Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Whiddon.
Hi Taylor, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My wife (Hannah) and I opened JoJo’s Espresso in July of 2020. The name “JoJo” comes from our late middle son. His name was Josiah. He was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome – a rare heart defect. We were fortunate enough to spend 7 weeks with him before his passing. So, we wanted to honor him by naming our business after him.
As far as our coffee experience went, we actually didn’t have a ton of experience. We really had zero experience in owning a business. We ended up buying a very nice home espresso machine and grinder. This allowed us to practice and gain barista skills. Once we felt great about our knowledge with coffee, espresso, machines, etc… We decided to purchase our LLC in January of 2020. We bought a car hauler trailer in February of 2020 and then we had a friend custom build an enclosure on top of the trailer.
It was almost like we were building a tiny home. We wanted this trailer to look like a cafe on wheels. We added backsplash, sconce lighting, angled ceilings, custom cabinetry, wooden countertops, the works… The main thing was that we wanted a massive serving window so our guests could see everything we were doing in the trailer. We wanted to create an experience. So fast forward to July of 2020, and we were ready to open our awning to the public.
We are a craft coffee shop on wheels. We custom make every drink such as lattes, americanos, cappuccinos and cortados. You can get these drinks hot or iced. We have our main menu along with a seasonal menu. Since we’re in fall right now, we are serving our very popular Butterscotch Latte and Cinnamon Dolce Cold Brew. We didn’t stop there though. We also wanted hand-crafted pastries. Every day we’re open we are serving pastries such as gluten-free blueberry lemon scones and our “to die for” cinnamon rolls. We rotate our pastries weekly and they are baked fresh for every shift.
We love hospitality and we’re excited about what the future holds for JoJo’s. We plan to continue to grow our business and serve our community. You can find our weekly schedule at www.jojosespresso.com or on Instagram or Facebook.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, it has been a smooth journey. We have hit some bumps along the way but nothing to hold us back from opening every day.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My wife is a nurse but for now, she is a full-time stay-at-home mom. She makes all of our hand-crafted syrups and sauces for the business. She also does all of the payroll and books for the business.
I am working full-time at the Life Church of Memphis as a stage designer and cafe director. I handle the operations of our church cafe while also designing our stage sets and programming stage lighting for each of our church locations.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
We have done most of our networking through Instagram. We have reached out to hundreds of coffee shops and coffee trucks around the US. They have helped us tremendously with getting our business off the ground. We still maintain a lot of those relationships and ask questions when needed.
Contact Info:
- Email: jojos.espresso901@gmail.com
- Website: jojosespress.com
- Instagram: jojosespresso
- Facebook: jojosespresso
- Youtube: jojosespresso
- Yelp: jojosespresso
Image Credits
Nlaweddings
