Katie Francesca Harrison had no idea she would be the owner of Sweetwater Café and Secondé handmade pasta when she started working there in June, last year.
But two weeks into employment, the opportunity arose. Owner Lisa Rembold decided to sell suddenly and offered Harrison the chance to buy her business.
Harrison had started working for Rembold with hopes of learning the pasta-making trade. Yet when the apprentice abruptly found herself the master, it was full speed ahead; she was doing this. After ups and mostly downs working in the restaurant business in Los Angeles, Harrison hadn’t expected her lifelong dream to become a reality.
“It seemed completely out of reach for me. Lisa knew this and how hard it in fact is to get into the restaurant business, and that sometimes you need a foot in the door. She wanted to be that for me, because she could see the passion and dedication I had for cooking for other people,” Harrison said. “I’m truly grateful and forever indebted to her for making this dream, regardless of how terrifying it is, come true.”
Sweetwater Cafe is currently located in the business incubator space in the Rock31 building in downtown Billings.
Sweetwater Café is located just inside the Rock31 building downtown, at 201 North Broadway, and is the first business to occupy Rock31’s barista incubator space. Rock31 is a program of Big Sky Economic Development. Its goal is to bolster Billings entrepreneurs and help startups thrive.
Members of Rock31 gain access to a variety of services and amenities, including the shared co-working space, physical and virtual rentable office space, conference rooms and more, including services provided by Small Business Development Center, Veterans Business Outreach Center, and Big Sky Finance.
Since launching the program in September of 2022, Rock31 has helped numerous fledgling businesses fly the coop, including Karen Grosz with Canvas Creek Teambuilding, who was recently awarded Montana’s Small Business Champion of the year.
“She came in as a start-up, has hired multiple employees and grown her team,” said Marcell Bruski, senior director of engagement.
Rock31 currently has 69 full-time members residing across their offices and workspaces. The space Harrison leases is made specifically for restaurant and coffee shop entrepreneurs breaking into the business, with the support, mentorship and network of Rock31, minus the high capital costs normally associated with a startup.
Harrison is in her first year of business, and like all startups, these next few months are crucial ones. Her graduated lease at Rock31 ends in November. She’s currently in the running for Downtown Billings Association’s Battle of the Plans grant, which would greatly aid in the forward momentum of her business. If that doesn’t pan out, she plans to join a local food co-op, and grow from there.
Although the direction of her new business still looks a bit murky, she hasn’t wasted any time pulling the weeds.
Sweetwater Cafe Owner Katie Harrison is photographed at her Cafe in the business incubator space in the Rock31 building in downtown Billings.
Since taking on the business last November, Harrison has curated a thoughtfully crafted, locally sourced menu, featuring a small breakfast menu and daily lunch specials for meat and veggie eaters alike. Every Tuesday, she features a gluten-free lunch special.
“I try to accommodate whatever needs and preferences my customers have if I am able to, including dairy free,” Harrison said.
Her drink menu includes all the coffeehouse essentials, plus a unique list of infused, house-made syrups, like cardamom ginger, huckleberry, lavender, and more. She’s working on adding a variety of house made sodas to her menu board as well. They’re sure to be unique flavors, “you can’t get anywhere else.”
“I have ideas bursting out of my skull,” Harrison said. “I come up with new things every day and I can’t get them on the board fast enough.”
Her excitement is palpable.
Sweetwater Cafe Owner Katie Harrison makes a coffee at her Cafe in the business incubator space in the Rock31 building in downtown Billings.
There’s a lot of what goes around, comes around happening at Sweetwater Café. Harrison is passionate about supporting her entrepreneuring peers and running a sustainable business.
“It’s part of our fabric here,” Harrison said. “You know, if we’re gonna have to be capitalists, we might as well be a community. If we have to make money, we might as well care for each other along the way.”
Of the many Billings businesses she sources from, her coffee beans come from Rock Creek Coffee Roasters, just across the street from Rock31. Any compostable food waste, including her used coffee beans, is handed over to local composting gurus, Agri Organics.
Harrison also believes in paying it forward. She hosts a variety of locally made goods at the café, for purchase. Through her loyalty program, the Mug of the Month Club, customers can choose a “cute secondhand mug to take home”, or can choose to pay it forward, with a $5 donation from Sweetwater Café to a local nonprofit.
A variety of local and Montana-made goods can be purchased at Sweetwater Cafe in the business incubator space in the Rock31 building in downtown Billings.
Sweetwater Café, inside Rock31, at 201 North Broadway, is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. Breakfast is served until 10 a.m. Lunch starts at noon. Customers may call or text (406) 272-9991, or message Sweetwater Café socials, to place an order for pickup.