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S6:13 - John Pierson, Servant Coffee · Coffee People Podcast

0:11
Hey, there in. Good morning, everyone.
0:13
Welcome to season 6. Episode 13 of the roast West
0:16
Coast coffee podcast. I'm Ryan Walton.
0:19
This is the show where I bring you the stories of coffee
0:21
professionals entrepreneurship and coffee education.
0:25
Today's guest is Jon Pearson. He's the founder of servant
0:29
coffee in. Or Colorado.
0:31
He's also an unlikely entrepreneur who at one point
0:34
actually made a promise that he wouldn't start his own business.
0:37
In today's conversation, we're going to cover that how he made
0:40
the career move from a big corporate Energy company to the
0:43
coffee industry, the value of travel, and how an
0:46
entrepreneurship. And frankly, life things often
0:50
don't go as planned. John was kind enough to send me
0:53
a few bags of coffee in the best compliment.
0:55
I can give any coffee roaster, is that when I try it, I want to
0:59
share it with my own coffee, loving, often coffee, roasting
1:03
friends, which is exactly what I did after I first enjoyed
1:06
servants honey, process Bolivia coffee while editing the show.
1:10
Unfortunately, I'm all out of that.
1:12
So while you're listening to the interview, I'll be online at
1:15
serving coffee.com, ordering more coffee and I hope that
1:19
wherever you are listening, be it for the coffee.
1:21
Or for the inspirational entrepreneurial stories.
1:24
You have a cup of your own roasted craft coffee.
1:27
That is so good. So tasty that you want to share
1:30
it with your friends to enjoy that cup and enjoy this
1:34
conversation with John Pearson founder of servant coffee.
1:48
Okay. Sounds good.
1:49
Thanks for having me. No, thanks for being here.
1:52
Welcome to the show. The roast West Coast coffee
1:55
podcast. I always forget to say that at
1:56
the beginning. If you wouldn't mind for
2:00
everybody, who's going to be listening to this show, just let
2:02
us know your name. The name of your company in your
2:05
role there and then maybe what your favorite place to travel to
2:10
in the world is so just a very simple, easy question.
2:16
No problem. So my name is John Pearson.
2:19
I'm the owner and founder of servant coffee based here in
2:24
Denver Colorado and we've been in business for about two and a
2:28
half years now. So let's see.
2:31
Travel that's always a hard question because my wife is
2:34
actually a travel agent and we love to travel.
2:39
So I'm pretty much anywhere in the UK is our favorite because
2:44
we spent the first five and a half.
2:47
Of our marriage living in London.
2:49
So I love to go too crazy, exotic places, but going back to
2:54
London is just so sentimental for me and my family so we love
2:58
it there. Well, I had a ulterior motive
3:01
for asking that question because I knew that that's what your
3:04
wife did. And since we're right at the
3:06
beginning of the show and everyone's still listening, I
3:09
want to make sure that we shout out purposeful wanderings and
3:12
I'll link to that in the show notes.
3:14
It was the name of the company, I believe your wife.
3:17
It works with, that's right. And I was reading through it and
3:20
just kind of learning that story earlier before the show really
3:23
interesting for anyone who also likes to travel, which a lot of
3:26
coffee. People do the totally.
3:29
Let's let's kind of go back in time a little bit, John, I
3:33
really wanted to learn a little bit more about you specifically,
3:36
kind of, if you had any sort of first experiences with coffee
3:40
that maybe foretold this future in which you owned a coffee
3:43
company, Yeah, definitely. So a little of my background and
3:49
I would say, the first time from a coffee experience perspective
3:53
was, I was drinking office coffee and Corporate America.
3:57
And my first cup was about I would say 26 years old.
4:01
So I didn't drink coffee when I was younger and it was more
4:06
cream and sugar with a little Dash coffee in there.
4:09
So you can I kind of grew up in that office environment with
4:14
very Cheap coffee but hey you know it got us through the day
4:17
and gave us that little caffeine boost that we needed.
4:20
And so you know I think my road with coffee has been an
4:24
evolution over time. So sometimes I can relate a lot
4:29
to our office clients because I used to drink you know very you
4:33
know low in coffee. So there's something out there
4:35
for everyone. Honestly when it comes to
4:37
coffee. So that was kind of my first
4:40
experience with it and it kind of grew from there and evolved
4:43
over time you know into The end of the specialty coffee world.
4:48
Where in the world were you, you obviously don't have a British
4:51
accent so I'm guessing you move to England at some point, where
4:54
were you in Corporate America and what were you doing before
4:57
this coffee career started? Yeah, so I spent the first
5:02
coming out of college, I was actually a mechanical engineer
5:06
leaving University in Texas. I grew up most of my life in
5:10
Houston. I went to Texas A&M for
5:13
undergrad. Did engineering there, came back
5:15
to Houston and worked in the energy industry and I work for
5:19
the same company for 15 years. So my first 10 years were in
5:23
Houston and then right around that same time as when I met
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Sarah and we got married and Two months after getting married.
