Getting to know Brian Niles

Just Get in the Car — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 17:31:30 +0000

I love a good coffee shop. And I’ve loved them for quite some time, even before I really enjoyed good coffee. There is just something about a place in your community where you can go for a peaceful change of scenery, a quiet conversation with a friend, or a place to read a book, or work on whatever you are working on. It helps when the coffee and pastries are delicious too. We’ve posted about Brian Niles before – when we found that he had opened a coffee roasting warehouse in our own community. At that time I was excited, but also a little bummed that House Cup Coffee Roasters did not include an actual coffee shop. Well, lo and behold Brian and his partners stepped in to take over another one of our favorite places, Oakmont Roots Cafe. Now House Cup Cafe, the stage is set for a wonderful community gathering space centered around [one of] America’s treasured beverages – coffee. We thought it would be cool to learn a little bit more about Brian and this new endeavor. Read on to see what he shared with us!

Tell us about yourself. How did you become a coffee aficionado? That’s a tough question to answer – I think of myself as a husband, father, brother, friend, neighbor, colleague, geek, even a schmuck (at times). But factually, I live here in Havertown and share the world with my amazing wife Adrienne, my 20 year old daughter Sarah, our 2-½ year old son Xavier and Lord Spencer, our welsh corgi. My professional career has mostly been in the education space working in higher education but also as an entrepreneur owning another company I founded in 1998 that provided administrative technology solutions for colleges and universities. But as we exceeded 100 employees and I approached 50 I set the goal to do something very different on a daily basis, commit to spending more time in my community than on planes and enjoy what little time we have to learn from others and share what I’ve picked up along the way. So a few years ago with that goal in mind I left my full-time role at my company, travelled up to Vermont to become certified in coffee roasting and setup House Cup Coffee Roasters here in Havertown. Just as Xavier was born. I don’t consider myself an aficionado, always learning and trying new things that have to do with coffee, but sharing my passion for coffee with others. But one thing I try to do is make it more accessible to others – avoiding fancy trends or terms that keep many of us from appreciating something as simple as a great cup of coffee.

House Cup Coffee Roasters is an excellent community builder. What are some of your favorite ways to connect with the community? We’re fortunate that our customers give us the ability to help those that need us, even in such a small way as coffee. We support the local Food Bank with coffee to give to families who need a little help – even customers can help by purchasing a “Suspended Coffee” bag at ½ price that we give to the food bank monthly. We help various fund-raising activities with coffee and baskets to raffle and raise money for good causes that help our community and those within it. And on a daily basis, just get to know people we meet at the new cafe or in the roasthouse. We have a new statement piece in our cafe that tells it more clearly than I can:

“You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips. Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else. You will need other people and you will need to be that other person to someone else, a living breathing screaming invitation to believe better things.” – Jamie Tworkowski

How long have you lived/worked in Havertown, PA? What do you think is unique about our town? We moved here in 2013. After moving around a bit from Haddonfield NJ, Philadelphia and Phoenixville, the amazing neighbors on Willowbrook Road here in Havertown made it easy for us to settle into this community. I think the most amazing thing about Havertown is that everyone seems to be one degree of separation from everyone else. And there is a sense of support for each other. There are the obvious support events, programs, activities and signs (green lights just being one), but this support seems to be ingrained in the community. And that I find amazing.

If you had a day off to spend around town, where would you go and what would you do? I would first start on our street – what struck me when I first moved here is how everyone looks after each other’s kids – especially on a nice day when they are playing in the street, making up basketball games or running from one house to the next. We’re a front porch neighborhood, and I love that aspect. Then I would probably find myself at one of our amazing restaurants sitting at the corner of the bar most likely chatting it up with the bartender or the beautiful person sitting next to me (my wife). I’ve also found a new appreciation for the trails at the CREC for some exercise and enjoyment of what many people have done to make that such a nice area.

You just made a huge announcement – tell us about the next steps for House Cup Coffee Roasters … Well, that’s probably our cafe on Darby Road. Oakmont Roots had been a wholesale customer of ours but when it was time for the previous owner to move on, he approached me to take it off his hands. It was a very successful business and we’re proud to be continuing to build on that success. Our vision is to create a place for people to come and enjoy – families, friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers. We also want to help protect our environment as much as we can, so we have a BYO House Cup option – bring in your own cup, tumbler, etc. and fill it up at the service counter yourself for just $1. No need to order or wait in line. It’s an honor system and it seems to be working. We also will be putting our used coffee grounds out back of the cafe each night for any of our local gardeners to come take to support excellent growing. And finally we strive to source our foods locally. Many of our pastries are made right here in Havertown by trained, incredibly talented individuals. We want to support their passions and share it with all of you. We are not at a loss for additional things we plan to do, but one at a time. We’re locally owned, locally roasted and locally sourced.

How do you take your coffee? Black. That’s not to say it’s bad to put cream or anything else in it, I just like it black. The best coffee is the one you like however you like it. I do encourage people to try our coffees without sugar to appreciate the variations in the origin flavors. Those flavors come out of the ground, nothing added, which amazes me how that can happen.

What are you waiting for? Head over to chat with Brian and the other coffee connoisseurs at House Cup Cafe, today! (Don’t forget your cup if you want to grab and go, but I recommend staying to chat!)

-Kristin

Oakmont Roots Cafe, the answer to ‘What does our town need?’

Just Get in the Car — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 19:02:55 +0000

The Havertown Community Group was right. We were definitely missing a locally based coffee shop. Time and again people bring up the question – what does our town need? Sure, we have a Starbucks, but everyone has a Starbucks. We were missing something, and Marc Singer knew what that ‘thing’ was. And it wasn’t a nail salon or pizza place, as is the running joke.

Marc saw a market for the space he envisioned, and voila, Oakmont Roots Cafe was born (just that simply, I’m sure!). To say I’ve visited a few times since he opened up shop might be an understatement at this point. In fact, most times I visit, I bring a new friend along to introduce them to the space, and I believe they too have become frequent patrons.

ORC, as I have affectionately coined it, offers a variety of interesting menu items including La Colombe Coffee, plenty of vegan items, potato and pizza Knishes, and even something called rolled ice cream. I’ve tried the coffee of course, the Chai Tea Latte, the ham and cheese croissant, the cheese danish, the potato knish (just as good as the one I recently had direct from NYC), and the Nitro cold brew. Not only was the cold brew yummy, it was fun to pour myself! And the coffee is just one aspect of this eclectic cafe.

“Coffee shop by day, rolled Ice cream by night” their website proclaims.

Aside from the ice cream being rolled, which is a novelty in and of itself, we’ve heard (via the Oakmont Roots Facebook page, and Marc himself) that on certain Friday nights you can get yours served up by a Disney princess. Who wouldn’t love that? Also, the ice cream has recently decreased in price from $8 to $7, and there is now a smaller size option for $4 – winning!

Having spent my college days hanging out at Borders Cafe, and my graduate school days at Starbucks, I must admit I am partial to the coffee shop experience. I was thrilled to see an independently owned and operated cafe come to our town, and I’m thrilled to share it with all of you! If you haven’t gone already, what are you waiting for? (And if it’s easy parking you are worried about, there is a convenient parking lot right behind the cafe, and a brand new cut-through walk way!) Definitely put this on your list of small businesses to support!

local coffee shop – Just Get in the Car

Getting to know Brian Niles

-Kristin

Oakmont Roots Cafe, the answer to ‘What does our town need?’

-Kristin