Coffee truck, new clothing line keeps family business moving

WILLIAMSBURG — A year after El Pearl Boutique moved out of the outlet mall in Williamsburg and started serving coffee, it’s expanding again.

Founder Tricia Wetjen said Porter House Coffee Co. is going mobile this summer, and El Pearl is creating its own clothing brand.

Born in Wetjen’s Marengo home in 2018, El Pearl initially sold children’s clothing as Mommy's & Mini's Boutique. Wetjen wanted to provide boutique quality clothing at a price families can afford, she said.

Wetjen sold her inventory primarily on Facebook Live. She also popped up at vendor shows, but the shows spread the word more than they provided sales.

Wetjen had purchased inventory for the 2020 season when COVID arrived and vendor shows were canceled. Wetjen asked Outlets and Marketplace Williamsburg if she could lease space there for three months during the holiday season.

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The mall usually wants a one-year lease, said Wetjen, but it eventually allowed her the shorter lease. After three months, Wetjen signed a one-year lease and then a three-year lease for space between Coach and Bath & Body Works, rebranding as El Pearl Boutique.

“I still did live sales,” said Wetjen. “They went from bringing in all the money to bringing in customers.” Most of the traffic in the store came from seeing El Pearl on Facebook, she said.

In 2019, Wetjen began to include women’s clothing in her El Pearl inventory. Eventually El Pearl fazed out children’s clothing completely.

Wetjen’s next move was to add coffee. She’d planned to do that at the mall as well, but she discovered that the property on nearby Boyd Street was for sale.

Wetjen called her bank in Marengo with a business plan and got the OK to build Porter House Coffee Co. and El Pearl Boutique.

“The ball just started rolling.”

The structure was built by the Amish, but Wetjen’s husband, Ashley, did all the interior, Wetjen said.

He’s building the coffee truck, too, which they hope to launch in May.

“He’s my biggest supporter,” Wetjen said of her husband. “I’m the big dreamer, and he’s the executor.”

Wetjen said she had some customers who exited Interstate 80 to get coffee at Casey’s, but when they saw her coffee shop and boutique, they stopped there instead.

“That’s why we put the coffee pot on top,” Wetjen said. People can see it when they exit the interstate.

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Wetjen learned the coffee business from her friend, Andrea Wood, who owns Brewed + Bronzed in Marengo. Wood wanted to add clothing to her coffee shop, and Wetjen wanted to add coffee to her clothing boutique, so the women taught one another their trades.

“We share different ideas,” said Wetjen. They brainstorm and share events, she said.

“We support each other as if we were sister stores,” Wetjen said. “She’s a big part of why I brought in coffee,” she said.

The sale of coffee and the new location have brought in more customers, said Wetjen. “Our traffic has increased by 300% since we left the mall. People didn’t even know we were over there,” she said.

Wetjen wants to get Porter House Coffee on a sign on I-80 to bring in interstate traffic. The Iowa Department of Transportation requires that a business on a food sign on the interstate offer two meals, said Wetjen, so Porter House Coffee now offers packaged sandwiches and breakfast items.

“It took me a long time to find food I wanted to offer,” said Wetjen. She looks for food with no dyes, artificial flavors or preservatives.

During the summer, Porter House sells fresh salads.

In addition to iced and hot coffee, Porter House Coffee sells smoothies and lotus energy drinks.

El Pearl is again in a stage of transition. It’s moving away from synthetics and will sell its own clothing line made with all natural fibers.

The Williamsburg business is a family venture in more ways than one. Not only do all the Wetjen children work there, but El Pearl is named for Wetjen’s second daughter, Eleri Pearl, and Porter House Coffee is named for her son, Porter.

The new clothing line will be named for her oldest daughter who created it.

True Loom by Ailea Kay is the brain child of daughter Ailea, “and that’s what we’ll carry exclusively,” said Wetjen.

“She’s been a big part of the business,” said Wetjen. She’s always had plans to have her own clothing line. Wetjen and her daughter have been working with manufacturers to create a clothing line with eco-friendly, natural fibers, like cotton.

In addition to clothing, El Pearl sells apothecary items made of natural ingredients. Wetjen makes her own candles and cleaners for the store.

Located at 100 Boyd St. in Williamsburg, the shop is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday.