Our Story
Zuzu’s Fresh Roast Coffee is owned and operated by Dave and Laura Helbling of Springfield, Illinois. Dave and I enjoy roasting FRESH coffee beans and brewing a FRESH cup of coffee. One day we were sitting around the table having a cup of coffee with our kids, Megan and Mark, and discussing the possibility of opening a micro-roastery. I always dreamed of owning my own business. I noticed my husband Dave was on board with this idea. Months before we did a study at church called Just Do Something by Josh DeYoung and around the same time I was in between jobs. This seemed like it was the “just do something” for me. From that day on I began to research starting a business, different kinds of coffee, green coffee beans, and roasters; shortly after I began drafting our business plan for opening a micro-roastery. “FRESH… from our roaster to your cup.” That is when Zuzu’s Fresh Roast Coffee, LLC. came into existence.
We thought and discussed about how we would love to give our community a local and personal micro-roastery-a place where the community could experience FRESH roasted, high quality coffee beans. A roastery that provides FRESH coffee beans from our roaster to your cup. A roastery that can deliver FRESH coffee beans within 24 hours of roasting, as a matter of fact within minutes you can have your FRESH roasted coffee beans.
As I was developing Zuzu’s, I was happy that my long-time, overdue dream was coming into existence. I thought much about my late father Ismael S. Juarez and my late brother Ismael Juarez Jr. and my memories of their entrepreneurial spirit. Those good memories God gave me helped give me encouragement and perseverance.
We love our family and community, and we love to give back because much has been given to us. With all the divisions and chaos in the world we look forward to building stronger, peaceful relationships with family and community.