A new business is brewing

The rich aroma of coffee fills the air as Heather and Wally Wilson begin a morning of work - steaming milk, grinding coffee beans and measuring shots of vanilla and hazelnut. Soon the couple emerge from a trailer parked on Fifth Avenue, their hands full with trays of coffee drinks. After delivering the beverages to a local business, the Wilsons hop into their old sport utility vehicle and head to their next stop, pulling a small white trailer with Wallygators Expresso stenciled boldly in green across its side.

"We're kind of hard to miss," Heather said Tuesday, about the coffee shop on wheels.

The young couple - Wally, 27, and Heather, almost 21 - are relatively new to the coffee business. Three weeks ago the Wilsons began operating Wallygators Expresso, a mobile coffee cart that travels around to local businesses every morning, five days a week, taking orders for specialty coffee drinks and making the beverages right outside their customers' doors.

"It's definitely a new concept here," said Wally, whose high school nickname, "Wallygator," is now his business's name. "It's a convenience for coffee lovers. People don't always have time to stop before or during work to grab a coffee, so we're providing a service to them."

The Wilsons said they have wanted to start a business of their own for several years, but never really knew how to begin. After the birth of their second child last year the couple decided it was time to take a leap and start a new business.

"We don't want to have to spend long hours every day at work, apart from our kids, to make ends meet," Heather said. "We want to be able to support our family and live comfortably here in Havre. Working for ourselves was really the only option for us."

After brainstorming several business ideas, including a shoe store and a greenhouse, the couple decided last November to pursue a mobile coffee business. Heather said that's when the real work began. She visited more than 200 businesses in Havre and talked to people on the street, gathering market research information, which was instrumental in helping her create a business plan for Wallygators Expresso. And while the Wilsons say that most area businesses were excited about the mobile coffee cart, selling the business idea to a bank was a different story.

"We got turned down for a loan by two different banks," Heather said. "But that didn't stop us. We refinanced our house, cashed our income tax returns and charged up all of our credit cards to get this business up and going. "

It's that kind of perseverance and can-do attitude that impressed Timlynn Babitsky, director of the North American Rural Futures Institute, a nonprofit organization in Havre whose mission is to create and sustain the vitality of rural communities.

"The Wilsons have the exact qualities that rural entrepreneurs need to possess," she said. "They didn't shy away from doing their homework, they realized the importance of their social network ties, and they never took no for an answer."

Babitsky said she's happy to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in Havre's young people.

"There should be hundreds more just like them," she said. "In order to survive, rural places need to find a way to support their young people like this, so they aren't forced to leave to bigger towns with more employment opportunities."

Havre already had several businesses that sell espresso and other coffee drinks, as well as two that deliver. But the Wilsons have the first mobile coffee shop in town.

The Wilsons said their road to potential success has hit several speed bumps along the way.

"We've definitely had our ups and downs," Wally said. "Making the business plan took way longer than we expected and then we couldn't get a bank to give us a loan. We had to deal with liability issues with the city too. It hasn't been easy."

The Wilsons built their business from the ground up, literally. The coffee shop was constructed on a flatbed trailer with help from family and friends. The couple has invested more than $20,000 and hundreds of hours of time to get the business running.

"We've really stood by each other throughout the whole process. When I felt overwhelmed and wanted to give up, Wally was there to pick me up, and vice-versa," Heather said. "We kept reminding each other how much time and hard work we'd already put in. We're in this all the way, so failure is not really an option."

Her husband echoed Heather's thoughts.

"We threw everything we had into this business," Wally said. "We've taken a huge risk here at we're anxious to see where it goes from here. It's all or nothing."

If the success of their mobile coffee business continues in Havre, the Wilsons hope to someday expand to other towns like Great Falls.

"This is just the beginning," Heather said. "I can't wait to see what the future holds."