Working during a coffee emporium saved my life. 3 years later, we bought a coffee emporium — here’s how we did it.

  • Angela Burns is a owners of Little Bean Coffee Company in Antioch, Illinois; check out a emporium on Instagram.
  • When Burns forsaken out of Purdue University for mental health reasons, she began operative during Cafe Book, Little Bean Coffee Company’s former iteration.
  • She desired operative there and says it felt like home; when she returned to Purdue, she wrote an letter for Roxane Gay’s category about a recovering powers of a coffee shop.
  • After graduating, Burns worked in grill government jobs — until a owners of Cafe Book asked her if she would be meddlesome in holding over a coffee shop.
  • On May 1, 2018, Burns handed over her check and began using Little Bean Coffee Company.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for some-more stories.

When we initial stopped into Cafe Book (now named Little Bean Coffee Company), we was home from college looking for work. we had forsaken out a prior year due to basin and anxiety. 

I gathering by Antioch on my approach to a opposite talk and saw that Cafe Book was hiring, so we stopped in to fill out an application. Two or 3 days later, we started my initial training shift. 

I had (and still cope with) serious stress and depression. we forsaken out of Purdue University my comparison year after a highbrow pulled me aside and we had a assembly about my work in class. we explained to her that it was formidable for me to focus, to get out of bed, to do homework, or to emanate any drafts or papers for class. we indispensable to go home before something irrevocable happened. 

The initial thing we remember about walking into a cafeteria was a smell of creatively brewed coffee and a hiss from a espresso machine. we desired a regard and coziness. My coworkers were incredible. They were helpful, encouraging, smart, and friendly.