A Place to Tinker: The Story Bearings Bike Shop

J.Rich Atlanta believes in elevating influential voices in our community. Today, we hear from Becky O’Mara, Co-Founder of Bearings Bike Shop in Adair Park!

If you have ventured out onto The Beltline westside trail as it traverses Adair Park you have likely seen the exterior of Bearings Bike Shop directly across The Beltline from the old Farmers Market complex. While you may have seen the exterior of the building chances are you are unaware of the magic that goes inside. We took a moment to sit down and speak with Becky & Tim O’Mara the husband and wife duo behind Bearings Bike Shop, to uncover what inspired them to start the business and why they chose to call Adair Park home.

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The Bearings story began with a simple gesture of neighbors helping neighbors. In 2008, Tim and I moved into Adair Park, a historic neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta. One day, 8-year-old Britney came by and asked us if we could help fix her bike. We came up with odd jobs around the yard as a way for her to earn the money to fix the bike. After she had helped around the house several times, we ended up surprising her with a new bike. Word spread and soon all the neighborhood youth wanted to know how they could earn their own bicycles.

“A concept was born: kids would be invited to earn a donated, refurbished bike by picking up trash in the neighborhood.”

— Becky O'Mara

Eventually an idea began to emerge: very few of these children had bikes, but all over the city many outgrown bikes were collecting dust in garages and basements. In Adair Park, residents were frustrated by the litter and dumping that tormented our streets. A concept was born: kids would be invited to earn a donated, refurbished bike by picking up trash in the neighborhood. With that, everyone won. We had stumbled into community development, finding a unique connection point to the youth in the community as well as a learning tool for teaching kids valuable life skills that go beyond the bicycle.

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Out of this initial gesture grew Bearings Bike Shop. Our mission puts the right tools in the hands of youth enabling them to advance their skills to build productive lives. Today, Bearings is the largest earn-a-bike program in the city and serves over 300 students annually. Our vision is to see those that we serve take ownership of their lives with character and purpose and experience the freedom of economic mobility.

“Although the prospect of earning a bike is what draws kids to the program, the excitement of learning new skills and being part of a community keeps them returning, week after week.”

— Becky O'Mara

Although the prospect of earning a bike is what draws kids to the program, the excitement of learning new skills and being part of a community keeps them returning, week after week. Our signature program is an after school drop-in program where participants can earn a bike by learning how to build and fix bikes. We teach mechanical skills and kids earn points for every hour they “work”, or participate in the program. They can then use their accumulated points to “purchase” bike parts and accessories and to use the shop resources to maintain their bikes.

The environment invites staff and volunteers to build relationships with students and reinforce the character strengths that are leveraged in the bike shop environment. We also serve the community through a fully-functioning retail bike shop in which we offer full tune-up and repair services and sell quality refurbished used bikes. It’s also our primary training space for teens and young adults learning valuable employment skills in the context of a bike shop. Every summer, we employ 10 teens in our Frameworks internship program at the shop. Two to three young adults usually stay on with us through the remainder of the year, continuing to hone their mechanical skills alongside professional bike mechanics as they serve customers. 

More than anything, our hope is that Bearings is a community hub where people of different ages and different backgrounds connect over the common love of bikes. We’ve seen the richness this adds to all of our lives. Often, that relationship can be the start of something beautiful.   

Make sure to check out Bearings Bike Shop.
PRO TIP: They are about to open a new workshop overlooking The Beltline!

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Meats & Treats: The Story of Evergreen Butcher + Baker

J.Rich Atlanta believes in elevating influential voices in our community. Today, we hear from Emma & Sean Schacke, Founders of Kirkwood’s Evergreen Butcher & Baker!

If you have driven down the streets of Kirkwood lately, you may have noticed a new face on the block nestled behind the neighborhood stalwart that is Ardens Garden. Evergreen Butcher + Baker, has moved into the building at 2011 Hosea L. Williams Drive and transformed a space loaded with potential into a thriving business poised to become a new anchor in Kirkwood’s quaint business district. Evergreen is an homage of sorts to a time past, when you could walk to a local butcher or bakery to procure fresh meats and breads. We took a moment to sit down … well actually stand up … and speak with Sean & Emma Schacke, the husband and wife duo behind Evergreen, to uncover what inspired them to start the business and why they chose Kirkwood to call home.

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Q&A with Sean & Emma

1) How did you guys dream up this entire idea and concept; where did it come from?

Sean:
For as long as Emma can remember, she's wanted to own a bakery. It kind of started for me once I started cooking. I always thought it would be cool to have a sandwich shop, deli kind of thing. That was 15 years ago, and we have been working and learning different avenues in our crafts. I started butchering five years ago or so and really loved it and got into it.

