Since Upland’s only coffee shop, The Bridge, closed almost two years ago, the building has remained unoccupied…but no longer.
Justin and Bethany Ulrich plan to open their own coffee shop and bakery, Barista and Baker, and hope to have a soft opening before the end of spring and a grand opening this fall.
Justin has a background in coffee: working for Starbucks for 15 years in corporate retail, running stores, training managers, and doing marketing. He said he’s the barista and Bethany is the baker.
“Every day there will be the normal scones, muffins, cookies, like some sort of bakery pastries, those sorts of things,” Ulrich said. “And then there will be some breakfast options like breakfast burritos, baked eggs, stuff like that, lunch sandwiches, and probably soup with lunch.”
The Ulrichs graduated from Taylor University in 2001 and now have three kids in middle and high school.
Justin and Bethany Ulrich purchased the building in the fall after their two oldest kids went to summer camps at Taylor this year. Justin and Bethany were staying in the area and had a chance to look at the building and start thinking about a business, Justin said.
“We thought about purchasing a coffee shop in the past, and (it) just never was the right time or the right money, opportunities, those sorts of things,” Justin said.
When the opportunity to buy the space came, the Ulriches prayed about it and thought about what their next kingdom act would be.
For them, that means giving back to a community that gave so much to them. The Ulriches hope to serve Taylor and the town of Upland alike.
“So I think just being here, back in the area and breathing into the student body, but also the town of Upland, I think it kind of gets overlooked sometimes,” Ulrich said. “Because there's so much going on at the school, but I think of Taylor's mission of servant leadership [and] I think our heart is to serve the community just as much as we'd be serving the students.”
The Ulriches live in Florida, so they are not entirely sure what the moving timeframe will be. For now, Justin is going back and forth, fixing up the building himself, and the family joined him in the work over Thanksgiving.
Over the years, the Ulriches have redone several houses together, and Justin said it’s his creative outlet.
Justin just redid the bathroom, and before opening, he plans to redo the backsplash, build out the deck, and build a new front countertop so that the espresso machine sits on the front counter, not behind it, he said.
“We bought the entire business, so the lot, the building, and then everything in it, all the equipment,” Ulrich said. “So I've purchased some additional equipment, but I don't have anything else that I need, as far as coffee equipment.”
The Ulrichs look forward to having a community meeting space where people can come together.
He said that Starbucks uses the language “third place,” which is where people can go besides work and home.
“It's a place where people know [you] are gonna love them, and take care of them, and where they can just come and hang and know that it's gonna feel like a good vibe and just a good place to be around people,” he said.
The Ulrichs’ creativity extends into music. As Justin said, everybody in the family plays a little bit of every instrument, and they hope to host events like pop-up concerts or worship nights at Barista and Baker.
