​

Owners Dawn Heigele and Phillip Benningfield have over 40 years of combined experience in the service industry. Dawn has a Bachelor of Science in Restaurant Administration from Missouri State University. She gained management experience in corporate restaurants such as Ruby Tuesday and Applebee's. Phillip has been in a relationship with making coffee for over 15 years. His passion for coffee inspired him to write a book about the coffee culture called The Dark Roast. Phillip has been voted Salida's Best Barista.

In addition to running the coffee shop, Dawn and Phillip offer coffee shop consulting. Benningfield and Heigele Consulting aid coffee shop owners with proper drink preparation, service and coffee shop start up.