Letting His Dreams Set Sail
A marketing degree from the University of Central Arkansas will get you more than just a diploma and a handshake from President Tom Courtway… especially when you’re a hard-working risk taker like 2013 graduate Kyle Tabor.
Tabor decided, while on a trip abroad to Italy during the summer before his senior year, that he wanted to open his own coffee shop in downtown Conway.
“I love coffee, so this was the best way that I knew how to make a good impact on my community,” Tabor said. “In Italy, the coffee culture is strong and there’s a coffee shop between every other building. I was really inspired by how coffee brought people together, inspired creativity, promoted collaboration and helped people communicate. I felt like it was a good thing for their community and I wanted to do that for my community too.” Tabor opened Conway’s beloved coffee shop Blue Sail Coffee on May 17, 2014.
However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Tabor’s self-run, self-started coffee shop. “Opening up was rough,” Tabor said. “The first four weeks I worked 120 hours a week just to keep the place going. I had one espresso machine and no furniture!” But now business is booming, and the shop is always bustling with people who are busy drinking coffee, typing on laptops or socializing.
“Socializing is a big part of staying healthy and happy,” Tabor said. “People need other people to be healthy. We need each other. I don’t know what it is, but coffee brings people together.”
He named his business in that same fashion. “Just like there are blue sails on a sailboat, it’s the vessel that represents the connection between where our coffee is grown in Guatemala and Burundi, Africa, and the farmers in those communities, and where the coffee is being consumed here in our community. That’s what Blue Sail is all about: just improving quality of life in communities on all ends of the supply chain of coffee.”
As for plans for the future, Tabor has some big dreams in the works. He plans to open a second Blue Sail location in the new Donaghey Hall building. Nothing is too big to dream about, according to Tabor.
“Irrationally believe that whatever you want to do can come true,” Tabor said. “If you believe you can do it, it will happen for real.”