Partner Program Highlight: Ansera
Ansera, formerly known as Sardis, is an audiovisual company out of Gurnee, Illinois. Their building is right off of 41 in a seemingly normal office building. When I was told I would be interviewing Amber from Ansera, I didn’t know what to expect or how our wholesale system worked for an AV company. I knew they weren’t a cafe or a restaurant as many of our wholesale clients tend to be. I was thinking maybe they’re bigger than I knew and they had a cafe of sorts inside. This also was not exactly the case, at least not when it all got started.
The office space opened into a large open lobby with a table and chairs further across the room and a couple of couches closer to the door. The room was open with nice accent pieces and felt clean and put together. The hallway to the handful of offices was right off the entrance and lined with large photos of events and shows Ansera had put on. At first glance, I didn’t think anything of them.
It was a Tuesday morning, and the office was quiet. Throughout the interview, a few people stopped by to see what we were up to (noting that the office was small and new cars in the parking lot were easy to spot), introduce themselves, and chat with Amber. After describing more about Ansera, Amber gave us the tour and described how during COVID, the office's operations looked a whole lot different. That's when the need for coffee really came about, she shared.
COVID shut down a lot of operations and highly limited interactions. This meant a lot of events were put on pause. During this time, Sardis (now Ansera) turned their space into a huge studio space where they could work on their clients' projects with them, bring their ideas to life, and do what they do best: create something unforgettable.
It was at this time, with clients visiting the studio, that Amber, who was in charge of food and beverage for the crews, found herself looking for a better solution than the daily Dunkin run. Especially with having so many people in-house, she noted. Amber recalls the times she would have to run out quickly to ensure there would be more coffee ready when there was a break.
As a friend of Stefan and Joanna’s, Amber called Jo to ask if they could start getting coffee from them. It began with Jo dropping off the coffee cambros herself. And even then sometimes Amber would still run out to grab another pot when the crew finished it quicker than expected. This went on for a little while; they would get cambros filled with coffee, some draft lattes, and even some of the flavored syrups. This became part of the culture at Ansera. It was something to look forward to and something that was highly unique for the clients Ansera was working with: really good local coffee.
During production times in the studio the snack table always had a Tala section for everyone to refuel and to enjoy the small breaks. As covid came to an end, things started to change. Events could be put on again in person and the need for such a large studio space wasn’t as dire. This shift pushed the company to downsize the production room and instead use the space for equipment storage. I didn’t fully understand what an audiovisual company meant until I walked into this warehouse space on our tour. This space housed shelves and shelves of equipment down so many different rows. Amber explained that for each client and project, they sent our vans filled with necessary equipment to make the event come to life. They were the whole crew behind the scenes and making things happen.
Amber was the woman behind making sure these crews and people were happy, fed, caffeinated and having fun! In this manner, she talked to Stefan, one of Tala’s co-owners, to see if they could make their own coffee counter set up right in the office. The beans would be delivered from Tala of course with the neighborly deliveries and all she had to do was ask for what she wanted, when she needed it. It was an easy solution to something that had made such a big impact for the office at Ansera. And it made their office workers excited about having good coffee at work.
When I asked about the role of coffee in their workplace, Amber made it super simple, she shared that coffee had become a huge part of their culture. She also shared that it has been a pathway for everyone to come together. Every Tuesday morning anyone who is interested gets together and cups a new single origin coffee sent from Tala the previous evening. At Ansera, this is a way to catch up, to talk about their lives outside of the office and just to enjoy being provided for at work. It’s something less for the employees to think about before they make it into the office in the morning and with all the options of really good coffee, it’s something to look forward to.
Amber shared that the convenience was a huge factor for her as well. It took away the stress of having to figure out so much herself and instead became something that was easily built into the schedule and always adjustable. It also made it so they could always get help with their coffee and machines if they ever had any questions. That was the benefit of working with a small, local coffee company and working with friends.
Haley Horvat
Meet Haley, our resident globetrotter here at Tala. When she’s not behind the bar, she’s likely baking something sweet or traveling the world, making new friends along the way. She’s always chasing good coffee and her next adventure!