In our last blog post, we talked about our seasonal menu and why it means so much to us. This week, I wanted to share a little more about what goes into Get Fuller Cafe and what we hope makes it a special place to visit. For starters, we are owner-operated, and I really do mean owner-operated! When you visit the cafe, you’ll find Kathy, me, or both of us there. We personally prepare every meal and handle all the food prep ourselves. If you don’t see me, there’s a good chance I’m behind my computer working on something for the cafe or at my other part-time job, helping this little dream grow into something even more one day.

Kathy and I put together the menus, with some wonderful drink inspiration from our employees. We also handle the marketing, shopping, and all those little tasks that keep a small business going. There is a lot happening behind the scenes, and we care about every part of it because this cafe is something we are building with our own hands.

From the beginning, we wanted Get Fuller Cafe to offer good food, good drinks, and a place people love spending time. The food and drinks will always be one of our biggest priorities, but the atmosphere matters to us, too. Maybe you come for the plants, the outdoor setting, or the chance to watch the hummingbirds and butterflies. Maybe you just need a quiet moment in the middle of a busy day. If you take a little time to look around, we hope you’ll find something here that brings you a sense of peace.

Some of you may have noticed that your food can take a little longer here than at other places. A big reason for that is how we prepare it. From a simple fruit cup to The Breakfast Biscuit, our sandwiches, and our wraps, we make as much as we can to order. We want to serve you food that is fresh and prepared with care, and that takes time.

Working out of our small kitchen can be challenging, especially on days like today, when we’re preparing for a big event while also serving our regular customers. We’re always learning how to make things run more smoothly, and we know your time matters. Thank you for being patient with us while we give each order the attention it deserves. What we hope you notice in all of this is how much we care. We care about the meal we hand you, the drinks we put on the menu, and the space where you sit down to enjoy them. We want you to feel welcome and leave looking forward to your next visit.

Kathy and I put so much of ourselves into this little cafe, but our customers and employees are part of what makes it special, too. Every visit, kind word, kind review, recommendation to a friend, and familiar face coming back means so much to us. Thank you for spending part of your day with us and helping this dream grow. We hope you’ll come hungry, find a spot you love, and take a moment to enjoy what’s around you.

That’s what “more than coffee” means to us.

-Kate Fuller 10/9/26

Since we delved into the story of how the cafe became what it is today, let’s talk about what made us choose a seasonal menu.

The most important, and main reason we decided to highlight seasonal ingredients within our menu was to increase the quality of our food. When you choose to change your ingredients based on what is in season, you naturally end up with better-quality ingredients for your end product. And quality has always been a high priority for us.

Besides the fact that it just makes sense to utilize ingredients when they are in season, if you read my last blog, you know I have a history in kitchens and have experienced working in a kitchen where the menu was always the same.

One thing a good chef naturally acquires is creativity. Without constant change or new things being introduced, your brain will eventually experience burnout and boredom. You stop caring about the food you are making as much as you used to, or, in some cases, at all.

I wanted Get Fuller Cafe to be different. I wanted it to be a place where our employees, our customers, and even myself always have something to look forward to.

If you aren’t into fall flavors like pumpkin spice, caramel apples, brown butter, or maple, that’s okay! In just a few short months, we’ll have an entirely new menu. Seasonal menus encourage creativity, discussion, and even give our employees the opportunity to have a say in what makes it onto our next menu.

Of course, some of you may have noticed that there are certain menu items that you, and we, love so much that we just can’t get rid of them. And I must admit, that list seems to grow with every new menu release.

To name a few: Kathy’s Pick, The Fuller Favorite, Zestful Garden Salad, The Fuller Green, and many more.

But this brings me to my next point: seasonal menus allow us to listen to YOU, our customers, who are the most important voice for the cafe.

Although you may not always say it directly, we are always watching. We’re looking at our sales, seeing what did well, what required a lot of time and prep but didn’t perform, and what our customers simply weren’t interested in.

This gives us an amazing opportunity to learn, grow, and get better with every new menu release.

If you have personally heard me talk about our seasonal menus, you may have heard me say something along the lines of, “I definitely made it harder on myself with the seasonal menu.”

I must admit, that is 100% accurate. And not just for me,  I’m sure Kathy and all of our employees have their own complaints!

I mean, let’s discuss what all of this actually entails.

First, there’s coming up with new menu items. Then we have to try those menu items, get new pictures, write descriptions, determine prices, create the physical menu, and then comes the all-too-tedious task of putting everything into our POS system.

Then we have our online channels: DoorDash, our website, Uber Eats, and anything else that needs to be updated. Finally, there’s training, build cards, and recipes.

