By: Romaree Herbert
Sometimes taking a major professional risk can result in a fruitful endeavor, leading the way for a new life for oneself and their family. What can start off as a new and scary venture, can eventually turn into a career that allows for getting family members back to their original roots and for the others, the freedom of a new and flexible career. For Debbie, Joe, Charlie, and Ava Petty, this has been the case.
Debbie Wilcox Petty’s life has come full circle. She was born in El Paso at Providence Memorial Hospital and raised here. She met her husband Joe who was stationed at Ft. Bliss while he was in the process of getting out of the army. Right after he got out, they were married in July of 2001. The next month, they immediately moved to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Four months later they moved from there and began their voyage, living all over the United States for Joe’s jobs and subsequent schooling. First, they became parents to Charlie and then Ava joined their family a few years later.
They had their share of living around the United States in places such as Roanoke, VA, Evanston IL, Greenwich RI, Cary NC, and eventually Chicago, IL. Then when Debbie’s Dad got sick, she felt it was important to move back to El Paso to be near him. Debbie and the kids moved back to live with her parents, while Joe stayed on the East Coast, becoming a “geographic bachelor,” (a term he used to describe the fact that due to work, he was living in one part of the country while his wife and kids were in living in, another city) and continued working in Corporate Marketing.
Joe’s priority was to reunite with Debbie and his kids, so one evening he did a Google Search typing in this simple phrase, “Buy a business in El Paso” and a few opportunities presented themselves. He researched and did valuations of other local businesses, negotiated with prospective sellers, and ended up purchasing a local business called Coffee Break which brings brewed coffee and single serve options to your office teams.
“Coffee Break” serves businesses from Socorro to Las Cruces and gives each of their customers personalized one-on-one service. “National companies have 1-800 numbers to call when there are issues, and it can take weeks to fix the problem. With our company, the only number to call is my number, and I can fix it, and fix it quickly,” exclaimed Joe.
“I bought a base of a business with 100 delivery sites and since then I’ve added 114 new filtration systems,” Joe said. He went on to explain, “When you talk to a prospective customer, don’t look at the world as it is, look at it as it could be. Go at it one step at a time. Ask questions and give the customers what they want and eventually you will gain their trust.”
With the prompting and guidance from Debbie, a water cooler service was also added to the business which offers on-site refreshing, clean and filtered water. This also helps reduce having to lift and change heavy water bottles each week. The addition of these water coolers has also helped grow the business.
“People are incredibly kind in El Paso, and I enjoy doing what I am doing because it is pure. There are not quarterly or annual reports and the most important thing to us making sure we give our customers the satisfaction they deserve,” stated Joe.
Be on the lookout for “The Borderland’s best veteran-owned local office coffee service!” “Hey, the coffee guy is here…and happy to be in the Borderland Region, quipped Joe.
For more information about Coffee Break visit the website at coffeebreak-ep.com or directly contact Joe Petty at 915-314-4248 or email him at joe.petty@coffeebreak-ep.com.
