After both of my great-grandparents passed away, my grandma, great-aunt, cousin, and I began to perfect the recipes that my great-grandma loved to make. Story goes that my great-grandma once baked over three-hundred pies in one week to fulfill orders for thanksgiving! If that is not some exciting family history, I don’t know what is! We had a dream to honor her through continuing her love for cooking for others through our own means and we began to lay out the plans to open a coffee shop and bakery.

In June of 2015, my family bought an old tavern in the small town of Mooresville and began renovating it to become a coffee shop. Our family personally did all of the renovations, slowly turning the run down, greasy and smelly bar into something a lot more appealing. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (especially after stepping on a few nails) to transform the old bar to something alluring. After approximately six months of hard labor the shop was ready to open. Grand opening of Bran N Shorts Coffee House was January 30^th, 2016 and was a great success! Ever since grand opening, I have volunteered to work at the shop every Saturday baking in the early morning, making the specialty espresso drinks, cleaning, and running the cash register. Working at the shop and interacting with all of the customers is always enjoyable. I have learned to be more out-going and a better leader from having all of the responsibilities, and I always think about my actions because they can be representative of the shop.  

The shop is in a small town and we have a mission to help various missions in the local area. Along with supporting various campaigns such as the flower planting campaign and the local marching band, one-hundred percent of our tips from each month are donated to a charity or mission. Each month, the shop accumulates approximately $400 to $600 each month to donate to a specfied charity. A few of the places that we have doanated to are Spoonful of Hope, Newby Schools, Relay for Life, and Tails and Trails Dog Rescue. I invite you to check out our coffee shop at www.bran-n-shortscoffee.com or on Facebook!