Coffee Zone means business

WASILLA — For local barista Paige Dickey, running an espresso stand isn’t just about making coffee, it’s about good business.

In 2010, shortly after she graduated a year early from Service High School, Dickey shelled out $100 and signed up for a two-day course with Kaladi Brothers Coffee to learn all there was to know about making a good cup o’ joe or a tasty espresso drink. Soon she was working for the business that trained her, she said, and loving it.

A few months later, Dickey thought she’d try something new, and began working as a flight attendant for what is now Ravn Alaska, formerly Era Aviation. She enjoyed her job flying around the state, too, she said, but it wasn’t the same.

“I just kept coming back to coffee,” Dickey said.

So in 2011, she returned to her favorite occupation as a barista at Sugar Shack Espresso in Anchorage.

“It’s like working at a bar but better, and more fun,” Dickey said.

Despite what one might think, Dickey said she couldn’t recall ever having to deal with a cranky, non-morning-person type of customer.

“People are happy when they come up and happy when they leave,” she said.

In July, Dickey moved out to the Valley with her parents, but her job at Sugar Shack was so important to her, she said, that she continued to commute.

“I loved my bosses,” she said. “It was hard to leave them.”

But leave them she did, eventually, when she saw the Wasilla stand go up for sale. Dickey and her parents met with the previous owner of the little shop — located between a Shell gas station and Diversified Tire — and decided to go into the venture together.

Soon the Dickeys went full swing into the renovation process, re-painting, roofing, re-furnishing and re-building the stand until only one original countertop remained. The inside is still under construction, Paige said, but by Sept. 8, Coffee Zone Espresso was ready to roll.

“I’ve never run a business before, so this is all new to me,” Paige said.

Even so, she was willing to pay for the “Cadillac of coffee machines” out of her own pocket for making top-quality espresso drinks. Not only that, but she intends to obtain an accounting degree online in the coming years, “just so I can be more efficient,” she said.

“I want to make sure it’s all on paper and everything is how it’s supposed to be,” she said, of the business.

Dickey said that having her parents as co-owners and running the stand as an officially established “S” corporation makes everything easier — and less expensive in terms of taxes — but she’s just happy to be able to do what she loves.

“I really like the energy,” she said. “It’s sort of a make-your-own-potions kind of deal.”

Dickey is already demonstrating that creative aspect with a specialty “wake-up” drink called “gotym” — pronounced “go time” — which she learned how to make at Sugar Shack: half 5-hour Energy, half Red Bull, available in regular or blended form.

In the past, Dickey said, the drink has been a significant success.

“Most people are open to try anything,” she said.

Coffee Zone Espresso is located at 2450 E. Palmer-Wasilla Hwy., open weekdays 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.