Missy Greis: Coffee and community.

• Author: Sasich, Chris
• Position: Around Utah: Spotlight

When Missy Greis opened Publik Coffee as co-owner in 2012, it was the result of her background in commercial real estate combined with her desire to create a space to bring people together. Since then, her business partner-- who specialized in coffee and food operations for the business--left, leaving Greis to oversee expansion to two additional locations. Without much experience in the coffee and restaurant business herself, she did what she's always done: brought the right people together.

"To have a partner and then to be solo, and then to have these two other opportunities and then just to say, 'OK, I've never done this' ... you surround yourself with people who know more than you do," says Greis. "I had to make some hard decisions and I had to make some easy decisions. I had to turn to people and let them make some decisions, and these two locations popped up and opened in 30 days of each other."

Greis credits the success of Publik and the growth of the business to a good product and a strong brand. For Publik, Greis collaborated with local powerhouses like Super Top Secret and Bowen Studios to ensure a successful branding of the coffee shop. Perhaps more integral to the success is that Greis has made the business about more than coffee.

"Publik is Dutch for community, which is just this crazy serendipity," says Greis. "I like that as much as my business is business--we're determined to succeed and that is a financial aspect--there's also this need to create space and to build community. Whether it's through my employees, or employee to customer, or customer to customer, you see it all day long."

Publik may be her latest venture, but Greis has been making her mark on Salt Lake City since she made it her home 20 years ago. She's volunteered and served on boards for many...