A cup of gourmet coffee is easy to find in abundance in any big city in Illinois. However, in rural stretches of the state, you would be hard pressed to find a mug of top-tier java sold by a retailer. Simply put – there is not a saturation of customers in rural Illinois, and so the economics do not usually make sense.

Rachel and Weston Berchtold say otherwise. They’re the proud owners of Eli’s Coffee Shop with locations in Metamora, Tremont, and their flagship store in Morton, a village with a population of roughly 17,000 people and renowned as the Pumpkin Capital of the World. “Yeah. I love to say everybody deserves great coffee, because it is true,” stated Rachel. “You don’t need to know every little detail about where that bean you’re enjoying in your cup came from, but you will know that it tastes better.”

“I think there’s something really special about the towns that we’re in. Most of them don’t have other options for coffee,” Weston added. “So, we’re able to serve as a central gathering point for our communities.”

The stamp of locally-owned and operated is critical to the cache of Eli’s which was founded in 2005 and celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025. Amid a landscape of large coffee chains that richly permeate the terrain of Central Illinois, Eli’s has found tremendous success by operating as your next-door-neighbor for java, so to speak.

“There are a lot of chains around us, but being local is really important to Eli’s, because it is just central to the coffee shop experience,” said Weston. “We have a space where you can come relax, enjoy your drink, enjoy some food, and connect with the people around you. We try to curate that in a way that the larger chains just don’t.”

At Eli’s, every sip supports a local dream, with a focus on quality, community, and the simple joys of sharing a great cup of joe. Also, at the heart of Eli’s Coffee Shop, there is a foundational, unwavering commitment to three guiding principles: connection, community, and heritage. These core pillars not only define this retailer’s approach to business, but also foster a unique and welcoming atmosphere that distinguishes Eli’s in the communities where they operate.

A legacy of connection and community

Eli’s is named after Eli Messenger, the man who built the Morton flagship of the original Eli’s Coffee Shop in 1860. The historic home stands as one of the oldest freestanding buildings in this Tazewell County town. In fact, all three Eli’s locations operate out of historic buildings, each more than 100 years old.

“These buildings are holders of memory in our community,” said Rachel. “They’re carrying those memories forward into the future.”

“Each location feels different, so you can enjoy the same Eli’s product in a unique space,” added Weston.

Rachel’s journey with Eli’s started out of high school, when she took a job at the Morton location to help pay bills. She said she wanted to be a history teacher, but her professional path took a detour for coffee. “I truly fell in love with everything that Eli’s stood for in the way we moved in our community, and the community service at the heart of our business model,” recalled Rachel who purchased the business in 2015 along with her husband Weston.

Weston, a former corporate IT professional came on full-time at Eli’s in 2016. He said he never thought he would have a career in coffee, “but I realized that my previous job consisted of delivering bad news. Here, we get to make people happy every day.”

The growth of Eli’s has come with its own set of challenges. At one point, there was a fourth location of the store in the town of Mackinaw. The Berchtolds shuttered that Tazewell County location in 2024 due to underperforming revenue.

“It’s important to know that it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in retail. There are very hard moments and really hard decisions you’ll need to make,” recalled Rachel with an undercurrent of disappointment.

“We learned a lot of lessons from our fourth location and needing to go through the process of closing that down,” added Weston. “We found that numbers are very important when making those kinds of decisions. We had a set of numbers that we have used in the past, and in this location. we deviated those from those for a little bit.”

The Eli’s experience

The Berchtolds are strategic about how they buy their coffee beans. Instead of on-site roasting, their winning strategy has come from sourcing high-quality java from a handful of roasters from across the state, focusing on the baked goods in their shops and the environment in which their deserts and sandwiches are served. In fact, Eli’s has an off-site bakery in Morton, which also serves as the backend headquarters of the business.

“Baking has always been at the heart of Eli’s from day one,” said Weston. “We bake everything from scratch, and we create seasonal items regularly. It’s a core part of what Eli’s is (all about).”

“You need a baked good with your cup of coffee, right?” Rachel stated with a healthy laugh.” It’s a perfect pairing. Our baked goods are always starting with great real ingredients. Real butter, real eggs, local milk: all those great things that just make a baked good taste better.”

For the love of coffee

The Berchtolds, who were high school sweethearts, seem to work extremely well together as business partners. They truly appear to be meant for each other – kind of like a good cup of coffee paired with a warm chocolate chip cookie. Rachel serves as CEO at Eli’s, while Weston focuses on operations across the shops.

“I love retail, because it’s all about the small moments, these little connections that we get to make with hundreds of people every day,” said Weston with a proud smile. “We get to deliver something that they really enjoy, whether that be a drink or a baked good or a sandwich, and send them out happier than when they came in.”

“I don’t typically work barista shifts behind the counter anymore, but I love popping into a shop, getting to chat with customers, say hello to the team and just make sure everything is running smoothly,” added Rachel.

As Eli’s approaches its 20th anniversary in February, Rachel reflected on the milestone.” We’ve made it this far purely because of customer support. They love our team, product, and mission to bring quality coffee to small towns.”

“Seeing customers walk out happier than when they came in – those small moments make us proud,” added Weston. “People gravitate towards Eli’s because of the experience,” explained Weston. “Our baristas create an environment that is welcoming, accepted, and friendly.” Rachel added, “It’s not uncommon to bump into a neighbor or old classmate in our shops. Our baristas and customers create this beautiful environment and community feel.”

“It’s the moments of connection that get to happen in our shops,” said Rachel with a smile. “We’ve had proposals and even had parents tell their kids that they’re adopting them — just really special moments that happen in these spaces. Coffee gets to be a vehicle for something really special. We’re incredibly proud that we’ve been able to carry that forward into three communities that don’t have coffee otherwise or a space to do that.”

Leap of faith

For those contemplating their own retail business, the Berchtolds dished out a selfless serving of wisdom drawn from their personal experiences.

“The future of retail is bright in Illinois, but it might be more challenging than expected,” Rachel emphasized.

“Don’t be afraid to jump in,” stated Weston about his own career transition from IT to coffee, “I completely changed careers to start in this business, and it’s been a great decision for us. It is very, very tough. But you can do it, and it doesn’t matter the industry that you’re in. I came from IT. And Rachel came from education. But we’re both doing coffee full time now and really enjoying it.”

For her part, Rachel advised anyone launching a small business to approach the new journey with a solid foundation of resources, starting with conceptual creation and extending well past opening day.

“Build out a network of people around you who are smarter than you. Maybe that’s a lawyer. Maybe it’s an accountant,” stated Rachel. “Maybe you’re finding an adviser at a small business center near you that can help you through some of those tougher decisions that are maybe a little above your head, maybe the legalese, maybe the tax, documentation that you need to be keeping. Get all those ducks in a row and rely on people who are smarter than you.

“Reach out to your local Chamber of Commerce,” added Rachel. “See if there’s a small business center around you that has entrepreneurial resources or just different avenues that you might explore than what you find just Googling things. There are so many resources provided by the State and local governments to make that a little bit easier of a journey for you.”

“Starting a new business can be downright daunting if you do not have experience or knowledge,” stated Weston, who stressed that anxiety can actually be a healthy ingredient for a new retailer.

“It takes a certain level of ignorance to get started, and that’s okay,” said Weston with a confident smile. “We weren’t experts when we started, and we’re still not experts ten years in. If you had all the answers, you might not take the leap. It’s okay to not have the answers.”