Emma:
I've been working in bakeries for the last 10 years, so I feel like I just kind of pulled all my favorite things about each one. I worked in a bakery in Amsterdam that was kind of like this, where it was just all grab-n-go stuff, and it was so nice that everyone who lived in the area was able to grab something.

I always wanted a bakery. He always wanted a sandwich shop so ….

Sean:
Once Emma started doing the bread, it all just went hand in hand — bread, meats, pastries.

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“I worked for Eli Kirshtein when he was on Top Chef. It was my first job, and it was kind of baptism by fire.”

— Sean Schacke

2) Where did you start your careers?

Emma:
I went to a French pastry school when I was 19.  After pastry school, I worked at Cacao, Atlanta, as a chocolate maker for a couple years. Then I went to Amsterdam and worked as a baker. I came back and worked at the One Eared Stag as a pastry chef, and that’s where I met Sean.

Sean:
I started about 15 years ago in a restaurant called Eno that was in Midtown. It closed a few years back. I worked for Eli Kirshtein when he was on Top Chef. It was kind of baptism by fire. I went from there to a few other kitchens around town and got the job at One Eared Stag, and I was there for about three and a half years. I became the sous-chef there, and that's where I met Emma.

We moved to Nashville. I was the executive sous-chef at Jonathan Waxman's place called Adele's. Then we moved to Chicago, and that's where I realized I was a little burnt out from being in the kitchen, the long hours…

Emma:
He was working like 90-hour weeks!

Sean:
I had gotten into butchering whole hogs and goats at the Stag here, and Emma was like, “Maybe you should try to find a butchering job in Chicago.” I agreed and got a job at Publican Quality Meats.

Emma:
In Chicago I worked in Floriole Bakery and Pleasant House Bread which is where I switched over to sourdough breads, particularly. We were doing all wood-fired bread and milling flour, so I feel like that's where I got an appreciation for grains and the techniques that go into it.
Then we moved to Portland, Maine together, and I worked at Scratch Baking Company.

Sean:
I worked at a small butcher shop there, so I kind of got the sense of what it's like to be a huge mass production in Chicago and what it’s like to be the neighborhood place where everyone comes in everyday for their meal. I kind of got both sides, which helps us envision this place a little better to best fit the neighborhood.

“We were doing all wood-fired bread and milling flour, so I feel like that’s where I got an appreciation for grains and the techniques that go into it.”

— Emma Schacke

3) Where does the name come from?  

Sean:
It comes from our time in Maine because they're the pine state and it's evergreen.

Emma:
It really is because we just kind of want to be steady and stable for everyone's lives and households. We don't think bread or meat should be some luxury item. We think you should be able to have access to good quality items to take home and feed your family. We want to be able to stay constant in people's lives.

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4) Since you guys got started here, how have things been going for you so far?  

Emma:
It's been going really great.

Sean:
Yeah, we couldn't ask for anything more.

Emma:
It’s also been overwhelming because we didn't really expect the reception that we've been receiving, so that's really nice.

Sean:
Yeah, we had confidence that what we were doing would be well received, but everyone seems to really love it, and we're just trying to keep up right now.

Emma:
We can't quite make enough bread for everybody.

“It’s also been overwhelming because we didn’t really expect the reception that we’ve been receiving, so that’s really nice.”

— Emma Schacke

5) Why Kirkwood? 

Emma:
Kirkwood kind of fit exactly what we really needed because of our vision for being a specific neighborhood place where everyone can easily come here and buy what they need.

Sean:
It's so easily walkable, and parking is at a premium in the city already anyway. Just knowing that there was already a built-in base here in this neighborhood was great because we're not trying to get anyone driving in. I mean, we'll take that, too, but our whole idea was that we could just survive with a neighborhood.

Emma:
And the best part already is that we have customers that we already recognize and know their names and they come in every week. That's the best part about it. That's what we wanted.

6) Why this building? 

Emma:
We were like, this would be perfect. It was an empty shell, and we could make it exactly what we needed, but it was just hard to feel like we deserved such a great opportunity. We’ve been moving around for the last 10 years of my life, so it was kind of a big thing to be like, we're here and we're staying for good.

Sean:
With this whole building, our whole dream of being able to live above our workspace was easy to accomplish.

Emma:
The low was waiting an eternity for all of the zoning and permitting and everything when we had just moved back from Maine and we were living with my parents, so it was a process. It felt like it took forever.

Sean:
Yeah, we definitely learned patience, I think. That was the worst part. We really wanted to get back to work.

Emma:
We were definitely out of our comfort zone learning how the whole process works. I don't want to do it again.

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7) Since you guys have been open, what's been the biggest hurdle for you to overcome? 

Sean:
Getting our production down so that we're not spending every waking hour here.

