Meet Elizabeth and John Huennekens of August Beverage Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth and John Huennekens.

Hi Elizabeth and John, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It all started by making cold brew at home in 2017. We would have friends over that would try it and tell us how much they loved it. We thought they were just being kind but they were like “No, you guys really need to do something with this and can we buy some?”. With that in mind, we decided to self distribute to local small businesses around Round Rock and Georgetown to get our name out there.

In 2018, we had a beverage station at The Georgetown Poppy Fest and that is the minute we knew we wanted to have a brick-and-mortar drive-thru location in Georgetown. We loved being able to connect with our customers in person and spending time with them. Every interaction was something we craved and wanted more of. We wanted to bring the first locally-owned coffee drive-thru to Georgetown. Providing our customers with the convenience they were asking for. To get their daily caffeine fix but also support small businesses. Little did we know that four months later John would sustain a crippling traumatic brain injury while on duty as a firefighter. He was diagnosed with a concussion and post-concussion syndrome that left him completely unable to function as he had before. From that point on, the plans for the company had to go on hold. Two years of tedious work, healing and recovery lead us to a crossroad to decide what to do next with the company. We decided to move forward with our dream of having a brick and mortar. After finding the ideal location we were on a mission! Starting from the ground up was no easy feat as a small business without any national franchise backing but we trucked on and made it happen.

The universe kept throwing curve balls at us from the application process to construction issues to COVID to supply chain issues.

August Beverage Company brick and mortar was able to open on October 30, 2021 making it one of its kind! Not only was the shop ready to go but we had assembled the perfect team from our amazing manager to our baristas to our three little boys who have their own aprons and name tags.

At August, we use what we call the “August Method” as the base for our hot and cold coffee drinks. This technique is a multi-stage long steeped brewing process to create a coffee base that is smoother and more caffeinated than traditional coffee brewing methods.

We do things completely different because we don’t use an espresso machine. You won’t even find one in the shop. Customers enjoy an unparalleled coffee experience that is convenient, unique, and delicious. Our coffee is available in caffeinated and decaffeinated options, yes even a decaf cold brew is available!

Here we are six months later from opening and man have we learned a thing or two along the way. Actually, we are still learning and that’s how we like it. The shop is its own living creature. Always evolving and adapting to what the community needs and asks for, all while providing the best coffee in town with customer service that can’t be beat.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Challenges: Definitely not a smooth road, but is there ever really one.

Our biggest obstacle is letting people know we are here. Because of how deliberate and intentional we are about every aspect of this project, people tend to look at our project and think it has national backing and it’s just another National coffee shop but we’re anything but that. We are local. We are a small business.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about August Beverage Company?
We specialize in coffee done differently! All our drinks are coffee concentrate based not espresso-based. Any drink can be hot, iced or blended. Caffeinated or decaf. Regular or sugar-free.

We are known for coffee that is smoother and less acidic with a kick of caffeine.
What sets us apart is the quality of our coffee. Our coffee has a profile that gives you a Chocolatey toffee nutty nougat flavor that is wonderful on its own or great with all our flavors.

What are you most proud of: how intentional we are… from the name of the company that was derived from John and our first son being born In August, to the Leo aspect, and to what August really means when you look up the word. We wanted a strong brand we could get behind.

We want people to understand how different we truly are. We are the new-fashioned way to an old-time tradition. By not using an espresso machine we have paved the way for coffee to be done differently at our shop. We recently started serving house-made to order breakfast tacos with house-made salsa. We plan to expand our food options more in the next few weeks to meet the requests of our customers.

Ideally, we would love to expand our hours as customer traffic continues to increase.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
For us, it has been mentors, family and other people in the community that have played a pivotal role beside us to help us be the best we be.

Contact Info:

• Email: augustbeveragecompany@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.augustbeveragecompany.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/augustbeveragecompany/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/augustbeveragecompany/

Image Credits
Photo credit in order: Pink shirt – jmwcollective Shop photo, coffee and Krispie and drink photo – Elizabeth Huennekens Tacos picture – jmwcollective Picture of us – Thomas Athanas