Her business is brewing on military sites

Trina Lemons gives the armed forces a buzz.

Her artillery is caffeine.

She operates eight coffee shops at Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base and other local military compounds.

“I serve those who serve. My menu is geared to military,” Lemons said.

Lemons, 39, started Trina’s Brewed Awakenings 13 years ago with a coffee cart on wheels at the Air Force Academy BX.

She had no connection to the armed forces other than a brother in the Air Force. That has changed, though. Her customer-turned-husband, Tim, retired from the Air Force. Her younger brother, Frank, is an academy cadet.

“I fell in love with coffee while in college,” said Lemons, a native of the Philippines who has a marketing degree from California State University, Fullerton.

She puts her degree to work with clever promotions, such as display boards and Facebook pictures of customers carrying her mugs to all corners of the world.

She has 15 employees and serves more than 200 drinks from $1 to $3.95. The shops also sell smoothies, protein shakes, sodas, teas and pastries.

“I have customers who are janitors and generals,” she said. “I have been to funerals for my customers because of war.”

Question: Talk about your, as you put it, “humble beginnings.”

Answer: When I started, it was 12 hours a day, seven days a week and I had this cart on wheels and I’d roll it to the front of the BX, so it was outside. It was freezing. Some days I would make $20-$40. It was tough. I worked until the day I went into labor. People would say you should open one here, we need one there. Really the customers have paved the way for me.

Q: What is the hardest part of being a military contractor?

A: Getting a contract. I still have to re-compete for my contract every couple of years. I pay four times the average price for the privilege to be here.

Q: Describe your work week.

A: My day starts at 5. I work 70-80 hours a week.

Q: Is there such as thing as too much coffee?

A: The coffee industry in this country is still young. The more coffee shops the better.

I was mentored by another coffee shop owner years ago, she helped me a lot. She mentored me and I in turn mentor other people looking to open shops.

Q: What’s your management style?

A: I have an amazing staff. I am nothing without them. They are extremely loyal. Some have been here 10 years. I tell them, “You’re a mom, you’re a wife. That’s your first priority.” I don’t say, “This is your life.” This is your job. When you’re here I need 100 percent, but you’ve got a life.

I have had men working for me before. I don’t discriminate against them.

Q: Her Tao of coffee?

A: I believe coffee is a personal experience. When you go get coffee, you want it a certain way. I made it a point for my employees to learn the customers’ drinks so when they were in line they know your drink.

It is important to learn their first names because here everybody knows your last name.

It’s like being a bartender. They download, tell me all kinds of stuff. Then we try to remember, so next time we can ask them.

Q: What are some popular drinks?

A: The Bomber. The Moxie. The Death Charge. G.I. Jolt is our house latte with our secret sauce, three shots of espresso in a double-size cup, with whipped cream.

Because we have the same customers every day, I want to have the huge selection of drinks. We have drinks that were invented by customers that are now on the menu.

We have a drink called the Don Juan. This guy, his name was Don and we used to call him Don Juan. He was really cute. He made up a drink and we called it after him.

I want them to name it. I want it to feel like their place.

Q: How do you advertise?

A: Every day I put an update on Facebook, which is linked to Twitter. I put a daily special and coupon. They can sign up to get mobile updates. They show us their cell phone text message to get $1 off.

Q: Describe your mugshots promotion and coffee wheel.

A: They take a travel mug when they go on a trip. I have pictures all over the world — Afghanistan, Iraq, London, Paris, underwater. We display some photos at the shops and on the Facebook fan page (Trina’s Brewed Awakenings).

We have this wheel at Schriever. If you take too long, we give you a minute then we spin the wheel.

There are like 30 drinks on the wheel. We have people who just spin the wheel. There’s also, “Get to the back of the line.” We try to have fun, because it is their break from their busy day

Q: Rumor has it you met your husband on the job.

A: I did. I liked him right away. I would mess up his drink because I really liked him and I was really nervous. After a year and a half he finally asked me out. After we married, he still had to stand in line.

He makes me coffee at home. He brings it to me.

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Call the writer at 636-0253.

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Where’s Trina?

You can find her at: trinasbrewedawakenings.com or twitter.com/trinascoffee or by fanning Trina’s Brewed Awakenings on Facebook.