Nor does she plan to live without the cozy, friendly atmosphere of a coffee house while attending Whitman College in the small eastern Washington town of Walla Walla.
Korgan, whose parents (Carol & Mike) owned and operated Korgan's Strudel House for two decades in Portland's Sellwood area, opened her own Walla Walla coffee shop earlier this year.
It's called "pangea," a geological term for the prehistoric land mass that later broke apart to form the present-day continents. The name made sense, Korgan said, because people from all continents drink coffee and tea.
"There were many, many reasons why I decided to do this," Korgan said. "No. 1, I'm going to a fairly expensive school, and even though Whitman gives me a very large financial aid gift, I don't want to have a major debt when I finish here. I'd like to have some capital to start on a new project."
Korgan, a junior this fall at Whitman, also knows a market niche when she sees one, and in this particular case her expertise and personal interest seemed to offer a perfect match.
"There was a need for this in Walla Walla," she said. "There was nothing like it open late at night. There wasn't an atmosphere that made me feel really comfortable, where I could go to read or study, share things with friends, or to play games. I missed that from Portland.
"I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't going to help me financially," she added. "On the other hand, it's something I really wanted to do. It's something I really enjoy. Because I grew up in the restaurant business, this was something that was missing from my life. There is something about having a group of people working together and having fun at the same time. It's a very nice support group."
Korgan's coffee shop, located on Boyer Avenue at one edge of the Whitman campus, opened at midnight on March 4. "There was a lot of anticipation as to when it was going to open," she recalls. "We finally got it all put together and decided it was time. There was a bunch of people there for the opening, and I actually had a pretty good night."
Her first three months (March through May), in fact, were good ones. "It was great," she said. "I was paying back my (business) loan, paying my school bills, paying all my employees, paying my rent, buying my books."
Beginning in June, however, as students at Whitman and two other local colleges headed home for the summer, Korgan's patronage dropped off the table. "Money is a little tight right now because school is out," she said. "Last spring my sales were four times what they are now. There are projects I'd like to do this summer while business is slow, but I just don't have the money."
Korgan isn't worried about this fall, however. "I've got three colleges to draw from here, and when all of those students come back, I'm sure my business will bounce right back again." In addition to Whitman, an academically selective liberal arts and sciences college of about 1,250 students, Walla Walla also is home to a community college. And Walla Walla College, a four-year school, is located in nearby College Place, Wash.
Korgan has four part-time employees this summer, a number that will double in the fall. Her shop seats about 50 people and is decorated with bits and pieces of artwork created by artists and friends in the Walla Walla and Portland areas. The tabletops are old doors, cut down to the right lengths and brightened with a variety of painted designs. Two tabletops feature backgammon and chess boards, and a sampling of board games lie waiting on a shelf. Casual entertainment planned for the school year includes live music and theater. "I want an environment where people can express themselves," Korgan said. "That's important to me."
Korgan is a 1991 graduate of Portland's St. Mary's Academy, where she was active in its theater program. "I was going to major in theater at Whitman, but I switched to English. I like to write, I like to read and I like to analyze and discuss different literary works."
Her menu, while it changes from time to time, features a variety of espressos, coffees and teas with origins in different parts of the world. Many drinks, including a hibiscus cooler, can be iced to beat the summer heat. Another popular item is Oregon Chai, a concentrate of black tea, honey, spices and apple juice that is mixed with milk or cream.
If there's one facet of her business that Korgan doesn't have to worry about, it's her coffee and tea supplier. Her parents, who sold their strudel house a few years ago, still own and operate Schondecken, a coffee-roasting business in Sellwood that also offers teas, spices, culinary herbs, and gourmet gift items.
"We started roasting our own coffee about 10 years ago, before it was the trendy thing to do," Mike Korgan said. "We started doing it because we couldn't get decent coffee for our strudel house." Fresh coffee isn't all the help Michelle Korgan gets from her parents. Her mother, the first woman in Oregon to become a certified executive chef, also bakes and ships her marionberry cheese strudel.
Now that her coffee shop is established, Korgan plans to nurse it along for at least a few more years. "I want to run it until I graduate and for a year after that," she said. "Then I'll sell it and move on, probably to Portland. My goals are to pay off my business loan and student loans, and have a little money left over. If I can do that, if I can make enough money to break even and establish something else in Portland, I'll be a happy camper."
And what might her next venture be? "Some kind of restaurant," she said. "Something different. I have a lot of creative and energetic friends in Portland and here in Walla Walla who are excited about starting something."
Dave Holden, Whitman College
News Service, (509) 527-5902
E-Mail Address: holden@whitman.edu
Michelle Korgan, pangea, (509) 529-5939