A first for Little Light: Crawl into local coffee shops this month to support small businesses

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. – Little Light Coffee Shop is hosting its first annual Coffee Crawl, a new and fun way to draw attention to local coffee shops in the middle Georgia area.

According to Sophia Smith, the CEO and owner of the coffee shop, participants will receive a “passport” to all 10 participating coffee shops through January.

Once participants fill their passports with stamps or signs, they can turn them in at Little Light by Jan. 31, along with their shirt size and shipping address. Smith said participants will receive a free shirt shipped in February.

“Lots of the shops are offering different freebies or fun things they are throwing in for those participating in this coffee crawl too so follow them along on social media,” said Smith.

Participating coffee shops are Little Light Coffee Co. Morning by Morning and Bodega Brew in Perry, Cathedral Coffee and Oh Honey Baking Co. in Macon, Taste and See Coffee, Between Friends Coffee, Decadent and Z Beans in the Warner Robins location only and Caffe Vignette in Bonaire. 

Participants can pick up a passport at any of these locations as well. 

Smith also added they are working with Davis Printing for their passports and Lisa Marshall for their finisher shirts. She said they also partnered with Bianca Gargicevich-Almeida from Art by Bianca GA to design their shirts. 

Smith shares that they came up with this idea in December and have seen her friends participate in coffee crawls in larger cities. She and her manager were reflecting on 2023 and what changes they wanted to make in this upcoming year. 

“We got to talking about how January is historically slow for small businesses. We were brainstorming ways we can help keep businesses buzzing into January, especially for local coffee shops,” said Smith.

She shares that since there aren’t many coffee shops in each of the main towns: Warner Robins, Perry and Macon, they decided to include all three. After pitching her idea to her manager, they got to work. 

Smith started to list all the coffee shops in the area that have been a part of Little Light’s almost three-year story. After running the list by her team of nine people, they agreed it would be a good lineup.

“It’s been incredible and mind-blowing to see the interest and hear stories of how this is bringing people together. We are incredibly thankful for the positive response. This is my very first time putting this on, and with the traction and interest, we are excited to make this an annual event and add more shops to this in the future,” said Smith.

She shares that they strongly believe if they have a vision for a solution to a problem that could help more people, it is their responsibility to answer the call and see it through. Smith believes that is exactly what is happening in this event.

“We saw a recurring problem, had a lightbulb idea moment, pun intended, and ran with it, trusting we’d build this path brick by brick until we figured it out. This part is at the core. However, I could never pull this off without our incredible team,” said Smith. “They truly help bring all of my lofty visions to life time and time again and do so with incredible work ethic, grace, and excitement. They care not just because it’s their job, but because they really want everyone to have the best experience possible. Little Light is able to be what it is and do what it does because of them.”

She also shared this is a grassroots event. Smith hopes it will bring small businesses and the community back to the basics and bring back the simple good things in life in an engaging and fun way while also positively impacting the businesses and community around them.

She also hopes this will impact small business owners and encourage them to be brave and put themselves out there.

“This started with an idea over a cup of coffee, doing some research and reaching out to others via email and phone. There is a lot of noise that makes it feel like if you don’t have a massive budget or it’s not perfect or it’s not perfect or it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, it’s not ‘good enough to do.’ You can do a lot with little,” said Smith.

She shares that middle Georgia has a community of people and other small businesses who support each other.

“We have an incredible community here in middle Georgia, where there are so many small businesses and so many people cheering these small businesses on. It’s truly special. I hope this just creates a space and makes time for all the love and support we know is here in middle Georgia to truly shine bright,” said Smith.

Little Light Coffee Co. is located at 4027 Watson Boulevard, Suite 220. The Coffee Crawl starts on Jan. 5 and runs until Jan. 31.

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