“We ourselves are addicted to, and in love with, coffee and are chocoholics,” Paul Smith said. “We hoped from the beginning it would be this successful. We thought it was a good idea, and easy to replicate if we did a good job.”

Working with his brother has been easy.

“I’ve heard horror stories about family businesses, but my brother and I get along very well,” he said. “We’re very different, and we each have our own jobs that we do, which complement each other rather than both trying to do the same types of things, or even wanting to do the same things.”

Smith said he focuses on many of the financial aspects of growing the business, while his brother works with the details of implementing products and running the locations.

Great Lakes also has locations in Ann Arbor and Appleton, Wis. The coffee and chocolate shop offers a variety of truffles and specialty chocolates made by Michigan vendors, as well as fresh-roasted coffee.

“We roast our own coffee beans. Most other coffee shops don’t do that,” said Lansing store manager Jason Lantz. “It’s a small batch roast, so there’s a lot of TLC in there.”

The coffee beans are roasted every seven to 10 days, he said. The longer the beans are roasted, Lantz said, the bolder taste they have, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a higher quality.

“It’s like cooking a piece of steak. If you char an expensive piece of meat and a cheap piece of meat … it tastes the same,” he said. “If you cook them right, you can definitely taste the difference.”

Music senior Lisa Perry, said she was drawn to the “downtown coffee shop” atmosphere of Great Lakes. After coming to the shop a couple times, Perry said she decided to ask for an job application.

“This new location has such a mixed clientele — we get businessmen, politicians and students,” said Perry, who has now been working at the shop for about a month and a half. “It’s a really diverse dynamic.”

The morning coffee rush consists of professionals from nearby Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, Fifth Third Bank and regulars who live in the apartments and condominiums above the shop, Lantz said. In the evenings, it’s students from Cooley Law School and Lansing Community College.

Smith said he and his brother wanted the place to be warm and welcoming. Part of that comes in the artwork on the walls, some of which was created by their friends and children.

“We’ve got a lot of artwork from different folks,” Smith said. “I’ve got a friend who does lighthouse pictures, which are up in the stores. The kids do such a great job with their finger painting, or whatever art they’re doing. They absolutely love coming into the stores and seeing their work. It’s become a tradition.”