08/24/2026
Evening Barista Thoughts
Later this week, we will be officially announcing our fall/winter hours. We’ve been open since 2021 and have had the same hours since we opened. We have stuck to our Stewart’s Super One roots and opened at 5:00 a.m. for five years. We do very well with the early openings in the summer months, but not so much when the sun doesn’t play along for eight months of the year.
Starting August 31, we will be changing our hours to Monday–Friday, 6 a.m.–4 p.m. and Saturday–Sunday, 7 a.m.–4 p.m. We really wanted to start the new hours after Labor Day weekend, but with all of our amazing staff going back to college, school, or teaching, we are short-staffed for the last couple weeks of summer. We also can’t in good conscience, hire someone who will not be able to get livable-wage hours after the next couple of weeks.
I just want to give a huge shoutout to the folks who are leaving this year, or who have already left, who make us what we are, in alphabetical order by first name:
Dale: Our UConn grad that we named an axolotl after. He is going on to law school in Wyoming. He makes us smile with his ridiculous questions, upbeat personality, and his absolute never-ending drive to do more, as long as it isn’t dishes.
Jacob: This guy here! He is a man of many talents. His technical job is working in the kitchen as a cook, but that doesn’t fully describe what he brings to the table. He can fix anything, lift three coffee bags with one arm, deliver our Medicare/Medicaid meals and special orders, and has a heart of gold.
Kaitlyn: Arguably one of our longest-tenured employees, since she has been here from the beginning. We have watched this young lady grow from my 14-year-old daughter helping out wherever she could to a key staff member who can do everything from kitchen to till. Her personality is infectious, and I’m terribly sad to see her go back to Augsburg.
Sabrina: Not leaving, but drastically reducing her hours. She is our resident teacher. She’s heading back to teach the next generation. Without her, all of our plants would be dead, and the outside would look way worse than it already does. She is our weekend opener, and for that I am so thankful. I’m thankful for everything she has brought this summer.
Vionna: She is another employee who seems to have always been here. She is not leaving, but drastically reducing her hours. This is her senior year, and she will be doing post-secondary at Rainy River. She actually will be working afternoons a couple days a week and some weekends. She started out just doing dishes when we were in dire need, and now she is one of our best folks out front with customers.
Brooke, Bruce, Denise, Whitney, and myself will still be here throughout the fall and winter, along with returning staff member Teah, just with different hours of service.
—Harley
