Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittanie Sinisgalli.
Hi Brittanie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After working for about 15 years in sales, coffee shops and retail management, I found a job in public health and quickly discovered how passionate many in that field are and although I enjoyed my job, I didn’t feel that spark of passion. So after about 5 years I poured some time into thinking what I am passionate about and how I could make that into a job. I always had a ton of fun as a barista and daydreamed for years about opening a cafe, and I have always loved animals – cats especially, so opening a cat cafe became the dream. I started a business plan in February of 2020 and then, of course the pandemic hit and so I tabled the idea for a few years until I met Mary and we discovered we were a great match; she having tons of experience with fostering and caring for cats and me having hospitality and coffee/baking experience. We had plans to run a few pop ups but ultimately just decided that we would just dive right in and open a location and hope we could make it successful.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The start up was a little bumpy, however we were able to adapt well with the city and the state regulations. Fortunately, we have been very well received by our community so our opening was a great success and we have continued to create a welcoming environment and we host events that have grown our reach and our footprint in Downtown Lawrence.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At Espurresso, I manage day to day operations and also barista until we have other staff take over later in the day. I love seeing regulars everyday and also getting to introduce our space and our adoptable cats and serve people great coffee and baked goods.
I have honed my baking skills since I was a kid, my grandma always let me experiment in the kitchen so it’s fun to bring those skills to work and decide what I want to make for our customers.
I am especially proud that we took the time to work with the State of Kansas department of Agriculture to obtain a food license so we could bake our pastries in house and serve coffee, instead of offering premade items. I think this helps retain regular customers who come in daily for drinks and snacks and as a bonus get to watch some cute cats while they wait. It’s really fun to see them get very invested in the cats that we have and watch the cats personalities unfold alongside staff.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I touched on it somewhat in the previous question, but being given free reign of my grandparents is kitchen to make deserts for them. I certainly learned some lessons and made some atrocious combinations but also learned what works and baking and cooking have remained a passion of mine. It also cultivated my love of feeding people, and taking care of people which I think translates at Espurresso into strong customer service and community building.
Pricing:
- Purrlor Passes $10/30 minutes, $15/60 minutes
