Some Botetourt County residents may be unaware there is real frozen custard in the Roanoke Valley. One local citizen is well aware and provides treats and pick-me-ups at Chris’s Coffee & Custard for its steady array of customers. The slogan at Chris’s reads: “Where hot coffee meets cool friends.” Woodrow and the other employees experience that slogan daily.
The coffee/custard store sits off of 9th Street in Southeast Roanoke. Woodrow Carter of Daleville stands behind the counter each week, ready to serve. One of Woodrow’s favorite things about the job is meeting new people and his friendship with Chris Woodrum, the son of Beth Woodrum of Roanoke, who owns the establishment.
“I serve custard and coffee,” Woodrow mentioned. “I sometimes help sort the cookies and put them in baggies. I make milkshakes and help with the chicken salad. I pretty much do whatever they want me to do. I honestly don’t care what I do at this job. I’m willing to do whatever.”
Woodrow is a big fan of barbeque, but his go-to is a chicken salad or grilled cheese on a croissant when working at Chris’s. He currently lives at A Shining Light group home in Daleville.
Beth believed there was something special for her son, Chris, and other young adults with unique abilities. When Chris was in the ninth grade, he worked at different job sites in the Roanoke Valley.
“I started thinking back then that there was nowhere for young adults with special abilities to work in the area,” Beth stated. “Chris is very high-functioning, but looking at his abilities and watching him work, I wanted to find a place in the community where Chris and his friends could work together.”
Beth began looking for places around the state. She discovered coffee shops, bakeries, and car washes around the country that train people with special abilities. She decided to do a combination of things that the Roanoke Valley hasn’t experienced.
From there, LovABLE Services Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, began to formulate. LovABLE Services is a comprehensive training program designed by Beth for young adults with special abilities. Beth worked with a Special Education teacher to create the program.
“I told my husband that (opening the restaurant and providing a training service) is what I wanted to do,” Beth continued. “He asked how I would do it. I said, ‘Well, I don’t know yet. I’m just going to pray about it, and if God wants me to do it, he’ll open the doors.'”
As Beth started her first year of research in 2017, she realized that this is what she was supposed to do. Beth is a nurse by trade. Her brother is a restaurant owner who helped her with the ins and outs of the food service industry. Having a brother in the industry was extremely helpful.
“I talked to the gentleman who owns the facility and told him what I wanted to do,” Beth said. “He pulled out the plans for the facility and mentioned he wanted a coffee shop in the facility and would love to have Chris’s there.”
After prayer and hope, Beth got her answer that day. Soon, the construction and design of Chris’s began. It took a long time to design and develop, but she kept her eyes of her vision, goals, and dreams.
The next step was the grant process. She scheduled meetings – one of which was with the Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia that provides grant opportunities for local businesses.
Chris co-owns the establishment with his mother. In creating Chris’s logo, Beth had Chris write his name down on several sheets of paper without telling him what she planned to do with his signature. (She didn’t want to tell him because it was a surprise.) Soon, Beth designed the logo and showed her son the finished product that features his signature from those sheets of paper.
“When I showed him the logo, Chris said, ‘That’s my name!'” Beth said. “I told him he was now an owner with me and anything he wanted to do – we would incorporate into the business.”
Chris goes to the Night to Shine prom night experience in Salem annually. When Beth first approached her son about some things he wanted to incorporate into the business, Chris mentioned the red carpet he and his friends walk along when entering the Night to Shine prom. The event holds a special place in the hearts of Chris and his friends.
When customers enter Chris’s store, everyone gets to walk along a red carpet into the building featuring Chris’s logo because he wants his guests to experience walking the red carpet like he and his friends get to walk along each year.
Chris’s Coffee & Custard is a special place in the Roanoke Valley. The restaurant has various items such as the “Daddy’s Boy,” “Mama’s Boy” and “Chris’s Fave” custard dishes. “Daddy’s Boy” features vanilla custard, a caramel center, and chocolate drizzle served in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone. “Mama’s Boy” replaces the caramel with Reese’s Cup crumbles and is served in a chocolate-dipped waffle bowl. Both are delicious.
They also offer the previously mentioned chicken salad and grilled cheese. However, eats aren’t the only thing Chris’s brings to the table.
Chris’s offers coffee hot and iced. A helpful infographic on the wall behind the counter gives customers an example of what goes into a cappuccino, latte, or mocha as well as all the coffee drinks that they offer. (They all contain different ingredients, y’know.)
The coolest thing on the menu (no pun intended) is the “Selfieccino.” The drink is a cappuccino or latte with an image printed on top of the foam. A customer provides the image to a program that “prints” the image.
Beth is highly thankful for all of the help her volunteers and workers provide for the restaurant. A lot of the work done on the restaurant was out of sheer kindness, free of charge. Some of Beth’s volunteers currently live in Botetourt County.
“I have one volunteer that told me that even if she’s having a bad day, she’ll come into work, and by the time she leaves, her entire day was great,” Beth mentioned. “She said it is so rewarding to watch the staff work. They’re all happy, able to have a job and get a paycheck. It’s really exciting to watch the teamwork. Our customer service is the most important thing for us here. My goal is to have people feel better when they leave than when they first walk in the door.”
For more information about Chris’s Coffee & Custard, visit their website at chrisscoffeeandcustard.com to peruse their menu and find out more about what Chris’s provides to the Roanoke Valley.
