The new owner of Steaming Bean Coffee Co. is an irrepressible go-getter.
Erica Fendley, whose purchase of the venerable downtown Durango coffeehouse and hangout closed last week, picked up an entrepreneurial spirit firsthand as a child in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Her father, Ronnie Ritter, founded Hunters Feeding the Hungry, a nonprofit that donates unwanted wild game to charitable organizations.
Her older brother, Justin Ritter, started a landscaping business that now has 20 people on payroll.
Fendley, 30, even back in Arkansas was no slacker.
Through the nondenominational church in which she was reared, Fendley did missionary work in Guatemala at age 13; Papua, New Guinea, at age 14; and Mexico at age 15. In high school, she was a leader in 4-H and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
After high school, Fendley for a time attended the University of Arkansas, where she eventually earned degrees in sociology and criminal justice. But before the degrees were conferred, she worked as a personal trainer for three years, then spent four years in Izmir, Turkey, where she taught English as a foreign language.
Returning to the U.S., she finished her college studies and then came to Southwest Colorado where her family had visited on occasions to ski.
“I needed a change,” Fendley said. “I needed to get out of Arkansas, and I was looking for a ski town.”
Fendley had never visited Durango, but it seemed like a fit because it had a bicycle culture. As a dedicated bicyclist, she once pedaled through Hungary with her father.
Used to traveling light, Fendley even today doesn’t own a car; instead, she bikes or walks. She lives in a camper.
“My first day in Durango, I was walking around downtown and came in here and met Ivan (Unkovskoy), the owner, who asked me if I wanted a job,” Fendley said.
She was a quick study, but she soon tired of simply concocting mochas and lattes and serving up Americanos.
“I wanted to keep growing,” Fendley said. “I wanted more responsibility, so I asked Ivan about being manager.”
Two years later, she and Unkovskoy fell into a conversation one day about her taking over the whole business. She qualified for a Small Business Administration loan, and the deal was sealed.
Jack Llewellyn, director of the Durango Chamber of Commerce, said Fendley’s relative youth is no drawback. She’s in good company.
“In Durango, it’s not unusual to see young people in business for themselves,” Llewellyn said. “We see young individuals take the challenge.”
Mandy Davis, a member of Young Professionals of Durango, was 20 years old a decade ago when she threw in with her brother and other partners to found Pagosa Springs-based SkyWerx, a wireless Internet service provider.
“We scraped up $15,000 to get started,” Davis said. “Last year, we did $1.2 million in gross sales.”
Fendley said qualifying for the SBA loan was time-consuming and trying.
“It was a huge undertaking, but I’m proud that I didn’t give up,” Fendley said. “But I couldn’t have done it alone. I had advice from business people and encouragement from customers and community members.
“I wasn’t afraid to ask for help,” Fendley said. “People told me, ‘You can do it.’”
Fendley has a seven-year lease, which may be more than enough to test her resolve to keep taking on additional responsibility.
“There are so many things to do in life,” Fendley said. “Maybe in a couple of years if I have a good manager, I’ll see what else I can do.”
But for the present, Fendley said, she’ll devote her energy to making the coffee shop a place where employees want to work and customers feel comfortable.
“I want to know more about my customers than their name and what they drink,” Fendley said. “I’d like to know about their life, and I value their feedback.”
Fendley doesn’t envision immediate changes in the menu. Except for one thing – there will be Turkish coffee.
daler@durangoherald.com