I’m sure I’m missing something, but you get the point.

To put it into perspective, I have created 16 new menus since we opened.

But… would I say it’s worth it?

100%.

It has allowed us to utilize the best ingredients, listen to all of you, and express as much of our creative freedom as we have the energy for.

With that being said, this last menu was especially fun to create because it was the first time I had a previous seasonal menu to reference. Looking back at our original menu, wow, has it changed. Or maybe “changed” isn’t even the right word. It has grown tremendously in less than a year.

And it gave me the opportunity to really stop and reflect on just how far we have come.

Kathy and I had literally zero idea what we were doing when we signed the lease for this little white building.

But looking at what we’ve built so far, I have to admit… I’m proud.

And you can bet the seasonal menu will always be a staple of Get Fuller Cafe.

-Kate Fuller 9/25/26

The Story Behind Get Fuller Cafe

Where do we begin? The story of Get Fuller Cafe actually started long before we ever found the little white building we now call home.

My love for cooking and baking began in elementary school when I was introduced to a cooking class. From there, I continued experimenting in the kitchen and preparing food at home whenever I had the opportunity.

Later, I attended Allen High School in Allen, Texas, where I joined its culinary program. The program included a student-run restaurant, giving us valuable, real-world experience in the hospitality industry. Throughout high school, I also worked several hospitality jobs, usually behind the scenes in the kitchen.

After graduating from high school, I began college at Stephen F. Austin State University, originally pursuing a hospitality degree with a focus in culinary arts. For whatever reason, Stephen F. Austin was not the right fit for me. I moved back closer to Allen, began attending community college, and continued gaining hands-on experience in the field I still loved.

That journey led me to a craft fine-dining restaurant and a catering company, where I helped prepare food for numerous weddings and special events. After spending about 10 years in Collin County, I was ready for a change and made the move to Houston.

Not long after I arrived, COVID-19 changed life for everyone. It was a stressful and uncertain time, but it was also very grounding. I eventually found a job at the Houston Zoo, where I worked my way up to running its restaurants, and even met my current fiancé.

During that time, I also began attending the University of Houston. I was still interested in the culinary world, but I shifted my focus toward the operations and management side of hospitality.

Eventually, though, I began to experience burnout. I was constantly tired and realized that I needed to take a break from the hospitality industry. For the first time in my life, I accepted a job outside of that world and began working alongside my mom, Kathy, marketing plants.

That experience helped me discover that I didn’t have just one passion. I had two passions that could actually be brought together: plants and food.

Through our shared love for plants, my mom and I discovered many local nurseries while traveling for our merchandising job. That journey eventually led us to Kim’s Home and Garden in Huntsville, TX.

One day, Kathy came across a post from Kim announcing that the little white building you see us in today was available to lease. I have to admit that when my mom first told me about it, I casually said, “Sure, okay, let’s do it,” without genuinely believing the idea would become a reality.

That was around August 2025. We met with Kim and quite literally hit the ground running. At that point, we didn’t even have a name, much less a complete understanding of everything we were getting ourselves into.

The name Get Fuller Cafe comes from our last name, Fuller, because family is incredibly important to us and remains the backbone of the cafe. A great deal of family love has gone into creating this business and making every customer’s experience as enjoyable as we can.

Over the next few months, we worked our way through paperwork, permits, forming an LLC, developing the cafe’s concept, designing the menu, creating a logo, building a website, and handling countless other details we had never considered before.

On October 4, 2025, Get Fuller Cafe officially opened its doors.

At least, we thought we were ready! About a week later, we quickly realized just how much we still had to learn. There were plenty of trials, errors, long days, and moments when we had to figure things out as we went.

We are proud to say that we have learned and grown so much along the way. We have created better processes that make our lives a little easier and, more importantly, make each customer’s experience more enjoyable.

Of course, we hope everyone leaves Get Fuller Cafe having enjoyed great food and drinks. More importantly, though, we want every customer to feel seen and acknowledged. We hope you leave with a little more faith in humanity and a reminder that genuine customer service still exists.

We truly care about your experience, what you enjoyed, how your visit went, and what we can do to make it even better the next time you visit.

Get Fuller Cafe is still a work in progress. We continue to learn, improve, and add new things every day, and we aren’t even officially a year old yet. Just like us, the cafe will continue learning and growing with every new season.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported us so far. This cafe was built with family, love, hard work, and the hope of creating a place where people feel genuinely cared for, and we cannot wait to see where this journey takes us next.

-Kate Fuller 9/11/26