I wanted to share some exciting news with you personally.
This weekend, ownership of The Spot on Main Cafe and Coffee Roasters is transitioning to Gretchen Mendoza-Osborne — a member of our team who has been part of this business for over three years. After nearly a decade of building this company, I've decided the time is right to hand things over.
Here's what matters most to you: **nothing about your experience with us is changing.** Same team, same standards, same commitment to you that we've always had.
I chose to sell to Gretchen specifically because she knows this business inside and out — not just the operations, but the people we serve and why it matters to get it right. You're in good hands.
Quite frankly, Gretchen's commitment to carrying forward the experience our customers have come to love and trust was one of the biggest reasons I'm confident she's the right person to lead the business into the future. I'll still be around part-time for a while, supporting Gretchen with operations, strategy, and growth of the coffee roasting business in the background.
A little about Gretchen: She first visited The Spot on Main during a birthday weekend when she stayed at “The Spot Above.” She said from that first visit she knew she had to work here and wanted to live in Jackson. She and her husband, Jackson native Evan Osborne (who incidentally coached my sons in baseball when he was a college student) relocated a few months later from Cincinnati.
Gretchen hails from San Antonio, Texas, and as a teenager visited her brother who was living in Ohio, later attending and graduating from Ohio University in Athens. What you may not know is that Gretchen earned her Master of Education in Educational Leadership WHILE she has been working for the past three years as our cafe manager.
If you've met Gretchen, you know she has a warm personality, a strong work ethic, and a knack for making every customer that walks through The Spot's doors feel welcome. What you haven't seen is how she leads behind the scenes. Gretchen works tirelessly to ensure each day here runs smoothly and that our employees are in a position to be successful. She sets the standard for the customer service and quality we pride ourselves on. She has earned the respect of the team and our customers. And as we've worked together on this ownership transition over this year, I've come to appreciate Gretchen's problem-solving skills and true dedication to always find better ways for The Spot to continue growing and improving.
Looking back to our first summer open in 2017, it's hard to imagine what this "little coffee shop" on the corner of Main and Church Streets has become. Coffee and pastries were the original vision for The Spot. Our customers led us to something bigger. They saw something missing in the community and trusted us to fill that need. They pushed us toward an expanded menu, catering, and roasting our own coffee. They've been patient with us as we navigated a pandemic, supply chain challenges, and the occasional staffing shortages. And I know they'll continue to show up to support Gretchen and her team as they build upon what's turned into a destination in Downtown Jackson.
I'm incredibly grateful for the trust you've placed in us over the years. Being able to serve you has been one of the great privileges of running this business, and I'm proud to be handing it off in a way that keeps everything you value about working with us intact.
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Warmly,
Jenny