sessions is about those people, the stories behind the businesses you see, visit, and fall in love with. Not just what they've created, but what it really took to get there. The risks, the pivots, the moments that changed everything, and what it actually looks like to build a life that feels aligned. These conversations are here to connect you to the heart of entrepreneurship and maybe even to what's possible for your own life. I'm here with Tessa, Maggie, and Mitchell of Sunrise Brew Coffee, which is a definite staple in St. Augustine. How are you all doing? Yeah, good, good. Awesome, awesome. Tell us a little bit about how Sunrise Brew came to be.
SPEAKER_02Well, it initially started, so the founders are Tim and Roz Medlock.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_02And their vision for sunrise was just really big on community. But it first started with the truck about two years ago. And then we took over about a year or it's been three. Then three years ago. Maggie and I took over the truck about two years ago, and then he's now had it for about a year. But during that time, we also opened up this cafe here. But it did start with the medlocks, and then we took over, but we've kind of all just been a family, even with the medlocks as well.
SPEAKER_01I think that's so fun that you get to work together and grow up together and then work together and continue to hang out. How is that? Like as a I I interview a lot of couples, but I haven't interviewed family yet. So I'd love to hear how you make that happen.
SPEAKER_03It definitely has its challenges. Um I think it's probably easier in some aspects because you're so raw with each other already as far as emotions go. But yeah, there's definitely been some challenges, but I wouldn't imagine it any other way. I I love every moment of it. It's been great.
SPEAKER_02I think there's also a fun aspect that we like to view it as there's a lot of times when you do get older, you're not able to spend as much time with your families. And so that's something that we also absolutely love about doing business together is that we have the opportunity to talk with each other every single day, hang out with each other every single day. Even if it's work, we still get to spend a lot more of that quality time that most families don't get, and it's something that we definitely don't take uh for granted. It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00I think um it's cool for me because w we got lucky in the fact that we get along really well together, even growing up. Like we come from a huge family, we've got six kids in our family, and it's we would always sit at the dinner table together, we'd even hang out together, even though we have a big age gap, and like my friends knew their like it was just such a tight knit always, and so it's cool as I get older seeing them get into business and everything, being able to be a part of that and work together. Like, that's definitely like super rewarding and cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It kind of came naturally being like, of course, we're gonna do it together.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. Yeah, amazing. So, did you talk about this as kids? Like someday, were your parents were your parents business owners that kind of inspired you, or how did it happen?
SPEAKER_02Our our dad's been in business mainly his whole life, but for us, it Maggie and I's dream started in high school when we first started drinking coffee. Um, so we always dreamed about creating a space that was big on community and comfortable and good coffee and good food. Well, we loved going to coffee shops. And we were like, we need to make one that like we just really love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, so that's kind of been part of the dream. And then we we once they moved into uh Florida, it was kind of something that we were able to share with them, and then you know, one thing led to another.
SPEAKER_01Amazing and went from the truck to the the building.
SPEAKER_03I mean, a brick and mortar it was definitely a lot sooner than we expected it to be. Because we were only in the truck, I think it was actually less than a year when we found this location, but it was just kind of too perfect to give up because it was by the beach, which was like really important to us. And so we jumped on it and it was definitely scary and probably a little too soon, but it was it's ended up great, and it's uh it's been so amazing.
SPEAKER_02That's great. It's funny even hearing you say like staple of St. Augustine, because that's something that when we first had like one of our initial owner meetings, we were like, we want to be a staple of St. Augustine, like we want it to be the spot that people do come to connect.
SPEAKER_01So even just hearing you say that, it totally is already. I mean, right away. I mean opening day, right? You you would you've ever expected how busy it was?
SPEAKER_03No, no, we can hope and dream, but to see it come to reality was like, wow, it was emotional. Yeah, so amazing. It's always all we've ever wanted. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00And so quick. We were in here for a month building this out and everything. And I I it was all them. I was just here, you know, on the weekend. You helped go off just popping in. But to be able to see like a successful opening and even like continued success since then is just super rewarding. And the brother.