5:31
We moved overseas and I got transferred over London.
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So we were in London, just over five years before I left that
5:39
one company and then that was kind of the transition Point
5:43
taking a little bit of a sabbatical and traveling with
5:46
the kids just thinking about, you know, what we were going to
5:49
do next, and that's how we kind of landed into the end of the
5:52
coffee world. Well, that's it.
5:54
That's an interesting thing is that you left your job.
5:57
Trying to figure out where you were going next.
6:00
What was the Tipping Point that made you think not only opening
6:03
your own business, which it is its own challenge.
6:06
But opening one in coffee, was the thing that you wanted to do.
6:10
Yeah, it was not immediate, I mean, I actually left my company
6:14
thinking, I would stay in the internet in the energy industry.
6:17
I just kind of wanted to work for a smaller company and so
6:21
thinking about that and taking a little bit of time away, I was
6:26
always a lover of coffee as a consumer.
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I loved. I kind of like I said before,
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evolved kind of over time and what I was drinking and what I
6:34
liked and then living in London was, you know, really
6:38
transformational just in terms of the Tile because it's so much
6:41
more of an espresso based culture, you know, in the UK and
6:45
in Europe, versus in the us where we drink a lot more drip
6:48
coffee. And so that's where I think a
6:51
lot of the change you know, was happening and I kind of joke
6:54
with my wife. I think I threw her for a loop
6:57
that I told her when I left that I would never be an
6:59
entrepreneur. I always wanted to work for a
7:02
smaller company but I never really wanted to start something
7:05
on my own but they're, you know, plans change and things evolved.
7:09
But I think the Tipping Point which kind of hopefully answers
7:13
your question more directly is that when we landed back in the
7:16
US and we decided we were going to go move back to the us.
7:20
We had a bit of time until we were closing on our house in
7:22
Denver which we had Chosen. And so we decided, let's go to
7:26
Columbia because my wife wanted to see it from a tourism
7:29
perspective, she was getting more and more requests and I
7:32
really wanted to go experience coffee at origin.
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I mean, I really needed to understand the agricultural side
7:39
more. If this was something I wanted
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to do and so we did that with our kids, we took our two young
7:45
kids down to Colombia, we were there about two, two and a half
7:48
weeks stayed on to different coffee plantations and and
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really just try to be a sponge and soak up as much information
7:55
as we could. And I just I really fell in love
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with what the service of kind of this next wave of coffee was
8:03
bringing to the world. So more transparency, more
8:06
direct relationships with either the farmer or the co-op that
8:10
Your sourcing from and I just thought, man this could really
8:13
make a difference in people's lives and so that's kind of the
8:16
evolution of serving coffee and where we got the name was that
8:20
we always felt like we need that daily.
8:22
Reminder to serve other people first before ourselves and I
8:26
need that on a constant, you know, on a daily basis.
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So it helps me a lot as I approach work, that's really
8:33
interesting. I don't want to kind of hammer
8:36
you with this kind of question, but I don't want to lose this
8:39
little bit of thread. Either where you made a promise
8:42
to your wife, that you weren't going to be an entrepreneur that
8:44
you weren't going to start your own thing and something changed
8:47
to make. You think not only can I do
8:49
this, but I can convince her that it's a good idea.
8:52
I mean, obviously you wanted to bring coffee and this idea of
8:55
serving others into your company, but what made you
8:59
decide to do that for yourself instead of just getting a job in
9:03
coffee or working for another great Roasters?
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I mean, Denver is famous for having great coffee.
9:08
I go to Denver couple times a year, just To drink beer and
9:11
coffee. So, yep.
9:13
What made you decide if I'm going to do this.
9:15
I'm doing it for me. Well, I think that was kind of a
9:18
two-stage process one. I think I'm still daily trying
9:22
to convince my wife, if this is true but she has she has been an
9:27
amazing Rock and level of, you know, support for serving coffee
9:32
and has been involved in different stages of the of the
9:35
growth of the business. But so I genuinely believe that,
9:38
you know, both we each have our own company but they're both our
9:40
companies really at the end of the day because that's how we
9:43
look at it. But, you know, I think the
9:45
decision to really start my own Saying I gave myself once we
9:49
moved to Denver I kind of said okay we sort of moved here in
9:54
like mid-september and I said I'm going to give myself
9:57
basically until the holidays to decide what we're going to do
10:01
and whether that was going to try to apply and work at one of
10:04
the local Roasters first to learn the industry or to jump
10:09
out and do our own thing. And so I always thought if I
10:12
found the right culture and the right fit and you know, the
10:15
right owner Did I would potentially do that, but I just
10:21
spent, literally that time from from sort of mid-september up
10:26
until Christmas, time of that first year here in, Denver, just
10:30
doing as much research as I possibly could.
