RIVERSIDE

If you read a lot of business books, you know that leaders are often grouped into two main camps: visionaries and executors. At Microsoft, Paul Allen was the visionary and Bill Gates the executor. At Apple, Steve Jobs was the visionary and Steve Wozniak the executor. When you pair the two personality types, great businesses are born.

Andrew Brooks is a visionary, and his wife Angela is an executor. The newlywed couple, of Ainsworth, has a business plan up their sleeves for a coffee shop in Riverside. If all goes according to plan, Sonrise Coffee will hold a soft opening before the end of June.

It’s something Brooks never imagined would happen this quickly.

“I was doing a pastoral internship up in a church in Cedar Rapids, and I probably should have been paying attention to the sermon, but I just started doodling on one of the notes that I was taking and drew a logo of a coffee shop that had the Sonrise name written underneath it,” he says. “I was like, that’d be a fun coffee shop, like 10 years down the road, when I have money, when I have time.”

Brooks has a background in coffee: “I started off as just a barista at a coffee shop up in Coralville and then worked my way up to becoming a manager at one of the shops there,” he says. Although he’s tried other things, “I just always wound up back in the coffee shop, just because I liked the environment, I liked the people that I worked with, and just being in a customer service place was where I felt most gifted.”

The idea of owning a coffee shop wasn’t far-fetched, but Brooks suspected adulting was going to require something different of him if he was going to support a family. However, the opportunity was taking shape around him.

The City of Riverside began working on a downtown revitalization project, securing about $1 million in funding to renovate historic buildings along 1st Street/Highway 22. Folks from River City Church purchased a few of these properties; his friends Josh and Miranda Krueger bought one of them with the goal of hosting a coffee shop.

When Brooks floated the idea of starting a coffee shop by his family, he was surprised by their support. “I distinctly remember, I talked to my sisters about it, and then I talked to my parents about it, and I expected my parents to say, ‘No, you need to have an actual career, do something that will support the family that you want to have,’” he says. But instead, they encouraged him to go for it.

“I was like, I guess this is a clear message from God, saying go ahead and do this,” Brooks says. “Like all the roadblocks were removed, and I just had to take that step of faith and be like, Okay, yeah, this is going to happen.”

The visionary isn’t going it alone; in addition to his wife, he has the Kruegers on his team. “They’ve done a number of businesses, so they’ve been helping advise and direct me in the correct routes to get things done,” Brooks says. “And then I have my sister and brother-in-law, Stephanie and Evan Voelker, who also have been supporting this dream of mine for a while and pushing me to do something like this.”

So now he’s off to the races, having left his job a couple months ago to oversee the build-out of the coffee shop and source beans, pastries, and ice cream. The beans will come from Capanna Coffee Roasters of North Liberty; pastries from Joyce Billups/The Rolling Pin; gluten-free treats from Andy’s Pastry Shop in Tiffin; and hard ice cream – well, still working on that one.

“We’re looking for something that’s not attainable in the area,” Brooks says. “We want it to be something special, something unique. Different from Yotty’s – we don’t want to step on their toes in that area, because everyone loves Yotty’s.”

This food and drink talk might lead you to believe that Sonrise Coffee is all about, well, food and drinks, but that’s not really Brooks’ primary goal for the shop.

“The vision behind this was like, what does Riverside need? It needs something that people can gather in and can meet and actually interact,” he says. “What I love about the coffee shop world is watching people meet up; that was one of my favorite things working behind the coffee bar, creating the stories of, what are they here for? Is it a first date, is it old friends getting together? This is a place where people need that connection, and as humans that’s what we’re designed for. That is what this town needs, that place.”

To that end of providing a space for community gathering, Sonrise Coffee’s interior has zones for everything. The front of the shop includes the coffee bar and seating; the back, an event space filled with tables and chairs that can be rented for parties etc. that will also serve as overflow seating during busy times. Between the two, booths flank a kids’ area with books and toys that will allow parents to meet while children stay entertained.

The split-level space – something unavoidable due to the removal of a bank vault – is fully accessible; a ramp along the side of the building provides entry to the upper level.

Brooks has big dreams for what might be possible here. Youth groups might meet. Pastors might give talks. String quartets might perform.

“I want this to be a place that people use, that they feel welcome in and can interact with people and also get good coffee and ice cream,” he says.

Ultimately, the visionary’s vision is very simple.

“We want people to feel loved.”

Sonrise Coffee anticipates opening by the end of June. Visit their Facebook page for updates. Expected hours are Tues-Thurs 6:30 a.m – 3 p.m. and Fri-Sat 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. The shop is located at 11 E 1st St., Riverside.