SPEAKER_01The truck as well. The truck has been a great success, a little north of here. We live close to the truck, so we see you guys a lot more than we see you. But tell us a little bit about adjusting to working a food truck, essentially, a coffee truck. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you jumped right in. We really threw you into it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, you don't go to school for that. No, no. And for me, it was like nothing that was it wasn't planned out like more along the lines of them. They they got to kind of dream, they sat in the coffee shops together, they wanted to have a, you know, they had a vision together. For me, I was just working more of a corporate job and was sick of it and was like ready to get out, and they were ready to open up a cafe. So it kind of like landed in my lap a little bit as far as just like perfect timing. And even with my last job, I had a little bit of an entrepreneur side of myself that really wanted to like maybe open up a business with the corporate side of things. And so when the opportunity arose for me to jump into the truck, it was just it seemed a natural spot for me. And I was like, I'm just gonna quit my job and jump straight into the family business at this point. Wow. So you quit, yeah, yeah. You left and just went on. And went all in into the yeah, bought the bought the truck and everything. It was great. So it's been super rewarding since then. So it's been great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's kind of a fun conversation when we were all first meeting up be when they were purchasing the truck. It it's kind of funny just being like, okay, entrepreneurship is you you really can't prepare for it. And I it's really been fun to see more family come into it. Because I got to watch her become one and then him become one, and for both of you guys, like you really have just taken it, and I've seen it where it's just kind of like natural for our family, and I don't know if that's kind of just runs from us and our dad, but you guys really have like you've you know you've blown our minds, so it's beautiful. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's great because that not everybody is a natural entrepreneur. Like they say, you know, everybody says, Oh, go for it, try if you want to be an entrepreneur, but it's not for everyone, right? And there's so many things that you don't realize. Yeah, it's not the easy route. Right, not the easy route. But it's not no, and there's so many things that you're like, this is not what I expected. It's not as easy, or it's not as, you know, it's not as rewarding, maybe, or maybe it is. I don't know, it depends on what you're doing. I think there's a lot of reward here and and at the truck for you all, especially probably the people you meet and get to know because they come back, right?
SPEAKER_03Your regular created a big sense of community, which I think is rewarding. There's definitely challenges, but um no, it's it's great. We're loving every moment of it and only getting better, hopefully, second location coming soon. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, sneaky, I love it. What about St. Augustine that made you decide to well, you did you grow up here or did you grow up elsewhere and then move here?
SPEAKER_02Um, so we're originally from southern Utah. Uh so we grew up in St. George. Uh uh, but Maggie and I, well, actually, Mitchell moved here before, so he kind of led the family out here.
SPEAKER_00I was like a planted seed for the family. I moved out here from Utah.
SPEAKER_04Come on. I know. The water's nice.
SPEAKER_00I moved out here from Utah as soon as I graduated high school and was working a job for a NASCAR team and left Florida. And as soon as I left Florida, the family decided to come out to Florida. So after you left. That was in what 2014 or 15 or so. Okay.
SPEAKER_03We've been here for I think we're going on about 15 years now. Oh, yeah. It definitely feels like home. We've been here or at least I've been here longer than I was in Utah. But it's just hard to not fall in love with St. Augustine. It's really a perfect little beach family town, and the community is great. And I don't know, it just it just feels right. It feels like this is the perfect location for that community. And I think that we've also gotten a lot of feedback from people saying that that's what they love the most. It's just like you can come in and chat with the baristas, like they're friends, and it's been it's been great. It's the perfect place for it.
SPEAKER_01That's cool. I agree. It is the perfect location right down the road from the beach, or even across the street, really, if you want to go that way. But there are a lot of bikinis and you know, bathing suits coming in to get their surfers coming in, which is so cool. So you did grow up surfing, that's surprising, didn't we?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we grew up in life. We we were in the snow. We did snowboard. You snowboard more than we did. Yeah, I jumped right on surfing as soon as we moved here. So and she's actually quite the little surfer herself.
SPEAKER_01You all go on family surfs?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you really?
SPEAKER_03That I find enjoying.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so much peace waiting for that wave. Right? That's so cool that you do that. How about the other siblings? Are they involved in are they older, younger?
SPEAKER_02We've mixed in there. We're the two youngest.
SPEAKER_00We've got an older sister still out in Utah, and then we've got one in New York and one in Jacksonville.
SPEAKER_03So we're a little bit all over the place, but they're involved in the support that they give us for sure. Um they're all doing their own thing. They have families and stuff, so we're kind of the three that are all in St. Aug, and we're like, let's just make it work. But it works.
SPEAKER_02We do. Our sister that does live in Jacksonville, she's got her little family, and a lot of times they'll come down, and even our nephews and nieces, they're like, When can I work the coffee shop? When can I work at the ice cream shop? So they're still like they have a lot of excitement, and like they were saying, like, our family is very with how close we are, even though some of them are super far away, like they're still calling and asking how business is going, and they'll buy all of the merch from online. So they're very, they're very supportive. That's cool.
SPEAKER_01That's so cool. And it it's everything to have that close-knit family and to be able to do business together and then support each other. And it just it's so beautiful to see like grown people, you know. When you're kids, I'm imagining you got along, but maybe not always. There's that love-hate time, right? Oh, yeah. Maybe that still carries into the shop. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02And we'll have a line out in the door, and it's like, not right now.
SPEAKER_01That's funny.
SPEAKER_03There's definitely some of it, but no, we're it's been it's been great. The whole family's pretty involved. Yeah, our parents are fully involved. Anytime we need help, that's unwillingly, yeah. We definitely put a lot on them, but they're great. They are great.
