Two Big Brother and Amazing Race Stars Are Bringing Their Coffee Business to Dallas

Jessica Nickson and her husband, Cody, know a thing or two about people skills and thriving under pressure. As former cast members of the CBS reality competition shows Big Brother and The Amazing Race, they had to work together, collaborate with others and operate under tight deadlines in fast-paced situations.

Now that they’ve gotten married, had kids and relocated to Dallas, they’re putting those skills to the test in an entirely new medium: a new mobile Italian coffee bar called That’s Amore, which launches in June.

That’s Amore aims to give customers a “luxury Italian coffee experience” through services like its coffee trailer, coffee trike and build-your-own charcuterie cart that can be rented for events. Jessica Nickson says the idea was simply something she wanted to see.

“That's Amore actually came together because of several events that happened in our lives,” Nickson tells the Observer. “I currently own a women's e-commerce clothing brand called It’s None of My Business. We held a pop-up last June and we brought a bunch of women in the area together and we did this workout class. And we sipped on mimosas and listened to music and shopped. It was a great experience, but I really wanted to have a coffee cart at the event.”

Nickson says that she reached out to several existing coffee cart services, but none were up to her caliber of aesthetics and customer service. So she created her own.

“I'm just really excited to serve and get to know the community,” she says of her new business. “I moved here probably five years ago and as a mom who works from home, it's hard to meet new people [...] So, another aspect of this is that I'm excited to be able to get to know the individuals in our neighborhood and on a more personal level.”

Cody had previously owned both a food truck and a coffee company called Couples Coffee, so the two had a solid foundation on which to build this new business. Time spent in Italy gave them the inspiration they needed to set it apart from the competition.

“So, I'm half Italian first and foremost,” she explains. “My husband wasn't very educated on Italian culture. I mean, he went overseas to fight the wars, but he had never traveled to Italy and my grandmother's from Italy. So we went over there right before COVID hit. We spent some time in Florence and we just fell in love with the Italian countryside. Coffee is such a culture there, and it's a beautiful, slow-paced culture.”

When customers contract with That’s Amore for their event, Nickson wants that same relaxed feeling to be present. When hiring her team, she put out a “casting call” for baristas who would be able to match that energy.

“Seeing the individuals in person was really important,” she says. “Because we're just throwing them in front of a random coffee machine that, chances are, they've never operated before. So we see how they operate in a situation where they're talking to us. They're pitching themselves to us while also trying to learn something right in front of them.”

“And we got to try a lot of amazing coffees,” she adds. “So it was a win for us.”

Nickson believes that baristas who can pass her test can handle serving at events like weddings.

“When we send our employees out to places, we want to ensure that we feel confident that they're representing the brand and they know how to handle fast-paced environments that might be stress-inducing,” she says. “We want them to feel relaxed because their energy is felt by everyone that they're serving.”

Nickson feels that That’s Amore’s Italian coffee experience will be more laid back than the grab-and-go culture of American brands.

“We’re not watering things down and loading them up with sugar,” she says. “It's not a to-go experience. It's like, 'Let's sit down with friends, catch up and really communicate over a cup that tastes delicious.’ [...] It’s just very relaxing and beautiful. We wanted to just bring that aspect of it to Dallas and just kind of slow things down a little bit. Give people a cup that they can enjoy with friends and just experience things a little bit differently.”

More information about That’s Amore Coffee Bar and its June launch is on the website.