You’re not going to want to pass up this view at East View Coffee Company
Q. How long has East View Coffee Company been open?
Jenny: We have been roasting coffee in downtown Kenosha since 2020, but we opened our public-facing tasting room this past December 2023!
Q. What inspired you to start East View Coffee Company?
Jenny: Our customers! We had many requests for a public-facing side of our coffee roasting business, so I dreamed up our current coffee tasting room with a heavy emphasis on coffee education and space for people to learn about and explore coffee while representing our values.
Q. Can you tell me about the types of coffee beans you use?
Jenny: We only source coffee from women-owned farms. A lot of these are fair trade and organic as well. I put a lot of time and effort into ethically sourced coffee. All our coffees have stories, and stopping by the tasting room will you to taste different coffee and learn more about it.
Q. Do you offer any specialty or unique coffee blends?
Jenny: We sure do! We just started a new program that releases new coffees every two weeks in our tasting room – these will be rare, unique, and very tasty coffees in addition to the 15-20 coffees we currently offer. All our coffees are available as a pour-over, in case we are not offering it that day as a sample.
Q. What are some of the most popular items on your menu?
Jenny: Our seasonal drinks are soo popular- our Cardamon Orange Latte, our Miso Caramel Latte, our Matcha drinks, and our coffee soda!
Q. How do you produce new menu items?
Jenny: It usually starts with an idea or an ingredient. We create all our syrups from scratch and are inspired by seasonal local ingredients. We have started playing with our spring and summer menus. If you are a frequent customer, there’s a chance we’ll make up a new recipe and offer you samples to give us some honest feedback.
Q. What kind of vibes do you aim for w/ East View Coffee Company?
Jenny: It’s very important to us that we are welcoming of everyone and be a place of conversation and community. We designed our coffee bar to not have equipment in between us and you – so we can talk coffee, life, and make connections here in our community.
Q. How do you engage/connect with the local community?
Jenny: We offer weekly community coffee cuppings, and have so many classes, and events planned! From crafting to late night openings to coffee and chocolate classes, we hope to bring something unique to Kenosha. We designed our current space with the community in mind, from having a children’s area, to a space just for community events, for our community to host book clubs, to have work meetings, to use as they need.
Q. How does East View Coffee Company ensure a positive customer experience?
Jenny: We take time to build a connection with every customer. We do lots of little things differently, so we take time to introduce ourselves and talk about what is different here at East View to every person who comes in our door. Moving thoughtfully, we ask about food sensitivities and love to match you with the perfect coffee drink for the day!
Q. Do you have any sustainable or eco-friendly practices in place?
Jenny: Do we ever! We are members of 1% for the Planet, which means they look through our financials every year and verify that we have donated at least 1% of our total revenue to environmental causes. We partner with Root Pike WIN and appreciate their work in our community.
We also:
- Compost all our food waste and coffee grounds! We are working with Hood to Table for this!
- We encourage our customers to bring in reusable cups or stay and enjoy their coffee in our in-house cups (we have a loyalty program just for people using refillable cups/in-house cups)
- Our coffee bags, as are all our cold coffee cups and straws, are compostable.
- We also offset all our shipping by purchasing carbon credits.
- We only use organic milk, and sugars, and think about the implications of which ingredients we source.
Q. Do you have a loyalty program?
Jenny: We do!
We have a buy 10 drinks get one free punch card for our customers who bring in a reusable mug or use our in-house mugs. We also have a coffee bag program where people can buy 12 bags and get one free, and lastly, we offer $1 off a quarter pound or more if you bring in your own container for bulk coffee!
Q. Do you change your menu seasonally, and if so, how do you decide on seasonal offerings?
Jenny: We plan on keeping our menu the same, but adding seasonal lattes, coffee sodas, and other delightful coffee and non-coffee offerings. We look to what flavors embody the season, what’s fresh, and what will offer something unique!
Q. Are there any upcoming seasonal promotions or events?
Jenny: No promotions, but we are adding lots of classes and events starting in February, stay tuned!
Q. Can you tell us a little about the fantastic staff at East View Coffee?
Jenny: They are amazing! Everyone at East View is incredibly kind, and really care about making a positive difference in the world. Making sure our team feels supported, heard, paid above a living wage, and basically cared for allows them to share that kindness with our customers.
Q. What do you love about having your coffee shop in downtown Kenosha?
Jenny: We started in downtown Kenosha, roasting our coffee inside Rustic Road, and knew that we needed to stay downtown Kenosha when we moved out. The community and the support of our beautiful downtown are allowing me and other business owners to create a growing, thriving, and unique downtown community.
Q. Are there any new features or offerings you plan to introduce in the future?
Jenny: Yes! We are releasing our chocolate bars and chocolate drinks soon! We are making bars of chocolate from cocoa seeds and are super excited to start sampling our chocolate in our tasting room. After we get our chocolate bars and chocolate drink menu established, we will start our food offerings, and we are excited to bring Kenosha some different options!
Q. What makes East View Coffee stand out from all the other coffee shops in the area?
Jenny: We are definitely bringing something different to Kenosha. From being a tip-free location, where we pay all our employees a living wage, to having a very mission of supporting women-owned farms, giving back to our community, and putting care into everything we do, it just feels different., I spent a lot of time thinking about everything customers don’t like at coffee shops, from being charged for plant milk to the tipping culture to not being aware of food sensitivities and have added so many little changes and ways of doing things differently.
Q.What is your favorite drink at East View Coffee?
Jenny: Right now, it’s the coffee soda! We make an espresso reduction with figs, vanilla beans, and oranges… which is ridiculously tasty.
Q. Ok, what is next for East View Coffee Company?
Jenny: We are working on the chocolate side of our business and starting to sell bars of chocolate plus an entire chocolate-themed drink menu! Once we get the chocolate up and running, we will put our energy into our food offerings, such as salads and sandwiches.
Q. What do you love about downtown Kenosha?
Jenny: I love how active it is! There are so many fantastic events, and so much support for our downtown businesses. My family is from Kenosha, and I love tying all the family stories that I grew up hearing about into the place I call home now.
Q. Besides East View Coffee, what is your favorite place to get coffee in downtown Kenosha?
Jenny: We love Blak Coffee, Coopers Uptown, and Smarty’s Sweets and Treats for a cup of coffee 🙂
East View Coffee Company is located at 716 58th Street Kenosha, WI
eastviewcoffee.com
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Q&A/photos by Donny Stancato • Edited by Meridith Jumisko
