By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Jul 23, 2010 at 1:01 PM

In 1992, Steamer's Coffee, 624 N. Water St., opened in Downtown Milwaukee, beating the "coffee shop craze" by a couple of years. Many small Brew City coffee shops came and went over the past couple of decades, but Steamer's remained open with the exception of a couple of months.

John Artrip bought the business last June from previous owner, Steve Reiser. At the time, the coffee shop had been closed for two months, but Artrip, a former Starbucks' store manager, had faith in his ability to revive the cafe.

"When I came in as the new owner of Steamer's, the first thing I did was welcome the Chase Tower (across the street)," says Artrip. "At this point, I have been over there so many times I feel like I work in the building."

Artrip also expanded Steamer's food menu with made-to-order pizzas. The extensive list of toppings include everything from sausage and pepperoni to avocado. Delivery is also available.

"The fast, fresh pizzas have been a fantastic addition to our menu," says Artrip. "And they gave us our name back down here."

Artrip says his experience working for Starbucks -- he managed the Oak Creek location -- was extremely positive and he learned a lot about business and customer service, much of which he uses as a model for his own coffee shop.

"I brought a lot of Starbucks' values here," he says. "Howard Schultz (CEO of Starbucks) says it best: ‘We're in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people.'"

Artrip says he struggled with the decision to use Alterra coffee beans instead of Starbucks' Seattle's Best brand. In the end, he chose Alterra because of its loyal local customer base.

"I would have been a fool not to feed off that," he says.

Although happily employed at Starbucks, Artrip was inspired to buy Steamer's because his father, John Artrip, Sr., had been laid off and he saw owning a coffee shop as a family business opportunity for both of them. The father and son work side-by-side every day, and most of his other employees are family members, too.

On the day of the interview for this article, Artrip took off a few hours earlier in the day to attend his grandmother's funeral. This was the first time since he opened the business that he left for any amount of time.

Giving back to community is important to Artrip. He donates his leftover bakery items to St. Catherine's Women's Shelter and the Salvation Army. He also makes donations and helps out at the Grande Avenue Club, a non-profit organization that offers adults with mental illness a variety of opportunities from work to friendships.

Artrip says his Starbucks' background allows him to understand his customers when they ask for Starbucks' sizes, which instead of small, medium and large are "short," "tall," "grande" and "venti."

"I'm fluent in coffee," says Artrip. "If someone comes in here and orders a ‘grande' -- and believe me, this happens -- I know exactly what they mean."

 


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.