Coffee Is a Winning Ingredient at Paint Perfection

Luckily for hungry customers who are shopping at Paint Perfection in El Campo, Texas, they can grab a bite to eat and a coffee while they’re in the store.

Owner Molli Bodungen wanted to creatively use her paint store’s space and add an amenity for customers. So, she built a coffee bar, added a sandwich station with a panini press and began selling drip coffee, espresso drinks, cinnamon rolls, hot soups and sandwiches out of The Coffee Bar at Paint Perfection.

Sales went up 30 percent the first year as local DIYers dropped by to get coffee and discover their new coffee shop primarily sells paint.

Then Bodungen noticed her loyal contractor customers started avoiding the store around lunchtime because they couldn’t find parking during the lunch rush. Her solution was to open Molli B’s, a standalone restaurant across town. She kept the coffee bar at Paint Perfection, but now only offers Grab & Go items and pastries at the paint shop.

The new arrangement has kept contractor customers happy while allowing the in-store coffee bar to continue attracting the DIYers who didn’t previously shop at Paint Perfection.

“We have built a relationship over coffee and they trust me with their paint,” Bodungen says.