Mocha Joe's serves coffee and comfort

The challenge of starting a storefront business from the ground up can be daunting.

It can also be gratifying, rewarding and fun.

Perhaps that's why Mocha Joe's Cafe in Sparks exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit at its best.

When it opened in June 2000, the cafe could easily have been seen as just another coffeehouse by the new residents in the expanding neighborhood near Aspen Glen shopping center on Vista Boulevard.

But 30-year-old founder and owner Chris Apodaca had done his homework.

After graduating from Wooster High School in 1991, Apodaca attended the Art Institute of Seattle where, when free of homework, he visited local coffeehouses and a variety of eateries.

They provided a lasting influence that helped him create his vision for Mocha Joe's.

Initially intent on studying graphic arts, Apodaca left Seattle after a couple of years to finish his education at Truckee Meadows Community College and at University of Nevada, Reno, where he received a degree in graphics design in 1997.

He helped pay for his education by working as a valet at Coast SeaTac Valet Parking in Seattle, as an assistant manager at Hertz Rent A Car in Reno, and as a limo driver for five years at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino in Reno.

"I decided I wanted more of a professional career," he said, "so I decided to open a coffeehouse."

Using only his savings and investments, Apodaca started Mocha Joe's Cafe, a name that came out of brainstorming session with his sister, Raechelle Logue.

"We picked the name because 'mocha' means chocolate and 'joe' means coffee," he said.

Apodaca recalls preparing a business plan that would serve as a road map.

He also mentally tallied the pluses and minuses of what he had learned as a coffeehouse customer in Seattle.

"I remembered the places that served Seattle's Best Coffee,Torrefazione Italia and Tully's Coffee," he said, adding that Mocha Joe's serves Tully's coffee exclusively.

Apodaca also had the advantage of growing up in northern Nevada.

This made him sensitive to area demographics, cultural changes and small business possibilities.

Unlike many area coffeehouses, Mocha Joe's Cafe offers an assortment of breakfast and lunch items, as well as freshsqueezed juices, smoothies, teas, granola and protein bars, and even some nutritional boosters such as bee pollen, wheat grass and ginko biloba that can be added to smoothies.

A breakfast can include a British Banger, made with Italian sausage, egg and cheese on focacchia bread.

Or, you may opt for the breakfast burrito.

And to drink, how about a carnilla, made with espresso, bar caramel, vanilla and steamed milk.

There are sandwiches, wraps and salads for lunch.

The Pannini Hot Italian sandwich is filled with Black Forest ham and provolone cheese.

Or the Greek Wrap consisting of chicken, feta cheese, olives, pepperoncinis, onion, tomatoes, spinach leaf, cucumber and dressing.

Mocha Joe's smoothies include Mayan Mango, Cranberry Del Sol, Pancho Peach and more.

In addition to a complete line of espresso and coffee drinks, Mocha Joe's beverage inventory includes iced espresso drinks and frozen espresso drinks.

Apodaca said 80 percent of the revenue comes from selling coffee, 10 percent from smoothies and 10 percent from lunches.

He estimates that 60 percent of the customers use the drive-up window while 40 percent come inside.

Mocha Joe's has several small tables and couple of "cushy" chairs.

He uses QuickBooks to do bookkeeping, but outsources his payroll to Automatic Data Processing.

The cafe employs two full-time and three part-time employees.

Apodaca knows that resting on laurels can be risky, so he continuously listens to his customers, who are equally divided between men and women, including kids who stop by for smoothies after school.

Last year, he visited Seattle and San Francisco twice to see what was new in the coffeehouses.

"I do research," he said.

"I like to get new ideas."

Apodaca said that he is no longer viewed as a rookie in this business, adding that he believes he has set the standard in the area for quality products and service.

He said owning his own business and managing employees has humbled him, especially when it comes to hiring and firing people.

"No Harvard degree could have prepared me for what I've learned in the last three years," he said.

"I've learned so many lessons."