SPEAKER_01They're in it whether they like it or not. But that sounds like they're very supportive and and probably really proud of all of you for doing this. Yeah. And probably exciting that you're in St. Augustine, you've stayed nearby. Now that you can't leave, really. You're tied here for a little bit, especially if you open that second location or when. Third location, really. Yeah. But second second in brick and mortar, right? Second in person or building, I guess, is the better way to say it. We love St. Augustine. We moved here from New York, and it's just a magical place for the people, especially. And you all inspired me to start this podcast. You were one of the inspirations because so young, I mean, being so young and and starting a business, but not only just doing it, you do it with such like beauty and grace, and there's so much love poured into it. You can feel that in the truck and here, and I think it's a story worth telling that you know, you're here, you're doing this, living your dream life, essentially. Do you think you're living your dream life?
SPEAKER_02I think so. I feel like we talk about it all the time. Um, again, even just being able to spend time together where it's like when we were little, you really don't think that there's ever gonna be a time in, you know, when you grow up where you're gonna separate. So having that reality where it's like we're still here, we still are, you know, hanging out every day, working together every day.
SPEAKER_03Um just kind of feels right. Yeah. I mean, like I moved away, I mean he moved back to Utah for college, I moved away for college, and she stayed here with her ice cream shop. But when we all kind of found our way back to each other, because it's like you almost can't stay away.
SPEAKER_01So it sucks you back. The ocean called, right? But it's such a it's such a cool place, and the people that come here are from all over. I mean, all over the place. I've never met such an eclectic bunch of people, and there are so many entrepreneurs. Like, I do you know that there's people just like starting their dream life here like you are doing, but maybe in a different field or doing a different thing? Like, why does that attract so many entrepreneurs and just I think also St.
SPEAKER_02Augustine, and and you can go anywhere and ask this too, but the community is so so good about supporting small businesses. So even if it's like with your podcast, it's like of course we're gonna come on, you know. But everyone, it's like it's they're choosing to go to those small businesses and focus on that. So I think it's like when you see that and you have a dream yourself, you already know that you have support from St. Augustine.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's true. You know, so it's like the community is very good with that. So true. And that's what we loved about it too. We were on the west coast of Florida looking in like the Tampa area and Bradenton and lots of just chain places, chains, chain Sarasota, even. And it was like, where's like that local flavor? And we actually came to Jacksonville first and saw it there, but St. Augustine is so local, yeah. It's like such a beautiful place, yeah, to have a local business. And at again, at every in every field, like every area.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it really is. You look down the road driving, and it's like, oh, small, like it's yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you kind of knew you would succeed. Like you it was almost like a a shoe-in. You would it would do well. And the truck started, and you said a year before you had this place. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Wow, I think it was actually 10 months. Yeah, a year. She was a really big drive for that because we we really did always have the vision for this, but she's so good with like really finding a gemstone. And so seeing this location and you know, knowing it's from the beach and it's exactly the vibe that we were going for. I was actually shocked, and that's been the fun part about you know, I was the first one to start or not start business, but get into business with the siblings, and so seeing her naturally just be like, all right, this is what we gotta do, and we're doing it. You know, so she was a big push towards you.
SPEAKER_01What was up? I love that, and the truck too, the truck is mobile so you can go. Do you go other places than the plaza location?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we have in the past, and we've got this the Sunday market, the uh north end of town, the North City market, which is great. We love that. We've decided that coffee just seems like a community thing, and it's it seems it works best for us staying in a place where people know where we're at, and they can always rely on us being there. And you know, whenever they're just needing that little pick-me-up uh for the truck, it's just nice to know that we're right there. So we stay in the same location right now, pretty much exclusively.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the farmers market has been great for them because I think it's created a whole like we're so south that it's almost like two little sunrise communities and they occasionally venture out and it's fun to see that crossover. And so, yeah, that's been great. I love I love that the markets have started up and it's been great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And there could be more of that in the future as well, too.
SPEAKER_01So that was the first stop at the market we finally went, and my kids were like, sunrise neighbors, okay. We can't shop. Yeah, exactly. It's perfect. It is perfect, it's perfect, and you do a lot of creative things there with drinks. I mean, here too. Tell us a little bit about how you figure out like what can we do to make things fun, what can we do to change things up, get people in. I think it's a lot of work.
SPEAKER_03I think it's kind of like what I mean. We built this based off of what we would want in a coffee shop, which is like a lot of this stuff is like cozy seating. We want to like hang out and feel like it's kind of like a living room almost.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So it kind of follows into that sense where it's like, what would I want to see? And so I'm kind of just doing what I want and it kind of works a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Well, the specials are also fun for us too, because that is something that we did want where it's like it's nice having the baseline of drinks that we have, but having the specials, it's like you want to have something new, you want to have something exciting. And that it's it has been it's a lot of work, but it's also super fun because we get excited for the specials, so we're like, oh, what are we gonna come up with?
