Owner of local drink shack delights in making customers smile one drink at a time
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RIGBY – Four miles north of Rigby off Exit 325 is a popular stop for drivers on U.S. Highway 20.
Idaho Falls resident Jessica Carson owns and operates Cup O’ Bliss, a small drink shack at 659 N. Yellowstone Highway.
She offers a variety of organic espressos and coffees, frappes, smoothies, Italian cream soda, lemonade, frosties and more to satisfy people’s cravings during their commute.
“People come here for their happiness and they leave happier than when they came,” Carson tells EastIdahoNews.com.
Whether it’s someone on their way to work or a tourist from the other side of the world, Carson has acquired an extensive list of new and frequent customers and she delights in serving each of them one by one.
“You kind of build a relationship and a rapport (with people),” says Carson. “I don’t know half their names, but I know their drinks, I know their kids, I know their dog, I know their story. It is really neat. I look forward to seeing people coming in and making their day.”
Carson carries Ghirardelli chocolate and any drink with white chocolate tends to be the most popular, she says.
How Cup O’ Bliss got started
Carson opened the business the week of the eclipse two and a half years ago.
Several years prior, she was involved in a similar business in Idaho Falls. A family friend was looking to open a patisserie and coffee shop, Carson says, which eventually became La Vanilla Bean in downtown.
“She (the owner) called me up and asked me if I would manage it for her,” Carson says.
The business was a retirement project for the owner, and Carson’s plan was to purchase it from her when she retired.
“She decided to retire early…and sold it out from underneath me,” Carson says. “The new owners couldn’t pay me what I was making so I went back to doing administrative work.
For the next several years, Carson made a living at various jobs. Though she was serving customers in other capacities, she says she was unhappy and missed the unique interactions with customers that only a drink shop could provide.
“I wanted to go back to waking up and enjoying what I did,” she says.
Carson kept working and saving her money while keeping her eyes open for a place to open her own drink shop. After about two years, her dream became a reality.
Growth in an ‘amazing community’
More than two years after she began this venture, Carson is looking to expand. She’s hoping to get a mobile unit that she can take to community events throughout eastern Idaho. She also wants to open a second location near Ashton.
“You get a lot of recreational people coming through there all season, so I feel like that might be a good spot,” Carson says.
Rigby is an amazing community, she says, and it’s inspiring to watch customers serve each other.
“On a daily basis, I get people who do a ‘pay-it-forward’ kinda thing, like giving $5 to the guy behind them,” she says. “It’s an amazing community.”
Cup O’ Bliss is open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. It will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning in June.
Visit the Facebook page for more information, or call (208) 589-6231.
If you want your business featured in the Small Business Spotlight, email rett@eastidahonews.com. Please use “SBS” in the subject line.
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