Meet Sarenity Smith | 19 Year Old Coffee Shop Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sarenity Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarenity, how does your business help the community?
My coffee shop “Rollin’ Beans” encourages the community to support local, walk outside to grab their morning lattes and come together to uplift a young entrepreneur. I have been at my permanent location in Fate, Tx since the end of January and I am overwhelmed with the communities support. I am the only coffee shop in town and when it was announced that I would be permanently set up in Fate, the citizens were very excited and the fact that I did not have a drive-thru did not stop them from showing up at all! I have customers that travel from nearby cities (passing many Starbuck’s on the way) just to grab their “Rollin’ Beans fix” and I have many regulars, who visit my shop everyday whom I have built relationships with. I also have many people who know my story make their way to me just to tell me how proud they are, and explain that they’ve told their children or teenagers about me, and how awesome they think it is that one of their peers has a business. With being a young entrepreneur, my hope was and remains to inspire other young adults to follow their dreams and not to be afraid to take a leap into the entrepreneurial world.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am a mobile coffee shop owned, the first in my county, I opened a few months after graduating high school. I worked on the logistics side of the business, perfected my drink menu, researched the best equipment, used my savings to make purchases throughout my senior year. I am most proud of how far Rollin’ Beans has come since opening, I know have a permanent location and have been planning a few more! I’m excited to see where the future takes us, how many of my coffee shops will there be? I got to where am I today with community support, and working extremely hard. You would catch us at any event we were invited to, big or small, sometimes we even took a loss after getting the necessary permits, but at every event we gained one forever customer or great connection. It was not easy, sometimes I would double book us for the day, we would be in Wylie half the day and McKinney the other half, it was crazy, we were tired, but I wanted my shop to be everywhere, until it found its forever home. I have learned many lessons along the way, to always take breaks when needed, plan everything, twice, pack snacks, and to never give up on my goals. I want to show the world through my brand that anything is possible, to always support local, that community is important and coffee brings people together.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First, I would obviously take them to the Fate Food Haul to grab a latte from me, and a quick bite from one of the food trucks at our park. Then I would take them to walk around the Downtown Rockwall Square, where we could shop at local boutiques, grab ramen, a pizza or a delicious burger. Finally I would take them to my favorite bakery “The Bagel Lady” in Rockwall for dessert!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mother, April Trout, agreed to work with me in the coffee shop before I opened. Since then, it has been just us two, I can not imagine working alone or trying to find someone who would show up everyday and enjoy it as much as she does. She does much more than take orders, she would drive the trailer around when needed, buys milk and ice everyday, is trained to make every drink and now works alone on Monday’s! I’ve had so much support from other family members, as well, an extra hand when I need it from my brother’s, Chaz and Valen, and endless encouragement from beginning to end of my business journey from, my boyfriend, Jared.

Website: www.rollinbeanscoffee.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rollinbeanscoffee/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollinbeanscoffee

Image Credits
Meghann Steinbach of JCA Photography LLC