A Perfect Blend: Avalon Coffee, the Brainchild of Two Families Related by Marriage, Turns 30
Sean, Mary Ellen, Kate and Mike in front of the original store with the original window sign!
Two perspectives surround the summer-long, 30th anniversary of Avalon Coffee.
One, it’s an achievement for Mike and Kate Nestor, Sean and Mary Ellen Ford, and their related families (Kate and Mary Ellen are sisters). Few businesses last this long.
Two, it’s a revered family journey. This adventure encompasses risk, reward, growth, success, and the parallel experience of raising children. The principal owners live five blocks apart in Avalon. They not only share family events and look after one another, but have introduced their children to the business world.
During this process, presto, three decades have passed.
And now it’s bonus time.
After savoring the growth of one business into eight locations throughout Cape May County, the partners cashed in their chips by selling the stores a few years ago.
But they saved one last thrill for themselves, retaining the original location at 2898 Dune Drive as a franchisee. It operates 7am-1pm daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
This is a special year for four partners and two families celebrating a milestone in their hometown. Thirty is a good number.
The Partners’ View
“We are delighted that we have a family business operating in what’s a small town, at least during the offseason,” Mike Nestor says, acknowledging the contrast between quiet times and then Avalon buzzing with summer visitors.
“We know everybody here. That includes most of the business owners, the police, the mayor, etc. One of the detectives in the police department was a dishwasher for us when he was 14. Avalon has a wonderful small-town feel to me.”
Sean Ford savors the generational rise of young people.
“Through all the years, you see all the kids that have worked for us and now they are coming back with their kids, that’s really something,” he notes. “We have nice kids, all good kids. We saw them when they were very small, and now they have become doctors, lawyers, and successful professionals.”
Mary Ellen Ford touts the unity among all the partners.
“Well, people have always said the four of us are a unit, that our kids are like brothers and sisters instead of cousins,” she says. “Everybody has blended together to take care of our customers.”
Kate Nestor believes the company thrives with superb customer service. That includes a strong level of staffing.
“We have an abundance of employees to help the customers,” she says. “Some people would think we are over-employed. That’s all part of the service. On the weekends, we have a 1,200-square-foot store and 14 people working behind the counter. One or all of us can keep these lines moving pretty well.”
Joining Forces
This is a Cinderella story with a twist.
Brothers-in-law Mike and Sean sought to forge their professional credentials into a business venture.
Nestor, who has a degree in food-service management, was a vice president of sales and marketing for the Tetley Group in Shelton, Conn. His job included selling to customers like Marriott hotels.
Ford, who has a degree in special education, worked as a local school counselor. He not only understood young adults – an important consumer group – but had a side business as an office coffee distributor. Ford was Nestor’s customer: Mike supplied Sean coffee, which he then sold to local businesses.
They decided to join forces and launch Avalon Coffee. Sean would eventually leave his counseling job to run daily operations.
The Cinderella story was their ability to combine talents. The twist was being able to include the families.
Their spouses, the former Kate and Mary Ellen Byrnes, became involved in the operations while juggling careers. Kate was a commercial insurance agent and homemaker. Mary Ellen has just retired from a teaching career in the Middle Township School District.
Mary Ellen and Kate played every business role from weekend warrior to branch manager over the years.
Both couples have two grown children, all of whom experienced work at the company.
The Nestors have been married 42 years. Their children, Marielle and M.J., were both employed by Avalon Coffee.
So were Kelly and Matthew Ford, whose parents have been married 41 years.
Regardless of their future paths, the children have already received an education on customer service, discipline, and the possibilities of being an entrepreneur.
All four cousins are college graduates.
All family members were joined, and inspired, by the “chairman of the board.” That was Ellen Byrnes, the mother of Mary Ellen and Kate. Before passing away three years ago, she helped the shop in numerous ways. That included supervising truck deliveries, designing and assembling gift baskets, and decorating.
From the Grounds Up
Mike Nestor and Sean Ford achieved a breakthrough in 1994, landing the first Avalon Coffee site. They were 16th in line among prospective buyers, Ford recalls, but they somehow reached the top.
Next came an investment of roughly $20,000 for a Probat coffee roaster from Germany.
Business thrived the first year featuring coffee and bagels, which they purchased from a vendor. Bagels produced roughly half the business and when the supplier significantly hiked its rates the following year, a crossroads loomed.
Nestor and Ford took another leap of faith, investing more than $150,000 in commercial bakery equipment designed to make bagels.
They also attended a national bakery conference in New York to learn that end of the business. The company has turned the process of rolling, boiling, and baking the bagels into a science.
There were two critical components of this decision. First, the partners invested heavily in something that figured to work, based on previous bagel sales. This strategy ultimately involved roasting the coffee in one store, making the bagels in another, and serving both locations.
Second, the group specialized in a small product area, turning niches into riches.
They also expanded smartly, opening stores gradually and keeping them within 8 miles of one another. Every establishment could easily be serviced.
Sean Ford’s Invaluable Role
This partnership features significant intangibles.
Ford, for instance, grew up working in the well-known Shamrock pub in Wildwood owned by his family.
“The work ethic was very demanding,” he says with a laugh. “You learn right away that the customer is always first, the customer is right, and that whatever needs to be done, you have to do it.”
Along the way, he acquired construction skills and was able to do the build-out for all the Avalon Coffee stores. That included countertops, flooring, and coordination with plumbers and electricians as the general contractor.
The cost savings of Ford handling these responsibilities were substantial.
“His contributions are priceless,” Nestor says.
What’ll You Have?
Iced coffee has become the establishment’s most popular item, Nestor notes. This mirrors not only the quality of the product but a preference among young people for iced, rather than hot, coffee.
Hot coffee also holds its own. Nestor indicates that the Avalon Blend – a combination of ingredients from Columbia, Kenya, and Costa Rica – is the most popular hot coffee variety.
The bagels are consistent in quality. Other specialties include crumb cake and croissants. Then there’s the breakfast sandwich on a bagel, which features two extra-large eggs and a choice of pork roll, bacon, or sausage. Top brand names like Taylor and Hormel are used.
The lunch menu includes roasted turkey and chicken salad sandwiches.
Nestor says business is already off to a strong 2024 start.
A few years ago, the Avalon Coffee group was approached by a potential buyer. The company had not been looking to unload the business. But the offer was right and the partners took it, while keeping a role with the prized Avalon jewel that started it all.
The jewel turns 30 this summer, prompting a milestone that can be interpreted many ways.
One assessment already is apparent for the Nestor and Ford families: a summer-long, 7 Mile victory lap.
