Urban Buzz, a coffee shop with expansion goals, likely would not exist in Cape Coral and between Florida Gulf Coast University and Estero if not for a heart transplant.
Jeff and Sharene Eble left Colorado Springs, Colorado, for Cape Coral following Jeff’s heart transplant surgery because they were looking for lower altitude.
At the time of the move, their oldest son worked for Dutch Bros Coffee. Sharene Eble encouraged Alex Eble to start his own coffee shop and brand.
In April 2020, Alex Eble did just that, establishing Urban Buzz at 4413 Del Prado Blvd. S. in Cape Coral.
The Eble family just celebrated the grand opening of the second location at 19810 Village Center Drive, Unit No. 100, in south Fort Myers in University Village.
“If it wasn’t for her, I would never have been in this spot,” Alex Eble said of his mother. “I never would have opened my own business. She’s the one who pushed me to do this.”
Urban Buzz has become a family affair. Sharene Eble is the chief financial officer, and Jeff Eble works in developing the business as a franchise. Alex Eble, 27, manages the new location, and younger brother Adam Eble, 20 and an Ida Baker High School graduate, manages the original Cape Coral location.
A third location is planned, and they hope to open it later this year in Fort Myers off Cleveland Avenue at what used to be BurgerQue, a burger and barbecue drive-thru restaurant.
“You know, the world shut down in March, and we opened in April,” Alex Eble said of 2020. “We’ve grown and grown and grown. Our second store was either going to be north Cape or close to one of the colleges. Where people know our name, and we’re not starting from ground zero.”
The grand opening proved Alex Eble correct, as a line of more than a dozen cars snaked around the University Village parking lot. Adam Eble stood outside to assist, taking orders in a similar fashion to how Chick-fil-A does it.
“We make it a lot more personable and relatable with the customers,” Alex Eble said. “We want it to be about relationships, and coffee is our way to build relationships.”
Artwork is another theme of Urban Buzz. The business partnered with a painter and an artist to create wall murals and stickers. Coffee customers on the first and 15th of each month receive stickers with their orders.
“Art’s a big thing these days,” Adam Eble said. “And when you tell someone hey, we have a free sticker for you with a cup of coffee, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, I want it.’ It’s just another cause to have everybody come here and have a great time.
“We try and make sure that everyone is happy. That’s the goal. Be happy and love others. Coffee, like you said, there’s a lot of big corporations. Anybody can make a cup of coffee. It’s super simple. But the whole goal Is to talk to our customers. See how their day is going. And just make sure they are happy. “We’regoing to do everything in our ability to make sure that their day is better after they come through.”
And then there’s the coffee itself.
“We use a very special blend,” Alex Eble said. “We use a Kona blend. Our beans are actually from Kona. From Hawaii. What we do is we have them private-labeled and shipped to us from Washington. I actually went to Washington and worked on helping them build the recipe that we use.”
Each Urban Buzz location has about 25 employees. Asked about the future of the company and how far the family might take it, Alex Eble smiled.
“To the moon and back,” he said. “But the biggest thing is taking care of our employees and not trying to grow too fast. In any business, the employees are the lifeblood of the business. This is a small, family-owned business. Everyone’s involved.
“More than us selling coffee, we’re selling an experience. And we’re selling personability and honesty. Every employee gets to be their honest true selves and interact and create relationships. The core of our business is relationships, and we just happen to use coffee to sell that.”
