08/17/2025
Long post ahead! ⬇️
To our customer; You all are simply amazing. The amount of messages and hand written letters, I’ve honestly been blown away. Many of you had my eyes filled with tears. I knew you all loved this place but I had no clue just how deeply it ment to so many of you. It wasn’t just a place to grab coffee (an amazing cup of coffee 😋) It was a community within itself. Filled with love, appreciation, friendships, connections, peacefulness and so much more. The friendships my staff and myself have made through this business are absolutely amazing and we will be forever grateful for them. The kind words, all the hugs and well wishes have been overwhelming in the best way possible. I’ve said it before but there is just something different about our customers compared to anywhere else we’ve worked. There is apperception, actual genuine appreciation for ETC 🖤
For my team; I’ve never worked somewhere where I’ve grown so close to people. You all feel like my siblings more than “employees”. The love, respect, and honesty we have for each other is unheard of in the restaurant industry. We pick on each other with absolutely no limits, we get excited when we have drinks or fun snacks to share, we play fight, we prank, we have laugh so hard we have cried. Shout out to mom-mom for putting up with the weirdest conversation and not batting an eye at us. You guys are truly the best people. It’s not just the boss who sets the tone for an environment, it’s the whole team. It makes a difference when you have people who actually enjoy doing their job or just simply enjoy the people they work with….Not just people showing up for a paycheck. Ending this business out with a SOLID team is more than I could ask for and whoever get them next is quite lucky 🖤
For the business; it started in 2020 when I knew I wanted a different occupation. And let me tell you, I was motivated to make it happen. With enough motivation I truly believe you can do anything you want. I had never worked in a kitchen, never been a manager, only thing I owned was a cleaning business with myself as an only employee. In 2021 ETC was born and running. We stared at 5N 3rd ST, the building needed basically everything new and nothing was up to code. Sean and I made it happen with some help of a few good friends. We officially opened in August of 2021 durning Summerfest. We had people very unsure of a vegetarian restaurant, but after a year of being open it finally hit off. I think it was the cupcakes and the Chesapeake Bagel to be honest 😉. After that I realized we were running out of room quickly in the front for customers and in the back for the kitchen and storage. We looked at 4s 1st building, as a “let’s just see”. After looking at it Sean and I were standing in the back yard looking at the house and said we’re going to buy it. And we did. We sold our house outside of town to buy this one. The night we moved our things in, I felt like it was the seen from Its A Wonderful Life, it was a rainy night, a little chilly, the house was old and not in the best condition. Most lights didn’t work upstairs. But we were still so excited. A big project like a historic house isn’t something that intimidated us at all. What we’ve done to this house is incredible and it’s so much more than people will ever fully understand and know. We’ve lived here for 3 years now (upstairs) worked on it for two years and moved the business in here for a year. This house is so special for many reasons….when I was 6 or 7 my mom would take me and my sisters here for lunch on the porch when it was The Emerson House, It was always a treat. In my late teen/early adult years we would be here weekly for dinners at Harry’s, the memories we made on the porch and by the fire pit are endless. Never, did I ever imagine Sean and I would own it one day and own a business in it too. This house is such a staple of Denton, it’s the first thing you see rolling into town and boy is it a looker. We all have so many ways we are attached to this property and always will. We are excited to see whatever comes next here and will be happy to support it like we’ve always done in the past 🖤
For Sean and I; As many of you know and as I stated in a previous post, we will be traveling all around to see this beautiful country. We never do things for ourselves, it’s always been our businesses first. But it’s time for us now! We have some plans and goals to accomplish ☺️ Also, a common question I’ve been getting is “are you going to document your travels?”
Maybe a little, but by any means we are not going to become vloggers. We are very quiet people who don’t post much of anything personal. Only business related things typically. I know people want to see other peoples experiences but that’s not why we should do things…we should do them for ourselves and not for others to see and make envies of. Keeping things only for your close circle people says so much more. Do you in however you want to do things but we’re going to do things the way we want to and not for others enjoyment. Like I said before, life is short…on our last days no one thinks “I should’ve shared that on social media” ….life is so much bigger when you stop watching it through your phone.
Adventure awaits! 🤗
Enjoy the photos of the before and afters of the past 4 years!
