This popular, mobile coffee espresso bar in Middle Georgia will open a storefront soon
Just one year ago, Sophia Gargicevich-Almeida launched her popular mobile espresso bar, Little Light Coffee Co.
Today, Gargicevich-Almeida is opening a coffee shop at 4027 Watson Blvd., Suite 220, in Warner Robins, the former spot of Mini Dixie Donuts before its move to 1003 Russell Parkway.
The storefront for Little Light Coffee Co. is targeted to open March 26.
“I feel like the train doesn’t always stop twice, so when it’s there, you gotta jump on,” Gargicevich-Almeida said.
She plans to continue operating the mobile espresso bar but primarily for catering for weddings, employee/teacher appreciation and other private events.
The California native attributes her success in part to the Middle Georgia community which embraced her and her business.
“The community got behind us, and they showed up where we were setting up — a lot of times not in the most convenient places,” Gargicevich-Almeida said. “Honestly, I think a huge credit is to them because they really gave life to this business.”
Gargicevich-Almeida said she has customers who have been with her since the beginning. She’s gotten to know them as they’ve gone through a pregnancy or as their children graduate from strollers to bicycles.
She’s been nicknamed “the coffee girl.”
She wants to duplicate that same vibe at her coffee shop.
“It’s been so fun to build relationships and community and that’s what I think I’m most excited about with having a brick and mortar is you’re able to have that consistently — having a place where people can go to and hopefully feel at home and it’s their safe space and just continue to nurture those relationships,” Gargicevich-Almeida said.
She wants to create an experience in which “people genuinely enjoy and they feel special and they feel loved.”
Gargicevich-Almeida also wanted to give a shout out to Olivia Mattingly, who joined her early on as a barista and has stayed by her side to make the business a success.
The storefront
At the coffee shop, Gargicevich-Almeida plans to keep it simple in much the same way she’s operated the mobile espresso bar.
She plans to add a few food offerings such as bagels, muffins and croissants.
“Down the road, it would be nice to scale up a little bit on the menu but the business has been built on having [a] concise menu that’s done just extremely well versus having a million things offered and try to do too much,” Gargicevich-Almeida said.
“So, I always rather have kind of a concise menu; start with the smaller things that we can kind of get our hands around and then move into — if we ever wanted to do — breakfast options down the road.”
In her mobile business, she found what worked for her was not having “20 million different flavors.”
“We had probably five or six consistent ones and we’d rotate seasonals and that was because we knew that they were done well, they were consistent, people knew what to expect,” she said.
Gargicevich-Almeida hasn’t finalized hours for the coffee shop yet but she’s thinking about from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Little Light Coffee Co. has both a Facebook page and a website.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 4:52 PM.