SPEAKER_01Something new to drink for you too, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it kind of creates a sense of community too, because we have regulars that are like you should do this, and so I'm like, you know what? You're right.
SPEAKER_00Still like a couple ideas.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we have had actually some customers create some of our specials. We have a girl named Shannon that sometimes she'll come and be like, I think like a hint of peach. And if you shake it with some content, like should and so it's really fun to like listen in on what the customer actually likes, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so give them what they want, and yeah, but also try new things and new flavors and things that you know won't ever work again. And probably some not good, not good choices and things that you'll be reordering so you can make in the future. The chocolate covered strawberry is is a favorite in our house. I love February rolls around. February, right? So, but we ask for off season too.
SPEAKER_02We have so many people that are still getting like they're like, I know this was the March special, or I know this was the May, but yeah, and we still we still can pretty much do most of them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's fun. And then what about the food truck that oh it's a coffee truck? It's not a food truck, right? You have some food, yeah, some pastries, but yeah. Pastries, yeah. What do you love most about showing up there every day? Like what's what do you look forward to?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it's kind of funny because like I did come from just like a a nine to five type of work schedule, and I work more now than I did at my old job, but it just seems so much more like fun, so much more exciting, rewarding, um, so much more rewarding. I get to work with my husband every day as well, and that just works out super well. Um, the two of us just tag teaming the trailer together a little bit. So yeah, it's super great. It's super fun, and I we put in a ton of hours, but it's it's more fun than just the clocking in type of.
SPEAKER_01And tell us a little bit about working with your spouse. Is that a good thing all the time? Or do you have rules? Have you have you made up some rules to keep things separate?
SPEAKER_00It is hard. It's it's almost impossible to keep everything separate, which is kind of the unfortunate part of it, but it just for whatever reason, it just works really well, the two of us. We find what we are both good at and we can let each other do those things. And occasionally, you know, we do need to just like we're together so often that we do need to just be like, okay, I'm just gonna leave and like get my own space for a second, and I'll be back later.
SPEAKER_01Especially in a contained space.
SPEAKER_00It must be a challenge. Yeah, it's a small spot in that coffee tree.
SPEAKER_02Which we were in it too, and it's that's something that we even would talk about. We're like, there's times we were hitting each other on the head with the empty milk pallets, you know. But it was in between, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and the door opened. No open open. I was gonna figure always smiles when we show up. Both of you always have a beautiful smile on your face, and it's always so you're always so welcoming to come. So I wait, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. No, but I'm sure it's really good advice. Pleasure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You do have to get um it is getting used to it a little bit. Knowing boundaries. Knowing boundaries.
SPEAKER_03I think that's what the good thing about the family part. Like there could be so many downsides, but I think it's like at the end of the day, we're we're stuck with each other, so we gotta work it out, we gotta figure it out. And I think that that could be lost in other business partnerships that aren't related. So I think that that's kind of like is then we gotta figure 'cause we're going home right after the Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. Right. And then you have employees here as well. How many employees do you have? Do you know?
SPEAKER_02We have seven. Oh my god. No. Six or seven. Um, yeah, and they're all so fantastic. We genuinely I have the best staff in the whole world. Sydney's super fantastic, Amber Super Fantastic, Mike, uh, we got all of them. And they're probably gonna be mad if I don't name all of them. But genuinely, like, we got blessed for sure. Yeah, they're fantastic. They have the same type of vision where they enjoy customer service, so they know that it's like it's more than just saying, What do you want to order? It's hey, how was your day? Oh my gosh, how was the weekend? You just got engaged. You know, they're fully involved in our customers' lives as well, and they have that passion too. So they're just fantastic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they really are, and they make you feel welcome again and just like your like your family or like your friends just coming in and hey, how's it going? What are you guys up to today? I love that. Like it makes everybody feel comfy and to want to come back for sure.
SPEAKER_03I love that. No, it's been great, and I think our interview process might look a little different than other people's, but the whole time we're just like you have to be like nice. Like, I don't care if you like show up late, but like as long as you're nice. So we're just really big on the so you have standards, yeah. Yeah, well, and it's that's what's great. It's such a great family staff, and I don't know, we all get along great.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty incredible. Again, I'm not saying young people can't be entrepreneurs because look at this, you certainly can. But there's so much you learn with age, I feel like, that you know now. That's amazing to me. I mean, how did you learn how to manage a staff and how to keep stock, inventory, and how to do the books and you know, all the things that go into entrepreneurship? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think the easy answer is we're still learning as you go.
SPEAKER_02It is kind of entrepreneurship, is it's like even if you don't know how to do a job, you you've figured out how to do a job.
