INSIGHT Magazine April 2016 | Page 11

a second glass display case sits where the register once was, right beside the door. The case is full of cakes, a new addition to the Artisanal repertoire added after the store’s staff had reached a level where they were strong enough as bakers to manage bread, pastries and cakes on top of it all. The shop also started brewing coffee with Southern Girl beans. Their original intent was to go with a simple Bunn drip coffee machine, but a bit of research ignited a passion the brothers Paudrups hadn’t expected. “We started researching and realized, ‘This is like bread, there’s so much to it!’” said Martin. “We can’t just put something out there, it has to be the best it can possibly be.” INSIGHT Southern Girl Coffee Including time spent brewing at home and taking her products to farmer’s markets and local events, Leah Sparks of Southern Girl Coffee says she’s working on her fourth year as the area’s bestknown coffee creator. “It’s grown faster than I ever thought we would,” she said, seated just beside the newest addition to the business: a fullyequipped trailer with all the gear needed to brew and sell coffee anywhere, painted in Southern Girl colors and sporting the name in big, stylized letters. The trailer, says Sparks, not only serves as a way to sell coffee during the day at Southern Girl’s shop and at events throughout the year, but also as testing for customer feedback. April 2016 11