Coffee shop bulletin board lifts spirits
By Ryan Spoehr
Staff Writer
Every town seems to have stories about local businesses with customers who surprise other patrons by paying for their coffee. However, an area business has taken that whole idea one step forward, or possibly “paid” it one step forward.
Shortly after its 10th anniversary and subsequent updates to its facility, The SweetSpot Cafe in Whitewater put up a chalk board, first to make it a specials board, then later a bulletin board. However, the concept soon became a deeper, more impactful approach for using the space.
It is now used for customers paying for drinks or meals for other customers, with specific people in mind who may be going through a rough stretch.
“It kind of evolved to what it is today through a couple of things,” owner Lacey Reichwald said. “I was at a cafe in La Crosse. It was a coffee shop and also a bar. In the bar, they had a board where customers could buy a coffee for a beer for another customer. So, it would have like, ‘Miller Lite’ and then a customer’s name. I thought it was really cool. I snapped a picture of it and thought it was neat and had it in the back of my head for a while.”
Right around the same time, the good side of customers became even more apparent in the coffee shop.
“Then here, customers just started asking, ‘Can I buy a coffee for the next customer who comes in?’ or ‘Can you add $5 on my bill so I can buy the next person’s item?’” Reichwald said.
So, Reichwald meshed the customers’ kindness with the idea she saw in La Crosse, and came up with a use for the new board, which is now the “Pay it Forward” board.
Since its inception, the Pay it Forward board’s money total has risen to more than $500.
“I think that’s so cool,” cafe manager and barista Jenna Karstens said.
How it works is a customer may suggest a category to put on the Pay it Forward board, or contribute to an existing category. Then they pay money to put on a SweetSpot gift card that is kept next to the board. Categories are written on the board with dollar amounts next to them.
Categories include “Foster parent/family,” “divorced mom and “divorced dad.” There are also categories such as “social worker,” “trans person” and “struggling with anxiety.” There has been up to 30 different categories on the board at one time.
A person who can be identified in one of the categories may claim money from the gift card to use toward their drink, meal or both.
“The categories started pretty bland. It started right around the time the Cubs were in the World Series, so I think one of the first ones up there was ‘Cubs Fan,’” Reichwald said. “They’ve evolved to be more sentimental and heartfelt. Some of them are really kind of heartbreaking, but also beautiful. It’s neat. It’s neat to get that feedback from customers.”
Karstens estimates 10 categories are put on the board daily with five taken down each day.
“They’re not always the same. A lot of times a category will keep getting added to and then go back to zero, and then brought back up. But, sometimes it goes back to zero and gets replaced by something else,” Reichwald said.
Some categories are meant for fun, while some are just to bring the spirits up of someone who is having a downer of a day or is in genuine need of help.
“I remember one day when a customer came in and she had found out that she didn’t get a job that she was really hoping to get, so she was really upset,” Reichwald said. “When she came in, she had a coffee and a cupcake. Afterwards, she came up and she said she felt better after having the cupcake and the coffee, and wanted to do the same for someone. I think the category she said was ‘Missed Opportunity.’”
“We also have a lot of money on the board for single parents, for those who are widowed or who have lost a family member. A lot of times, that money comes from people who are also in that same situation and just want to comfort someone who is feeling that same way,” Reichwald said.
Reichwald estimates that people have put categories on the Pay it Forward board more than 100 times since it was created last year. Karstens predicts it may have even reached 150 already, without taking an official tally of it. Either way, they both see joy, and sometimes, great impact in many people’s days because of the board.
The kindness, or sweetness, often carries on from one person to the next.
“It does seem like when someone uses one of them, like ‘Single Mom,’ if a single mom comes in and says she wants to use the $5 up there for single moms, then a lot of times she’ll turn around and say, ‘I want to put $5 up for ‘Military Moms’ or something like that,” Reichwald said.
However, some categories like that, may stay up for a while because of the difficulty of expressing those situations in public.
“Some stay up there for a while. The touchy subjects stay up there for a while,” Karstens said. “We’re getting closer to being able to talk about things up front, but I think some things are definitely hard to come up to us baristas and say, ‘I Just Lost My Husband.’”
