Customer Profile: Carl
Name of Customer: Carl
Drink of Choice: Large Matcha Latte or Tea latte
Something interesting he’d like to share about himself:“I am a painter. My wife and I are both artists. We both do artwork as far as what we see on the Cape. I’m more of a painter with watercolors and oils. I paint birds, boats, old buildings, old architecture and things like that.
I have a pretty big garden. I was just talking to Brian about beekeeping. My neighbors have bees so they help pollinate all the plants in my garden. Brian lost his so he is going to start over again. Bees are harder to keep alive on Cape Cod because we have such mild and irregular winters. There are also some diseases that get them. I’m going to try to get some of my plants in this week I’m all prepped for them.”
Why Carl keeps coming back to Snowy Owl:
“I come to Snowy Owl because the atmosphere is laid back, the owners are great. The guys and girls that work here are generally interesting. I have an interest in agriculture and coffee growing. I’ve always had an interest in anything that has to do with agriculture so I can pick the staff’s brains! The other thing is that everyone here travels a lot, so when I come back they always have interesting stories.”
Anything they’d like to say about our community (Brewster area/Snowy Owl):
“Brewster has always been a really open and interesting place. It’s grown too much for my taste but there is a lot going on in Brewster, and on Cape Cod. I would just say between the museums, the Museum of Natural History, the fishing opportunities, salt water shell fishing, hunting and everything else, Brewster is still an ideal place to be.”
What Snowy Owl staff has to say about Carl
On a typical day as the lead barista at Snowy Owl, you are in contact with most of the people who come in daily. Being on bar gives you time to get to know each customer through their drink order or speaking to them when they pick up their drink. Most weeks, Carl quietly walks into Snowy Owl and is greeted by smiles from all of us behind the counter. As he approaches, he will ask the baristas what menu item we think he’d like. These kinds of customer’s are the best! They give us a chance to showcase our knowledge of the menu. Carl is the only customer who sits at the end of the bar next to the lead barista to ensure he catches up with whomever is on bar that day. He always brings his dirty dishes back to the dish room because he doesn’t want to add more to our workload. Carl isn’t only a regular customer, or community member of the Snowy Owl, he is the example of how connections are made here. Carl was speaking about how he is interested in beekeeping because he learned about it from Brian. Snowy Owl is not only a cafe, or a meeting place for Brewster. It is place where life-long connections are made, whether it be between staff and customers, or customer to customer. I honestly can’t think of another place where I have had similar experiences on Cape Cod. We are grateful to have a kind man like Carl as a part of our community!
- Kristie Handrinos
“I come to Snowy Owl because the atmosphere is laid back, the owners are great. The guys and girls that work here are generally interesting. I have an interest in agriculture and coffee growing. I’ve always had an interest in anything that has to do with agriculture so I can pick the staff’s brains!”
Customer Profile: Randy
Name of Customer: Randy
Drink of Choice: Large full-bodied pour over, quad cortados on weekends!
Something interesting they’d like to share about themselves:
Well, in my younger years I was an avid windsurfer and I used to race all the time. My most exciting adventure I had was windsurfing to Nantucket from Chatham and back, in one day, over the course of about 8 hours. It’s something I planned to do for years. One day, I was going across on the ferry, and I sort of plotted out the course, looking to see what you could see. It was interesting. I had almost given up getting to Nantucket then I saw one more buoy. I said, I’d go to that buoy, then from there I could actually see Nantucket. I couldn’t see it for part of the way, so I wasn’t sure of where I was going for a while. I had a general idea but wasn’t sure. It was about 8 hours; it was a long day. I was pretty pumped afterwards because I had been planning it for years. Now, I am a drone flyer, a gardener, and a clam digger.
Why Randy keeps coming back to Snowy Owl:
The coffee is great. Its interesting my first gourmet cup of coffee I had was in Stamford. It was the first time I had really good coffee. I kept seeking it out but I could never find it anywhere until I came to Snowy Owl. These pour overs are what I’ve been looking for. Love the coffee and the atmosphere here is just perfect; I admit, I’m more of an afternoon person, than a morning person, but love mornings at Snowy. They are kind of a special treat for me.
Anything they’d like to say about our community (Brewster area/Snowy Owl):
“I like Brewster because it’s rural, but it has enough activity going on so if you wanted to do something, you could find something to do. Everyone thinks of beaches, but there are also lots of hidden gems. The crowd does make Snowy Owl interesting and the surroundings are beautiful! I love going out and walking around the herb garden trails to see things change over the seasons. The location is great too! I can walk here from my house in like an hour and a half if I want to. It’s right off the bike trail and easy to get to! It’s very handy to be so close.
What Snowy Owl’s Kristie Handrinos has to say about Randy:
Randy is often sharing his incredible drone videos he’s shot around Drummer boy Park, the flats, beaches and marches around the Brewster area. One time he showed me this beautiful view from marshlands all the way to the Atlantic Ocean where he regularly “catches really cool colors and flow patterns where the creeks empty into the Bay.” His landscape videos were so intriguing and he felt so familial to me that I actually asked him to tag along while he flew his drone! We met at Drummer Boy Park after my shift at Snowy Owl-- we arrived, unloaded all of the drone equipment, then began the drone flying lesson. First, he showed me which each button did one by one. Next, he actually handed over his drone control over to me (someone who had never flown one)! I flew all around that area in the park! I flew over trees, far up in the sky, and down low near the ground. I was even able to land the drone somewhat near the target! It was such a blast and something I will never forget. Randy is super friendly, he is always asking the baristas what going on in our lives. If he is not sharing drone footage, he is sharing the fruits of his garden, or sharing some other fun facts with us. He is a part of our community that we see weekly at the cafe. Randy along with the other regulars contribute to the cozy, homelike atmosphere that makes Snowy Owl the community meeting spot for Brewster.
