Yazoo City Based Business Is Thriving
Before taking on this Kudzu Coffee adventure, Yazoo City native, Natalie Whitehead, worked as a Physical Therapist’s Assistant.
“I was furloughed during Covid in 2020 and decided Yazoo City needed a coffee shop,” says Whitehead.
In February, 2021, Whitehead started her business “in a small food truck type trailer.”
After realizing the business was too big to keep working out of a such a small space, with her home being her base of operations, Whitehead decided to invest in a brick and mortar location in November, 2021.
“The business and my inventory was taking over my house,” says Whitehead. “I used to have to go to Sam’s or Costco bi-weekly to get fifteen to twenty gallons of milk at a time because that was all I had room for.”
“It is safe to say we are continuing to grow our customer base each year,” says Whitehead. “We still, to this day, get new customers who are from Yazoo and never knew we were here.”
In 2023, Whitehead decided to go into business with Ginny Potter. They now co-own an additional location in Flora, where they sell similar items with a few additional energy drinks, like Lotus and Alani Nu infusions.
“My business partner runs that location, and I go fill in when needed or it’s possible for me to leave my Yazoo location,” says Whitehead.
A full menu for her original location is featured on the business’s Facebook page, Kudzu Coffee-Yazoo City. In addition to regular coffee, she offers specialty coffees hot, iced, or blended, as well as frappes, and espresso drinks. In addition to coffee, Whitehead offers smoothies, hot tea, hot chocolate, medicine balls, and red bull infusions.
Normally, their breakfast menu stays the same, but Whitehead says she has also been introducing specials on certain days of the week.
“Daily, we have a variety and scones and homemade muffins, cinnamon rolls, homemade sausage muffins, and sausage biscuits,” says Whitehead. “I just recently started serving sausage gravy and biscuits and people have loved that option, so I’ve been offering it weekly, but not every day. And every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we have a sausage egg and cheese breakfast casserole option.”
Monday through Thursday, Whitehead says Kudzu Coffee have a lunch special that changes each week. They post it on their Facebook page each Monday, so people can plan to stop by during the week.
“I also try to keep chicken salad and pimento cheese in the refrigerator up front,” says Whitehead. “All of these meals are homemade and are grab and go style. So, the customers can just walk up to the refrigerator, grab what they want and check out.”
Because people are always on the go, Whitehead wanted to have a “quick and easy lunch option” for those who only have the time for a quick break each day.
“Our lunch options mainly consist of paninis, salads, wraps, and quesadillas, paired with pasta salads in the cooler months,” says Whitehead. “Our soups are a huge hit during the cooler months.”
Although she hasn’t encountered any obstacles that she would consider major setbacks, Whitehead says she has had to learn many things during her journey as a business owner.
At this time, Whitehead has no specific goals for the business, apart from making sure to keep allowing God to lead her decisions.
“I’ve honestly just let God open the doors he wants me to go through, and He has steered me through this business for almost five years now,” says Whitehead.
Without her mother’s influence, and help now that she is retired, Whitehead says the business would not have progressed as much as it has today. She is also grateful for the abundance of help she receives from her husband, who wears many hats in the business, as well as her “hardworking” employees.
“My mom, Terry, works the window and checkout, while also helping me in the kitchen,” says Whitehead. “She is up here early with me each day, and the customers absolutely love her!”
Whitehead is most grateful for her dedicated customers who have helped her learn and shape her business into what it is today.