SPEAKER_01You figure it out real quick. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02So it's like managing staff.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that didn't work. Let's try this. Right. Yeah. I was like, she had a little bit of um, she went straight into the ice cream shop at 19.
SPEAKER_01So Oh, you were 19. She was. That's incredible.
SPEAKER_03It's crazy. I think you had one employee. So you kind of like slowly built that up. And luckily, our dad wears many hats, and he's kind of gave us the ropes on like accounting and random things, but it really is just learning as you go. I think a lot of people like to put on our face that they have it all together, but it's like it's scrambled behind the scenes, but nobody really knows what they're doing when it comes down to it.
SPEAKER_01No, 100%.
SPEAKER_02I think we're like just now even getting like I'm for months, people know that oh, we're out of this, this, this, and this. You know, so it's something I the ice cream shop was training wheels compared to this. So even just with inventory, something so simple as that, where it's like, okay, we thought we only needed one, but we need five. So, you know, so it's been trial and error, but we yeah.
SPEAKER_00Figure it out as you go. And yeah. And as far as entrepreneurs go, like a lot of people, it probably holds people back thinking they have to know like how to run a business and like every aspect of everything, but really you just you just have to have really good work ethic, really. Yeah, yes, you figure it out. Just manifest it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it has to work. Yes, and good work ethic too, because you have to show up for yourself, nobody's gonna clock you in. I know, nobody's gonna keep you accountable, but maybe you keep each other accountable, but nobody does that, you have to do it for yourself, and that's kind of hard to get used to, I think, if you're not used to it. For sure.
SPEAKER_03I think the hardest part for me was like the work life balance a little bit, is like knowing that you don't really ever clock out, but it is just so rewarding in the other side of it. So it's it's great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's great advice too. Just I always say ready, go, set instead of ready, set, go. Like you have the idea, just go. We'll figure it out along the way. And there'll be pivots and there'll be mistakes and there'll be errors.
SPEAKER_02There's always something.
SPEAKER_01You gotta, if you don't do it, you're never gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02I've you know kind of dragged them a little bit with her, especially too, in the mentality where I always was like, Well, I'm okay with sinking because I know eventually you'll learn how to swim. But if you need a sink before you can swim, like it's you know, figure it out.
SPEAKER_03All right, yeah. We joked when we opened this. We were like, it's either gonna be a funny story when we're 50 that's like we tried to figure that out. We're still paying it off here. Or, you know, it it works, and yeah, thank thankfully it did.
SPEAKER_01So, did you ever have another job before Scoop?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I um well, me and her, we had tons of little jobs. We actually worked a little bit with the NASCAR team just doing random oddball jobs. Yeah, we've always been we had a little landscaping business. We had a couple different clients that we did in high school, and then I worked at Salt Life, and then from Salt Life, I uh I went straight into the ice cream shop.
SPEAKER_01Wow, wow, that's so incredible. I mean, really, but you can't you do all those little odd jobs to kind of learn what you like, what you don't like, and you ended up in the service industry, which I think everybody should be in in some way. At least once. At least once, yeah.
SPEAKER_03We were both servers for several years. Yeah, so were you? And I know that you were like managing people, so it was always kind of like a lot going on, but just handling and dealing with people.
SPEAKER_02I I have a love for it. So I think it kind of came naturally with that too. But yeah. That's I learned a lot from serving for going into even with management. I had super great managers and I had other managers that obvious I mean, everyone has their managers that they don't love.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02But I even took a lot of that when I was working at Salt Life because I knew I wanted to own a business. So it's like, okay, when I have employees, you know, this is how I'd want to be treated when I was. Or I really love the way that they did manage this way. So I'm taking that and you know Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Always putting ourselves in their shoes to kind of try and just it's like, no, I wouldn't agree with that if I was the employee. So I need to maybe reframe that. So that's great.
SPEAKER_01Always getting perspective and learning from every experience, it sounds like even in the corporate world, yeah, right?
SPEAKER_00There's a lot you learn there and how to manage and how to be managed and yeah, a lot of skills that that it takes time to learn all these skills, and and we're still learning, but yeah, you you pick things up as you go and you you throw away things that don't work and for you and for others, and like keep stuff that is good and and is uplifting for the community and the whole company. So the transfers over.
SPEAKER_01People love coffee, so they're gonna keep showing up. And you offer more than just you've got matcha and chaga and all the different kinds of brews here too. So not just coffee, but the drinks are amazing. We always love coming here, and I think the whole community does. I mean, anytime you're in St. Augustine South or on the island, you've got to come here. This is the place. And you offer food here too now. Yeah. Full a full service cafe, which is incredible. So breakfast and lunch. What made you decide to do that and not just coffee? It just was part of the dream.
SPEAKER_03I think we just kind of felt right. We wanted people to like hang out, so we kind of knew that we were gonna have to incorporate that in some way. We also are working still on our beer and wine license because um not that we want to be a bar, but definitely just like a hangout spot. So a little glass of wine and a little like snack plate is kind of was the vision.
