Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Steudeman.
Hi Rachael, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have always dreamt of having my own coffee shop. I was 22 when I discovered specialty coffee and simultaneously learned what good coffee was. I was living in south city at the time and spent most of my days sitting at coffee shops writing and working. My husband and I started a Christian clothing line in 2017/2018 and dreamt about what it could look like to have a coffee shop attached to the brand. At the time, Christian coffee shops didn’t really exist in the way we dreamt up, but with life, things get shelved.
Our Christian clothing line fizzled out in 2020. My husband and I started a young adult ministry through our church in 2021, and it exploded. We had 40–50 people showing up to our house weekly seeking Jesus together. It was so beautiful, and in that season the Lord really showed me how important community is. How vital it is to our walk with the Lord and the health of each of us. So naturally, we started dreaming again about creating a community space. Then we moved to south county. I quit my corporate job and decided to take steps toward my own coffee shop. I had a friend approach me about partnering with me to do it (she had started a business before), and so we did. It had the name Province Coffee and my brand phrase, “take up space and dwell here.” I started to make at-home bulk lattes and syrups. We went around to banks to get a loan for a coffee truck or brick-and-mortar, and each one told us it was too risky. My friend decided she didn’t want to keep pursuing this, so I kept it going for a while alone. I decided to stop and get a job at a coffee shop to see if this was truly something I wanted to do. I really didn’t feel confident enough at the time to pursue this alone. I wanted to gain more experience and insight into the industry and really decide if I loved it enough to pour my life into it.
I started working at Teleo Coffee in August of 2022 as a full-time barista. I remember in my interview prefacing that my dream was to have my own shop. I didn’t want to blindside anyone if that day ever came, but I was holding it all so loosely. I got promoted to the kitchen manager position in August 2023, and my friend joked about the Lord preparing me for my own shop one day. Then in January of 2024, I got promoted to the shop manager position. Of course part of me was like, “Lord, what are you doing?” and the other part of me was like, “I can’t do this!” I accepted the position, and I remember telling that same friend I decided I was going to do it, even if I was “doing it afraid.” I felt so unequipped and unqualified, but I trusted the Lord. If He was opening a door, I was going to walk through it even if I didn’t see what was on the other side.
I grew and learned so much about managing a coffee shop, leading a team, and so much more than I thought. I loved it so much I started to become very content and comfortable with just that. My plan, as far as I was concerned, was to work there until I got pregnant and then cross that bridge when the time came. In the beginning of 2025, the owner took maternity leave and I was effectively her for three months. The Lord really used that to grow my confidence in my ability to do this on my own. During that time, the Lord also began to stir my desire to have my own shop again. I wasn’t expecting that, to be honest. I just thought I would be at Teleo until I could be a mom. I started to dream, and old visions and ideas I had nearly a decade prior started to resurface. There was a night a friend and I were dreaming about names, and she threw out “Behold,” and I immediately felt the Lord and heard the scripture, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” I had to look up the scripture reference because I wasn’t sure which one it was. I discovered that it was Revelation 3:20, and the thing about this verse is that it comes at the end of a correction… a call to a lukewarm church, a people settling for fool’s gold because they didn’t want to pay the price of the real thing. They didn’t want to be refined in the fire. The beautiful aspect of this is that the Lord corrects, and then He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him.” He invites us into communion with Him, at the table.
The table is a theme with our brand voice, and it’s very intentional. The Lord gave me a picture of a table, and the base was the word love, and He said, “The table will be built on love and by it,” and at the time I didn’t really understand what He meant. Then it all started to come together, and I understood what He was saying. He wanted me to create a space built on love (which is Him), and marked by love (this was the outward expression of Jesus through us). This was to be a place set apart for His glory.
So here I was. I had this huge vision and in my heart felt like I had a go from the Lord, but I was very much still in the season I was in at Teleo. This was around March/April 2025, and I shelved this idea. I didn’t see how this could be possible. The cost to start a coffee shop was way more than I could afford. I gave it back to the Lord and simply said, “You have my yes.” In July my husband and I went to Europe for the first time, and while we were in Rome, I fell in love. The slowness, the warmth of the terracotta and natural stones, the way I felt immersed in history. Something about it changed me forever, and when I came back home I was not the same. I longed for the slow, the peaceful pace, and the warmth in a way I cannot explain. I was like, how do I bring that experience to Missouri? Then in September something shifted for me, and I knew that God was calling me out of Teleo. I didn’t really understand why, and I didn’t have a single idea of what I was going to do. I thought maybe I would get pregnant and just be a mom! I wrestled with God for a week straight because this was a huge financial risk for us. We needed my income to survive, but after discussing it with my husband, we both felt the Lord so clearly say it was time. So I put my notice in that first week of October 2025. I started looking at corporate jobs, thinking maybe there was a door opening there, and also because I felt like I had to work to replace my income.
