Olga DeJesus and her husband, Osvaldo, capitalized on an old dream this past April. They purchased a blighted property at Third and Cecil B. Moore Streets—blocks from where Olga grew up—and transformed it into El Cafeito, which they describe as, “a little taste of Old San Juan in Old Kensington.”
DeJesus joked about her newfound lack of personal time. Both she and her husband have kept their day jobs, but the business venture has pushed their family closer together. “We’ve been married 31 years; we’ve always been partners. Our kids are also very proud and into doing this.”
With an adorable space, a supportive family, and a great recipe for the quesito, a Puerto Rican cheese pastry, you’d think they’d be set. However, El Cafeito didn’t get started without its share of problems. After taking a hit-the-ground-running approach and getting her business education the hard way over the past four months, DeJesus has plenty of helpful tips for fellow entrepreneurs.
Reliable employees are everything. “Good people are a huge asset to making this happen. We’ve been repeatedly troubled employee-wise,” she said, shaking her head. Over the past four months, the DeJesuses have developed more skill in learning what to look for in hiring the people to run their project while they’re not there.
Her biggest tip on handling employees is to not wait too long to get rid of someone. “Read between the lines all the time,” she advised.
Conversely, she described her indicators of a good employee: someone who has your best interest in mind, with quiet diligence. “They do things without a lot of fanfare; they just do it.”
Use Your Network. DeJesus repeatedly mentioned the comfort of confiding in other small business owners. She said that there’s a lot of understanding among fellow entrepreneurs: "When there are problems, I can’t take it as it’s only me.”
In addition to building rapport, she said her network was important with technicalities as well. Friends and business contacts helped her come to anticipate unexpected expenses and get past timing roadblocks with Licensing & Inspections.
Figure out Pricing, sooner rather than later. “The biggest thing is that you have to adjust and readjust all the time,” DeJesus said. She elaborated on one of the greatest challenges of running a gourmet coffee shop in a low-income neighborhood: “I have to be really careful with my pricing. I’m still trying to adjust. Our coffee is expensive—it’s gourmet—but we can’t price out our customers.”
“Customers don’t like price adjustments,” she said, although she finds it necessary sometimes, “I found out that my initial ‘high’ prices still weren’t high enough to make it work. If it doesn’t work, change it. You can’t be too rigid in this, or you’ll dry up.”
They've found success with their most recent price adjustment, which makes savings fun for the customers. All iced coffee beverages are as many cents off as degrees Fahrenheit it is outside. For instance, on a 90 degree day, their iced coffee is $.90 cheaper.
While the price adjustments have been tricky to figure out, the DeJesuses have adapted to their diverse clientele with their menu. They offer both the popular locally roasted coffee, La Colombe, and a robust Puerto Rican coffee, Hacienda San Pedro. On a recent visit, students sat in the café’s corner, refilling mugs of coffee during study breaks, while young boys ran in from the street to grab pizza subs. It’s clear that DeJesus knows what her customers want; the details are still just getting sorted out.