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And I almost met Mo. I met almost all of the owners
10:36
of the local coffee roasters here in Denver and they were
10:39
phenomenal. I mean, everybody, I couldn't
10:42
believe how open of an environment was everybody told
10:45
me? What worked?
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Well, what Work. Well, you know, whether or not
10:49
to get into retail, which is always a, which is always a
10:53
really interesting point, but in just the challenges really of
10:57
running a Roastery and setting it up and and doing everything.
11:02
And so I had a local connection when we were in Colombia as
11:04
well, to a guy who is from Colombia, but was living in
11:08
Denver and was a little bit involved in kind of the the
11:12
industry and was also selling tea.
11:13
And so that relationship. Fostered, a lot of this
11:17
Development from the ground up. And he said, you know, it was
11:19
kind of a lot of his recommendations that I relied
11:22
on. I said, well, I'm thinking about
11:23
doing this. Do you want to do you want to
11:25
give me a hand? And and he said yes.
11:27
And so we were kind of off and running at that point.
11:29
And and and there probably was one or two rosaries that I could
11:32
have seen myself working at. But, you know, I think at that
11:34
point, I just felt very compelled to jump off and get
11:39
rolling and and do my own thing. So I had a vision already for
11:44
kind of what, you know the brand would look like.
11:47
And what the feel of the company would look like.
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And so I just think there was a huge amount of.
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I felt like we needed to just take ownership from day one and
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I always felt like I was the worst.
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I was like you know, everybody's critic, right?
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I think a lot of us walk into coffee shops and we or we walk
12:02
into bakeries or we walk into any sort of like food service
12:06
and we're always thinking critically about oh I would
12:07
change this, I wouldn't do that and and I said well I'm I think
12:11
I'm done with that, you know, I'm going to do it you know the
12:14
way the way you know, that we Want to and and we'll see if
12:19
it's successful. So I think there was a here that
12:22
jump-off point that I was just ready to do it.
12:26
My wife has told me many times that I have ruined the
12:28
experience of going to restaurants for her because when
12:31
I walk in, that's the first thing.
12:32
I'm doing is looking around with a critical eye, and it doesn't
12:36
mean that I don't appreciate the work that's being done, or how
12:38
great it is. It's just, those are the things
12:40
I see first after spending, so many years, trying to fix those
12:44
things and places that I was working in, you mentioned
12:47
Wholesale and Retail. You do have a cafe, although I
12:50
will say your you open late, which is why I didn't get a
12:53
chance to visit while I was in Denver recently later in the
12:56
morning, at least on your neighbors, but you clearly do
13:00
both, what made you decide to go with a place that people can
13:04
come and visit as well as wholesale.
13:06
So are our things a little bit misleading, honestly, because
13:10
when you fill out, there's a little thing with Google when we
13:14
first launched. So we have a space on On Santa
13:17
Fe in between second and third. And that's our headquarters and
13:21
Roastery and fulfillment location.
13:23
And we don't have a servant coffee branded retail location
13:27
yet. However, at the Roasterie we
13:30
have a little Tasting Room in the front.
13:32
That if you were looking at the pictures, it looks like it's a
13:34
retail outlet. We are not zoned for actual
13:38
retail so we don't sell cappuccinos and lattes, they're
13:42
great to know. I'm glad I didn't drive over
13:44
then, but what's funny? Is that after a couple of years
13:49
now you kind of built up a lot more in your Google search deal.
13:53
So when people we get people that walk in the front door
13:56
every two to three days now, and they're like, oh really?
14:00
Yes, can we get? I definitely thought you did.
14:05
Yeah, but you weren't the only one.
14:06
I will say, I was traveling for about eight weeks.
14:10
And I went to at least three Roasters, like physically,
14:13
walked in the door, expecting to get coffee and had to have them
14:17
tell Me. We're sorry we don't do that
14:19
here and anyone listening if that happens to you I don't know
14:23
why I looked over at my microphone.
14:25
There's nobody here in the closet with me but instinctive,
14:28
but if you if that happens to you ask the people there, where
14:32
do they get coffee in the morning?
14:33
If not their own Roastery because they probably know
14:36
what's around. And I found some great coffee
14:38
shops that way. Yep.
14:41
Then your focus is wholesale. You are not only jumping into a
14:46
new industry, starting a new business, you're living in a new
14:49
city. You have your Columbia
14:53
connection and you went out and aggressively or meeting other
14:55
Roasters. How did you start getting
14:57
clients? How did people start finding out
14:59
about you? What was your your process for
15:01
that? I walked in the front door,
15:04
honestly. It was about as simple as that
15:08
and Sarah and I, you know, one of the blessings that we had
15:11
from day one is that I think any time you start any type of
15:15
entrepreneur reaches out and starts a new business.
