Commonplace helps Erie coffee house brew success
When the second season of “Undercover Billionaire” premiered on Jan. 6 on Discovery Channel, a Pittsburgh-area coffee shop owner got a salute.
TJ Fairchild, co-owner of Commonplace Coffee, had helped Gisele Littrell to rebrand her coffee shop, Tipsy Bean, in Erie.
Mr. Fairchild said he got a call out of the blue from Discovery Channel about the show. He’s not sure if Discovery found him through Google searches, but he felt honored to advise another coffee entrepreneur as after all he knows something about the business, having built something of a coffee empire in the Pittsburgh area.
A few minutes after call, he started planning a trip to Erie.
The reality show follows selfmade billionaires who are given a chance to prove themselves once again by creating a $1 million business out of $100 in 90 days. “Undercover Billionaire: Comeback City” is slated to air in reruns in the coming weeks, but definite dates have not yet been announced. It also is available for streaming on Discovery+.
In the first season, “Undercover Billionaire” Glenn Stearns built Underdog BBQ in 90 days in Erie. In the new series, he returns to Erie to help rescue struggling small businesses.
In 2003, Mr. Fairchild and his wife, Julie, had just completed graduate studies — hers in social work, his in philosophy — and were living out of their Volkswagen van for about six months, “taking a pause.”
They heard about a coffee shop that had closed in Indiana, Pa. Both
had enjoyed working in coffee shops during school and loved the coffee culture.
With a university in town and a “community begging for more hangout space,” the Fairchilds thought the Indiana shop would be a good bet.
They bought the shop and reopened it as Commonplace Coffee.
Since the launch in 2003, the couple has built a regional chain of coffee shops, some freestanding and some located in workplaces and community spaces. The freestanding Pittsburgh shops are located in Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze and the Mexican War Streets. Indiana remains the flagship shop.
Commonplace also roasts coffee for wholesale, and Mr. Fairchild said he has served as a consultant for about 50 other coffee shops over the years.
However, he had to pose as a know-nothing the first time he met Ms. Littrell.
He went undercover. Wearing a hidden microphone, he entered her shop last summer posing as a guy out on a camping trip with his family.
He cooked up a fictional backstory about hoping he could one day open a coffee shop of his own. He asked her pointed questions about her business, “and she spilled everything,” Mr. Fairchild said. Those sound clips formed the basis for some of the business issues he’d later tackle with her.
Once she found out his true identity, it was time to get to work. The premise of this new show is that most small businesses have 27 days’ worth of free cash on hand. So struggling businesses are tasked with turning their fortunes around within 27 days.
Mr. Fairchild said he’s had several mentors over the years of building his business, so he felt it was time to give back.
He advised Ms. Littrell on topics like signage, shop layout, food offerings and especially the coffee itself. Her equipment was “pretty awful,” he said, including an espresso machine with a broken pump. He was able to donate some old equipment to her, and his staff trained her staff on how to use it.
Mr. Fairchild said he’d never met a billionaire before and hates reality TV, so he went into the experience skeptical about whether the billionaire would actually care. But he found that the whole show really was committed to the idea of helping small businesses succeed. He wanted that, too, and still keeps in touch with Ms. Littrell.
“I didn’t want this to be an experience where we helped her get her 15 minutes of fame and then things fell apart,” he said.
Food events
Chef Nick’s Name That Dish: Dinner will be a blind tasting of various dishes to be prepared in diners’ sight. Each couple must analyze what they’ve just seen and tasted to determine what’s in the dish. 6:30 p.m. Friday at The Kitchen by Vangura, North Huntingdon. $75. thekitchenbyvangura.com (click on “The Kitchen Calendar”).
Virtual Bread Baking for Beginners: Tackle a New Year’s resolution and learn to bake bread. 10 a.m. Saturday online, taught by Gaynor’s School of Cooking. $30. gaynorsschoolofcooking.com.
Cooking with Kids — Luau Party: Kids and their parents can learn to make coconut chicken skewers with dipping sauce, pork sliders with pineapple BBQ sauce, sweet potato fries, caramelized banana sundaes and Hawaiian hula punch. 5 p.m. Monday at Crate, Scott Township. $70 for one child with one adult, $35 for an extra child with the same adult. Children must be at least 6 years old. cratecook.com (click on “Classes”).
Tuscan Wine Dinner: Pasta frittata with grilled shrimp, turkey croquet with gorgonzola fondue, herb-roasted pork, lamb Bolognese, and Barsotti wine pairings, plus hot chocolate and almond cookies for dessert. 6 p.m. Wednesday at Revival on Lincoln, Bellevue. $75. Reservations: 412223-5715.