SPEAKER_01That's fun too. I like that idea. And you do some nights where you open up, you stay open late and do fun things.
SPEAKER_02Yes, we've had some really fun nights in here. Yeah, we had um in the winter, we did a pumpkin carving night, which was really fun. We had a cookie decorating night, which was that one was more of like a couples night, which was really cute. So we had a lot of couples come for that one, and then we've had some really, really fun girl nights. And we we have put, I think just with us and our relationship, it's been fun just of thinking of like what again what we wanted. So we have had a couple more of like more focused on girls' nights, but we had a craft night, we've had a couple craft nights that have just been a blast. We had, and it's it's like a BYOC, bring your own craft. Oh and then we supply the drinks and food. Uh, but it's been really cool to see all the girls show up and bring their talents, and it just forms this group that you know you get to hang out with. It's it's a way to meet friends, meet community. That's not just necessarily like going out and drinking, and you know, so it's it's been fun. It's something that we always wanted to. It's like I don't feel like going out to the bars. Like, I want to do something that I love to do, but I want to still meet friends.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so an alternative to the bar, which is so needed, especially in this community, but also anywhere. I mean, it's a great idea.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we felt like there was like a small hole in in the market and just like things going on. Obviously, our we would like to do more, and hopefully there's more on the books with events, but yeah, I just it's super fun. There's always we wanted to be like, oh, what is sunrise doing this week? And yeah, just have a little community again, feel like more like a third space and two uh shop.
SPEAKER_01Cool. And do you come to the events here? I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02He definitely helps the girls' nights, but yeah. He knows when he shows up, he's gonna have to help.
SPEAKER_01So he's like, Oh, wait on this one. And I'll pass on the craft night tonight. That is a little bit more clean up than uh than normal, right? With the craft the Punk Simono is a little messy. That's a fun one though. That's a really fun one. We've gotta pay attention to the spell and see what's on the thing. And then so you're here, are you working here full time? Are you all working in your spaces full time? Yeah, we are, and then juggling other things as well. You have the scoop, yeah, which is the the best ice cream shop right on San Marco. Gotta give it a little shout-out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. That's um, I have a manager over there, her name's Anna, and she's quite literally the most fantastic person.
SPEAKER_04Wonderful.
SPEAKER_02She's helped a lot with that, but so that I can be here more full-time while we're trying to build our our uh brand and identity. But yeah, definitely some juggling after. Cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we're kind of doing it all ourselves. So um we're here full time, but yeah, there's a lot behind the scenes as far as I think that's just owning a business in general. You kind of wear a lot of hats, but totally yeah, again, using each other's strengths and I think that that just works the best at the end of the day because it comes naturally and it's more enjoyable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And being able to delegate other people to do things for you too, right? That you may not enjoy as much or anything like that eases your day and just makes it more joyous for you, too, right? Is always a good thing. And learning your employee strengths as well and what they're good and not good at.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01You have to you have to figure all of that out and kind of juggle all of that, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we have um one of our employees, Amber Brown, she has a little photography business on the side, so she's actually been a great help with our Instagram. Again, because i I'm not good with photography, she's great with social media, but it's nice having, you know, some of their skills, being able to wrap it up and and use it.
SPEAKER_03We're all in it together.
SPEAKER_01Love it. The whole big family. And you have sunrise brew at like Christmas morning. Do you do you have little drinks that you mix up?
SPEAKER_02And we're all mad when we when we were in the truck, it'd be like, where are we supposed to go when we'd be like closed out for the day? We're like, what do we do now? Like, uh, should we go turn the espresso machine on?
SPEAKER_01It's fun. I would be tempted to just drink all day long. Like I'd probably be caffeinated most of the time. We all over caffeinated. So intolerance is pretty.
SPEAKER_02Okay, like, yeah, no, I'm fine. Just give me shot.
SPEAKER_01I love it. That's great. So plans for the future. You there's gonna be another location. Yeah. We learned that, and then any other dreams that you have that you hope to, I mean, you don't have to share them in detail or anything.
SPEAKER_02You can keep them secret, but I think with sunrise, we actually were just we'd had a meeting right before this about it, but we we want to make sure that sunrise keeps the fundamentals of what our passion was with the business, um, which is community. And so we don't want to have it be just a coffee shop that's on every block. Um, we want to make sure that it's like, oh, a sunrise is, you know, it's not a place that you just go get coffee. It's great, you go and get coffee, the food's great, the coffee's great. So we would love to have three to five locations just within Florida.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_02Um, but we don't want to like overdo it where you lose the vision of the business and the fundamentals. So we want to make sure that the business when we do open these multiple locations, it still holds that the values that integrity.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yeah, I love that. That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02We don't want it to be a chain, we want it to be that you know it is family owned.