15:17
But typically, if it's a consumer product, you know, you
15:20
just immediately go to your connections and a lot of that is
15:23
friends and family. And we feel so blessed to have
15:28
really great friends and family. And everybody has been so
15:32
supportive and me, I really feel like your growth in that first
15:37
year is just so much word of mouth.
15:40
I mean, your own effort puts a lot into it, but you have to do
15:43
a lot of things. You know, you can't spend all
15:46
your time driving around and looking for new clients.
15:49
I mean you have a new facility and you have inspections and you
15:52
just have Market me, you have so many different things you're
15:54
dealing with. So you know that early support
15:58
is what really helped get us off the ground, you know it.
16:02
A lot of, you know, just hustling, you know, at the end
16:05
of the day, so we have a lot of direct to Consumers, as well.
16:09
They go directly to our website. Obviously, we didn't know
16:13
marketing. I mean, I spent no dollars on
16:15
marketing for the first year and a half effectively.
16:18
So, a lot of it was word of mouth and just getting the
16:21
getting the word out and then obviously we launched in late
16:27
2019. So it's like october-november
16:29
2019. So five months later, the
16:31
pandemic, it It's and some of the wholesale clients that we've
16:34
gotten on board were offices and churches, and that coffee
16:38
consumption went to zero overnight.
16:40
So, we were faced with some serious challenges, you know.
16:43
So, I've learned wholeheartedly as an entrepreneur, you have to
16:48
embrace change, you can have a plan, you can have a good solid
16:51
business plan, but you have to be able to accept change, I feel
16:55
like at all times and so we kind of had to Pivot at that point
16:59
and I always thought we would go into grocery at some point, but
17:03
it would be way further down the line.
17:06
And the pandemic was just brought out that, hey, this is
17:09
where the whole consumer, you know, this is where he's going,
17:12
you know, everybody's going to grocery stores because it's the
17:14
only place that's open and so that was a huge lesson for us is
17:17
just, you know, jumping off and changing course and we got
17:21
really lucky. We, the buyer for the region of
17:24
Whole Foods was living in Denver and I got connected to him
17:28
somehow just by calling them up and We send them their coffee
17:31
and three days later they accepted us so.
17:34
Wow, in about six months later, we were on the Shelf so it takes
17:37
a long time from an approval perspective, but that was a huge
17:41
help to our business. And so it's kind of funny that
17:45
that balance between you know, what we call retail or what
17:49
would I would say like a direct consumer model where they're
17:51
buying directly from your website and hold and and true
17:54
wholesale, you know, to cafes and offices churches, this type
17:59
of thing. So Knowing that that's been your
18:03
process so far and you pivoted kind of early in the pandemic I
18:08
think it's great that a lot of groceries Whole Foods included
18:11
are offering local coffees at their groceries.
18:13
Even large, chains, you can generally find a local coffee.
18:16
If that is where you're buying coffee.
18:18
I always like it when people go right to the source but you
18:20
know, it's still still sales to that business.
18:23
That's great. What do you see for the future
18:27
of of the Grandeur of the company?
18:29
Is there going to be a Retail Cafe someday.
18:31
Is it a bigger footprint and grocery?
18:34
You know, where do you see this expanding out to or not for that
18:38
matter? Yeah, that's a good question.
18:41
I mean right now we are really content.
18:44
Kind of, with what we're doing. We feel like there's still a lot
18:47
of Runway. I love that.
18:48
We are very focused on on roasting and bringing a great
18:53
product to the market. And at the end of the day, I
18:55
want to make sure that we deliver value to our clients.
18:58
You know. I think a lot of people realize,
18:59
I think they're willing to spend a little extra on a bag of
19:03
coffee if they feel like you're delivering value within that.
19:06
And so that's kind of my core message.
19:09
Edge to our team that we're trying to live out right now and
19:11
I still think we have a significant amount of Runway to
19:14
do that. I certainly haven't ruled out
19:17
retail, but right now we're not really actively looking at that.
19:22
But that doesn't mean to say that if a great opportunity came
19:25
up, we wouldn't maybe jump at it.
19:26
So again, I think you do have to be open to change but it changed
19:30
your lifestyle to mean. There are costs that come along
19:32
with that. And I've learned that from some
19:34
of our good friends here in Denver who, you know, are
19:37
running their Roastery and In a couple of retail outlets and,
19:41
you know, all of a sudden your weakens change a lot.
19:45
So, I think, you know, you just have to be prepared for that.
19:48
And having two young children, I really value my time with them
19:53
on the weekends and so that has always taken priority.
19:57
For me is being with my kids on the weekends, they're both down
20:02
in elementary school so we don't see him, you know, that much
20:05
during the day during the week, obviously.
20:07
But you know, as they get older. You know things will, you know,
20:10
tend to change and and we'll see, you know, I think, you
20:13
know, I think there's a good the retail business in Denver's
20:17
pretty strong. And what I love about Colorado
20:19
is it's full of a lot of people that like to support local
20:22
businesses. So that's always a positive.
