Dan Sloan begrudgingly admits that maybe it's a little more than coincidental that every neighborhood The Mill Coffee & Tea enters soon begins to blossom.
It happened in the historic Haymarket district in the late 1980s. College View got a boost when The Mill opened a coffee shop there in 2000.
And six years ago, the Telegraph District and Nebraska Innovation Campus felt the same bounce that is now being noticed in Omaha, where The Mill opened its first shop outside of Lincoln in March.
"I guess we make good things happen in neighborhoods," said Sloan, the co-owner of the Lincoln-based coffee chain.
Perhaps it's the business model that offers not only a good cup of coffee but also a place for people to gather. Surrounding businesses naturally feel an uptick in foot traffic.
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This week, the Preservation Association of Lincoln honored Dan and Tamara Sloan with its City Center Award, saying The Mill locations have played a pivotal role in Lincoln's historic preservation.
The award also recognizes the attention paid to the architectural integrity of every building they occupy. At The Mill's Haymarket location, the brick building and original wood floors give the feeling of a bygone era.
The honors, which seem to come regularly, continue to surprise the Sloans because they are not in business to win awards.
"You should never say, 'Oh yeah, we expect this,'" he said. "We really don't. There are a lot of places and agencies, architect firms, printing companies that apply for awards. They try to win awards.
"That's not us. We are just trying to do cool things and it's nice when we get recognized for them."