Customer Profile: Brian
Brewster has finally created a community center. Snowy Owl is a fantastic place especially with the events, and stuff during the day. It’s turned into the center of town. I’ve been here [in Brewster] for 30 years waiting for something like it to come.
“Brewster has finally created a community center. Snowy Owl is a fantastic place especially with the events, and stuff during the day. It’s turned into the center of town. I’ve been here [in Brewster] for 30 years waiting for something like it to come.”
Name of Customer: Brian
Drink of Choice: Large drip for here in the morning/Large half Captain Crosby half Decaf Columbia pour over
Something interesting they’d like to share about themselves:
“I keep bees…I guess that would be one thing. I’m also a gardener. I was a teacher, a school administrator. Love kids! That’s one of the reasons why I like coming here. All the little kids are so adorable. “
Why Brian keeps coming back to Snowy Owl:
“Number one is the people, number two is the coffee!”
Anything they’d like to say about our community (Brewster area/Snowy Owl):
“It’s the first time in 30 years this town has had a place where people can go and meet. Brewster has finally created a community center. Snowy Owl is a fantastic place especially with the events, and stuff during the day. It’s turned into the center of town. I’ve been here [in Brewster] for 30 years waiting for something like it to come. I have been coming to Snowy Owl since the first year when Annie was working there all by herself, and there was no heat. There was just the wood stove. I sit over in the corner because it was so cold coming in here then. I wanted to get as far from the door as I could. It gets better every day. It’s much warmer now! The night events are great. There are just so many different things Manuel and Shayna put together. They really do a great job!”
What Snowy Owl Staff has to say about Brian
Brian comes in with newspaper in hand every morning, glances over his horoscope, and proceeds to place it on the pick-up counter for others to enjoy. When I first met Brian, he ordered his usual~ a warmed up blueberry scone with a large drip coffee poured into his own cup. I quickly came to realize just how big of a role he played in the Snowy Owl community. Brian worked with kids his whole career and it shows! The children at the cafe gravitate to the corner nook where he entertains them by reading a book, or coloring, giving folks some respite from the terrible twos, threes... sevens. In the summer, he shares fruits and veggies from his garden with the staff, and we look forward to seeing Brian twice a day, every day. He is the kind of customer who is patient, respects, and appreciates us, and we’re happy he has become part of the Snowy Owl family.
Customer Profile: Ann
“The people that work here aren’t just workers they become part of people’s lives or at least my life in particular. It’s the kindness and the warmth I feel here that makes me come back.”
Drink of Choice: Large drip / large pour over (Prefers Brewster) for here
Something interesting she’d like to share about herself
“You know what’s kind of interesting is I’ve been able to do the same profession for over 30 years, and I still really love it! I’ve been able work in settings with different ages of children and love the career. I’m able to work in areas around Boston and the Cape.
I only work right now with children up to 3 year olds in an Early Interventions at Kennedy Donovan Centers. I am a speech pathologist so, I work with primarily families and young children so that I can kind of help parents develop communication skills. I don’t just work with helping the kids to learn to talk or listen but I also work with the family practicing parenting skills like bed times, sleep times, and how to feed. I started Early Intervention right after grad school at BU. It’s changed how we work with families and I really think it changes in a way to make families feel like they are the most important teachers versus the expert that comes in.”
Why Ann keeps coming back to Snowy Owl:
“I’ve said this to Shayna, Manuel and a lot of you barista friends that there was something about Snowy Owl the first time I came in here. Shayna sometimes jokes that I was their first customer. It was a soft open but I walked in, being new to Brewster, and it was something about the feeling of the place that I can’t describe. I think people know it when they see it, and I think it’s the community that you now build. The people that work here aren’t just workers they become part of people’s lives or at least my life in particular. It’s the kindness and the warmth I feel here that makes me come back. When I go off Cape I kind of miss it. I miss the coffee because the coffee is awesome, but it’s the community feel and the connectedness. I think that’s kind of a universal thought for regulars that come here. We all say it a different way but that keeps us coming back, even in the summer!
Anything you’d like to say about our community (Brewster area/Snowy Owl):
More specifically to me about the community of Snowy Owl is that I find that Snowy Owl and the people that work here embrace lots of differences like: age, income, ethnic, racial, religious, and, political. I’ve been here long enough to see that even though people can be from different walks or are going through different paths there is a common community feel that Snowy Owl is an okay place. We can more than tolerate differences, we can respect them. We can embrace people and make them comfortable because we are all trying to be accepted and I think people can feel that at Snowy Owl!”
What Snowy Owl Staff has to say about Ann:
When I first met Ann, she approached me with a picture of the fluffiest pup and a smile on her face. That was when I found out she was the woman responsible for decorating our workspace with the adorable, vertically challenged corgis. Turns out she had a calendar of corgis at home and would rip the corgi of the day’s page off to hand to us every morning when she came in. Ann is just one of those regulars that cares about how we are doing and what’s going on in our lives. Every morning she joins other ‘veterans’ around the big red couch to check in about current events, horoscopes, and life. She is a staple in the Snowy Owl community that has shaped our culture. ~Kristie Handrinos