20:25
I'm struck there's a photo on the wall behind you, I believe,
20:30
from Brazil Brazil. Yep, yep.
20:33
I'm struck by how much it looks like your logo at least in
20:36
layout of the what I believe is like a horn go out on top of a
20:40
mountain. It kind of has a similar vibe to
20:43
it. How did you come up with The
20:44
Branding design of your company and and how does that play into
20:47
the servant concept? If it does?
20:49
Yeah, let's see. Okay.
20:51
So the picture first is those come from my days.
20:55
Back in energy, even though I was based in Houston, we were a
21:00
pretty large firm across the world.
21:02
And so I did a lot of traveling to a lot of our major
21:05
facilities. And so I would go to Rio, you
21:08
know, once to twice a year and I loved it there.
21:10
I mean, it's really Dynamic, it's really fun.
21:13
And there's always every Sunday, there's this, there's an art
21:17
festival. I think it's a name ponemah
21:19
where all the local artists come out and they display their works
21:22
and and you go down there. And so I bought at this and then
21:27
brought it back and had it mounted here just because I love
21:29
I love the black and white in the shade but that's the that's
21:33
kind of the coastline of Rio De Janeiro, which I still think is
21:37
one of the most beautiful in the world.
21:38
So I've had that I've had that picture for quite a long time
21:42
now and I think it's just irony you know, that it looks a little
21:45
similar, you are to our logo. So I did work with kind of a
21:50
design firm when we were building out the brand and the
21:54
color palette the Bill and all that kind of stuff.
21:57
Because I am at heart, not a creative person.
22:00
I am more of an engineer, and I would say more kind of, like
22:05
business analyst, you know, strengths.
22:08
I'm Not A Creative Design person.
22:10
So I knew I always needed help, you know, from a professional
22:13
firm to help with doing all the assets of the company.
22:17
So we work together on that collectively.
22:19
We told him who you are, who we are, what we represent and then
22:22
they started working on the feel of the brand.
22:25
Until we got something that we agreed upon and that was a
22:28
really cool process because I got to see some guys in action,
22:31
do things that I just had no idea about.
22:34
So when we found, when they were working on the logo, I was
22:38
always really critical about that because I believe I'm
22:41
really tied in with the logo. I was like, I really want the
22:44
logo to be something very eye-catching and cool because I
22:47
just love being able to put the logo on things, but have it be
22:50
subtle, you know, I'm not as big a fan of like putting a Big
22:54
Brand all over a t-shirt. Rather have something small kind
22:57
of represents who we are and not have it be overwhelming.
23:01
So they, I told him the only stipulation, I'll let you guys
23:04
do whatever you want with the logo.
23:05
The only stipulation I have is not to use any animals.
23:08
I'm not really big on animals and logos, and they were like,
23:12
okay, yeah, we understand that. No problem.
23:14
We come to the meeting design meeting Sarah, my wife is with
23:17
me and they show us 12 logos and kind of talk through the
23:20
intricacies. And they did a lot of play on
23:23
the essence e and and that kind of stuff.
23:25
If and, and we're sitting there and there's this, like, you
23:28
know, animal one up in the corner and Sarah and I look at
23:32
each other and were like, I can't believe I'm saying this
23:34
but I like that one, the best. Well, it worked.
23:38
I know my I was looking through your website the other day and
23:43
my wife kind of looked over my shoulder and saw like some of
23:46
your t-shirts and hoodies and things and she's like, oh, I
23:49
like those, she's like, do they have good coffee?
23:50
Like would you be okay if we got some and I was like, well I
23:53
haven't had their coffee yet. Well, You know let me talk to
23:56
John and see if he's a good guy. We'll see if we can.
23:58
Well don't worry, we'll be sending you.
24:01
I've got I know that that's not my pitch here.
24:04
I'm just saying the design work that she was ready to buy it
24:08
based on just looking over my shoulder.
24:10
Well, I'll make sure that I post photos of kind of something
24:14
similar to what you have in the background there and then the
24:16
logo and people can kind of decide for themselves if maybe
24:19
that sunk into your subconscious somewhere.
24:22
Cool. How is the the Coronavirus?
24:25
Been treating your company I'm assuming in the beginning.
24:29
It was mostly just you and and support from your family and,
24:34
you know, roasting coffee and you mentioned going and being
24:37
Desales and bringing in people. How did you kind of function
24:40
your business during the coronavirus early days before we
24:44
understood a little bit? Better about how to interact
24:46
with the world? Yeah, I mean, I kind of gets I
24:49
gave you a little bit of the one-story there.
24:51
We sort of pivoted and went into grocery much earlier than I ever
24:55
expected. Expected.
24:56
I mean I was also not sure whether we'd ever go into
24:58
grocery but you know, pandemic was something to change the
25:01
world and the way you looked at the world.
