By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Maryna Shuliakouskaya had a gut feeling that the Lakes Plaza in Naples would be a successful spot for an Aroma Joe’s.

Shuliakouskaya, who has been an Aroma Joe’s franchisee since 2013, did not discover the location by herself. She was approached by another franchisee asking if she would be interested in opening in the space. After all, the Naples Planning board had already approved the plans. 

“I would be taking over the site. Nothing had been done. It was an empty white shell inside. Honestly, before I even looked at the site, I drove back and forth through Naples. I believe that you have to feel the location. You come to the site. You feel it. As a customer, would you like to visit the site? Is it convenience to get to the drive-through? You watch the movement of the community, the movement of the traffic. You figure out how many people live in the town,” she said.

“I drove back and forth five times. Thank goodness it was in the middle of the summer. I stopped in the middle of town and looked at the water. It is beautiful. I stopped at the town hall, multiple gas stations and I had some lunch. I said to myself, ‘Okay it feels right,’” she said. “First and foremost, I rely on my guts.”

Maryna (pronounced Marina) has a marketing background. This location, 12 Lakes Plaza, will be the seventh Aroma Joe’s store in which she has a franchisee partnership. Currently, Aroma Joe’s hours are from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. 

Maryna sat down for an interview on Friday afternoon, the fifth day since the business had been opened. She believes her gut feeling will pay off. First, there was a Friends and Family Opening that panned out well.

“Interestingly enough, I did put a post when we did our friends and family day. That’s our strategy of getting up to speed. We give free drinks. I posted it on the community Facebook page. We were still missing things like some lighting in the cafe, but we were ready,” she said. 

“I was so welcome. It was overwhelming. I felt like a celebrity. It got 200 likes, 100 shares,” Shuliakouskaya said.

She gave kudos to the area supervisor and the team for pulling off this first week of being open to the public.

“To have a successful opening, especially when you have help, you break up responsibilities,” she said.

Shuliakouskaya was in charge of the construction and the interior, she said.

Meanwhile, prior to the store opening Kaitlyn Burnell, 24, took the role of area supervisor on the sizable task of hiring and training about a dozen employees. 

This Aroma Joe’s hired 13 people for the opening, but during the summer, that number will jump to 20, Burnell said.

It’s a good combination of young adults and high school students, she said.

“A big thanks to Kaitlyn doing a great job not just hiring but also training the team,” she said. “When you open your business, the worst thing to do is have the staff not trained. Thanks to Kaitlyn our team was trained to serve the right drink with the right attitude.”

Being situated in Naples is advantageous but the slight setback from the main road might discourage some people or they might not see it as readily if the building was right off the main road, she said. 

“Visibility is the key. We knew that it is going to take a little bit of time due to visibility,” Shuliakouskaya said. “There is a convenience issue. Can the customer figure out how the drive-through goes through the parking lot? When we go to rural communities, if someones takes a wrong turn in the drive-through, they will tell their friend how to go the right way.”

Still, the customers come in their vehicles.

“We are already seeing the increase. I’m looking closely at every day sales. Yesterday from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m, we were not as busy as today at that time. We had an additional eight (8) customers today at that hour,” she said.

Shuliakouskaya talked about the benefits the business will have on the community. She included the turning lane that was put in to support more traffic.

“In this case, it benefits us to have turning lane. It minimizes accidents and it brings additional visbility to the new tenant. Hopefully, all the businesses in our plaza will see the benefits. We go hand-in-hand with all the businesses,” she said. “There are multiple ways we benefit the community: hiring members, a positive ecomonic impact, making the plaza complete — that is not an empty space in this building. That is adding value to the town.”

“The last piece is what we are going to do in the community. If someonebody asks for help donating for schools and charity events, I have never said no. Overall, we try to help and support the community. People can ask for free coffee for school meetings, for volunteers setting up charity events, for Teacher Appreciation Day,” she said, adding she is a big fan of the rotary club wherever she goes. 

“To be transparent, I’ve been in Naples for the last six months and that is the most I know about Naples,” she said. “I get energized by learning about what people do and what the community is all about.”