By Shelly Whitehead
NKyTribune contributor
With its slouchy old couches and walls filled with locally produced art, nobody would ever accuse Reality Tuesday café of being the toniest place in town. But then, anyone who’s ever visited this well-loved Park Hills coffee shop/bakery/diner or savored their homemade delights, knows that’s not what makes this place so special.
Nope, it is, instead, the couple behind this treasured nosh-spot that make it the special place it has become over the last 15 years. And that may be be due, in part, because their idea that gave birth to the business back at the turn of the century was a noble and largely selfless one.
Back then, Traci and Bill Gregg were just two bible college students living in a small apartment on the other side of Dixie Highway, where every week they held a bible study group that was literally brimming with love and a sense of community.
And like the very giving souls that the Greggs are, they wanted to share those good feelings with the wider community. So when they noticed that the storefront in the strip mall across the street was suddenly for rent, well. . .
“We literally pulled out of our driveway one day, and I said to myself and then (to Bill), ‘You know, we ought to rent that out to make doughnuts and coffee and make some extra income and start our family,’” recalls Traci with a chuckle.
“It was so easy getting people together. It’s just an open-your-door type concept and come in — come as you are.
“A lot of our friends from the Tuesday group chipped in and they tore down walls and built walls. . .Then a guy I recruited as a student –his dad owned some donut shops in Ohio, so I contacted (him) and said ‘Can you help train Bill on how to make a doughnuts?’ So then we could check that off the list.”
You’ve heard of a “leap of faith?” Well, you might say, the Greggs took at rocket-launch of faith, because not only did they proceed to start a business they knew precious little about, but within no time, Traci was pregnant — with triplets.
“Bill and I didn’t know what we were doing — we knew nothing. But I guess we had passion and purpose. But, we had no idea how to fry a doughnut or make a cup of coffee,” Traci recalls.
“But, I think that it was just something that God wanted happening, too, and He just laid it on our hearts and said, ‘Go, build this coffee shop, because this community needs community.’”
What’s borne of the divine, continues on talent and hard work
Community is, in fact, what the Greggs have built this business on. But on their way to doing that very important work, Traci and Bill also discovered they both had some pretty amazing hidden talents.
For instance, Traci has not only proven that she has both the customer service and business skills that would make a Fortune 50 company envious, but she’s also shown she can juggle that full-time work with the huge load of caring for – count ‘em – now five youngsters.
And Bill — a.k.a. the guy who had never cooked? Well, it ends up, he’s a fantastic pastry chef, as proven by the numerous awards they’ve received, including the highly competitive accolade for “Cincinnati’s Best Cheesecake.”
The Greggs figure some of that baking acumen is genetic, since Bill’s dad was a New York City pastry chef. But frankly, work ethic and creativity have a lot to do with it too. After all, to make those fresh delectables found in the Reality pastry case every morning, Bill bakes all night.
Traci, meanwhile, works all day. Again, with five youngsters. That may be why, if you ask the Greggs about their success, they’ll tell you there had to be a little touch of the divine involved.
“I will tell you that everything we have is very rich and it’s in your face,” said Bill of their always-fresh menu of alternating sweet treats. “It’s not light at all. That’s what we’ve found they come here for and that’s what we stick with.
“And I think for us, it’s been kind of a ‘God-first’ thing — we have to keep our spiritual roles. I really feel at a disadvantage if you don’t have that because some days you don’t really feel like doing what you’re doing. Some days you don’t feel like being business partners together. You have to have something else to latch on and I think that’s been our secret to success.”
Shared parenting
All this is not to say the Greggs haven’t had some major challenges over the last 15 years. After all, owning and managing a seven-day-a-week business while raising four boys and a girl, would challenge anyone.
And about seven years ago, the couple knew the kids were getting out of hand, so in their typically open fashion, they called for help from the America’s Supernanny TV show. That, of course, exposed some of the very human parenting mistakes that we all make, but few discuss on Facebook — to a national television audience.
Yes, it was painful. But, as Bill says, they’ll all laugh about it one day. Plus, their openness surely helped a lot of other folks deal more effectively with their parenting challenges.
“It’s very personal and we were going a lot,” said Bill of the national television exposure on their sometimes raucous home life. “It was kind of both ways for me. I had mixed feelings about it.
“But it’s something that we can look back on as adults with the children and laugh and say, ‘That’s what we were going through.’ . . .But, I think that works — and it’s out there for people to see.”
Much like the delectable pastries in the glass case at the front of the café that’s freshly filled every morning with Bill’s work from overnight. Then, there’s Traci’s selection of homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner items, and that big chalkboard-full of tantalizing coffee and tea concoctions and slushies.
It’s all there for all the world to see, along with that unseen, but most assuredly felt sense of community you get when you walk through the door of this Dixie Highway haunt.
“It’s hard to compare it to other cafes because this certainly isn’t like Starbucks,” said Villa Hills student, Juliana Dereamer. “It’s so community-based.”
Taylor Mill resident Katie Farley agreed wholeheartedly with that assessment. Though, it was clear that Bill’s pumpkin cheesecake had something to do with her love of the place, too.
“Somebody had popped up with that pumpkin cheesecake and then I kind of got addicted,” she said. “But, it’s just a different little place.”
Reality Tuesday will be featured on the NKyTribune’s next Inside Northern Kentucky episode to be tried on this schedule:
KET: Thursday, January 21 at 12:30 AM ET
KETKY: Thursday, January 21 at 7:30 PM ET
KETKY: Sunday, January 24 at 6:00 AM ET
KETKY: Tuesday, January 26 at 11:00 AM ET
KET: Saturday, January 30 at 4:30 AM ET
Reality is the best. The only place in Northern Kentucky to consistently buy organic, fair trade AND shade- grown coffee. The food is delicious and affordable. The staff is efficient and lots of FUN to be around!