Meet Taneisha Patrick | Owner, Mobile Coffee Bar

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

Hi Taneisha, what is the most important factor behind your success?

Though the measure of success is relative to the standard of each individual, I like to pride the success of my brand on the Three P’s: Personability, Persistence, and Product. Although we understand the product we serve is a huge contribution to our success, what is equally important to the success of Ira Lane Coffee is providing each guest with a personable experience when they visit the camper. Whether we’re talking about their love for a good cup of coffee or how their day is going, I thoroughly enjoy conversing with each guest and learning more about them.

Some of the best compliments I receive are when guests visit the camper and express how much they “feel welcomed” and how it “reminds them of a piece of home.” We are very appreciative of their support, as we know our guests can go to ANY indoor coffee shop of their choice that provides tables and chairs and air condition/heat, but they choose to support us which makes our commitment to bring this vision to life all the more fulfilling, and we do not take it granted.

Many people have relocated to Atlanta for school, work, or even just a new, fresh start. Although they may be in a new city/state, they still search for a warm, familiar place to find comfort in, so we aim to provide to our guests that and more as their local neighborhood coffee shop. We want our guests to essentially become our “extended family” as we develop a rapport with them through our quality beverages and excellent customer service. One of my favorite  simple sayings is, “Without community, it’s just coffee!” which speaks volumes and is representative of how I want to maintain a community of joy and connectivity within Atlanta.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I discovered my love of coffee when I was introduced to it at a very young age by my male heroes, my late grandfather and dad. As a child, we would sit at the kitchen table and sip coffee while I listened to them exchange stories and drop little life gems – this was our special bonding time.

My love of coffee turned into me dreaming about one day owning my own brick and mortar coffee shop. So as 2020 approached, I decided to create my very first vision board, which included photos of coffee shops and motivational excerpts from business owners to keep me inspired to bring my dream to life. Although I knew what I wanted to do, and was excited about the possibilities, fear held me back from moving forward, as I was immensely afraid of overhead costs and paralyzed by not having experience in the coffee industry, or in being an entrepreneur. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I took the extra time to brainstorm and eventually found a way to make my dreams a reality. I then decided to scale back from opening a brick and mortar to opening a mobile coffee shop, as this route seemed more attainable and also made more sense due to the effects of the pandemic.

I began gaining the confidence I needed to move forward and amped up my search for mobile coffee shops. While researching and exploring my options, I started following a Washington-based YouTuber who owned her own mobile coffee shop and I fell in love with her story and trailer. I even attempted to hire the same fabricator to build a trailer very similar to hers, but unfortunately, the fabricator never returned my calls nor emails. To my surprise, the owner listed her camper for sale a few months later! I put in an offer but later found out that she accepted another offer. I was even more surprised when I found out the first deal fell through and my offer was selected as the official buyer! Everything, from the purchase of the camper to transporting it cross county, happened so effortlessly! Although the fabricator never responded to my emails and my initial offer for the camper was not accepted, that did not mean it was the end of my journey. I stayed the course and committed to my research and began to watch doors began to open back up. This story is a constant reminder that a “delay is not denial!”

To this day, my dad and I continue the tradition of bonding over coffee before a road trip or at the start of a long day. He and my granddad, my first male heroes, are who I named my business after – Ira (late grandfather) Lane (dad’s middle name) – and I have the pleasure of continuing the tradition of storytelling and gem dropping with my customers through our love of coffee.

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.
I am a woman who loves nature and being outdoors. Therefore, I would take my best friend on a girl’s trip to the North Georgia mountain area, where we would stay in a luxurious cabin, with mountain top views. We would spend the week going on hikes, tubing, white-water rafting, and cycling. The morning activities would always end in visiting a LOCAL coffee shop to grab a cup of coffee. The afternoons and evenings would consist of relaxing in the pool or hot-tub, watching guilty-pleasure reality TV shows, a little girl-talk, and gathering in the kitchen to prepare new dinner recipes; however, at least one night must consist of going to a Sushi restaurant.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

Where do I start? I am thankful for the support of my loving husband and family, close friends, and my barista (who is now more like a little sister). As I learned more and more about the coffee industry, I began doubting myself because of age, lack of experience, the unknown state of the economy, etc., however, their encouragement caused me to continue pursuit of my passion and is one of the reasons why I am in this place today!

My coffee distributor, Counter Culture Coffee, continues to be very instrumental on this journey. Not only do they provide me with the best coffee beans ever, but my representatives, Park and Dustin, have been my “wing-men” – they taught me all the basics of becoming a barista, which has been essential as I have never worked in a coffee shop a day in my life. They have also come to my rescue on several occasions when my equipment decided it did not want to operate properly. They are a continued source of support and I am so grateful to partner with them!

I’d also like to thank Michael Sard, Esq. and Kevin Leff, Esq., of Sard & Leff, which is the premier alcoholic beverage licensing and regulatory compliance law firm in the state of Georgia, where I currently work full-time. When I shared my new business venture with them, they unselfishly supported my endeavors by allowing me to set up my camper in their front parking lot on the weekends to serve coffee! From the early stages of my coffee service endeavors, I had no clue where I would be able to set up to serve the community, so I am very grateful to them for this opportunity, which has allowed me to gain additional experience in this industry, become exposed to numerous networking opportunities, and provided an environment to meet countless amazing people who are now a staple in my life.

Website: www.iralanecoffee.com

Instagram: @iralanecoffee

Facebook: Ira Lane Coffee

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ira-lane-coffee-atlanta?osq=ira+lane+coffee

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNec_DAbRTG8c-PNSJdMFpw