Emma:
I mean, we expected a lot of hard work obviously. Twenty-hour days is a little much though, but we're willing to do it. It’s just, I didn't expect to need so many extra hands, especially with the pastries.

Sean:
We thought we could handle it but ….

Emma:
Yeah, we made numbers based on the maximum number I could produce alone. I hit 400 pastries and 75 loaves of bread a day, and that was selling out in 2 hours, so now I need more hands because people are buying boxes of pastries at a time.

Make sure to check out Evergreen Butcher + Baker.
PRO TIP: Get there early because they sell out of the good stuff fast!

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Secret of Success: Think of Family | by: Jonathan Pascual

Jonathan Pascual, founder and owner of Taproom Coffee in Kirkwood || Outlander Photography

My son Ransom was born while we were renovating Taproom’s commercial space back in 2013. With his arrival, we became a home of two stay-at-home-parents, four young kids, and a “business baby” on the way. I knew then what my priorities were in starting my shop: Get things sustainable, and be a loving husband and father.

As I worked at getting Taproom off the ground, I always had this ideal dream in my mind: I’d come into the shop early in the morning before sunrise, fire up the machines and make myself a cup of coffee while setting up the bar. I’d maybe watch the sunrise slowly brighten the cafe and have conversations with customers as they came in and out, or even sit and chat if they were hanging out a while. I’d serve lattes and espressos and hand out croissants and bagels during crazy rushes, and then wind down and do some administrative work before kicking out in the afternoon and going home to help my kids with homework. I’d have a great staff I could trust to take care of the store and serve our regular customers, even on nights and weekends when I wasn’t there. That was the dream. And three years in - I’m proud to say - that’s become the reality.

“ I knew then what my priorities were in starting my shop: Get things sustainable, and be a loving husband and father.”

It hasn’t been easy. We had our fair share of trouble from the start - from zoning and permit issues, to an over-budget build out, to untimely employee turnover. Starting any small business is hard work, and Taproom was no exception. But I think a secret to our success has been that our business has always been about the people and about fostering community, using coffee and beer only as means to an end. We’ve worked hard at building a foundation of solid business principles and high-quality products and service, always within the context of building community and quality relationships.

I always prioritized family, and I think that’s what made it work. I pictured the Kirkwood families that would walk through Taproom’s doors as customers, and thought through what would have to be done to serve them well, with excellence. And I pictured my own family, and thought through what it would take to not only pay the bills but also free up my personal time so that I could be present during my kids’ childhood.

“But I think a secret to our success has been that our business has always been about the people and about fostering community”

Blume Photography

Something people ask me a lot is if there will be a “Taproom 2”. Right now, the answer is no. I like the balance I get to have with work and home. Yes, Taproom is doing great and it would be a fun challenge to start another location. But the truth is that it would take away from my priority of family - even for a little while - and that just doesn’t sit well with me. For now, we’re going to focus on keeping our “business baby” healthy, and to maintain that great balance with home life.

God’s been good to us. And even if it hadn’t worked out with the business, he’d still be good. I’m thankful for the ways he’s refined and grown me in the process of small business ownership, allowing me to love my family well and to serve other families well. And even if it were all lost tomorrow, it’d still be worth it.

- Jonathan Pascual

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Outlander Photography

Q&A with Jonathan Pascual

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1. When you mentioned starting Taproom, you said you had a "fair share of troubles", do you have a piece of encouragement or advice for someone who is running into similar issues trying to get their own business off the ground?

Two things: (1) Write a business plan. It's the life and death of your business. The exercise of thinking through every single aspect of your business will help you organize well and plan for possible hiccups. (2) Picture your end goal. It's like I already shared - visualize what you want your business to look like and what your personal involvement would ideally be, and remind yourself of that picture constantly until it actually happens.

2. In balancing family and work,  what has been helpful for you to find this balance?

Learning how to say no. It may be a question of working overtime, taking on more debt, expanding the business, taking a work call while at home, etc. I might not always have the option to say no. But when I can choose family over work and it's not going to put me out of business, I've learned I have to put family first.

3.  You mentioned Taproom being a place to foster community. Was this the main motivation in opening a neighborhood coffee shop or what lead you to open Taproom? (And we are so happy you did!!)

Fostering community is certainly a noble motivation. But honestly, I just started out like so many other people thinking it was a stinkin' cool idea if one day I could own my own coffee shop.

4. What are you most excited about for the future of Taproom?

I'm excited for when the business is healthy enough to pay every one of my baristas sustainable wages on which they could all support themselves and a family if they have one. We're already making strides towards that - I have one salaried manager, I've been able to do modest hourly pay increases across the board, and within the next year I've promised my staff I'll work towards health insurance stipends and even some travel perks for full-time employees.