The Kentlee coffee shop in Unity strives for welcoming atmosphere

A bar shouldn’t be the only place where everybody knows your name.

Kendra Ramaley wants to provide the same welcoming atmosphere — brought to life in the classic TV show “Cheers” — at The Kentlee, the Unity coffee cafe she opened in November.

“We already have a great group of regulars – I guess I say friends,” Ramaley said. “Every weekend, a lot of new people come in and I love to remember their names, so when they come in again, I feel like I know them.

“Even when we’re busy and there’s a line, I do my best to let people know they’re not just a number to us.”

The Kentlee is at 4764 Route 30, in a white-pillared brick building that houses several businesses, and formerly held the Stickley Audi and Co. furniture store and The Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s temporary location.

The shop serves a variety of hot and cold coffee beverages, teas, Italian sodas and lemonade. There’s also a limited menu of breakfast and lunch wraps, bowls, salads and sweets that Ramaley calls “gourmet grab-and-go food.”

Coffees are made with a medium-dark roast from Steel Cup Coffee Roasters in New Kensington. The espresso beans are roasted by Pittsburgh-based Coffee Tree Roasters.

Flavors come from 1883 syrups, a brand that originated in France and is vegan, gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO and free of high-fructose corn syrup.

Teas are the Rituals brand from US Foods.

Ramaley also carries a sweet snack based on a personal recipe developed from dirt, the Oreos-and- gummy worms dessert.

“I’ve tried all these crazy ingredients and flavors, so I had to put them on the menu – matcha cream and fruit, cookies, cake, brownies,” she said. “One of the top-selling flavors is pistachio cream with chocolate chips or Belgian waffles.”

Ramaley, 34, had long contemplated opening her own business. A Vandergrift native now living in Hempfield, she studied communications and marketing at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

After graduating in 2010, she moved to Los Angeles to work in social media management, event planning and digital marketing, along with bar tending. She loved the vibe of coffee shops she frequented in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville section, in Los Angeles and on visits to Seattle.

After returning to the area in 2014, she started her own marketing company before going to work fulltime as marketing manager for the US Foods Pittsburgh markets, a position she still holds.

“I grew up with the ‘Gilmore Girls’ and my mom and dad always had coffee at the house,” she said. “Even if it wasn’t a latte or something fancy, I’ve always had coffee. As a teen, I started getting into the coffee drinks.When you start driving and you have your own money, you start going through the drive-thru.”

The right spot

When the Tastyland ice cream shop north of Greensburg went up for sale last year, Ramaley contemplated buying it.

“I wanted to put a coffee hut on one side, or incorporate coffee somehow, and open it up for breakfast,” she said. “It just didn’t work out, but their Realtor said, ‘Are you into coffee?’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah.’”

The Realtor showed Ramaley the space that became The Kentlee, which previously housed another coffee shop and already had a sleek, modern vibe but also felt warm and welcoming. No renovations were needed.

“I immediately fell in love with it, because it was exactly what I was looking for,” she said. “I loved the feel of all of the different coffee shops in LA and Lawrenceville, and this just reminded me of being in those places.”

The former operation had left equipment behind, including the cooler and espresso machine.

“I’m so grateful and thankful for everything that was here, because it takes a lot for operators to get started,” she said.

The cafe’s name is a portmanteau word — formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words — with special meaning to Ramaley, reflecting support her parents have provided during her journey to business ownership. She decided on it years ago, sitting in a Seattle coffee shop and imagining a future business.

“As soon as I wrote that down, I said, ‘I don’t even care what the business is going to be, that’s gonna be the name,’” she said. “Kent is my dad’s middle name, which is where my parents got my name, and Lee is my mom’s maiden name and my middle name.”

In addition to walk-in business, The Kentlee caters drinks for special occasions.

Ramaley also has partnered with nearby Saint Vincent College to offer students, faculty and alumni a 10% discount. She’s working on a plan with Saint Vincent Archabbey to carry baked goods made by the monks.

Ramaley is hoping for a slow and steady increase in business as The Kentlee builds a reputation and clientele.

“I’ve worked in the food service industry for 6½ years now, but I didn’t know how to run a business, and I’ll be the first to say that,” she said. “We’re at a pace that I can handle. I love my fulltime job, want to be able to have both.”

She gives credit to cafe manager, Katie Williams of Hempfield, for running day-to-day operations.

“Katie walked in unexpectedly and asked for a job. I wasn’t hiring but I needed somebody, and she has been nothing but amazing,” Ramaley said. “I gave her the key the second week and she basically took over. She was just what I needed.”

Ramaley is looking forward to hosting a first anniversary event on Nov. 6, which also will be her 35th birthday.

“I want everyone to feel at home here — like we’re your friends, we’re your family, we want to know your name, we want you to come in and feel welcome,” she said. “I love to educate people about the drinks, now that I know. People come in and order a macchiato and say they don’t even know how it’s made, so we love to explain it.”