Speaking of celebrations, last month I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd anniversary celebration for one of our clients – Grassroots Coffee in Thomasville, GA. It’s a small, charming town with a rich history, and this independent coffee shop is now a part of the town’s most vital shopping district.

It’s only a half-hour drive from my hometown, and I wanted to be there to represent the company. I had stopped in when they first opened and noticed that they had mugs with their logo on them, but they didn’t have hand-thrown stoneware mugs from Deneen Pottery. I had Niles send them a few samples, and it was done! They came on board immediately, and I’m happy to say that our handmade mugs have done well for them. They’ve done so well that Grassroots is now on their third order of custom stoneware mugs.

Grassroots’ story began in the summer of 2009. Spencer and Megan Young along with their friend Ed Millere had the idea that they could bring a coffee shop to Thomasville’s thriving, historic downtown. Architects, contractors, plumbers and electricians ensued. On November 6th, they opened their doors believing all the while that they had something special to offer. So far, it seems they were spot on. In fact, the historic downtown of Thomasville has thrived so much during the recession that they were the subject of a story on NBC Nightly News in February. Even Spencer can be seen in the video!

It was great to see such a show of support for a locally-owned coffee shop. Grassroots even roasts its own coffee in-house. They’ve done so well in the past two years that their coffee is now on the shelves of select local grocery stores. And it’s available online as well for those of you (like Niles) who want a taste of southern-roasted coffee. They have even expanded to serving a limited selection of lunch sandwiches as well. All things seem to be looking up for these nice folks down in Georgia!

And what would our blog be without showing you their fabulous handmade mugs? They first ordered the Camper mug and the Abby mug, and those seem to be their mainstays.

And they’ve moved on to selling the Footed mugs as well. Just this year, they asked us to redesign their emblem to accommodate a one-shot espresso cup. Now they have two different versions of their logo available for purchase.

And talk about southern hospitality. These guys are even nice enough to include a card with your purchase explaining how to make the perfect cup of coffee. I have to say that, while I do love coffee, I am not a connoisseur. But this is some of the best coffee I’ve ever tasted. My personal favorite is the Grassroots Blend. Just last week, I had my folks pick up another pound for me along with the limited-edition Christmas Blend. It’s an amazing coffee all its own. So, while I might be stocked up on coffee for awhile, it’s great to know that I can always order it online.

While I was there, I did make one suggestion to Spencer. It’s the same suggestion we make to all our customers. Even if your mugs are selling well enough, they will always sell more quickly if you use them. Most of our bed & breakfasts customers serve morning coffee to their guests in their Deneen Pottery mugs, but coffee shops could do the same thing for those customers who prefer to have their coffee inside. Just set aside a small number of mugs for customers to use, and once they get their hands around our hand-thrown coffee mugs, they’re almost certain to purchase one. And just think of the money you’d be saving in paper cups!

And while we’re on the subjects of stocking up and saving money, it’s the perfect time to remind you about our Pack & Hold option that you should have received information about in our final newsletter of the year that was emailed on Tuesday. It’s the perfect option for those of you who want to order a large amount of mugs, but only want a few shipped at a time. It certainly does cut down on the wait time for reorders. You can order as few as 48 mugs or as many as 192 mugs and schedule your own delivery dates throughout the year or just call us when you run low. It’s that easy, and you only pay for what we ship at one time! And for all reorders in 2012, we’ll thrown in one of our new 40th Anniversary logo mugs for free as our way of saying thank you for being such a loyal customer.

Price guarantees are good through January 31, 2012 so that even gives you a chance to wait and see what’s new at the conference. But if you’d like to avoid the post-conference order rush, feel free to email me at heath@deneenpottery.com and I’ll be more than happy to send you a few photos of what we’re debuting in Little Rock. We can always get your order started right away!

Be sure to check out Grassroots Coffee online, and give their coffee a try. Remember to buy local when you can. As always, thanks for reading our blog. And be sure to check us out on Facebook for the latest information on new products. We enjoy communicating with all of you, and we appreciate your comments in return. Every single comment gets read, we promise.

