This year, Sweet Home has seen its growth continue with many new businesses opening, including Into the Brew, a family-owned coffee shop located at 1262 Main St.
The name plays off the phrase “into the blue” and is run by Nikki Mondazze and her daughter Edie Benthimer. Mondazze originally went to school to become a news reporter and, while she was getting her degree, she worked as an editor at the Seaside Signal located in Seaside, Ore. She worked there until roughly 1996, when she decided to move east. She and her husband then went into business with Five Star Transmission, located in Corvallis.
According to Mondazze, they continued to run Five Star until it became financially necessary for her to go back to school to become a teacher and, eventually, went to work as a special education teacher for the Lebanon and Albany School districts; ultimately Mondazze became a youth director at the Southside Church of Christ, where she remained for seven years.
During that period, her husband had the opportunity to work with youth services at Camp Koinonia and moved the family to Sweet Home in 2020.
This move happened amid the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to Mondazze, this greatly decreased their ability to get to know the local community.
“We didn’t really get to know the Sweet Home community by the time we moved, not even our neighbors or anything because of COVID,” Mondazze explained. “[It was a] year and a half of not really finding our way into this community.”
Her daughter, however, was looking for an opportunity to open a local business; this is when Mondazze suggested going into business together.
Her goal was to fulfill the needs of the community while trying something new. Both Mondazze and her daughter had many ideas for potential businesses, but the concept for Into the Brew came about a year ago when Mondazze was getting a tattoo from local artist Mike Fulton. She asked Fulton what the town was truly in need of. According to Mondazze, this is when the idea of a coffee shop began to be discussed. Benthimer already had a coffee shop on her list of ideas, but Fulton helped bring that idea more to fruition.
With their hearts set on opening a sit down coffee shop, the pair knew they needed a place to open up business. That’s when the opportunity came along for them to buy a corner property in downtown Sweet Home.
After purchasing the property, Mondazze said, they had to put work in to make their ideas come to life.
“We came in and did almost everything ourselves,” she said, recalling the hard work spent on building the furniture in the building by hand.
The mother-daughter team agreed that they cared most about the community and worked with a goal of catering to them. Before opening, the city mentioned to them the lack of space for gatherings. With this, Mondazze said there was also a need for a safe, air-conditioned place with free Wi-Fi. These are things she wanted to ensure the business could provide as, especially after COVID, many people still needed a safe place to get away from home.
The business also allows the opportunity for church groups to meet, young moms and dads to have a space to gather, and even the ability to rent the whole facility out; the duo already has a bridal party booked.
Since opening, Mondazze said business has been great. She has been grateful for how gracious and understanding people are toward a brand new business. Although the owners have combined experiences, none of them have ever been in this particular position.
Currently, Into the Brew’s affogato–espresso served over ice cream–has been a hit according to Mondazze. Their idea of “supporting local” reached down to even their coffee beans, since they buy from a Lebanon roaster, Calvary Roasters.
“Supporting local and supporting people in need is huge for us,” Mondazze said. “The community is supporting us, we want to support them.”