Featured Customer

We are pleased to feature College Hill Coffee as this month's Featured Cafe. Blenda Hoskinson is owner of College Hill Coffee, located inside a classic 1926 bungalow on the college side of town in Winfield, KS. Taking a few moments out of the day to speak with our Marketing Manager, Michele, Blenda brought us up to speed on how things are going at the cafe.



Michele (M): Hi, Blenda. Thanks for taking time to talk with me.

Blenda (B): I am happy to. We're such big fans of David Rio!

M: Thank you, that's great to hear! How did you find David Rio, anyway?

B: Well, when we started our business in 2001, we were not even officially open. People were finding out about us by word of mouth. A customer came in one day and asked for chai tea¯. At the time, I was making it from scratch, from my own recipe. She said it was good, but she made a point to tell me that I needed to try David Rio chai tea. When I called the David Rio office to order, I wasn't even sure I could even sell a case worth of chai cup by cup.

M: Wow, that's a great story! And what do your customers think now, twelve years later?

B: People just love it. It's funny because customers will come in and just pick one chai variety - Flamingo Vanilla Sugar Free Decaf, Tortoise Green Tea, Orca Spice Sugar Free, or Elelphant Vanilla. They say things like, 'I just love that one so much but I can't decide whether I want to try another one'. They're all equally good, though personally, Tortoise Green Tea is my favorite. And while the customer is trying to decide, one of my employees, will pipe up and suggest a different David Rio chai for that customer. We all have different tastes so it is fun to have customers try different chai varieties.

M: That does sound like fun! And they can try it at home, too, because I understand that College Hill Coffee serves David Rio chai by the cup and also sells the retail canister.

B: Yes. We offer both to our customers. Originally, we only bought the canisters, so we were happy when we could finally sell through a food service bag.

M: It sounds like great fun being at College Hill Coffee.

B: It is! In fact, every Friday night at 8pm, we feature live music, and coming up the first Saturday, May 4th, we are having a concert to celebrate all of our local college graduates.

M: Excellent! We love celebrating our local community, too.

B: Yes, we are interested in keeping as much of our business as local as possible. We are one of the only cafes in our area that uses sustainable packaging, we use our own compost, and we also make all of our salads and baked goods from scratch. We also do our best to limit the use of artificial ingredients.

M: College Hill Coffee sounds like it's keeping things 'classic'¯, as we see from the bungalow it's in!

B: Absolutely! We found this house back in 2001 and it was empty for 18 years. When I saw it for the first time, it had the feel of a coffee house. So we remodeled this beautiful 1926 bungalow and restored the original trim. We love it!

M: We love it, too! Sounds cozy. How can our customers find you if they are visiting Kansas?

B: Customers can visit our website anytime, and our hours are 6:30am to 6:30pm M-Th. Fri to 11:00pm. Sat 7:30am to 3:00pm. We are closed on Sunday.

M: Thanks, Blenda. It's been great talking with you and hearing the College Hill Story.

B: My pleasure! Thanks for featuring us.