Heath Croft, Director of Communications

Hell’s Backbone Grill is located in Boulder, Utah, population 180 – one of the most remote towns in the United States! The chef-owners, Jen Castle and Blake Spalding operate their restaurant following Buddhist principles, with a commitment to sustainability, environmental ethics, and social and community responsibility. They serve organic, locally produced, regionally and seasonally appropriate cusine and grow many of their own vegetables organically in the restaurants two gardens and on their six-acre farm! They feature dishes made with fruit from Boulder’s heirloom orchards and rely largely on local ranchers for the natural meats. Every cup of coffee is served in a handmade mug, by (you guessed it) Deneen Pottery!

Now in their 9th season, their mission and passion has not gone unrecognized.

Hell’s Backbone Grill enjoys one of the highest Zagat ratings in Utah and was selected as a Fodor’s Choice 2006 recipient. The restaurant was also named Salt Lake Magazine’s “Best Restaurant in Southern Utah” for 2007 and was awarded the prestigious Utah Governor’s Mansion Award for Culinary Artistry in 2006, presented by Governor Jon Huntsman. In 2005, Blake and Jen received an award from the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Center for Sustainable Environments for being “Culture Bearers of Sustainability in the Four Corners Region.” Additionally, Hell’s Backbone Grill was chosen as one of four restaurants representing Utah’s Slow Food movement in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. The restaurant has been featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, Sunset Magazine, Bon Appetit, Organic Gardening, Outside Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Washington Post, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Traveler.

Last week as we were just about to send out their latest order I had the chance to talk to Maggie McGuire, the Retail Manager… I was curious to find out more about how our mugs were working for Hell’s Backbone Grill. Maggie suggested I email her a few questions. A few days later I recieved an email from Jen Castle – a big fan of our handthrown mugs – with answers to all of my questions. I thought it would be best to post those questions and answers here.

Q.) What do you like best about your mugs?
A.) They are wildly durable and incredibly gorgeous. Each time I order a different combination of the many shapes and amazing color glazes. The combinations are limitless, Julie and the potters are so patient with my requests and it makes our mugs really collectible. Sometimes I’ll bring an old combo back for kicks, sometimes I’ll find an unstoppable seller that we can’t keep in stock. When a customer orders decaf in the morning, I’ll give them a green mug as a code to myself for easy refilling without having to ask which one they’re drinking.

Q.) Don’t you worry about theft or breakage?
A.) They are practically unbreakable. Sometimes we have a couple broken in transit, but not often (and not this time!). Even dropping them doesn’t hurt them! They bounce and we’re always stunned to see nary a blemish. We wash them in our dish machine where they rattle around, we carry many in one hand dangerously, it’s hard to damage them. I don’t worry about theft– our customers are here to support our small business and are stoked to find that we’re selling these beautiful handmade mugs… if one gets out into the world because someone is a thief(!) it’s still out there with our name on it, advertising our place, and when someone turns it upside down, they see the stamp telling where it was made. The name is still getting play.

And I have to trust that the universe will take care of the bad element. If they need it THAT badly… they can have it. Because really, so many people want to exchange money for art. I trust that those folks will make the stronger showing.

Q.) Do you do anything specific to prevent them from walking away with your patrons?
benefit of the doubt, good faith… electric cattle prod… Really, the uniqueness of the mug is a bit of a deterrent– our dining room is small and our staff keep and open eye and an open heart and interact so much with the customers so they’d notice one of the two mugs missing from the table. They create connections with the customer– most people want to steal from strangers, not from someone invested in their good experience.

We have a beautiful dining room and we want things to be *nice* — the mugs are so gorgeous and add a lot to the experience. The benefits of the satisfying cuppa, the unbreakability factor and the handmade by our talented friends factor all outweigh the sad possibility of losing them to an unenlightened being.

Q.) What do you sell them for?
$18. Maybe too cheap? Or maybe the right price for no stealing.

“We’ve used Deneen mugs for 9 seasons and they have been beautiful, popular, and durable!”

Thanks, Niles. I really love your products.
Jen Castle
Hell’s Backbone Grill
Boulder UT

When you have the opportunity to share in the joys of life, with those who find joy in their work – making a living brings you a life that is bigger than just yourself! Thanks Jen for taking the time to write back and for helping to support my family’s pottery company.

Niles Deneen