Chris Diedrich eased into roasting coffee for a couple of years before deciding to take the leap and open a store.
He left the mortgage industry in 2015 to establish the Pura Bean Coffee Company coffee shop, which opened on Beach Boulevard in San Pablo Family Center in July 2016.
It was a big decision.
He sold mortgages for 14 years and was good it, he said.
He also was burning out.
Diedrich, who always wanted to have his own business, decided roasting and selling coffee was the way to do it.
Seven years into it, he is happy with his choice.
“It’s hard to believe that it just formed out of nothing. Yeah, just an idea. And it’s grown, so it’s kind of cool,” he said.
In addition to the shop at 14286 Beach Blvd., Suite 25, at Beach Boulevard and San Pablo Road, Diedrich operates a coffee truck on Saturdays at the Riverside Arts Market under the Fuller Warren Bridge along Riverside Avenue.
He sells coffee wholesale to a few businesses around town, including Sippers Coffeehouse on Gate Parkway and 1748 Bakehouse in Springfield.
In 2024, Pura Bean Coffee will be featured in a partnership with wine bar Vino Volo at the Verdi Market planned for Concourse C post-security at Jacksonville International Airport.
The target date for opening is the first quarter of 2024.
“Just to have our name at the airport– it’s something that I never would have imagined when I first started the company,” Diedrich, 49, said at the Beach Boulevard shop.
Pura Bean is essentially a wholesale partner in the concept, “which makes it easier for me to navigate” as the company increases its visibility in Jacksonville, he said.
Pura Bean was in consideration a few years back for a different post-security spot at the airport. Jacksonville-based Southern Grounds has the contract and opened in February 2022 in Concourse A.
Some months ago, Vino Volo contacted Diedrich with an offer as it sought to expand. Diedrich said the opportunity may reflect the airport’s efforts to bring a more local flavor to its food and beverage options.
The path to Pura Bean
Diedrich grew up in Austin, Texas, and came to Jacksonville in 1997 while serving in the U.S. Navy.
He left the Navy in 2000 and began selling mortgages at the encouragement of a friend.
Diedrich and his wife, Sherry, traveled to Costa Rica regularly for vacation, where he developed an interest in coffee and its regional origins.
In 2011, he decided he wanted to learn how to roast coffee. He experimented using a popcorn popper that belonged to his daughter and shared some of the results with friends.
The positive response caused Diedrich to ramp up what he was doing and think about monetizing it, he said.
In 2013, he took advantage of One Spark, a crowdfunding event in Downtown Jacksonville. At the encouragement of co-owner Benoit Desclefs, Diedrich set up a table outside The Magnificat Cafe on North Laura Street.
“I was just trying to see if what I had, people would actually like. I was not pitching for capital,” he said.
The response to his coffee was good.
Using the cafe as his “commissary,” Diedrich began selling coffee at Riverside Arts Market in 2014.
“I just did it on the side. I had a tent. When we first started, I only sold bags of coffee. Over time, we were selling bags of coffee, hot coffee and then eventually cold brew,” he said.
Once he decided to open a brick-and-mortar store – and start a new career – Diedrich looked around and eventually chose the location near The Church of Eleven22, which he attends.
The 1,000-square-foot shop now has five employees.
Pura Bean is open 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
He took inspiration from the Costa Rica expression “pura vida” when he named his company. It means “pure life” or “simple life” and is used in conversation to indicate that life is good.
Setbacks and opportunities
Two years after opening, he decided to expand into Riverside in a 900-square-foot space on King Street.
He opened the shop in June 2018 but closed within a year. Diedrich chose not to elaborate on the details.
“There were issues with the neighborhood, specifically a neighbor, so it was a learning experience,” he said.
Diedrich said he “fell in love with the space, and because of that, I was perfectly OK with not having a drive-thru.”
“Anything I do in the future is going to have a drive-thru. In today’s environment, most people are too busy to get out of their car,” he said.
The decision to close was financially a difficult one and Diedrich came up with ways to save costs at the Beach Boulevard location as a result.
“The nice part of that was that it helped us get through COVID. The thing that I always tell people was that King Street was me training for a marathon and COVID was me running the marathon,” he said.
Working through the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic was challenging, “but it was for everybody,” Diedrich said.
“We were back on our feet very quickly. We were definitely making less money, but we didn’t have the expenditures we had previously, so it wasn’t as challenging to get through it.”
In 2022, Diedrich bought a “giant box truck” and converted it into a mobile coffee truck, which can be found every Saturday at the Riverside Arts Market.
He also uses the truck for corporate events like employee appreciation days.
“It’s perfect for what we do,” he said. The only day he can’t fit it into a company’s schedule is Saturday, when he’s in Riverside. He loves the location and doing business there, and because it was where Pura Bean started, he feels a sense of loyalty as well.
There is now another coffee truck at the arts market, “but our numbers have not changed.”
Diedrich is usually at the Beach Boulevard store six days a week.
He roasts small-batch, artisan coffee in a room at the back. He makes breakfast sandwiches in the shop’s convection oven.
One of the rewards of having his own small business is the friendships he has established with customers, he said.
He even names drinks after them.
The tradition started with a customer named Kelly, a Marine and Church of Eleven 22 employee, who always ordered a caramel latte with an extra shot, Diedrich said.
‘Everybody knew him. Sometimes he’d switch up his order. He’d say, ‘Yeah, I’ll take a hot Kelly today,’ or ‘I’ll take a cold Kelly.’ I was like, that’s a pretty good idea.”
The Kelly, a caramel latte with two double shots of espresso, is now part of the Pura Bean menu.
It reflects a personal touch that Diedrich said is important to him in providing a customer experience.
Coffee chains opening or expanding in Northeast Florida may be ongoing, but Diedrich isn’t fazed by that. He stays focused on the quality of his own product and customer service.
“My philosophy has always been worry about what you’re doing, not what other people are doing. My goal with my company is to be the very best that we can be,” he said.
“If I’m worrying about what the other guy’s doing, I can’t focus on what I’m supposed to be doing. It would be like running a race and looking behind you, or right next to you, to see if you’re ahead of them. You’re going to slow down.”
Diedrich also believes that “the rising tide raises all ships,” he said.
“If there are more coffee places, we’re all going to benefit from it.”