3 ways this coffee shop is growing with Gemini

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Hrag Kalebjian didn't always plan to run the family coffee business. But when his father considered retiring, Hrag stepped in to keep the legacy alive. He focused on bringing the traditional shop into the digital age to reach a new generation of customers.

"I saw a big opportunity in the online space," he says. "I've been here ever since and I love every single day."

Today, Henry's House of Coffee is a San Francisco staple with a thriving nationwide subscription model. But managing e-commerce alongside a physical shop means wearing many hats - from roaster to accountant to marketer.

To win back his time, Hrag turned to Gemini to handle the heavy lifting. Here are three ways he uses Gemini to simplify his daily operations and grow his business:

1. Automating data tracking without expensive software

Tracking daily revenue is vital, but manually pulling metrics is time-consuming.

Hrag used Gemini as a technical assistant to write custom code for a daily sales forecaster. Instead of programming it from scratch, he used everyday language to ask for help and shared screenshots with Gemini to troubleshoot errors.

"It only took about an hour to set up, and I get the report every morning," he says.

Try it yourself: Ask Gemini to write a Google Sheets function to automatically highlight days when sales fall under your monthly average, then have Gemini walk you through how to use it.

2. Reclaiming hours on creative and design assets

Creating menus and manuals often requires jumping between multiple apps. Google simplifies this by connecting your existing documents into one convenient workspace.

When Hrag wanted to revamp an instruction card for the shop's Armenian coffee kits, he bypassed the usual multi-hour design process. He dropped an old, dense 15-step PDF directly into Gemini.

"After maybe 20 minutes of me uploading and talking to it, I had a card that was ready to print," Hrag says. Ultimately, the shop has created assets 95% faster by using Gemini.

Try it yourself: Upload an internal business overview or standard operating document to Gemini and type: "Turn this document into a clean, friendly, print-ready guide for our customers."

3. Turning industry news into high-performing marketing content

Email marketing builds engagement, but drafting copy from scratch is a drain. Gemini excels at summarizing updates and matching your brand's voice.

Hrag uses Gemini to synthesize coffee news for "The Sunday Pour," his weekly newsletter. By using Gemini to polish his ideas, he delivers engaging updates that receive a great response from his audience.

Try it yourself: Paste article links or text into Gemini and ask: "Read these updates and provide a three-bullet summary in a casual tone for a newsletter." Pro and Ultra subscribers can also set up scheduled actions to have Gemini compile industry reports every week.

Through this kind of experimentation, Hrag's learned that growth isn't about working more hours - it's about better tools. Gemini handles the busy work so small business owners can focus on their customers.

• Gemini