You say 'auto,' I say 'ought to'

MOSES LAKE — The owners of Aut-To Mocha, Inc. purposely left the pronunciation of their company name a little vague.

"We kind of left it up in the air so it can be used either way," said Clyde Zabreznik, owner with his wife of 29 years, Lana. "As in a car drive-thru mocha, or 'you ought to' have a mocha. Most of them call it 'Auto' Mocha."

The Moses Lake location, at 710 W. Broadway Ave., opened earlier this month.

"We have shops in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee and Quincy, and frankly we have a lot of customers from Moses Lake that go into Wenatchee," Clyde said. "We had quite a few requests from customers coming through, and it was only a natural with the Quincy shop to get another one in the area."

Business has been building steadily in the days since opening. Clyde noted that the stand will have a grand opening Aug. 26 from 7 to 10 a.m.

Based in Wenatchee, Aut-To Mocha has been in existence for almost 10 years.

"My wife and I had a little bit different backgrounds — she was in the restaurant business to a certain extent for quite a while, and I was in the produce management business," Clyde said. "The time had come for us to decide we were going to kind of slow down and stop. We thought, 'OK, let's find a good hobby.' It kind of ran away with itself, and the combination of our different experience put together a pretty good situation to go into these."

Clyde added that Aut-To Mocha's coffee roaster has developed its own blend exclusively for the company.

One of the things that the company tries to do as often as possible is employ college students who need money in order to go to school.

"We make a concerted effort to work the schedules around school schedules so that these kids that need the money to go to school can go to school," Clyde said. The Moses Lake location employs five people.

Manager Nicole Couch has been with the company for five years, getting her start with the company in high school her senior year. She also manages the Quincy location, and helps in Wenatchee.

"I just kind of stuck around, went to school for a couple years, and they offered me to start managing," she said. "I decided that it's something that I really like doing, and I've been doing that ever since."

Couch said that the company puts its employees through detailed training, the better to ensure consistency for customers.

"We're very particular about the way we make our coffee," she said. "We want to make sure that it's made to the customer's order, that they leave happy. We try to get to know everybody, and put a smile on their face before they have to go to work, because most people aren't very happy about going to work."

"Except baristas," Lana interjected. "Because they get coffee."

Couch is presently spending the majority of her time in Moses Lake because it's newly opened, but said she will be wherever her presence is required, as she keeps both Moses Lake and Quincy stocked.

"We've been getting busier every day, and we're starting to see a lot of regular customers already, which is nice," she said, estimating that the Moses Lake location's busiest hours, as with most coffee stands, is the morning rush from 7 to 9 a.m.

Clyde said his favorite drink tends to be most mocha drinks, while both Lana and Couch prefer the sugar-free options.

"We do carry a lot of sugar-free flavors," Couch said. "We have almost as many sugar-free flavors as regular."

"I think all people deserve treats," Lana said with a chuckle.