Eleven years ago, a cup of coffee changed Tim Stiffler-Dean's life. Now, he has hoped to touch others in the same way through his own cafe.
"I was homeless, I was depressed, and I was in a bad, bad place," Stiffler-Dean said. "A guy asked me to get a cup of coffee with him. He and his dad bought me my very first cup of black coffee."
Stifler-Dean said that initial interaction helped him turn his life around.
"I found friendship, I found purpose, I found hope," he said.
A few months later, coffee helped him find a home.
"I was at another coffee shop when a total stranger sat down and found out I was homeless, and he offered me a place to live," Stiffler-Dean said.
At the time, Stiffler-Dean lived in Ohio, where he met Keith Weiser, the owner of a business called the Bowtie Barber Club. Weiser opened a second barber location in Donelson in 2015. Soon after, he asked Stiffler-Dean to help him open a similarly named coffee shop.
"Coffee changed my life because of community, so to be involved in a community like Donelson now and see how people care for each other and support each other, that’s what we want to be a part of," Stiffler-Dean said.
The Bowtie Barista opened Saturday at 2709 Lebanon Pike, right next door to the Bowtie Barber Shop.
Each drink is handcrafted, and baristas use macadamia milk instead of dairy, unless otherwise requested.
Stiffler-Dean said he hopes the cafe can be used to bring people together in a part of Nashville poised for rapid growth.
"Ninety-five percent of our customers have said Donelson needed a coffee shop," he said. "It seems like we’re hitting a nice sweet spot and serving people well."
