Behind a foliage-covered cart, a 23-year-old coffee shop owner carefully crafts different lattes, teas and specialty drinks.
Located in Pelican to Mars since June 2024, customers are able to enjoy House Brew’s freshly made coffee at its brick-and-mortar location. House Brew is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., with special hours on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Inside Pelican to Mars’ Mid Century Lounge space, customers are greeted by founder Manning Bergeron, who started the business out of his love for coffee. Beyond coffee, baked goods from Mid City Bakery are for sale and all teas are sourced from Adornleaf Tea Co., also local to Baton Rouge.
“No matter what time of the day, whether we are here or not, people can just come into this room and hang out,” Bergeron said.

House Brew roasts its own coffee through its sister company Smoky Bean Coffee Roasters, making it unique to Baton Rouge. Bergeron created this company to funnel beans into the business, so House Brew doesn’t have to go through a wholesale commissary. This way, the team can buy from companies like InterAmerican Coffee. As the business owner, he is able to get the best prices, making it cheaper for customers. 

By working with InterAmerican Coffee, Bergeron is able to hand pick green coffees from over 50 different countries. His choice is Colombia Huila Excelso EP, a coffee he describes as having a super dense, citrusy aftertaste—almost like a creamsicle. This allowed him to go from pour overs to espresso, cold brews, drip and pretty much anything the shop wanted to. 

“It’s just a very balanced and well-rounded coffee,” Bergeron said. 

The process of sourcing coffee from a single origin is crucial to the brand. With every cup of coffee House Brew makes, it’s able to tell a story and pay honors to where it came from.

It is popular now for some coffee makers to have blends where they will call their roast “Colombian” when only 25% is from there, while the other 75% is from Brazil, the cheapest place to buy beans. Bergeron wanted to tell the truth about his coffee by making it 100% from its origin. 

“That’s also why our prices are so low,” Bergeron said. “Starbucks is charging $6.60 for a small latte and we’re charging $4.40.” 

One permanent location is not Bergeron’s goal, even though he does like where he’s at right now. The concept is that if someone wants coffee in their business, they would be able to purchase a cart. House brew will then send a barista there to run it.

The plan is to land themselves inside a high-volume office building, library or hospital where someone might not necessarily be thinking about coffee, but it’s there and convenient to buy. Bergeron and his traveling cart have made appearances at festivals like Capital City Beer Fest and the Cannabis Festival, which he said brings the full cart experience to the middle of nowhere. 

Bergeron said something special about House Brew’s current location is the sense of community that is present in Mid City. Originally from a suburb in Prairieville, where he would know his direct neighbors and not many others, he said it is nice seeing familiar faces everywhere he goes. Without limiting himself, Mid City is the only place Bergeron sees himself thriving.

“Mid City has a certain culture and this sense of community that is trying to build something that’s better for everybody,” Bergeron said. 

Before its permanent location, House Brew was just a young Bergeron’s dream. At 20 years old, he officially moved to Baton Rouge and was consistently working food service jobs. When he was a barista at Starbucks, he realized that he had a passion for coffee, so he bought his own espresso machine to make it at home. 

“I realized it was better than Starbucks,” Bergeron said. 

From there, he started studying what it took to start a business-like tax law, the mode of transportation for money and the best way to make money. Something that used to be a fun hobby quickly turned into something more.

Bergeron was working as a self-employed handyman and as a barista at a different coffee shop. With some extra free time on his hands, Bergeron set up a fold out table with a five-gallon water jug and an at home machine at private events. This hobby led him to getting fired from his barista job, but it gave him the proper kick start for his business. 

As his coffee cart picked up, needing a new fridge turned into needing a prettier menu, which turned into the installation of a sink and water purifier. Everything spiraled from something so basic to a coffee shop cart. House Brew is still a pop-up, just with the aspects that a permanent location would have. 

“Pick the thing that you enjoy, and you can see yourself doing,” Bergeron said. “When you care about it, it shows in your product.”

Bergeron has accomplished properly running his own business at the age of 23. He said since opening at Pelican to Mars, he has been able to hire a few baristas to help keep things going. Even though everything is all his, he said that it was almost like a co-op now, because everyone is making the same amount. He said what would have helped him the most was not listening to those who didn’t believe in his goals. 

Bergeron believes that the first step in achieving this mindset is having good ideas and thinking outside of the box. Find some values and see how you can bring them to the table. Then, keep your ideas to yourself and talk to people who are successful in the way you want to be, not how others are.

“I would say the turning point that allowed me to get ahead of that mindset and how it was affecting me was, when if they weren’t doing something, I wanted to do actively, I wouldn’t talk to them about it,” Bergeron said.  

House Brew will be present at White Light Night, Mid City’s largest art festival on Nov. 22. They will also be posted outside of Pelican to Mars with a full menu.