Meet Autum Rodriguez | Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Autum Rodriguez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Autum, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for Rise and Grind came from my personal experience of never being able to find healthy and affordable breakfast food conveniently on the go/ or in the form of a drive thru when driving around San Diego. Combined with my sister and business partner- Torri’s idea of doing a coffee cart Rise and Grind Coffee was born. The vision for the company is to have multiple drive thru locations as well as the food trucks where we can cater corporate offices, condo/ apartment buildings, private events and much more. We saw a need for healthy on-the-go breakfast foods and with the addition of the built-in espresso bar I think we nailed it.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Rise and Grind Coffee is a breakfast and coffee food trailer with a focus on healthy breakfast options and delicious coffee beverages. We strive to be affordable, fresh, and fast and to give our customers an uplifting and pleasant customer service experience. We believe the morning time and breakfast sets the tone for the day and are committed to being positive light forces to all our customers. What sets us apart from other coffee/ breakfast cafes is that all our food options have health in mind before anything. From our gourmet oatmeal bowls to our smoothies and whole grain made to order mini-Belgian waffles all our menu items are made fresh, and our prices are affordable for all. For example, our gourmet oatmeal bowls all cost $5 with options such as our best seller the almond butter lover- which is a mix of organic almond butter, bananas, hemp and chia seeds, topped with cinnamon and agave. This bowl will fill you up and fuel you for the day! We want our customers to feel good and energized after eating our food. Another example of keeping things healthy is that we make a lot of our own coffee syrups with zero additives or preservatives. Such as our lavender honey syrup made with real dried lavender, organic honey, and sugar. Or our Minty fresh syrup made with fresh organic mint from my moms garden! This is another customer favorite.

We are most excited for the positive response and love our menu items have received from our customers.

We can’t wait to expand and open our first drive thru location in 2023. Our drive thru will feature our classic menu items with new creative ones as well. Such as potato egg scramblers loaded with fresh veggies, lots of vegan options, fresh pressed juices and more! We aspire to reach more San Diegan’s and to continue to offer healthy breakfast foods in a convenient, fast, and affordable drive thru setting.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take them to one of our Farmers markets in the morning- Little Italy and Hillcrest are two weekend favorites. Then we would take our fresh farmers market finds to the beach! My favorite beach to swim at is Scripps pier in La Jolla. After swimming and snacking at the beach I would take them to get the best fish sandwich in the City at El Pescador La Jolla. This place is one of my favorites in all of San Diego. From there we would regroup and relax a bit before I gave them the options of heading out to Little Italy for dinner for the lobster roll at Ironside, or I would offer to take them to Azuki Sushi by Balboa Park. After dinner I would take them to get a cocktail and then dance the night away downtown at Dynamite Saturdays at El Dorado or International Affair to hear some global sounds such as my favorite genre Afro-beats at Rebru Spirits in Barrio Logan.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My sister and business partner Torri has been a huge blessing and driving force of Rise and Grind. Without her help, ideas, and expertise Rise and Grind wouldn’t exist. She brings her business savvy and experience as an operations manager to RNG and she thinks of things in a different way than I do which is amazing because two heads are always better than one. She’s one of the smartest people I know and handles all of our finances and keeps our books in line while constantly helping with daily / weekly operations. Without her there would be no Rise and Grind- thank you Torri for all you do and the scarifies you make for our company.

Another shoutout I’d like to give is to my parents- Frank and Becky. My mom always gives me the best advice and ideas on how to grow my business. She ran a successful business along with my dad and has so much knowledge to pass along to me. I am constantly calling her several times a day to tell her the good news and get her opinion and advice on things. She is my biggest cheerleader with a heart of gold. My dad Frank is also one of the greatest inspirations of my life. He is not only a successful business owner, but he is the most resilient human being I’ve ever known. In the face of adversity, he always believes in himself and knows he will prevail never letting his own doubts get in the way of his goals. Anything he says he’s going to do- he does it. Any goal he sets- he crushes it. I strive to be like him every day.

Instagram: @riseandgrindSD

Facebook: @RiseandgrindSD

Yelp: @RiseandGrindsd