2019 SUCCESS STORY: Cozy Cafe

After serving 23 years in the military, Dawn Odhiambo found herself seeking a new venture in life. Dawn had a dream to open a cafe and has now seen this dream come true. Dawn, along with Paige Sullivan, are operators of a veteran woman owned small business in Cando, North Dakota. Recently opening the Cozy Cafe, Dawn finds herself very thankful that she was able to utilize all of the SBA Resource Partners while she was in the pre-venture stage of business development and now in the post-business stage.

Dawn has seen her dream of opening a cafe come true stating, “It didn’t happen overnight. It took a lot of hard work and dedication. I feel that my military training has been a huge part of my success. The training, service, ethics and adaptability have all contributed to me navigating this path. Each step of the process, I’ve been able to rely on my experience and training to help me through. My military background along with the resources I have utilized from the SBA resources has been invaluable to my success”

The Cozy Cafe has been the talk of the town since opening. This family-oriented cafe specializes in homemade food that is as good as your grandma’s. There is a “Cozy Corner” where you can sip a cup of coffee while relaxing in rockers and watching the Main Street traffic go by. “We get a lot of locals that come in for a meal or their daily cup of coffee. But lately, our customers are even from out of town,” says Dawn. “We even had a group of Canadians recently come in.”