Interview with Andie: Javapalooza's New Owner

Recently there's been a change in the air on Main Street. Javapalooza, one of Main Streets most prominent coffee shops, has quietly undergone a change in ownership in the past two weeks, and as a weekly customer on Sunday afternoons for coffee with friends, I had the pleasure of meeting the new owner, Andie Carrozzella, and who agreed to an interview for the Middletown Eye. 

Andie and part of her crew in front of Javapalooza; stay tuned for renovations coming in the next several weeks.

So Andie, tell me about yourself. Are you from around here? Absolutely. I grew up in Wallingford. My whole dad's family is from there. I grew up there, and I actually went to Choate
for two years. I didn't like it though, and actually ended up going to Mercy in Middletown to finish, and I ALWAYS used to come to J as a high school student. I had a really great connection with the place, and so did a lot people in my family, which was really really awesome. Then, as soon as I graduated I moved down to Florida and went to college there. What did you study? I studied philosophy. The whole time people would ask me what I was going to do with a philosophy degree, and my whole plan was to go to grad school immediately following college. But I was a little burnt after finishing college, and so I decided to move back up to Connecticut from Florida and I was going to work on going to grad school up here, but I kind of found myself just reading a book a day, like Hemingway and Salinger, you know, all the classics. and then the previous owner's son skateboarded with my younger brother; they were really good friends and so the owner asked me if I could help him run his coffee shop. I told him of course, since I love Java! And so I came and was helping him out running the place for a couple of months and we would always joke about me buying it; “this place was made for you,” etc. and then fortunately I was able to get everything together to be able to do so.

How did your family feel about this? That's a pretty daunting task for someone who just graduated college! Well both of my parents are business owners, so they both started out as young entrepreneurs, and so everyone in my family is super supportive of me doing the same thing, running my own business. They are all super excited. My mom has been my biggest support; helping me every single day I've been here. She helps me go grocery shopping, cleaning, all that stuff. They've all been incredibly supportive. My friends, too, have been great. A lot of them went to college in this area and so they've been stopping in supporting the business, but definitely my family is super supportive. My mom was worried that I was just going to be reading for the rest of my life, so it's great that I'm doing something so good.

How's the transition from reading books all day to working all day? At first I was exhausted. Before, I was literally on just a break from life. I just did whatever I wanted, I slept and read, watched documentaries. I went on walks and just did whatever I liked. I was on a break from life. It was a pretty good life for a philosophy student, I think. So to go to this was a big overload. But I really enjoy working. I've never not worked since I was 16; in Florida I was a manager for PacSun and so I was always overloaded with work and school, then it was a nice break, and now it's back to going crazy and working all the time. This has been a huge undertaking. I can't even explain how much work it is to run a restaurant cafe.

Do you think your philosophy degree prepared you in any way to run your own business? What's great about my degree is that my mind was really broadened by the subject, and I do have a lot of knowledge in a variety of subjects. This place is so eclectic and cultured, and middletown itself, with the Wesleyan crowd especially; I get to have a lot of conversations with intellectuals. It's a great environment for me, I think it's everything I've ever wanted. I really didn't think I would be doing this much this early in my life, I thought I was going to be in school for forever, so I'm so fortunate to do be able to do this.

I've already been hearing positive feedback from customers, and the whole feel of Javapalooza has really grown, even in just the past couple of days. And that's what I want; I want to refresh it. I think Java is one of the greatest places in town. And I've been all over the place. I've been to Europe, I've been to the Caribbean, I've been all over the United States. But Javapalooza just has it's own little vibe that you can't find anywhere else and that I will always remember.

My employees are the reason I can do it. We've all been here about the same amount of time, and we're all at the same level. They don't look at my like I'm someone higher than them; we're all friends and we're all a team.

