Small Business Spotlight: Main Street Coffee and Kitchen

Life has a funny way of going every direction except the one you planned. Josh and Brianne Hogan, owners of Main Street Coffee and Kitchen in Spencer, know that lesson well, because they’ve lived it!

Main Street Coffee and Kitchen didn’t start as a traditional coffee shop, but as a coffee cart paired with crafts and purses handmade by Brianne during Spencer’s annual Apple Butter Festival. Once the community had a taste for their coffee and wares, they wanted more! While renovating their historic downtown building into a home on Spencer’s square, Josh and Brianne decided to carve out a small space in the front for a counter to serve coffee and sell handmade goods.

What was meant to be a fun side project just for special occasions, had grown into a Saturday’s only business. Coffee soon led to food and baked goods, and the business began to take on a life of its own. As the story goes for this venture, the community’s love and demand for what they were offering kept pushing the Hogans to expand. They added a weekday to their schedule, which was no small feat for Brianne, who was also homeschooling their seven kids at the time.

They realized that if they wanted to give the community what they so desperately wanted, the business had to keep growing. So, Josh made the leap and left his full-time construction job to help run the coffee shop five days a week.

In 2020, the shop closed temporarily for a full remodel. By that point, the Hogans “little” coffee shop had grown so popular that a couple of tables and a small bar were no longer cutting it. After a complete redesign of the downstairs, they reopened with plenty of space for guests to enjoy their food, baked goods, and, of course, their coffee.

Now, after 11 years in business, Main Street Coffee and Kitchen is still going strong and has become an icon in this small community of 2,500 people, a cozy cornerstone right in the heart of downtown!

When asked about their biggest success to date, Brianne doesn’t hesitate: “The community. If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t be here.” Success can look different for everyone, but for the Hogans, it means working alongside their seven kids and sharing stories with the people who stop in, whether it’s every morning or once a year. Over time, the community has watched their children grow up, and the Hogan’s have watched others grow and change too, all while weaving their stories together through cups of coffee.

Their advice to anyone thinking about starting a small business? Start small and grow. It’s easy to add things, but much harder to take them away. Let people get to know you and what you offer. Once they do, you’ll learn what they need, and can grow right along with them.

Next time you’re in Spencer, be sure to stop in for a coffee or try something from their rotating menu of food and daily baked treats. Find them on Facebook to see what’s brewing each day!