The Adventure Behind your Morning Brew
There’s no question that The Oak House, Elon’s beloved one-stop-shop for brews, booze, and friendly conversation, is a community staple … but do we really know how this coffee shop/bar came to be?
Phil Smith and Elon alumnus Ryan Vet ’13, the masterminds behind Elon’s favorite hangout, met on campus back when Vet was a Love School of Business student and university Resident Advisor who was largely involved with student life.
After graduating from UNCW with an undergraduate biology degree and Mercer University with a graduate theology degree, Smith found himself at Elon working as an assistant chaplain in the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life.
“I just remember knowing Ryan through his involvement in student life and my involvement in student life,” Smith said.
But Smith’s involvement with the university extends past his involvement in student life via the Truitt Center.
While serving as a university professor, Smith taught a sophomore-level course entitled ‘Life Entrepreneurship.’ In its very essence, the course aimed to “basically look at their [the students’] skills, their interests, their personal experiences and the things they were passionate about to craft their own future,” he said.
Smith’s main goal as the professor was to help students uncover what dreams and interests they wanted to pursue and help them discover ways to do so. But it didn’t take the students long to challenge Smith on why he hadn’t been pursuing dreams of his own.
“I kept talking about this thing, a college coffee shop bar,” he said. “The class actually, one day, called me out and was like, ‘You keep telling us to do what we want to do, why are you not doing it?’ That was a big moment.”
A barista by no means, all Smith knew about coffee was that it had been a prominent source of fuel back in his college days. Nonetheless, he knew it was time to start practicing what he had been preaching to his students.
It wasn’t until after Vet had graduated, however, that the two met up and discussed the idea of bringing Smith’s napkin-drawn illustration to life: opening a coffee-beer-wine joint in Elon.
“He and I sat down one time,” Smith said. “He was here for a basketball game after graduating… We met in Pandora’s and I literally drew out on a napkin what this place could look like.”
Though his degrees in biology and theology didn’t necessarily provide him with the tools needed to open a business, Smith did his best to become more versed in the business world. He had a vision, he just needed another set of hands to bring it to life. And with Vet’s entrepreneurial touch, all that was needed was a dream.
“I knew him [Vet] to be a person that had been very entrepreneurial… I knew he knew the business and starting things from scratch,” Smith said. “I thought he could help with that side of things and I could do the dreaming, the vision, and the operation.”
And thus, the quaint, wooden doors of The Oak House opened on Sept. 5, 2014. Smith even said that the name was chosen quite intentionally by him and Vet.
“The ‘Oak’ part was pretty easy with Elon and the historic tie to the word,” Smith said. “The ‘House’ part was very intentional to say not an institutional-type space, but more of a place where you feel very at home and comfortable. It just felt right.”
Over time, the duo has learned a great deal about running a coffee-beer-wine business, including the ever so daunting task of operating the coffee-making appliances.
“I didn’t even make espresso drinks for the first several months,” Smith said. “I was afraid of the espresso machine.”
Aside from being a comfortable space for students, faculty, and members of the community to study, converse and relax, the cozy joint offers a space for intimate group events and space for people to enjoy an evening in a more laid-back environment.
“This is kind of the go-to, I think, for that,” Smith said. “It was definitely not here, so I think we’ve met that need.”