Longtime employee David Beam (left), owner Tim Helfrich, and barista Andy Simkus behind the counter at Summit. (David Boraks photo)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

For the past decade, Summit Coffee has been an anchor of Davidson’s downtown, not only attracting locals and visitors with its blend of good coffee and good music, but also supplying an atmosphere that has fed our town’s resurgent sense of community.

It’s a comfortable, reliable, always-on venue where patrons can catch a coffee buzz – and catch up on the local buzz.

Businesspeople talk deals here; moms gather for têtes-à-têtes; community boards meet; professors, students, local clergy and even we reporters hang out here. It’s a place to grab an afternoon glass of wine or taste a new microbrew, or hear original local music (no cover bands need apply).

That sense of community hasn’t happened by accident. It was part of founder Craig Blaney’s vision in 1998 and it’s fostered today by Summit’s current owner, Tim Helfrich.

“It’s been exciting,” Mr. Helfrich says as we sip microbrews on a Friday afternoon. “We’ve chosen very intentionally to focus our existence as a business on a very localized level.”

Summit opened while Mr. Helfrich was still a Davidson College Asian studies and creative writing student. He recalls visiting Davidson as a high school student, before the coffee shop opened, and hearing a college tour guide joke that the town “was so dead you could cross Main Street without looking.”

That may not have been true then, but it’s certainly not true now, thanks in no small measure to Summit Coffee.

10 YEARS AGO

Summit opened its doors Sept. 16, 1998, after being brought to life in a vacant 100-year-old storefront at 128 S. Main St. by Mr. Blaney, a Davidson resident, entrepreneur, and self-described coffee-lover. Another of Mr. Blaney’s passions is mountaineering, and he gave a nod to that interest in choosing a name and a theme for the shop.

Inside, the aging building’s brick and wood interior is decorated with climbing ropes and gear, and photos of mountains and climbers, including Alex Lowe, a friend of Mr. Blaney’s who died in a Tibetan climbing accident in 1999.

The love of coffee and outdoor sports was at the heart of Mr. Blaney’s decision to start the business, he says.

“It was pure passion. I did not run any numbers, did not do a business plan. I just put a lot of money into it and based it purely on outstanding customer service. And I wanted to have the highest quality product we could have.”

Summit sells organic and fair-trade coffee, roasted by Counterculture Coffee of Durham and sold under its own label.

Mr. Blaney was a gregarious entrepreneur, and could often be seen shaking hands with regulars and inquiring, “How’s it going?” That spirit has remained an important part of the store.

In 2003, Mr. Blaney brought in Mr. Helfrich as a business partner and manager. Mr. Helfrich, a Hartford, Conn., native, was a 2000 Davidson College graduate who shared Mr. Blaney’s love of coffee and the local scene.

He was playing drums in the successful progressive bluegrass band Cast Iron Filter, but had made up his mind to leave. “It wasn’t a sustainable lifestyle for me. I love traveling (he’s been to Tibet, among other places), but not 200 days a year,” Mr. Helfrich says.

But what to do next? “I wanted to fully submerge myself in an experience,” he recalls.

He also was in a relationship with Beth Gardner, another Davidson grad, and admits, “It could be argued that I was just looking for anything to do to keep me in Davidson.” (The two later married and are expecting their first child next month.)

TAKING OWNERSHIP

Tim Helfrich outside Summit Coffee.

Whatever the impulse, Mr. Helfrich plunged in as Summit’s manager in 2003. He brought in live music, and cultivated a lively music scene on Summit’s “back porch,” which has now become known as one of the best venues around for local musicians. (The upstairs now also has been renovated as a lounge and performance space.)

In 2005, he bought out Mr. Blaney’s share of the business.

Since joining, he has added microbrews and wine to the menu, brought in sandwiches, salads and pastries from Mooresville’s La Patisserie, and begun a series of monthly fund-raisers called “Summit Cares.”

The shop’s revenues have grown steadily, though price increases from suppliers this year are biting into profits. “We’ve grown every year, though we’re not seeing the same kind of growth this year as others,” he says.

Rising costs forced him to raise prices in August, but he couldn’t do it without offering an apology. Customers were given a note explaining the price hike, and expressing regret.

STRONG IDEALS

Mr. Helfrich has an experienced manager now in Steve Vetrone, and other staff including some who have been with the shop for nearly the entire 10 years.

Davidson native David Beam was one of Summit’s first employees and remains its senior barista – not to mention its resident carpenter. (He helped renovate the upstairs lounge a couple of years back.)

“We’ve come an incredibly long way from that first year,” he says. “I remember working with four or five people behind the counter at the beginning, with nobody in here.”

We had to ask: Why is he still here after 10 years? “I have a big passion for coffee, and I really, really enjoy working here,” explains Mr. Beam, who rarely hands a latte across the counter without a smile.

“Most of these people are my best friends. I don’t think I could have as much fun anywhere else – except making beer,” he jokes, referring to another of his interests.

TO EXPAND OR NOT?

Mr. Helfrich has considered expanding his coffee empire, as offers come in for spaces in new developments in and around Davidson. But he has been reluctant to endanger the business.

“The question of whether to expand is one we’re constantly faced with,” he says. “We have a brand strategy and a model that can be reproduced. But it comes back to what we’re trying to do as a business. It’s about that intimacy we’re trying to have with our customers.

“At this point, the opportunities we’ve looked at have challenged that notion,” he adds.

Expanding also would threaten Mr. Helfrich’s own lifestyle. He owns a business selling something he loves and gets to play music regularly with friends, usually Billy Jones and The Pocket.

Meanwhile, he actually works another job that he loves, as a high school English teacher at Woodlawn School, a private school just north of Davidson.

“I’ve made a personal decision that’s a part of my life that’s important, and I don’t want to sacrifice it,” he says of Woodlawn.

With a little luck, and the same commitment to his business and lifestyle, Mr. Helfrich could be here at least another 10 years. “I want Summit to be here for a hundred years. A lot of my decisions are based around that. Every year there are new challenges and different opportunities to grow.”

SUMMIT BY THE NUMBERS

Number of pounds of coffee brewed since 1998: 122,840

Number of hours open since 1998: 52,632

Total number of employees since opening: 253

Musical performances held there: 1,130.

Amount donated to charities: $120,000