What are your goals for Javapalooza? You’re sort of moving into the second phase of change and getting ready to go a renovation: Yes, we're definitely heading towards some change; a renovation in the next two weeks probably. I wanted to do it sooner but it's good to not be too overeager. Something I want to change is definitely the look. Not anything too big but definitely the colors. Taking down the posters, redoing the floors, painting the walls, putting up new lighting, just giving it a revived energy; lighting it up and brightening it up. And in a couple years I can see this having a potential for franchise; which I think would be fantastic. I would love it. And then I can retire at 35.

I want to keep the consistency of the menu; the food is great, the drinks are great. Keep the same Java core, and make better all that can be better.

What about your customer base? Are you going to try to reach out to other types of customers that were previously not Java regulars? I want to serve everyone. Even those guys that are sitting out there, they've been here every day and I'm glad that I can bring back a lot of customers that didn't really feel comfortable here, and I want to incorporate more nights that are geared towards more types of people, like a Wesleyan themed night, last year there was an issue with the LGBT community about some type of harassment that went on here, and so reaching out to the LGBT crowd and letting them know that they are definitely welcome here. I do love the older, wine tasting crowd that we had once a month before. And we have the art show once a month, I love that. I love the live music we have Friday and Saturday, and I want to start doing that on Thursdays too. Maybe even an open mike night once a month. Just reaching out to everyone in the community. A lot more events, even going to Wesleyan and seeing if any of their clubs want to meet here. Whatever I can do.

It's one of the most relaxed, laid back places on Main street. I don't want it to be uptight or too high-end that people feel unwelcome.

What do you want people to know about the new Javapalooza? We're still going to be the Java that they love, but we're going to refresh it and bring so much high energy; we have a great age-range of staff We have the energy and the excitement for the place. I haven't heard one negative thing since I've been here. It's going to change in a definitely good way and they're not going to lose the things they liked about it and there's going to be so much more to enjoy while they're here.

On the book section in Java, my personal favorite:

I'm going to expand the book section, and probably move it. But we're going to bring in board games, to make people comfortable.

On the new color scheme:

We're thinking of Cayenne orange, blueish and gray; just a really relaxing look.

And after we finish all our renovations we're going to have a big reopening, of course inviting everyone in town. We're working on our Facebook, Twitter, and website to keep people updated. And hopefully from there we're just going to keep going up.

You said you're not going to change the menu. How about adding new items? We're going to name some new special lattes in honor of my amazing staff. We have one for our newest member of our staff, Chris, called Cherry Christmas. It'll have cherry, almond, and chocolate. We're going to add that and other things to let my employees know that they're the absolute best. They hang out here, even if they're not working. Which is what I want it to be like; not a job they dread coming to. But we're all a team.

What's your favorite part of being the owner of Javapalooza? More time to interact with my customers because I don't have to making drinks or doing dishes all day. It's really great meeting the vendors. There's a lot that goes on behind the doors of a restaurant, and you don't get to see how much it takes to really put it all together, but we have 20 different vendors at least that we get deliveries from every day, which is crazy. It's great to learn about something that you never thought you'd be really interested in. Just a lot of new exciting stuff. The bands, too, I get to hang and chill with them afterward. I love being the owner because I get to interact more with the people that make Java happen. And I get the chance to really show them how much I appreciate them.

I guess this question is on the opposite side of the spectrum: have you had any emergencies or disasters yet? Oh yea! Oh of our refrigerators broke my third day owning the place, but I got a family friend out here to fix it. A few little things have broken, and so I have to figure out how to get things figured out. When I was an employee here I would open up, and anything that broke I would just pass it off to my boss, and now anything that happens I have to take care of it. I couldn't do it without my mom though. She does it all for me and she's always there to help me through the process.

From left to right: baristas Chris Domurat, Caiti Griffin, and owner Andie Carrozzella

As for me, Andie is an absolute pleasure, and as a weekly frequenter of Java, I have definitely enjoyed the new energy and optimism that she brings to her business. I had a great time hanging out with Andie, and strongly encourage all of you to stop in for a moment to say hello to the new owner of Javapalooza. And if you need an idea as to what to order, I can tell you from personal experience that their peach smoothies are divine.