Charting a Path To Starting and Scaling Your Business

Entrepreneurship requires taking risks, having sharp instincts, self-discipline, and intense time management skills. Opening a business as an entrepreneur and making it thrive is one thing, but scaling a business and continuing its success is another. A stable business that can live on through additional locations needs to establish a firm foundation.

By Timothy Mably

Charting a path to starting and expanding your own business is not an easy task. It demands extensive planning, collaboration, and innovation. When Enigma Coffee founders Yoni Babitsky and Katia Hayes broke into the coffee industry, they learned several lessons in the process that apply to entrepreneurs within all industries.

Before the Los Angeles-based couple started Enigma Coffee, they opened Enigma Escape Rooms. When they received an unexpected call in December 2014 from a relative about a quirky new concept known as “escape rooms,” Babitsky and Hayes got excited. As the trend was spreading across Russia, Japan, and Hungary, they saw an opportunity to introduce Los Angeles to the fun.

The venture had unique challenges, as landlords didn’t understand what an “escape room” was at the time. Eventually, they found a building on Sunset Blvd. for Enigma Escape Rooms, which would later become Enigma Coffee’s flagship location.?

Their second year of business grossed more than $1,000,000, but it started with two weeks of 16-hour work days. Together, Babitsky and Hayes wrote scripts and found people who could create the experience they envisioned, with electromagnetic sensors, secret doors, and more.

Although things were quiet at first, coverage from LAist and Forbes among others helped lead to booming business. As Los Angeles became familiar with the concept of escape rooms, Enigma Escape Rooms started hosting corporate events, birthdays, celebrity guests, and more.?

When Babitsky noticed guests standing around in the parking lot discussing their experience afterward, he started to conceptualize a coffee shop. The couple initially saw Enigma Coffee as a way to allow clients to relax and hang around after going through the escape room. Opening at the beginning of 2017, it quickly became a notable spot in Los Angeles. After Enigma Escape Rooms came to an end in 2019, Enigma Coffee continued to thrive and led the two founders to expand into multiple locations.

Lessons Learned

Their experience dispels some myths that many likely believe related to starting a business. Despite opening a successful coffee shop chain in a competitive city like Los Angeles, they didn’t know everything about coffee from the get-go. Instead, they learned about coffee and the roasting process gradually before opening their first location.

Babitsky says, “At that time, neither myself nor Katia knew anything about coffee. We thought building a coffee space felt like a pretty simple task, especially after the challenges of building escape rooms.” Although they lacked experience related to coffee, their time running the escape room informed how they made some of their decisions. The couple invested in the most well-regarded equipment, taking advice from friends who worked in the restaurant industry.

While the two business ventures may not seemingly have much in common, Babitsky recounts how their approach overlapped. He says, “Like with escape rooms, we dived deep into the art of coffee making, wanting to acquire and perfect the skill, learned to calibrate the espresso, steam milk and do latte art.”

Throughout the years, the entrepreneurial couple learned many lessons that aspiring entrepreneurs can take into account. Regardless of the specific business venture, their advice transcends industry.

1. Set yourself “impossible” deadlines that will help you not procrastinate. Even if you don’t meet them exactly, it's ok, but do your best to come close.
2. Make a plan: find out what permits, equipment and supplies you will need to get started. Doing research and being prepared is a good thing.
3. Rely on your instincts and don’t follow anyone’s advice blindly.?
4. Decide on your style and branding early on. That can evolve as you go but it's an important message you are sending your clients of who you are and your company.?
5. Remember that things will evolve and change, you do not need to be 100% right from day one, there will be a trial and error stage but you have to put your best foot forward at each moment in time based on the information you have at the time. You’ll get wiser and more knowledgeable each day.
6. Don’t talk yourself out of it, just do it!
7. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for advice, information, and help. Go for it!

