As of today, Jessica Quinhones, along with her mother and stepfather, Cindy and John Lucas, are the new owners of Around the Corner café, one of the most frequented businesses in downtown Iola.
For more than two years, Around the Corner has been reversing the impression that small, rural communities won’t tolerate a cafe whose main fare is locally sourced wraps and salads and whose drinks list is made up of good coffees and teas.
The original vision, given life by David and Beth Toland in the summer of 2013, was to create a vibrant go-to place in the community — one that would offer residents an alternative to the fast-food menus in abundance around town; but one, too, that would be a crucial participant in the commercial rebirth of a vital downtown.
“People are surprised to learn that I don’t drink coffee but I own a coffee shop,” explained David Toland in an email conversation with the Register on Thursday. “[But] Around the Corner has never really been about coffee — it’s about providing a different type of gathering place in Iola that helps make the downtown a destination for shoppers and residents. The community has been great to support the shop from the very beginning and we hope they’ll continue to support Jess and Cindy as they take it to the next level.”
The promise of a smooth transition has never been likelier. Quinhones was among the first of the employees the Tolands hired, and she has been the manager of the café — which makes her, too, its main chef and barista — since January 2014. Hers has probably been the smile to greet you if you’ve visited the shop in the last two years.
“If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t be doing this,” confessed Cindy.
The opportunity to buy the shop — a notion alive at the back of Quinhones’ mind for some time — only arose recently. After announcing in July that it would be removing its factory from Iola, Herff Jones offered John — a machine operator at the plant for nearly four decades — a retirement package in excess of what the Lucases at first predicted.
“And so, with his retirement deal,” explained Cindy, “we talked to Jessica and said: ‘OK — let’s go for it.’” The trio, graced with appropriate portions of self-knowledge, have decided to divide up their roles in this new venture according to temperament.
“She’s more of a paperwork person,” John said of Cindy, who will continue in her other career, working remotely for a real estate appraiser out of Wichita. “She has the ability to do the bookkeeping side of it, which isn’t really my thing.”
“But after the first of the year, we’re going to start offering a delivery service again. And that,” said Cindy, eyeing her husband, “is going to be his job”.
“Yeah, but I’m also the product-tester,” reminded John.
Quinhones, of course, will continue to attend to the vast daily operations of the cafe, eliciting, when it’s available, part-time help from a pair of Allen County College students. Cindy, too, will pitch in on the cafe side.
For Quinhones, the reward for the long hours and limited kitchen space and uncertain financial return that she inherits arrives in the form of the large customer base she’s helped to develop over the years.
“I have made so many good friends in the coffee shop,” said Quinhones. “There are days that people come in and they give me the smile I need. There are other days when I’m the one giving out the smiles. It’s a give and take that is so amazing to be a part of.”
And in this way Quinhones continues to enliven the shop’s founding mission of being a place where downtown shoppers and residents, as well as tourists, want to gather.
“The downtown is like a puzzle,” said Toland. “In order for it to be successful, it needs a mix of retail stores, upper-floor housing, office workers and attractive streetscapes. All of these factors help make restaurants and coffee shops economically viable, and the foot traffic these eating establishments generate helps make the downtown feel more vibrant and alive. The more vibrant the downtown feels, the more it’s like a magnet that draws people in who will spend money in shops and restaurants and want to live in upstairs loft apartments. We think Around the Corner has been a small, but important, piece of that puzzle.”
Late Thursday morning, Quinhones’ 3-year-old son Jace joined his mother behind the counter at the cafe. Jace, who has a headful of caramel-colored curls and, on the day, wore a red and black checkered lumberjack shirt, stood on a stool so he could reach the countertop. The pair sorted ingredients for a batch of apple cinnamon muffins. Quinhones handed her son a measuring cup.
“I’m going to help you with that,” said Jace.
Cindy and John Lucas sat in the semicircular booth in the restaurant’s back corner. “I’m so proud of her,” said Cindy, nodding in the direction of her daughter. “I think it’s awesome. I didn’t think she would like living here.” A single mother, Quinhones moved to Iola from Colorado Springs nearly three years ago. “But she has really blossomed. Actually, I think she found her niche. I really do. She’s gone through some rough stuff, but this place has brought her back to happy days again. I mean, she just has a talent for this thing.”
Quinhones and Jace set the muffins to bake and joined the Lucases at the table. Before Jace sat a chocolate milk with a bendy straw and a slice of chocolate chip bread. The toddler refers to his chocolate milk as his “coffee.”
“Not real coffee,” explained Quinhones. “OK, one time I gave him a chocolate-covered espresso bean. That will never happen again.” Jace gripped his straw between his teeth and smiled.
Returning to a discussion of the shop, Cindy identified herself as one of those residents, who, early on, was unconvinced of the wisdom of establishing a place like Around the Corner in the heart of downtown Iola. “I always said I liked the idea, but I was skeptical too — because of all the food businesses that come and go in Iola. But I have definitely been proven wrong. I think it’s been shown: Iola likes this place, the customers like this place. And we’re hoping to be around for them for a very long time.”
Around the Corner, located at 110 S. Jefferson, can also provide carry-out and delivery for large-scale events or meetings. Contact the cafe at 620-228-5779.
