A mobile coffee shop with a home in Freeburg welcomed guests into its new Columbia brick-and-mortar location Saturday, providing a range of staple and seasonal drinks for folks looking to get their coffee fix on the go.

Carrie Bauer started The Coffee Pot nearly two years ago, having worked in sales for 10 years. She previously worked for Community Coffee.

Though Bauer grew up in Southern Missouri, her husband is from Millstadt, and she moved to that village with him about five years ago.

The Coffee Pot began around the same time Bauer and her husband had their son. She recalled wanting to get away from her previous job and start her own business in order to better balance her work and family life.

“When I started the business, I decided I didn’t want to do sales anymore, that I wanted more flexibility with family because my husband works a lot, so that’s kind of what made me start this,” Bauer said. “I don’t know where I came up with the idea. I feel like I just felt ‘How would a mobile business sound?’”

With that inclination toward a mobile business, she got a trailer to begin the pop-up side of The Coffee Pot.

As business boomed a little less than a year in, she opted to get a second trailer, though this one she ultimately wound up planting in Freeburg.

The decision to set up in Freeburg was due to, as she described, options for coffee in the community being limited mainly to chains rather than local coffee shops.

Bauer hired her first employee with the establishment of the Freeburg walk-up trailer, though she quickly brought on more folks as both the Freeburg location and the mobile trailer got progressively busier with extended hours.

Starting the newest location in Columbia doesn’t seem to have been a big step for the business. As Bauer said, she and her husband already owned the building, and The Coffee Pot already had a strong reputation and customer base in the community.

“This is our building, and we just couldn’t get it to lease,” Bauer said. “I told my husband, ‘What if I just put the Coffee Pot in there?’ because Columbia was so busy when we’d come here.”

Like The Coffee Pot’s trailers, the Columbia shop specializes in a variety of hot and cold coffee beverages with a range of syrups, though there are some other drinks on the menu such as hot chocolate.

Bauer noted two unique offerings for how folks can enjoy their drinks, the first being a 32 ounce cup for those looking for plenty of iced coffee. The double cup also lets folks enjoy two different drinks if they’re torn between options.

She also spoke about how the business has been able to stand out more thanks to seasonal offerings, with a particular theme being set every few months.

A previous theme, for example, was cereal, though folks can stop by one of the three locations this summer for ice cream-themed drinks including a salted caramel cold brew, banana sherbert lotus with lotus energy drink and a caffeine-free melted strawberry ice cream drink geared toward kids.

“What we’re known for is our seasonal menus,” Bauer said. “Right now we have, like, an ice cream-themed menu. So every season we change the themed menu, and we always have a new sticker… We do a lot of fun themes, and that creativity I really love.”

She also mentioned the business’ partnerships with other local businesses. The coffee beans, she said, are sourced from a St. Louis roaster while merchandise, bread and pastries similarly come from local vendors.

As the Columbia location shares a menu with the Freeburg spot and pop-up trailer, it also shares the walk-up ideal.

Rather than starting a sit-down cafe, Bauer said she hopes for guests to embrace the idea of stopping by briefly, having a nice visit and moving on to the rest of their day with their drink.

“We didn’t want to move from the concept,” Bauer said. “Our concept is a walk-up, so we don’t have any sort of seating any of the ways you can visit us. We’ll just be a walk-up location, because I feel like I enjoy the short visit with people, and it’s a quick service. I didn’t want it to be a long service. I feel like we’re kind of known for being fast. Before work, you can stop and get your coffee fix.”

On the success her business has seen in its two years of business, Bauer mentioned that The Coffee Pot was previously voted the best coffee by Discover Downstate Illinois, an achievement which she said seems to have helped them get even more positive attention in the region.

“I feel like, once we won that, it really got even better,” Bauer said. “It was crazy because we were so young in business. That was really crazy to win that, and I feel like that just set off our success as well, got us known more regionally, all our surrounding counties.”

The Columbia location has already seen some success, with Bauer reporting that opening day this past Saturday proved to be quite busy.

“It was absolutely insane Saturday,” Bauer said. “It was really fun to see customers from all over come, new and old. People are happy to have a new coffee spot that they can walk to or is convenient on their way to or from work.”

Looking ahead, she said the next big step for the business might well be upgrading the Freeburg location from a standing trailer to a brick-and-mortar shop like in Columbia.

The Coffee Pot is currently open at 613 N. Main Street in Columbia from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more information on The Coffee Pot, visit themobilecoffeepot.square.site or check out The Coffee Pot on Facebook.