SPEAKER_01So right. And keeping that aesthetic and keeping that like that that's what's so beautiful about it and what draws people in the most, I would say. And you know you're not only getting a quality drink or bite to eat, but you're really supporting a beautiful family, supporting good people, supporting employees.
SPEAKER_02In the community, like wherever they're at, it's like that's what it's meant to be is that like connection spot.
SPEAKER_01So cool. It's just amazing to see this, your amount of vision, and I'm sure you get inspired by the ocean, by the beach, being on the waves, and yeah. What are some other inspirations for you? And and do you I guess I should ask first, do you work together to come up with these plans if the truck and the location, the physical location, or do you keep them separate? It it seems that you're pretty much together on a lot of decisions and what goes on. You keep it one brand, one right? Copasthetic brand.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think we wanted to what's important is definitely like keeping everything coherent and like that they know that they're gonna get the same coffee if they go to the truck versus here or like our second location. We want everything to be very cohesive and stay the same in that sense. So I think we work, yeah, we we work together on the specials and going into another location, it will definitely be a lot more working together. But yeah, no, we we definitely stay in contact every day and we're we stop by the truck all the time and get coffee.
SPEAKER_02I drink coffee more from the truck than I do here. Do you really? As soon as I get here, I'm working. So I actually really look forward to going to the trailer. Yeah, uh I get to be the customer and I'm like, oh, like I get to enjoy my coffee. You know, I get to yeah, so it's it's great. Definitely still working together on the case. You'll see me do loops. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00They stop by in the morning and we get a customer, so they pull back around in line. It's great.
SPEAKER_01You just wait till your turn and the conversation. Hold on. I've seen you on your skateboard one time, scooting around and waiting for your latte or whatever. No, exactly. It's so fun. So that vision will carry through to anything you guys do. I mean, really, not just it doesn't always have to just be, or not just, but a coffee shop. Yeah, it can be anything you want to design and and create. You know that now. Like what a cool thing to know, right? That you you're capable of doing something like this and creating this community, and it's just really neat. It's a very unique thing, not everybody gets to experience. We agree. Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_02We really have had just the best time with it. Doing business with family, there's it's always that like 50-50 where a lot of people say that. So it's really cool to be on that happy 50 where we genuinely, it's like you see it as another opportunity to be able to spend so much more time with family.
SPEAKER_01So amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and just we're excited, we're excited to still grow in St. Augustine and really plant our family name into it and kind of share what we want to leave with the world.
SPEAKER_01So I love it. I love asking entrepreneurs what their morning routine is, if you wouldn't mind sharing if you have if you have a sad morning routine or if you just get up and go.
SPEAKER_03I think if I'm here, it's definitely we're pretty much here the whole day. So I'm waking up, eating breakfast and coming here. But on my days where I don't have to come to the shop, I sit outside with a cup of sunrise, then I make it home, and I just enjoy my coffee. I think that that was like kind of our big thing with opening a coffee shop, is just like the time spent while enjoying a cup of coffee was so just like selfish. And I think it was nice, you know, like it was just either like the conversation was good with whoever you're with, and so that kind of is still my morning routine is enjoying my coffee for a long time and then and then to work on a lot of it. Love it.
SPEAKER_00Yep. I would say the same, honestly, like especially because we're all up very early.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're all up by six.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so it's nice to for me, I like slowly waking up in the you know, I get my coffee as soon as I get in, and it's nice to be able to we're helping customers and stuff, but it's nice to in between customers, like especially in the truck, you kind of have that space where you just get to enjoy your cup of coffee in the morning with nice with your partner, so it's great.
SPEAKER_03Sometimes I feel like that's all I do. Sometimes I get home from work and I'm like, I really just had coffee with my friends.
SPEAKER_01That's so fun.
SPEAKER_02I will say my morning routine has changed. I think it just is different for each business because different entrepreneurs, like you know, it's different schedules, but for our morning routines, I think it's it really is just kind of like wake up and go because coffee's early morning. Right. So that is something that's different for us where it is like you're up at 6 a.m. but you have to be working by 6 30. Or you're up at 5 30 and you gotta be working at 6.
SPEAKER_01Otherwise, you'd be getting up at like 4 if you go to the gym. And that's really early.
SPEAKER_02It's more like I feel like it's more like of a nighttime routine that we get because work's just in the morning, so it's more like okay, my our nighttime routine is being able to go to the gym, you know, and then yeah, planning out for the next day or yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Luckily, it's a very enjoyable job, so it's yeah, I mean that's why we're worth getting up for, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, totally. One more question. If you could give your 18-year-old self or maybe 19 some advice, what would that be?