Karstens said the goal is not to out anyone, so everyone at The SweetSpot is understanding if people may not want to share if they would be classified in certain categories.
“We’ve had widowers up there for a while. We’ve had ‘Military Personnel or Parents” that has been up there for a while. I think mostly that’s just kind of pride for military people. They don’t want to take that. They want that for other people. It’s mostly just stuff that is hard to talk about,” Karstens said.
One of the categories that tends to stay up on the board for extended periods of time without someone claiming from it is the “In Need of Dinner” category. Just a few weeks ago, there was a total of $40 listed as available for that category on the board.
“The hardest thing for us is that we get so many people putting money on the board, there’s not as many people taking it. I guess it’s a positive thing that there aren’t, but we almost wish people who need it know about it more and would come in and use it more,” Reichwald said.
“I know there are people in our community who are in need of dinner every once in a while, but I don’t know how to reach those folks and make them aware that’s there for them and it’s an opportunity for them to come in and have a nice dinner at The SweetSpot.”
Karstens said categories like “Divorced Parents” or “Single Parents” tend to be categories that are left up on the board for long periods of time because those are hard subjects and people may not be able to talk about that with baristas, or just in public in general.
However, Karstens said those are some of her favorite categories on the board.
“I think it’s really cool that if you are going through something like that and you come in here, it’s just really cool to see someone else is going through that and someone else is on your side. Whether you take it or not, I think it’s just nice to see it,” Karstens said.
Other categories like, “Struggling High School Senior” and “Try Something New” have been put up and taken down often, Karstens said.
“I think it’s mostly people who are going through the thing they are going through,” Karstens said. “We had a mother and a daughter come in here, and it was the summer before the daughter first coming to college here. So, they were checking out all the restaurants here, and the mom was all into her daughter going to school where something like this exists. She was really hyped up about it, so she put up, “Try New Things” up there for $5, just as a motivation for someone else to try something new.”
However, the board hasn’t just been about hard topics. The board has also provided some laughs along the way too.
“The funny ones are definitely cool. We have a freestyle rap one up there, and that’s actually one that has gone back up there several times,” Karstens said. “It’s just the fun ones that kind of create a sense of connection between the baristas and the people using it where you kind of break down your walls, do something stupid and get free money out of it.”
Karstens has noticed other topics, like “Do the Chicken Dance” tend to go more quickly, which led to one of Karstens’ favorite moments in the history of the Pay it Forward board.
“The girl who did it was a freshman here. She was with someone who she worked with in the sorority she was trying to get into. So, it was a really cool bonding moment for them. It was the first time meeting and she embarrassed herself in front of her sorority sisters,” Karstens said.
Some of Karstens’ other favorites include “someone who has a nice beard” and “Show Us a Picture of Your Cute Dog.”
“That one we just kept putting back up for a while. That one was probably the one we spent the most money on because we’re just obsessed with dogs, and it’s just a nice part of the day just looking at pictures of dogs,” Karstens said.
Reichwald hasn’t seen an uptick in business as a result of the board nor has she kept track of if there have been any trends as a result of the board.
“I didn’t do it as a business promotion because it was a feel-good thing for the staff here,” Reichwald said. “Ever since The SweetSpot opened, it has really been a community hub and it’s important to reach out to the community in as many ways as possible. With the service side of our business, we have a really strong mission statement. In our mission statement is our promise to our staff, our customers and our community, and it’s really important to give back to our community in as many ways as possible. So, that’s what the board is all about.”
The board had some growing pains in its initial stages.
“When we first started it it was really hard to keep things on the board. We saw a lot of college kids coming and taking what they could get, and just feeding off of it,” Karstens said. “As baristas, we put probably about $20 of our own tips up there so we could keep it rolling. We thought it was going to turn into something cool, and look at it now. It’s really cool. It definitely took some hits at the beginning, but where it is now, I really like it.”
The SweetSpot is at 226 W. Whitewater St., Whitewater. It is open daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
