Exploring Life & Business with Daniel and Jen Krenzer & Kimberly and Kevin Jordan of Converge Coffee Bar and Cafe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel and Jen Krenzer along with Kimberly and Kevin Jordan. They share their story with us below:

Daniel Krenzer began roasting coffee in his garage in Spring 2016 and soon began sharing it with friends and family. Kevin Jordan became one of the first customers and approached Daniel about starting a local coffee roastery. Within a year of roasting, the community began asking for a place to come and enjoy the coffee. Jen Krenzer and Kimberly Jordan decided to partner with Kevin and Daniel and the idea for Converge Coffee Bar and Cafe was born. The 4 partners wanted to connect with their community through coffee. With this sentiment, out tagline and mission was born- “Connecting Through Coffee”.

To do this we work to have vendors that are also local and are community minded. We’ve worked to create a place where small businesses and people can come together. Converge recently celebrated its third year of business on August 3rd.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Each business partner came to the table with a unique skills set, Daniel and Jen are School Psychologists, Kimberly was a teacher, and Kevin runs his own real estate appraisal business. We all came into this venture with passion but unsure of how to launch a coffee shop with willingness to learn.

Our biggest challenge so far has been the ever changing adjustments needed to manage the pandemic. We had made it through our first year and a half as a shop when the pandemic started in March 2020. As a team we discussed ways to stay afloat and new strategies to implement. While it was not an ideal situation, our business has thrived as a result of our ability to think creatively and use new strategies (using an order ahead & take away app called Odeko, accepting Elon University’s ID card system, and offering the services of DoorDash). As a team we have focused on effective communication and collaboration to make the right decisions for our staff and customers.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Converge Coffee Bar and Cafe?
We are a local coffee shop and roastery operating in Burlington, NC. 3336 South Church St, Burlington, NC. We partner with other local businesses to support our community. Our milk comes from Homeland Creamery in Julian, NC. Cheesecakes by Alex in Greensboro, NC provides bread for toast and pastries. Many of our other pastries, macaroons, and cookies are prepared by pastry chef Amaris Holmes Tseng of Blondie Bakes located in Graham NC. We use Granolicious granola in our toast and sell bags of granola in our retail area. We’ve just started carrying Boro kombucha, which is located in Chapel Hill. Our menu includes traditional coffee drinks: lattes, cappuccino, macchiato, cortado, and drip coffee. For tea lovers, we offer bagged tea from Asheville Tea and Matcha from Arteo. Converge offers three types of smoothies: Green Smoothie (pineapple, greens, banana), Berry Smoothie (Strawberries, Blackberries, Blueberries), and a Chocoana Smoothie (Banana, Nutella, Peanut butter Powder). We are very proud of our Toast menu which includes a Chicken Salad Toast (with or without Avocado), an Avocado Toast, Phoenix Toast in honor of Elon University, Egg Salad, Pimento Cheese, and Peanut Butter and Banana Toast. Our Creative Director Krystjan Jordan-Klischer designs amazing seasonal menus.

What makes you happy?
Happiness comes in the way of listening to peoples stories of how they enjoy Converge. Many of their stories revolve around having a bright and welcoming place to work and meet friends. Happiness also comes with building relationships in the community. We really try to live up to our tagline “connecting through coffee”. We enjoy working with non profit organizations in the area for fundraising efforts on their behalf. In recent history, we’ve collaborated with Cone Health to raise money for cancer survivors. We have partnered with the “I Will Survive 5k” which sends proceeds to cancer support funds. We’ve also partners with smaller local charities that raise funds to support music education, and summer camp for children with Autism.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.convergecoffeebarandcafe.com
• Instagram: @convergecoffeebar
• Facebook: @convergecoffeebar