SPEAKER_03You can start with that one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right. I I was always someone who who did feel like I had to have it figured out before, like, so as far as business goes, I always felt like I was like not prepared enough, always. And so there there is a sense of like just do it, just like have that confidence. Um, you know, you you are a hard worker, you can do it. And that goes for a lot of people, like you can just do it if you work hard enough. And I I guess I would tell myself that.
SPEAKER_01I love that growing up, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I um goodness, sometimes that question I I think you're just like don't worry, you'll figure it out. There's I feel like I've gone through so much in the past just five years of my life where it's like you really kind of going off of what he was saying. You feel like you have to figure it out, and you know, you graduate college and you're like, what do I do with my life? And there's just so much can happen in so little time, and I think it's just I think it would be like calm down, don't worry, figure it out. Relax. Relax.
SPEAKER_01That's a good one. Just relax and let it happen, right? Life will happen for you.
SPEAKER_03My favorite song, I had to play it all the time throughout the past few years, especially with like business, it's just the slow down, you're doing fine.
SPEAKER_01Love it.
SPEAKER_02I think something looking back now, because I just got into business at 19. Right. And it was during COVID year. I bought it like a week before COVID hit, and so it was kind of it's just I mean, every business is rough, but I I got into a really bad rap of I had to work and work kind of just became your all. And I think that's really, really easy for entrepreneurs just because you do wear every single hat. So there's never really a time where you're like, oh, I'm I've completed all my tasks. You know, you always, always, always have tasks. Um, I think something that I would look back and tell my 19-year-old self is like, do make sure that you do take time to live a little bit of your life. Like, I'm allowed to go and have a date night, I'm allowed to go and see my family. So I think I got hard work. Yeah, just enjoy the hard work. Not that there really is a work-life balance. My dad, you know, he's kind of taught it where it's if you enjoy what you do, it's it's just life, and you should just enjoy life in general. But I think I would try and tell myself, like, hey, you know, work hard, but also do take time for yourself, because I had a harder time with that and creating a boundary of you know, you don't have to work at 11 p.m., 12, you know, 1 a.m., 2 a.m. Um, you can, you know, do your best and then that's good enough, you know, and you always have the next day to do your best again. So I think I tell myself to take some time for myself and enjoy the rest part of it because rest is very important.
SPEAKER_01It is. We learn that as we get older for sure. Yeah, rest of very important the older you get, yeah.
SPEAKER_03That starts hurting.
SPEAKER_01I think I think hard work includes surfing and includes you know, that is all part of being entrepreneur. You have to balance that. And those are beautiful messages, I think. And just reminding people that um it's when you do what you love. I love that you said that. When you do what you love, it doesn't feel like work. You know, even tasks like all those things that you have to check off, like, oh, I have to go do this, and then I have to go do that. It still feels really good if you're in a place that you have created and you love, right? That's so cool. It's so great that you get to experience that. And so smart that you did it so young at 19 because man, it takes people a long time, I think, sometimes to figure that out.
SPEAKER_00Even as an older brother, like I get jealous sometimes. It's like, man, like you guys like did start early.
SPEAKER_03Like I'm more tired. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You guys can just keep going and going and going.
SPEAKER_03It's like we're still working.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like I'm gonna do the rest of these tasks tomorrow, ladies.
SPEAKER_03It's a good balance. We teach each other, I think.
SPEAKER_01So that's great. So as far as social media goes, where can we find you? Like on Instagram, Sunrise Bro.
SPEAKER_03Just Sunrise Brew Coffee.
SPEAKER_01Love it.
SPEAKER_03It's our website, Instagram, TikTok. We um they're still working on TikTok a little bit, but we're a little camera shy. So we're getting there.
SPEAKER_01Are you? I'm surprised for like millennials or gen. I think I hit the cut up wherever you read the little week.
SPEAKER_02That's like we do love it. It it is one of those tasks where you think that you can make a video in 10 seconds or like it'll make be a quick edit, but it truly is like you're taking five different cuts and like doing customers in between. So it is one of those things that yeah, even having it if there are customers, there's customers that have caught us, you know, in the middle of making a video, and I'm like, sorry, I don't know what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01It's part of video. I think you do a great job on social media. You have a great presence there, and you come up with some really creative, fun things, and that keeps people watching and wanting to come. I mean, I think it's on bucket lists to visit Sunrise Brew in St. Augustine, Florida, right? It's on a it's gotta be on that list of must-see places, definitely. And such a cute, cute visit here, and more than cute, it's it's comfortable and it's welcoming and it's warm, and you get all the vibes here that you don't get at at those chain places for sure. So big props to you for creating that. Well, thank you all so much for taking the time and having me here in this amazing space and just sharing so much of yourselves with everyone. Really appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity. Yeah, it's been fun. I'm so grateful. Thank you all so much. I trust that whatever was meant for you in this conversation will remind you there's a way to build a life you love. Follow where it leads, and I'll see you in the next session. Be sure to like and subscribe to never miss an episode.