Here are the answers to your questions. The respondent is Donny Bradley,

Hi Adam,

Here are the answers to your questions. The respondent is Donny Bradley,
Founder and CEO.

1. How did Lola Beans get started, and what made you decide to take the
leap?

I spent most of my career in medical device sales, so opening a coffee shop
wasn’t exactly part of the original plan. But sometimes the best ideas come
from unexpected places.

Our family had temporarily moved from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Soldotna,
Alaska, for my job, and that’s where we discovered these little drive-thru
coffee stands. We’d pull up every morning, and before long, the people
working there knew our names, our favorite drinks, and genuinely cared
about how our day was going.

That really stuck with Missy and me. It wasn’t just about getting a great
cup of coffee. It was about how those little interactions made you feel.
Something as simple as a friendly face and a few kind words could
completely change the direction of your day.

When we moved back to Chattanooga, we couldn’t shake the idea. We wanted to
bring that same experience to our community. That’s really where Lola Beans
started. We weren’t setting out to build some massive coffee brand. We just
wanted to create a place where people could get a great drink, feel
genuinely cared for, and leave a little happier than when they arrived.
2. What has been the hardest stretch for the business, and how did you get
through it?

I don’t know that I could point to one specific stretch, because the truth
is, we’ve had challenges from the very beginning, and we still have them
today. That’s just part of being an entrepreneur, especially when you
decide to start franchising.

I learned a whole lot opening our first location in Chattanooga. I already
owned a piece of land, and I honestly thought I’d just put a little coffee
shack on it, buy an espresso machine, and we’d be in business. Well, I
learned pretty quickly there’s a lot more to it than that.

Everything matters. Your real estate, your operations, the people you hire,
the quality of your products. We made mistakes, we learned from them, and
when it came time to open our second location, we approached things a whole
lot differently. We were much more intentional about those decisions, and
it made a tremendous difference in the success of that store.

Through all of it, I’ve always tried to come back to two things: take care
of your customers and create an environment where your employees feel
valued and enjoy coming to work. When you get those things right, a lot of
the other pieces start falling into place. That’s what has carried us
through the ups and downs and helped make Lola Beans what it is today.
3. What do you think keeps your regulars coming back? Is there a customer
story that captures that?

I really believe it’s how we make people feel. Missy and I have always
loved people. We love talking to them, getting to know them, and making
them feel like they matter. That’s just who we are, and we’ve worked hard
to build a team of people who genuinely feel the same way.

We want Lola Beans to be a bright spot in someone’s day. Maybe they’re
rushing to work, having a tough morning, or just need a few minutes to
themselves. Whatever they’re walking through, we want them to leave feeling
a little happier, a little more energized, and knowing somebody cared
enough to make their day better.

And we see that connection come to life all the time. We have customers who
come through every single day, sometimes twice a day. We’ve had customers
love Lola Beans so much that they end up coming to work for us. And one of
my favorite things is seeing our own employees come through the drive-thru
on their days off.

To me, that says a lot. When your customers and your employees genuinely
want to be there, even when they don’t have to be, you know you’re building
something special. We’re incredibly grateful for that.
4. What is one decision or change that made the biggest difference in how
you run the business?

Without a doubt, deciding to franchise Lola Beans. That decision changed
the way we looked at almost every part of our business.

We had built this little family-owned coffee shop around something we
genuinely loved doing, and suddenly we were asking ourselves, how do we
take this experience and recreate it in communities across the country
without losing what made it special in the first place?

That question pushed us to take a much deeper look at everything. Our
operations, hiring, menu, technology, marketing, real estate, building
design, you name it. We started challenging ourselves to figure out what we
could simplify, what we could improve, and how we could build a model that
would set our franchisees up for success.

We’ve made some tremendous strides, especially this past year. We brought
on an experienced COO, Jessie Bray, significantly reduced the number of
SKUs in our inventory, redesigned our building layout, partnered with a
modular builder, launched a new website, and invested heavily in
strengthening the brand from the inside out. Now we have 130 units in
development across 4 states.

And we’re doing all of that while still being involved in our stores and
making sure our customers and employees remain a priority. That’s probably
been one of the biggest balancing acts, but it’s also what keeps us
grounded.

At the end of the day, we didn’t decide to franchise just to open more
coffee shops. We did it because we believe in what Lola Beans brings to a
community. We want to give other entrepreneurs the opportunity to build a
business they’re proud of, create jobs, connect with their neighbors, and
spread a little more kindness along the way.
5. What advice would you give someone opening their first restaurant or
coffee shop?

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because you’re going to make them. I
certainly did, and I’m still learning every day.

Do your research, ask questions, try things, and surround yourself with
good people who believe in what you’re building. You don’t have to have
every single detail figured out before you get started. Sometimes you’ve
just got to make that first decision, take the leap, and trust that you’ll
learn what you need to learn along the way.

And I think one of the most important things is finding people who care
about the business as much as you do. You can’t do everything yourself, and
the right people will make all the difference.

Most importantly, don’t lose sight of why you started. There will always be
challenges, and there will always be something you could be doing better.
But if you genuinely care about your people, your customers, and the
experience you’re creating, you’ve got a pretty good foundation to build on.