The Coffee Shop Opens as Richmond, Ohio’s Gathering Place

It’s a weekday morning on West Main Street. The door swings open, a familiar face walks in, and Frank Rogers looks up from behind the bar. He already knows the order.

That moment, unhurried and personal, is exactly what Annie and Frank Rogers set out to create when they opened The Coffee Shop at 110 W. Main Street in Richmond, Ohio. Not a transaction. A ritual. A reason to show up.

The shop opened its doors on October 23, 2025. Richmond came out for the official grand opening on December 3. In the weeks between, and every week since, they have built what Richmond did not know it was waiting for: a place that belongs to the people who walk through its doors.

The Observation That Started It All

A few years ago, Annie and Frank were living in Sunbury, Ohio — about two and a half hours from home. They watched a local shop called Village Coffee anchor its town in a way that changed how they thought about small business. People planned their mornings around it. Conversations that mattered happened there.

As they made plans to move back to Richmond, one question kept surfacing: Why doesn’t our town have something like that?

They decided to stop asking and start building.

Service Is the Point

Annie is an ICU nurse. Frank is a U.S. Navy combat veteran who now works for a multi-state agency that provides mental health treatment programs for veterans, law enforcement, and first responders.

For both of them, showing up for other people is not a business strategy. It’s just how they operate.

The Coffee Shop sprang from that same instinct, expressed through a different kind of service.

They host multiple events each month, with more on the way. They want the shop to work as a meeting space in the morning, a social hub in the afternoon, and a community venue after hours.

The menu reflects local tastes. The regulars get greeted by name.

“We are slowly becoming a community staple,” Annie said. “It was one of our main goals to give our community a place where they could walk in and feel comfortable.”

Why Independent?

Richmond has access to the national chains. Annie and Frank were not interested. The products did not impress them, and more importantly, a franchise would have handed them someone else’s brand, someone else’s menu, and someone else’s ceiling on what the shop could become.

What they saw instead, in neighboring towns, were independent shops with genuine personalities and fiercely loyal customers. Shops that fit their communities rather than being dropped into them.

“In our location, it just made sense to create our own brand,” they said.

That decision sent them looking for a wholesale partner who understood what independent operators actually need: real expertise, not a leash. A Google search led them to Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea and its 7 Steps to Success consulting program. After reviewing several suppliers, the choice was not difficult.

Crimson Cup, they said, was “leaps and bounds ahead” of the competition, thanks to a consulting model designed exclusively for independent operators.

Founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1991, Crimson Cup has spent more than three decades refining its consulting model, giving independent owners the operational blueprint franchise operators take for granted and leaving creative control where it belongs, with the owner.

The Roadmap to Success

First-time owners face a specific kind of paralysis. The list of unknowns is long: equipment specifications, bar layout, workflow, supplier relationships, and opening inventory. Every wrong guess costs money.

The 7 Steps program is built to eliminate most of those guesses before they happen. For Annie and Frank, the impact was immediate.

“The building layout and planning, and equipment and supply purchase were priceless,” they said. “We didn’t have to sit there and think about what to buy or how many or figure out where each thing would go. This part of the 7 Steps is well worth the entire cost of the program.”

What the program did not do was tell them how to run their shop. Annie and Frank write their own seasonal specials, respond to what their customers want, and make every decision about atmosphere, events, and menu direction themselves. The 7 Steps gave them the operational foundation. Everything built on top of it is theirs.

A Coffee Roaster Worth the Loyalty

Operational excellence only takes you so far. In a small town, the coffee has to be good enough to make people come back tomorrow.

Crimson Cup’s track record gave Annie and Frank confidence before they pulled their first shot. The company has earned multiple Good Food Awards, a Golden Bean World Series Championship and Roast magazine’s Macro Roaster of the Year honors.

Its coffee is served in more than 700 independent coffeehouses, grocers, universities, and foodservice locations across 37 states. Annie and Frank chose it not because of the accolades, but because those accolades reflected a standard they could stand behind.

Richmond has agreed with the choice.

“Humbly speaking, we have had raving reviews and feedback,” they said. “We have said to each other many times over the last couple of months how grateful we are that we made that decision.”

Lessons from Main Street

A few months in, Annie and Frank are still learning the rhythms of the business, still expanding the event calendar, still finding new ways to make the shop useful to the people around them. But they have already developed a clear sense of what makes an independent shop work in a community like Richmond.

Treat customers well and they will return the favor. Know your town and what it actually needs. Show up as a consistent, friendly presence every single day. Deliver a product people can count on.

None of that is complicated. All of it requires intention.

For Annie and Frank, The Coffee Shop was never just a business. It was a bet on their town, that Richmond wanted a place like this and would show up for it.

So far, Richmond is proving them right. For operators considering their own leap into independence, their path offers a clear blueprint to success.

Thinking About Opening Your Own Independent Coffee Shop?

Crimson Cup’s 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program has helped hundreds of first-time owners open strong and build lasting businesses.

For a friendly, no-obligation conversation about taking your first step, reach out to Scott Fullerton at 1.888.800.9224 or sfullerton@crimsoncup.com.