The Richardsons fell in love at Fountain City. Now, their coffee enterprise is expanding.
Jud and Edy Richardson fell in love at Fountain City Coffee over caramel corn.
It all started when she covered a shift for him at the shop, and he gave her the sweet treat as a little thank-you. Over time, their mutual crushes turned to everlasting love. But they are more than just life partners.
They’ve gone from coffee shop employees to co-owners at Fountain City. It’s a family business, and it’s survived some trying times.
Now, the popular downtown coffee enterprise is branching out. Fountain City will occupy a booth at the soon-to-open Banks Food Hall with a new concept, a bakeshop with an espresso bar.
It’ll serve up Fountain City Coffee, but the primary purpose is to give Edy a place to shine with her pastries and baked goods.
“Things are starting to open up, and Fountain City is reaching out wider into the world,” Edy said.
The love of coffee
A lot of little things brought Jud Richardson into the orbit of coffee and Fountain City. He first developed an interest in the beverage after working at a Books-A-Million cafe. He’d leave that job, and find out about an opening at Fountain City after coming in the shop one day.
“I enjoyed coffee, but I knew I wasn’t doing coffee to the fullest,” he said.
He ended up getting the Fountain City job after interviewing with then-owner Kevin Welch. At the time, both men were producing “bad electronic music,” and Jud said that shared hobby probably got him the job.
Jud was first hired at Fountain City in 2005, and he fell in love with the place shortly after taking the job.
He’d leave the shop twice for other ventures. One was to work as a pastry cook at the Chattahoochee River Club, and the last was to manage rental properties for Columbus’ Flournoy & Calhoun Realtors. But Fountain City always called him back. Even when he wasn’t a Fountain City employee, Jud would go and roast coffee for Welch as a favor.
“I felt like I had a debt of gratitude to (Welch) for giving me a place to be,” Jud said.
Welch moved to Wisconsin around 2009. Jud came back to Fountain City with plans to purchase the shop, but he soon found that buying it wasn’t financially feasible then.
In the meantime, Jud was left in charge of the day-to-day operations of the shop and bean roasting. That’s when the romance with his now-wife Edy began.
She started working at the coffee shop in 2009. Jud said the pair had met before, but the romance began one day when she covered a shift for him. A little caramel corn was all it took, and the couple started dating in 2012.
“I just thought that was really sweet,” Edy said. “I’d had a crush on him for a long time anyway.”
Everything ended up working out for Jud professionally, too. In 2013, he was finally able to purchase Fountain City.
“I just felt like Fountain City was a second home,” he said. “I felt like I belonged here. … I felt like I could make a career out of Fountain City.”
For the next five years, Jud handled the entire enterprise. The struggles reached a peak in 2017. It was a bad year for everyone downtown, including Fountain City. Jud was working long hours and through weekends. He was always tired and didn’t have much focus.
“It’s so multi-faceted running a small business,” Jud said. “It’s not just one thing. You’re in control of everything. ...There’s a lot of moving pieces. For me to have been doing that by myself for five years, I was just — I didn’t have it in me.”
His sister, Libba Dillon, bought an interest in the business in 2017 to help Jud out. She assisted with some of the coffee shop’s big changes that year — repainting, rebranding and the introduction of Garry Pound’s popular “Fountain City Faces” sketches that are still hung around the shop’s walls. Libba’s husband, Will, is also a co-owner.
“I think in the past three years we’ve really solidified ourselves in the community,” Jud said. “We’ve opened up our doors to more people, and they’ve gotten to see what we are doing. They’ve really been able to appreciate it more than when I was doing it by myself.”
The division of responsibilities at the shop among the four co-owners works something like this: Jud handles the shop’s roasting duties and day-to-day operations. Edy handles the shop’s baking and social media. Libba and Will handle finances.
“Structure is not my strong suit,” Jud said. “Being heavily organized was something Libba excelled at. It helped me become more organized and allowed me to take a little time for myself.”
On a given afternoon, you’ll see tired-eyed folks like office workers and Columbus State students approaching Fountain City’s counter for just a little bit of caffeine. People from all corners of the city walk through its doors.
Jud said its often the employees that bring customers back. He and the staff work to remember as many customers’ names as possible.
“So when you come in, you’re recognized,” Jud said.
“You’re part of the fam,” Libba added.
They’re hoping to continue to grow that family with their new location at the food hall.
The new shop
Fountain City’s property manager W.C. Bradley approached Jud and company with an idea: put a coffee shop in the soon-to-open Banks Food Hall near Whitewater Express.
They thought about it, and Libba learned a little more about the food hall through her day job at Malone Office Environments, a Columbus company tasked with handling some of the food hall’s furniture. As the group gathered information, they realized it was a great opportunity.
“I started seeing plans for the hall and said we have to jump on this,” Libba said. “This is going to be awesome.”
The new sister business won’t be identical to the current Fountain City. The new location will be focused on pastry and baked goods. Construction is expected to start sometime after Thanksgiving. It’ll be a group effort, but Edy will be running the day-to-day operations.
“I’m super excited to have the room and kitchen and space dedicated to explore what I’d be capable of doing,” Edy said. “I feel like that’s kind of what Banks wants to be — an incubator space. I’m just really excited.”
Fountain City is also attempting to grow its wholesaling business. Right now, they wholesale to several local businesses including County’s Barbecue, Epic Restaurant, 501 Salon, Nonic, Jarfly and more.
“We don’t know what the future holds, but it’s looking bright,” Jud said.