25:03
So, you know, we really had to think differently.
25:06
It was a blessing and a curse for us.
25:08
You know. The one thing I think is, if we
25:10
had a bigger direct consumer brand where people were drinking
25:15
at home, I think it would have been a massive gift because
25:18
everybody started ordering more coffee, but we were so young
25:22
that we didn't have. Thousands of clients ordering
25:25
coffee at home. We maybe had like 100 or
25:27
something like that so that consumption, definitely helped,
25:31
you know, but but people drinking one extra bag, you know
25:35
of coffee at home is not going to, it's not going to change
25:37
your business overnight. So we really just completely had
25:41
to think differently. So the blessing side of it is
25:43
that we were very small. We didn't have a large overhead,
25:47
obviously we're paying rent on our space, but I did not have a
25:50
lot of employees and I didn't have any cafes.
25:53
That I had to shut down. So, in those regards I would
25:57
say, we were lucky for that. So we really buckle down brought
26:02
our cost level structure down and then went out and try to
26:05
get, you know, new business where we could, you know.
26:08
So there was obviously a little bit more limited during that
26:11
time, and the growth was a little bit slower than what we
26:13
anticipated. But because I kind of believe in
26:17
a very low operating cost model, and then building upon that, we
26:22
were lucky to kind of make it through.
26:23
Through without a lot of you know and I didn't really even
26:26
have to cut back the guys hours that I had.
26:29
I had about two guys working for me at the time and really didn't
26:32
have to trim them back much at all.
26:33
I just filled them with other stuff to do so.
26:37
We were lucky that. We were small and it didn't
26:40
drown us at the time and we were always being labeled in food
26:45
production and because you're in food production, we were really
26:48
never in doubt. I don't think we were ever that
26:49
in danger of being shut down because like, like you seen like
26:53
our Roastery. We're not open to the public.
26:55
So obviously, we weren't welcoming people in at all, our
26:58
team, we're taking the necessary precautions in the facility, but
27:03
in a lot of ways, it's safer because you're just interacting
27:05
with the same people every day. You know, you're not acting like
27:07
you're not relating, you're not interacting with a with a
27:10
diverse group of people every day.
27:12
So we definitely had to think a little bit differently, but we
27:15
were lucky to get through that you mentioned earlier.
27:18
That one of the things that coronavirus did, is it changed
27:21
how people looked at the world? You come from a fairly travel,
27:27
heavy background, both for work and then with your family and
27:30
your wife is a travel agent. I one know when I first reached
27:32
out to you were traveling overseas somewhere, I'm
27:36
wondering. and you know, your thoughts on kind of the value of
27:38
travel and how you see that differently now as opposed to
27:41
say two years ago, when travel was really restricted and if
27:46
you've been on any origin trips or if that's part of kind of the
27:48
future for you, in the coffee side of things, Yeah.
27:52
I mean I don't think I mean one of the things I think the
27:56
pandemic showed us is, I think in general I think people most
28:02
people really appreciate and enjoy travel.
28:04
I mean my wife is I think when you don't have something, it
28:08
kind of shows you how much you miss it too.
28:11
So for us, I don't I don't think we really look at Travel that
28:15
differently. We just think about how quickly
28:17
it can be taken away, you know? And so let's Treasure and value
28:22
the time that we do have to interact with the world.
28:25
I think. Sarah and I both are big
28:26
Believers. That travel opens your eyes and
28:29
it allows you to see and experience other cultures which
28:33
can give you a new perspective, you know.
28:35
And I think New Perspectives are always good regardless of you
28:38
know some are positive, some are negative, but it helps form a
28:42
nice, you know, Viewpoint of what other people face in the
28:45
world. We're very blessed here in
28:47
America to have a lot clearly. There are people struggling here
28:50
to Without a doubt, you know. But life is very different when
28:53
you go to Africa, which I spent a lot of time in, you know, and
28:56
energy, and life is very different in India versus Europe
29:00
and Asia. So, I just love having those
29:03
diverse experiences because it's definitely shaped the way I look
29:06
at the world. So I mean, I hope that answers
29:09
your question. But yeah, it's it's an in terms
29:12
of origin trips. I kind of set out a goal for a
29:15
company that we do one origin trip at minimum a year and
29:18
hopefully we get to the point to do more.
29:21
You know, but we have to balance that, you know, with being a
29:24
small company as well. So, you know, the guys, they've
29:27
already been to Guatemala this year.
29:30
Sometimes I go. But honestly, what's more
29:32
important to me, is the team goes, you know?
29:34
Sarah and I feel very lucky that we've been able to travel to a
29:37
lot of these places. And so I want our guys who are
29:41
the, you know, the real value behind our brand.
29:43
I mean I don't believe that certain coffee is really mine.