Later that month my husband and I decided to go down to our friend’s coffee shop, Pothos, in Kimmswick during the Apple Butter Festival. While we were there, we got to chatting about my plans for after I left Teleo. I shared that I still had a strong desire to start my own coffee shop but wasn’t sure what that would look like yet. Andrew (the Pothos owner) half-seriously said, “Do you want this one?” and I was a bit shocked and asked if he was selling. He said they had considered it, but it wouldn’t be for another year or two. So I just mentioned that I would be open to the conversation! Then later that evening my husband and I were talking about it, and I just felt like the Lord was urging me to tell them I was serious. I reached out and just said something along the lines of, no pressure, but I am actually really serious if you wanted to make this happen sooner. They were excited, and we set a date to meet up a week later.
In the meantime, we met up with our best friends and discussed it all. Jon Goldstein was currently a roaster for his own business, Conductor Coffee, and we decided that if this transpired, he would dissolve that and come under Behold Coffee as our exclusive roaster in exchange for a minority owner role.
In November 2025, we met up with Andrew and Ericka at Pothos and decided that it made sense for all of us to make this happen ASAP. They got us all the numbers for the purchase of the equipment, and it was truly a miracle that we got a loan to purchase the equipment from them and then some. I was shocked because when I had gone before in 2022, absolutely no one was going to give us money for this. We signed the paperwork and got the space February 1st, 2026.
I worked with Studio Olivet (Lindsay Reams) for our branding. I knew how important this would be to the success of the shop, and I needed someone to partner with me to make my vision clear. We talked for two hours as I shared my heart, the vision the Lord gave me, and all the small details of what I wanted my brand to communicate. She helped me work through things I never thought of or considered and ultimately brought Behold Coffee to life. The pottery in the logo is an homage to the alabaster jar, and all the pottery is biblical-era pottery or inspired by biblical-era pottery. The branding colors, textures, shapes, etc. are all so very intentional. Even the cups I chose for people to hold while they sip their favorite drink. It’s all supposed to pull people into the present moment and to slow down and enjoy the experience. To invoke a sense of peace and comfort that feels otherworldly. Ultimately, I want people to feel the presence and love of Jesus the moment they step into the space. Lindsay did a fantastic job making that come to life in the branding.
We also offer a selection of curated Christian books for children and adults to help them go deeper in their faith journey. These books will rotate, and likely when one sells out we might not bring it back. We wanted this to feel really curated with specific books that we handpicked and to keep it fresh and exciting.
We will do monthly community events that are free for people to come to, and they can purchase coffee if they want, but the heart is to gather people. I feel that so many of us feel isolated and alone, even within the walls of the church. I believe the Lord wanted a place outside of the standard Christian spaces for us to come together in unity. This isn’t affiliated with a church, and there’s a beauty about that. Any and all people are welcome, wherever they find themselves on their journey. Believer and non-believer alike. I will never shy away from my faith, but my heart and goal for Behold is that this is a safe place for people to discover. To come to the table and ask the hard questions. We may not have the answers, but we can sit and discover the One who does have them: Jesus.
I have said it time and time again, but Behold belongs to Jesus. The pressure is completely off of me. Of course I am pouring myself into this, but the most wonderful thing about being obedient is that God sustains. It is not on me to make this work, and I just pray that the people who are meant to find it do. I cannot wait to see all the Lord does here, and I love that He has allowed me to put my hands to something that I love. I love specialty coffee. I nerd out over the science and the complexity of it all. I am a self-proclaimed coffee snob, and I deeply believe that good coffee does not require a ton of sugar. I love that I get to bring specialty coffee to a place that doesn’t have it and simultaneously get to partner with the Lord in ministry. It’s really the greatest honor and privilege of my life, and I can’t wait to see what all He has in store.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been smooth, again, I credit this to the Lord. He promises that He goes before us, and I really felt that. I haven’t felt overwhelmed or stressed at all. Which is wild because it was such a fast turn around, but that is such a testament to peace and goodness of God.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I share a lot of this in the previous question haha but some other things about me is I am a singer songwriter, and I play piano. I haven’t recorded anything, but maybe one day! I just love the process of songwriting and love the way playing piano is such an outlet to process my emotions. I actually went to school for music. I have half a Bachelors degree in Worship and Church Leadership.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I take risks on things I feel a really strong conviction on, but otherwise I play it safe. I always say that I live my life with yellow lights. Just cautiously proceeding, but as soon as the light turns green I am going with no second thought. One time I heard a pastor say faith is spelled R-I-S-K and that has always stuck with me. Faith requires a level of risk, taking steps without seeing. Which was what started this entire process for me!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beholdcoffeeco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beholdcoffeeco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beholdcoffeeroasters
