Elizabeth’s Coffee Company opens on Main Street

Hill City has a brand new coffee shop to satisfy cravings for freshly-baked cinnamon rolls and locally-roasted coffee. 

Owned by Rudi McDaniels-Dewey, her husband Conrad Dewey and her daughter Elizabeth Knapp, Elizabeth’s Coffee Company (ECC) is located between Jewel of the West and Stage Stop Leather & Gifts on Hill City Main Street. It opened Jan. 5. 

McDaniels got into the coffee business back in 2013 when she and Kris Knapp purchased Dry Creek Coffee (DCC) from Pat Wiederhold. Wiederhold started the DCC roasting business in the early 2000s. When he decided to sell, McDaniels did not know anything about roasting. So he invited her to come up and see if it was something she would like. 

“The business kind of fell into my lap,” said McDaniels. 

McDaniels then sold DCC products to Carmen Null for her to sell at Twisted Pine Wine & Beer Tasting Room. 

“I always told her that instead of having a wine shop, she needed a coffee shop. I said, ‘Cause then you can sell my coffee, and it’ll be great,’” said McDaniels. 

So when Null was ready to close down Twisted Pine, she contacted McDaniels and said, “How about if you’re interested in doing a coffee shop?”

“We mulled the idea over as a family and decided we could turn it into a labor of love and design something to go in the inside,” said McDaniels. “I really enjoy the customer service industry. I’ve previously been in the restaurant industry, and I loved my staff and I loved my customers. Granted it was really hard work, and it was a lot of hours of the day.” 

However, the deciding factor was McDaniels’ daughter Elizabeth. 

“I can’t work because I’m only 10, and you have to be 14. So I really kind of wanted to make some money and work, and I thought that it’d just be a lot of fun like on the weekends and stuff,” said Elizabeth, who is saving money for college. 

Elizabeth has previously run a lemonade stand during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally but said the coffee shop feels more business-like. 

The transfer of the lease was official at the beginning of November, and ECC began taking shape. 

The name was of course inspired by Elizabeth herself. McDaniels debated naming it DCC but also wanted to keep the names separate because businesses can change. While talking about it at a basketball game, Maggie Taylor suggested calling it Elizabeth’s. 

“She solidified it for us, and after that we just rolled with it,” said McDaniels. 

McDaniels said it took a couple of months to design the space, update everything and get the furniture, but only a few renovations were needed. 

Elizabeth’s grandfather, Frank McDaniels, made the sign in front of the shop. He and his friend laser cut the metal, and then Frank picked colors that would coordinate with the colors incorporated inside the shop. 

For tables, McDaniels asked Elizabeth’s other grandpa, John Knapp, how hard it would be to do a live edge table. He answered that it was not hard at all, and they could just pick out the wood and finish it. So he designed two tall tables, one made of honey locust and one made of black walnut. 

The wood had to be cut to make the tables, and McDaniels did not want the remaining pieces to be wasted. So John suggested cutting the excess in half and doing river pours with deep-pour epoxy down the center.

One river pour table has rocks and a maple leaf from Minnesota encased in epoxy with an olive green hue. The other table has amethyst rocks and dried flowers inside the epoxy and has an opal hue. 

“It turned out really, really beautiful. I was really impressed with that,” said McDaniels. 

Along with the tables and chairs, they added a lavender couch and a set of cushioned chairs beside a blanket ladder and an electric fireplace. McDaniels described the space as open, simple, warm and cozy. 

Elizabeth also wants the shop to be a happy, enjoyable and welcoming place where friends can get together, students can study and card games can be played. 

“It’s a fun energy place to be,” said McDaniels. 

For the menu, McDaniels said, “We’re trying to hit all of the bases.” 

ECC serves different options of DCC, and the house blend is a medium roast Guatemalan and Sumatran coffee created by Wiederhold 20 years ago. Bags of bulk coffee are available for purchase as well. 

The menu also includes matcha, smoothies, tea, Italian sodas, protein drinks, parfaits and protein snacks. Currently, for food ECC has cookies, cinnamon rolls, caramel rolls, muffins, scones, breakfast burritos and ham and cheese croissants. 

The food menu will rotate as time goes on, and light lunch options might be added in the future. Currently, Elizabeth’s grandma, Kris Knapp, is helping with the baking, and 95 percent of the food items are made from scratch. 

Thus far, Elizabeth’s favorites are the Italian sodas and caramel rolls, and McDaniels’ favorites are the ham and cheese croissants and the specialty muffins. The community favorites are the breakfast burritos and cinnamon rolls. One customer even buys extra cinnamon rolls for the days when ECC is closed. 

McDaniels said they are mindful of allergies and cross-contamination as well. Everything is washed and sanitized between batches, and the employees are knowledgeable about ingredients and can direct people to allergy-friendly options. 

ECC is open Thursday through Monday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. McDaniels said they plan on extending hours during the summer and hope to be open year-round. 

As much as she hopes to have a nice place for tourists, McDaniels’ goal for ECC is to have a place for locals to come and enjoy. 

“I love having the locals. I love seeing those people. I love to know them,” said McDaniels. 

McDaniels is also enjoying the challenge of making special drinks for locals. She said, “It’s really fun to get those people in who ask me for different drinks that I’m like, ‘I have no idea what that is, but if you tell me, let’s figure it out.’” 

This happened early on when a customer asked for a London Fog. McDaniels did not know what it was, so she looked it up, got the ingredients, tried it out and now understands why it is so popular because “It’s delicious.” 

Most of all though, McDaniels said what sets ECC apart is her staff. 

“My staff is wonderful. They’re so inviting. They’re happy to see people. My staff has always been what sets me aside. There’s no way that I could ever do any of it without them,” said McDaniels. “They are what makes this place amazing.” 

McDaniels said both her past restaurant staff and her current staff at ECC are family and always will be. 

According to Elizabeth, the best part so far has been, “Meeting all the customers. It’s been really fun to get to know people. It’s a lot of fun to be in this atmosphere that we’ve created.”

McDaniels agreed and said that it was also really fun to design the space. 

“We’re just happy to be here,” said McDaniels. Elizabeth nodded, saying, “Yeah, it’s fun to be here.”