29:45
It's really the company. It's ours, is a whole, you know,
29:49
the collective Union of us. So I I want all of them to be to
29:52
be vested in our success. And so, our head of operations
29:56
in our head of coffee, they went down to Guatemala this year and
30:01
then our head of coffee you went to Rwanda last year.
30:03
So we I'm a big believer that we have to Foster and maintain, you
30:09
know, those relationships that origin.
30:11
I think it's the core of who we are.
30:14
You know, I think there's a lot of, you know, lip service in
30:17
coffee. You know, I think a lot of
30:18
people write about origin stories.
30:21
It when you ask them, have they been there?
30:24
Have they met anybody? It sometimes Is Not What It
30:27
Seems, you know? So, I want to make sure that we
30:31
prioritize that in value that, and, and I'm very open and
30:34
honest with everybody that I say, we don't know every one of
30:36
our producers, we want to, we would love to, and that can be
30:40
very difficult to do and very expensive, you know.
30:43
So there has to be a little bit of a balance, you know?
30:46
So we're trying to make sure that we, we do prioritize that
30:50
in our business, and we go to origin.
30:51
Ian, every year somewhere. Sure in the same way that I as a
30:56
customer and putting my trust in the roasters that I support or
31:00
buy coffee from, I'm trusting that they're doing some of the
31:03
work to figure out, you know, that the chain between them and
31:06
in order to and you're also doing that with perhaps a green
31:11
fire salesman or a company that's sourcing coffee for you.
31:15
And that just grew is a growing trust that grows over time.
31:18
As you learned that people do things the way that match your
31:21
values. You don't have a family.
31:23
Young kids, you mentioned and you prioritize your weekends.
31:28
I'm wondering how being an entrepreneur has impacted kind
31:31
of the rest of your life as opposed to working for a I was
31:36
going to say corporate overlords but that's not what I meant but
31:39
the work larger company. Has it been and a good
31:45
transition for you as a person and, you know, and for being
31:48
around or for your family were seeing you in a different way
31:51
than maybe they did before. Yeah, it's definitely it's very
31:56
much a different day to day routine, I would say.
31:59
So overall it's been an absolute net positive through and through
32:05
but that's not to say didn't come with a some real adjustment
32:08
especially in the first year it might have actually prepared us
32:11
for the pandemic, much more than other people because you know it
32:15
was over a solid year and a half then my wife and I had been more
32:19
around each other and having her own businesses and a little bit
32:22
more flexibility with time. And working from home.
32:25
So in a lot of ways that prepared us a lot for the
32:28
pandemic. We didn't really feel like our
32:29
life changed that much compared to a lot of people that were out
32:33
there and used to go into an office every day for 8 to 10
32:37
hours. So, it was definitely an
32:40
adjustment. You know, I work for a larger
32:42
much larger company and in Europe, I traveled almost every
32:45
week at least for one night, so I was never gone for very long
32:50
stints, but I did do a lot of corporate travel, so it Is a big
32:54
adjustment being an entrepreneur, running my own
32:57
business and then not having to travel as much but we really
33:02
fell into a I really feel like Sarah and I had got into a
33:05
really good rhythm of kind of what our responsibilities were
33:10
around the house and how we kind of took on a little bit more now
33:13
being around more often so that freed her up to do a little bit
33:17
more work. And so, you know, we're always
33:19
trying to find that right that right balance you know, with the
33:22
kids and You know, at the end of the day, you know, our marriage,
33:27
you know, our faith comes first, our marriage can second or third
33:30
kids, come third right there. So, you know, we just want to
33:33
make sure we always are keeping our priorities straight.
33:35
You know, work is down the list, no matter, what, no matter
33:38
what's going on. So we just try to remind
33:41
ourselves of that even during tough times.
33:44
So sure. Is there anything that we didn't
33:47
kind of cover today that you want people to know about your
33:50
Coffee Roastery about your trajectory about?
33:53
What you're offering, you know, the rest of us the world.
33:58
Yeah, I mean we are just I mean we I really feel like we are a
34:02
coffee company that is really trying to do things the right
34:05
way. And we are always on the lookout
34:06
for clients, you know, who want to get in line with our vision
34:11
and support that. So I try to be, I'm a big
34:14
believer that we should be open honest transparent and just
34:18
serve people. Well, you know, so we try to fit
34:22
the model for what works at at different clients whether that's
34:26
cafes or Orchard. She is our offices or you know,
34:30
direct consumer right to your household.
34:32
So you know, we try to be you know, very available, anytime
34:37
people have questions and so I really feel like we need to be a
34:41
Service Company first, you know, so I've learned from some of the
34:45
greatest companies that are out there, you know, my favorite,
34:48
one of my favorite quotes is from the Zappos founder, Tony
34:50
hsieh, which I think he passed away recently which is
34:53
incredibly sad. But what if I love his
34:55
interviews, one person asked him was Like, what kind of shoes do
34:58
you wear? If you know, you're in this, you
35:00
own this big, huge shoe company and he goes, I really have one
35:04
pair of shoes and I've had it for like 5 years, I really don't
35:07
care about shoes. And all the guy goes, I mean,
35:10
you must be kidding, right? Like you've got to have a clause
35:13
knows, I know. I really I really don't care
35:15
about shoes at all. I kind of fell into this
35:17
business. I mean, I really feel like we're
35:19
just a service where a service customer service company.
