Missy - Championing Local Voices

Have you ever had a cup of coffee from Salt Lake City’s very own, Publik Coffee? As someone who grew up in the spotlight of a family film production company, Missy Greis prefers being less “Publik” facing and more community focused. Missy’s reputation as a community activist both preceded and succeeded her meeting with the SonderSLC project. Missy connected the team with at least four of the participants, thus far, and even attempted to donate her spot to another participant. “I've been thinking about the people that have been helpful to me, or the people that really do all that heavy lifting, and no one even knows who they are, or what their job is, or how they function in Salt Lake. 
And there are so many of them. So, I just reached out.”

Originally pursuing real estate, an unexpected turn of events found Missy as the owner of a budding coffee empire, in 2014. Publik Coffee Roasters now has four locations, with venues that also serve as a restaurant and an event space. After the last five years Missy feels like, “The city is kind of waking up again.” Collectively recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic and personally recovering from a literal sinking building. (The Publik Kitchen basement was flooding and the building had to be demolished and rebuilt.) Missy shares that, “I don't think it's ever going back to what it was. They say that the service industry has really changed.”

But, there is hope and movement to be found in our local community! “[The pandemic] actually kind of galvanized a bunch of people.” During the time when food and beverage establishments were fully closed, there was a community group chat with daily check-ins. “We all just kind of came together to try to save ourselves and each other.” 

“I think, definitely, the local community, local businesses, we are just hand-in-hand. Trying to just make it the best it can be, and it's really hard right now, but we're all friends and we care.”

Even though a lot has changed, Missy still loves her work and has a passion for it. “For me, it's more about community, and it's more about my employees, and the customers, and the fact that we can create a space where everyone is safe to come and work, and maybe do work in our spaces. They know they're safe, and they know that they can be themselves, and they know that we will walk anything with them.” Diversity, equity, and inclusion are pillars that Missy refuses to take away from her businesses. She also practices her autonomy by being mindful of where she spends her money, “I am very intentional about where I eat or go get coffee.”

With a deep love for Salt Lake City continuing to inspire Missy, she’s looking forward to future endeavors with the Ballpark Action Team, the Wasatch Food Co-op, and a marketing campaign to get people out of their apartment! Missy loves that Salt Lake City is a small town, where you can still continue to meet new people. With thousands of new people moving to the city, and even more projected to move here, Salt Lake City is springing back to life. With the help of people like Missy, who are meeting together and having conversations on what our neighborhoods really want, the future of Salt Lake City is brimming with possibilities. 

Connect with Missy Greis: 

Website: https://publikcoffee.com/

Instagram: @publikcoffee@publikkitchen@publikspace_@publikeds