About The Coffee Table Crew
Hi, I’m John LaTour. I am a resident of Union County, and consider myself a native to the area. I was born and raised in Charlotte, however my mother’s family has lived and farmed western Union County for eight generations. I grew up playing in the fields around Jackson Township, and much of my family still lives in Union County. Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of changes in the county, especially in the western section.
I spent 25 years in the IT industry and about 2 years ago, I decided that life was too short just to focus just on on a cubicle career. I wanted to do something to connect more with people. I wanted to sit down and talk to people and find out what was going on in their world. I wanted to plug in with the community. Like a lot of good ideas, I would like to say that The Coffee Table was born on the back of a bar napkin, but in actuality it was born in the sand, on the beach at Destin Fla. In one afternoon while sitting on the beach, watching our kids play with their cousins, we figured out what we wanted to do, and how we were going about it. It’s taken a couple of iterations since then, but we think we have a great concept that the folks here in Wesley Chapel will really get into.
One other thing that I wanted to do, was become a real chef. Not one of those TV chefs, but a real honest working chef. I chose to be a pastry chef (a patissier) instead of a sous chef. After a lot of research, I entered the baking and pastry program at CPCC. This has been an outstanding program, and I have learned not only the craft of baking and pastry, but also a ton of business tips and tricks. It’s been a great time, and I am so thankful to have found this program. I could have easily went to Johnson and Wales, Art Institute of Charlotte or anywhere else, but going to CPCC was the best fit for me. In April 2008, I captained our Baking and Pastry team at the American Culinary Federation’s Battle of the Schools competition held at the Great American Dessert Expo in Atlanta GA. Our team finished with a Silver Medal and came within one half point of taking home the gold. In April 2009, I competed individually in the American Culinary Federation's Southeast Regional's Cold Salon. I took home the Gold and also the Best of Category. Pretty neat for an old guy!
On
the left is my school buds from CPCC at the Atlanta competition. I
had to put them here because for the last 2 years we have become
very close friends and I wish them nothing but a great and wonderful
future. Big shouts to Abby, Mandy
(hearts forever), Goula and Lisa and of course big Geoff
for all the support and knowledge. Butter, Sugar, Eggs,
Blowtorch forever y'all!
Below is our Graduating Class!
Hi, I’m Melissa LaTour. I was born and raised in Alabama but have lived in Union County for over 15 years now. I spent 11 years in the IT industry, before leaving to stay home with my girls. About the time I retired my husband and I began thinking about what we wanted to do in the next phase of our lives. I wanted to do something that would keep me close to home and allow me to be more involved in my community. Having spent a lot of time in Seattle over the years I was in love with coffee and the whole concept of the neighborhood coffee house. It took a long time, but I kept hammering away and one day on the beach in Destin John finally started to see what I was talking about. We worked on the concept, pulled in his love of baking and started planning a coffee café. To get ready for our next big adventure John went back to school and I started working part-time for Starbucks. In the over two years that I spent at Starbucks I learned a lot about the coffee business, lots of what-to-do and a reasonable amount of what-not-to-do. For us it really is all about providing a premium product and having a lot of fun along the way. I hope you enjoy.