As part of its goal to serve consistent and fun caffeinated concoctions to the people of Lewis County, Lewis County Coffee Company is constantly on the lookout for the next great opportunity.
The latest expansion seized by Lewis County Coffee Company in its growing business venture was the opening of a new stand inside Providence Centralia Hospital.
Lewis County Coffee Company owner Sam Styger said she had customers reach out to her about opening a location inside Providence last year when they learned the gift and flower shop inside the hospital was closing.
“I started to get messages in the middle of the night to say ‘hey you guys should see if you can get in there,’” Styger said.
Styger reached out to Providence to secure the space and officially opened inside the hospital in June.
“It’s been super fun so far,” Styger said. “Spending just a little bit of time in the gift shop and coffee shop … you get a definite sense of family and kind of camaraderie amongst the caregivers, which is really cool.”
While customers can expect the same products and service offered at all five Lewis County Coffee locations, the business has adapted the hours and products available at the Providence location to better serve the needs of the staff, patients and visitors.
“We’re trying to pay attention and do the best we can while still keeping it within reason,” Styger said.
Changes to the company’s usual model include an expanded food menu that includes snacks and grab-and-go options, extended hours to accommodate both the day and night shifts, and a gift shop full of Lewis County Coffee merchandise and a variety of other gifts that Providence staff can get for each other or that visitors can get for patients.
“We’re looking at continuing to grow that section as we learn what the staff is hoping to see and wants to get their hands on,” Styger said.
Lewis County Coffee is also doing free deliveries within Providence Centralia and other medical facilities in a close walking distance. Customers just need to call the coffee stand at 360-827-8715 or email providence@lewiscountycoffee.com to place their order.
“We typically have two people on almost all the time so we’re able to service that,” Styger said.
And with hospital visitations still limited due to COVID-19, Lewis County Coffee is allowing people to place orders and pre-pay over the phone for coffee to deliver to a hospital patient.
“You can also call and pay over the phone for people who maybe are a patient and you can’t go visit them. Maybe a friend is having a baby and you can’t go visit them right now,” she said.
The Providence stand is Lewis County Coffee Company’s fifth location, and the coffee company already has plans for a sixth: a stand on Jackson Highway on property adjacent to the company’s headquarters.
“We hope it will be a great offering for all of the traffic that comes off of Jackson Highway in the morning and goes home every afternoon because there’s a lot of houses and a lot of residences that way, as well as, as school starts, all of those teachers and staff and moms and dads that are headed to and from all of the new schools that have been built down the street from us,” Styger said.
That location is scheduled to open in early September, and it won’t be the end of Lewis County Coffee Company’s growth spurt: the company is listening to customer requests to expand outside of Chehalis and Centralia, and is on the lookout for prime locations or good opportunities to do so.
“Our goal is to continue to grow the brand and the business so that it further employs more young people and allows us the ability to be able to give back,” Styger said.
Lewis County Coffee Company offered free drinks to Providence staff on Tuesday to thank them for their work. Another example of ways the company wants to continue to give back to the community is the company’s participation in the Visiting Nurses Golf Tournament at Riverside Golf Club on July 16 — not as a competitor, but as a local business providing free coffee and Lotus energy drinks to participants.
“It was just a way for us to participate,” Styger said. “We didn’t have any golfers so we couldn’t compete, but this was a way for us to be out there in the community and giving back a little bit, and helping Visiting Nurses keep the event exciting and fun, different and still be in our own little space inside of coffee.”
Giving back to the community is a way for the company to thank community members for the support they’ve given Lewis County Coffee Company, which Styger said has been essential in the company’s continued success.
“The brand and a business can only grow thanks to the people around it,” she said. “We’ve always said that we are the most successful thanks to the people, and the people are our customers, they’re our staff, they’re our vendors and supporters, and that’s what’s made us as successful as we are, so we just want to continue to extend those thanks to all those people involved.”
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For more information about Lewis County Coffee Company, including hours and contact information for each location, visit www.lewiscountycoffee.com.
