It’s still dark as Nicki Whitson turns on the espresso machine, weighs and brews coffee and, finally, flips on the “open” sign in the window. While she waits for her earliest customers to arrive, the owner of Cool Beans Coffee pours herself her daily cup of black coffee — the only kind she drinks.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, Whitson normally takes the opening shift in the 22-by-8-foot coffee shop located at 1230 Alameda St. in Norman. The narrow space has a black-and-white-checkered floor and is lined with gleaming appliances. Syrup bottles and paper cups decorated in Sharpie and stuffed with sugar packets and utensils sit on the stainless steel countertops.
Customers order at one drive-thru window and pull forward to receive their coffee and baked goods at another. The coffee cups are covered with colorful stickers saying “Chai Me” and “#ILoveCoffee” to keep the drinks warm. The stickers are a favorite with customers, Whitson said.
“People have them everywhere,” she said. “On their computers and fridges, lots of stuff.”
Cool Beans isn’t the only drive-thru coffee shop in Norman. But personal touches like these have gained the small business a local, loyal customer base.
Whitson was first inspired to open a drive-thru coffee business while she was a volleyball coach at OU. As she hurried between yoga class and work some mornings, she’d stop by Gray Owl Coffee in downtown Norman.
“I love supporting local businesses, and I love going to Gray Owl, but every time I went in there I was just like, ‘We need a drive-thru,’” Whitson said.
This idea launched the five-month-long process of building her own business. Other than getting the foundation poured and contracting electricity and plumbing, Whitson and her husband, who owns a fence company, built the compact coffee shop on their own, she said. They started in November 2012 and opened Cool Beans in March 2013.
Whitson said she wanted to open a coffee shop despite having no experience with coffee whatsoever. She chose Elemental Coffee in Oklahoma City as her roaster, in part because it provided people to teach her how to make coffee, handle the machines and run her coffee business, she said.
Now, almost five years later, Cool Beans has a loyal Norman customer base.
For coffee-lovers like Anthony Natale, an assistant professor of social work at OU who grew up in Portland, Oregon, Cool Beans is a staple. Even though he grew up drinking Starbucks before it was a big chain, Natale said he prefers going to Whitson’s shop, where he can discuss volleyball with the former coach.
“I knew Nicki, and I told her that I’d been to a lot of the games,” Natale said. “I’d seen her and struck up lots of conversations about volleyball, and good coffee, and volleyball and back and forth.”
He also likes Cool Beans’ punch card system, in which regular customers can earn a free coffee after buying ten coffee drinks.
“I get to earn a lot of free coffees, as it turns out,” Natale said.
Natale likes supporting a local business because he knows exactly where his money is going, as opposed to spending it with a big company, he said.
“I’ve met her husband, I’ve met her baby,” Natale said. “So I know I’m helping to support this family, too.”
Cool Beans employs a staff of six, including Lyric Moody who, like Whitson, also had no previous experience as a barista. Moody was a customer who loved the coffee so much she “had to get a job,” at Cool Beans, she said.
“I was wanting to learn how to be a barista, and I just happened to email Nicki just to see if she was hiring,” Moody said. “And she called me for an interview, and the rest is history.”
Moody’s job is all about making drinks and talking to customers, and she has a gift for remembering regulars’ orders, she said.
“I kind of weird some people out sometimes because they’ve only been here once or twice, and they’re like, ‘How do you know?’” Moody said.
Whitson said supporting local businesses is crucial, and this philosophy influences the way she runs her own. Cool Beans carries scones from the local bakery Waving Wheat, which people often order with their coffee.
“Keeping everything local is really awesome,” Whitson said. “That’s kind of what makes Norman work. Everyone’s supporting everyone — it’s a really cool network once you dive into it.”
Running a small, local business has its challenges. Cool Beans is situated on the east side of Norman, too far of a haul for most college students or residents from the west side to come often. The shop can also be easy to miss because of its size if you aren’t looking for it, Whitson said.
Whitson and her husband, who also runs his own business, have to swap turns staying with their toddler at home. Waking up early to have Cool Beans open by 6 a.m. on weekdays was especially difficult when her daughter wasn’t sleeping through the night. Even now, Whitson is exhausted most of the time, she said.
But running her own business is also rewarding because she knows exactly where her work is going — everything she does is for her family or customer base. The best part of her job is the family outside of her own family that she’s gained, she said.
“I know so many more people in Norman now than I knew before I had my own business,” Whitson said. “And the flexibility and making my life work — my life works because I own my own business.”
