Rael Shiller - Pretoria's Coffee King

“Don’t be so nervous to take a risk – just go for it! If you follow through with your heart and believe in what you do and you’ll make a success of it.” This is what Rael Shiller tells me when I ask him what advice he would give to his younger self. Summarised, this is exactly what Rael did in his own life, and the risk that he took is now a booming business. The very same risk that earned the number 1 spot on TripAdvisor’s ‘Best coffee in Pretoria’ list. His risk was the coffee shop called Aroma. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that Aroma would turn into something like it did. It was just something fun at the outset, and I loved coffee, and it just turned into a real business.” Aroma is the source of much happiness for coffeepots all over Pretoria, and I should definitely know… I’m there nearly every day.

“I used to sit around the table with my family and eat dinner. My older brothers are seven years older than me and they both work with my dad, so there was always business being discussed around the table. From a young age I was exposed to that, and that’s where I got the entrepreneurial strand in me. It had a big influence on me,” Rael Shiller recalls his childhood fascination with the world of business. Although the Shiller’s are a household name in the printing industry, Rael, son of the printing giant Stanley Shiller, had other dreams for himself.

Whilst completing his honours year in finance after finishing his undergraduate degree, Rael worked for his father at the printing firm during the days, as all of his classes were at night. “One day I was at work and I looked up and saw my brothers and my dad working there, and I thought to myself, ‘Why are we going to put all of our eggs in one basket? Isn’t there something else for me out there to do?” That was the first spark of an idea that would eventually give rise to the extremely successful coffee shop Aroma.

Whilst Rael was still searching for ideas about his future, he took a trip to Cape Town. As he was walking down one street, he saw two coffee roasteries within 100 metres of each other – both with long queues of people waiting for their cuppas. Looking at Pretoria five years ago, Rael recalls, there wasn’t really an established coffee culture. That was when he decided to conceptualise his own coffee shop and roastery in his hometown. “Before I knew it, I had the roasting equipment from America on its way, and I was roasting coffee.” Rael had his heart set on the business that he wanted to pursue… and if there wasn’t a coffee culture here, then he was going to create one.

One of the things that struck me the most, though, was Rael’s honesty about Aroma when I asked him where he gained his expertise from. “I have to admit… I got my expertise from YouTube. I taught myself everything I know with regards to coffee and barista work, and I just practiced and worked at it.” It is through hard work that Rael gained his know-how of his trade, and from there, he simply worked and worked, until he found himself at the top.

When I asked Rael what he thought made Aroma so unique, he had this to say: "A lot of people ask me that, and I can’t pinpoint it down to one fact, but my staff definitely play a huge role. You’re only as good as your staff. If I’m not here, you need to be able to count on your staff being as good as you, and that’s exactly what it is. Picking the right staff is the most important thing. A friendly face goes a long way, and that’s what we always make sure we have here.” In my opinion, the thing that makes them different is that together, they’ve created a community where people feel valued. The regular customers are all greeted by name, and in cases like mine, the waiters ask me if I’m having ‘the regular’ before I’ve even ordered. There is just such a good vibe created by the people there that one cannot help but feel happy.

Rael also differentiated his coffee shop from competitors by creating a fresh and aesthetically appealing interior with the décor: from chairs that are covered in burlap with the Aroma logo printed on it, to the bright graffiti on the walls. “I wanted people to come here and talk about it. The best method of marketing is word of mouth, and if you get people talking, they will come back,” says Rael. He also cites that he never imagined opened the neighbouring gelato shop, but he saw an opportunity in the market, and the pairing of coffee and gelato was simply a match made in heaven. “There’s constant tweaking to the business, adding new and cool ideas. You have to keep up with the times, because otherwise you fall behind.”

When I enquired about the man behind the coffee machine, Rael had a revelation that surprised me quite a bit: “I don’t tell many people this, but I’m an avid computer geek. I love playing computer games in my spare time. I don’t think anybody would have thought that, but since this is going on the internet, people can now know the real me!” He laughs. “Apart from that, I love gym and soccer.”

The one thing that I admire the most about Rael, is his perseverance in his profession. There are so many coffee shop owners that are never at their shops, but every time I come to Aroma, Rael is there without fail, working away next to his staff. He is someone who truly knows the value of hard work, and has built his coffee empire from the ground, brick by brick. That is exactly why he is the coffee king.