Mochas-plus at Mochas and More

Longtime Columbia Basin resident opens Ephrata business

EPHRATA - Maranda Hartzell has heard all about the other things her business building used to be over the years from her customers.

"How it's been around since the 1930s, I believe," she said. "Oh, it's been everything from coffee houses of course to restaurants to the hangout place after hours. It's been just about everything - Mexican restaurant, Chinese restaurant."

Hartzell opened her own coffee business, Maranda's Mochas and More, at the building, located at 465 Basin St. N.W., on Jan. 10.

A Moses Lake resident, she heard about the building's availability for rent from her father, so she decided to take advantage of it, she said.

Hartzell has worked in the coffee business for about eight years. She landed her first job when she was 15 and looking for work. She asked the barista she saw every morning about work, and ended up getting a job.

"I've loved it ever since," she said. "The customers are the best. They're fun. You always meet interesting people, from out of town or just from your area. Got to love daily gossip."

Hartzell found the freedom of owning her own coffee establishment appealing.

"It gives you more energy when you're doing something on your own," she said. "What they say about doubling the cost - definitely, always listen to people that tell you that, because you always end up having to double everything, but besides that, it's just as pretty much what I expected it to be. A lot better, actually. I was terrified and now I'm happy."

Hartzell has lived in the area all her life.

She currently has no employees.

"Got to do it by myself for a couple months," she said. "See where my finances are before I go about hiring someone. Hopefully soon, I'll have somebody here with me."

While she is getting the amount of business she wants "for now," Hartzell hopes to expand and give something extra to the Ephrata community on her business' side of town.

"That way people don't have to drive all the way across town to get coffee or a little breakfast," she said. "I'm trying to keep the prices low enough to help out the high school students, since I know they get a limited amount of cash."

Hartzell offers coffee and snacks, including biscuits and gravy and ice cream offerings. She hopes to offer sandwiches and other food offerings in several weeks.

"Actually going from town to town to town, getting coffee and traveling a lot, I've noticed a lot of espresso stands don't have the stuff other people I'm with would want, such as the energy drinks, pop, ice cream, just basic necessities."

Regular coffee, for instance, has been a big hit, Hartzell noted.

"I just kind of took everything nobody else offers and put it all in one," she said. "You get a lot of women that love coffee, but then you get the men that just don't want anything to do with it. That's why I got the teas and stuff for them."

In the meantime, Hartzell is also offering her cheeriest look.

"Always got a smile for everyone," she said. "Even though some people don't like to smile that early in the morning. But hey."

Hartzell's hours are from 5:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.