Even with their preparation, Babitsky and Hayes didn’t have everything down right away. Hayes says, “The first couple of years, we did a lot of shifts ourselves, getting to know the customers and receiving feedback that was very important and valuable to us. Plus, developing wonderful relationships, some of those evolved into friendships that exist till this day.”

Escape rooms and coffee shops may not appear to have a lot in common from the outset. However, Babitsky and Hayes note that their relationships with customers were a major point of overlap. “Improving and constantly moving forward, evolving and expanding our potential is a motto in life for us. So, there came a time when it became apparent that roasting our own coffee is the next step we need to take,” said Hayes.

Expanding A Business

Scaling from a coffee shop into a coffee roasting brand was a major step in Enigma Coffee’s growth. Expanding from Sunset Blvd. into additional locations was another essential step in gaining additional notoriety.

Babitsky reflects on the journey, understanding the importance of taking your time. He says, “Sometimes you may be making great sales already and want to expand, but you first must ask yourself: Am I making sales because I’m in the right place at the right time (for example, a coffee shop at a very busy foot traffic area) or is it the uniqueness of my brand that attracts customers?”

He advises that anyone attempting to expand their business should focus on defining their brand first. When a business doesn’t feel developed and an owner attempts to open another location, they could run into problems.?

Expanding Enigma Coffee was “nerve-wracking” according to Katia. When considering if it was really the right move for Enigma to expand, she felt anxiety. Katia expresses her gratitude for Yoni, who also believed they needed to take risks and get out of their comfort zones.

Many business owners might not put adequate thought into expansion, as it appears to be the next step for many decently successful businesses. Hayes says, “First, you have to ask yourself, ‘do I really feel passionate about doing this?’ If the answer is just, ‘it's a lucrative business and that’s why I want to do it’ - that shouldn’t be your reasoning.”

She cites that “in moments of despair, it's only passion and the fire inside that can keep you going.” Without the passion that was present at the time of initially opening a business, you can risk burnout. This can affect the success of a new location and could even bring an end to the business altogether.?

The couple’s gradual steps toward expansion have benefitted the long-term success of Enigma Coffee. Babitsky recounts the emphasis on quality, saying, “We applied the same amount of fanatic care into making sure that each location has the same type of barista training that will guarantee the same drink quality, customer service quality, consistency and further promote the DNA of the brand because at the end of the day it's about the customer experience.”

After opening their second location, they were able to relive what made the flagship spot on Sunset Blvd. so special. "You get to re-experience those first customer interactions, first wow moments, and when a new customer tries your best sellers for the first time,” says Hayes. “It’s like a new exciting relationship that you enter with your new clientele, you get to know them, they get to know you. It’s great.”

Together, the ambitious duo of Yoni Babitsky and Katia Hayes successfully introduced Los Angeles to escape rooms and Enigma Coffee through multiple locations and a roaster. With their Los Angeles accomplishments under their belts, they now express a desire to expand beyond California, possibly into Houston, Denver, and Atlanta in the coming years.?

But it all started with the unlikely endeavor of Enigma Escape Rooms. Ultimately, everyone’s path will look different, but some lessons remain relevant regardless of industry. Starting and expanding a business may not look the way you assumed, especially in a competitive city like LA. Babitsky and Hayes’ experience serves as an example for any aspiring entrepreneurs who have yet to break into an industry or open a second location.

Top Takeaways

How can you start thinking through the steps of opening or expanding a business?

• Give yourself “impossible deadlines” that will prevent you from procrastination.
• Make a plan: find out what permits, equipment and supplies you will need to get started. Doing research and being prepared is a good thing.
• Rely on your instincts and don’t follow anyone’s advice blindly.?
• Decide on your style and branding early on. That can evolve as you go but it's an important message you are sending your clients of who you are and your company.?
• Remember that things will evolve and change, you do not need to be 100% right from day one. You’ll get wiser and more knowledgeable each day.
• Don’t talk yourself out of it, just do it!
• Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for advice, information, and help. Go for it!