Solar Roast Coffee — Restaurant in Pueblo

Long time Patron ever since the lads from Bend, Oregon opened shop in Pueblo Colorado. I used Solaris coffee for my house blend in my Beulah food & beverage business for 2 years until I sold the business.

I'm interested in any kind of business that has to do with food and beverages. The spare my career for decades.

Profit Centers AKA Point Of Sale: Each business Enterprise may have different profit centers. An operator needs to take care of each profit center - A. Preparing and serving food & beverage orders. B. Merc. Hats t-shirts Etc. C. Packaged coffee over the counter retail sales.

I was walking by the other day and remembered I didn't have any coffee to brew at my Intown location, so I thought I would pick up a pound or so of Solar Roast beans retail from the coffee shop on 2nd and Main.

A super long line at the time with one cashier station taking orders and filling orders.

That's 1 Profit Center. Otherwise known as point of sale.

Here's the complaint: NONE of the packaged retail coffee was priced - and there were no prices posted on the wall, like on a chalkboard or a price list for the different size quantities of coffee that might be priced different. Nothing!

The operator should understand if someone wants to buy retail coffee and they're busy they have to carry that bag and get in line ... to go up in order to even get a price on it. Wow.

That is no way to sustain in-store coffee retail sales or increase sales.

I can only to assume that the focus is on the wholesale coffee roasting and bean delivery to various stores and outlets in the United States. That's great! But don't forget about the people in Pueblo County who have helped you make your business foundation by supporting your Enterprises.

As a friendly F&B and also a retail sales consultant I offer you free advice. And I know, unless people pay for the advice, they generally don't pay that much attention to it. I'm trying to do my part to help the business and the community.

I know from experience there's always room for improvement and a new way to tweak things for better customer service and increase sales.

It's all about the old-timey rock...

Solar powered coffee!

During a 6 hour drive from Denver to Santa Fe, I asked Cassey if we could get some coffee since I was ready for some caffeine. We were in-between towns and Pueblo was the next one coming up so I got to googling and yelping real quick to see what was approaching. Solar Roast Coffee was the ideal candidate as it was just a bit off the interstate and it wouldn’t delay us too long.

We pulled off the highway and grabbed an open spot a block up the road from the coffeehouse. Its hard to miss Solar Roast due to the vibrant colors and giant painted wall. We walked in to a friendly and welcoming atmosphere and were quickly greeted by the barista behind the counter. While Cassey was asking a few questions, I was oogling over the baked goods in the display case and scoping out there stickers available for purchase.

I don’t remember what Cassey got but I got my usual americano and a snickerdoodle cookie. We decided to take a stroll around the area while we enjoyed stretching our legs and being out of the car for a few minutes. In this area of Pueblo, it seemed like a dying area held up by a few big businesses like Solar Roast but we felt safe since it was about 11am when we stopped in.

The americano I got was pretty good! Its just espresso and water so it’s not too hard to make wrong but doesn’t leave a lot of room for flavor being added. Cassey said her latte was pretty good. I saved the cookie for the rest of the drive and it was gone about 2 hours later. It was good, too, if a bit light on the snickerdoodle flavor but that could be a regional difference.

When going to type up this blog, I learned Solar Roast Coffee gets their coffee from roasters who use solar power. In this day and age of climate change, its really cool to have been able to support a business who is going against trends to bring us some cleanly grown coffee.

If you find yourself in Pueblo and need coffee, Solar Roast is the place to go and helps keep your coffee consumption as green...

I went to Solar Roast this morning like I usually do, a few times a month, and like usual, the conversation I had with the barista (whose name I did not get, how rude of me) was nothing short of delightful. They asked me where I had moved from and what I liked to do, and we had a lovely conversation about food history. I got a croissant, with Nutella, and when I got home I was surprised to find that not only had the kind barista spread the Nutella on the croissant for me (not their usual procedure, they usually give it to you in a cup) but they had also included sliced bananas! It made my whole week, thoughtfulness and interpersonal connection are in short supply these days and interactions like these are ones that I'll remember when times are hard and the world is awful.

If the staff is reading, to y'all it's just a banana and a little Nutella, but to me and to a lot of the people y'all serve on a daily basis, it's genuinely special. I see the effort, I see the care, I see the gentle bending of procedure to make for a better experience for the folks y'all like. It means a lot to me, and if it means a lot to me I can't be the only one. Thank you for slicing up a banana for me...