35:22
First, who just happens to sell shoes on the side, and I just
35:26
love that quote. I'm like that's That's what
35:28
business is to me. You know, I think you have to
35:30
service clients. First and foremost, I'm and
35:33
people can buy really good coffee in a lot of different
35:35
places. So I never say that we're the
35:37
best, but we want to serve people first.
35:39
And if we can do that, and relay the message and the value behind
35:43
our brand, and then, I think that's a success, you know, at
35:46
the end of the day and so we try to live that out all the way up
35:50
and down our company from where we Source at origin.
35:53
The how we service our clients to how we support our employees
35:57
and also how we We deliver back to our local community here in
36:00
Denver. So if you want any information
36:02
about the two Charities, we support to local charities here
36:06
in Denver, that we have a huge heart for they're doing great
36:09
work. That's mile-high workshop and
36:12
Providence Network. They're both under our community
36:15
impact tag on our website. So you can read more information
36:20
about there and we have links to go straight to their to their
36:23
website. So we're always we always want
36:26
to be a big Advocate, you know, for those those who are less
36:29
fortunate than us. So and I'll make sure that those
36:32
are linked in this podcast. Show notes wherever you're
36:34
listening to the show and on the newsletter as well.
36:38
Unlike Tony hsieh. I'm assuming you drink coffee
36:42
regularly, you mentioned, you enjoy a cup of coffee, you care
36:45
about the coffee, you're drinking, obviously, when you go
36:48
out and get a cup of coffee somewhere, whether it's just for
36:51
yourself or for research or it's a Saturday morning, what do you
36:54
drink? My favorite drink by far, is a
36:58
flat white and so I think I got so used to drinking those over
37:02
in Europe. And I think we also get a little
37:04
bit spoiled, a lot of times because the Barista is typically
37:07
in a major city like like London.
37:09
They're just, it's amazing. How many people are so gifted at
37:14
being a barista, you know? I mean I think the value behind
37:18
that is just sometimes lost you know and so that's by far my
37:21
favorite thing to drink and what I kind of compare different
37:26
coffee. She shops against because I like
37:27
shorter drinks because I get so much more of the of the flavor
37:31
and the variety of the espresso out.
37:34
So that's by far those in cortaditos both, you know,
37:37
they're not. Not that dissimilar, you know?
37:39
So those are probably my two favorite to get.
37:41
And yeah, if anybody ever reaches out to me, I mean, I
37:44
always send people to to certain cafes around Denver as we have a
37:48
lot of good Roasters, in a lot of good cafes here, so, Awesome.
37:53
Well I John I just really appreciate you being on the show
37:57
sharing. You know some of your story and
38:00
for putting putting yourself out there and saying this is what I
38:03
can offer and what I can serve to the world and with your
38:06
company. So thanks for doing that.
38:08
And for being here on roast West Coast, hey, thanks a lot Ryan.
38:12
I really appreciate it. Thank you again for having a
38:14
song, okay? To recap Nothing ever goes as
38:24
planned. Not even on podcasts, I made an
38:27
assumption based on some Googling that serve in coffee
38:29
had a cafe, which they don't. And in the moment in our
38:33
interview, I had to adjust. It was a very small deviation in
38:37
the grand scheme of things. John and his team had to make a
38:40
much bigger adjustment re-identifying who their
38:43
customers were, and how they could engage with them and new
38:47
customers. When the pandemic hit, Being a
38:51
new and still small and Nimble. Company enabled servant to Pivot
38:56
turning their wholesale sites toward the grocery chain
38:58
markets, which wasn't something. They were planning on doing at
39:01
the time for John and for all entrepreneurs or aspiring
39:05
entrepreneurs, being willing to accept change.
39:08
As it comes is a key skill. Those perfect business plans.
39:11
Don't always hold up in the real world at servant coffee and for
39:16
John's Family. Travel is important.
39:19
It helps that his wife, Sarah, Runs a travel agency, purposeful
39:22
wanderings link on roast westcoast.com for John travel
39:26
serves as a way to connect with other cultures, including the
39:29
producers of the coffee, his team roasts.
39:32
It's why one of their company goals, is to send the team on An
39:35
Origin trip. At least once every year, which
39:38
if that's the case, I'll be following ad, serving coffee on
39:41
Instagram, keeping an eye out for job openings.
39:45
Thanks to John for taking the time to appear on the roast West
39:48
Coast, coffee podcast, the really lovely coffee, he sent
39:51
me. And for sharing his story, which
39:54
will no doubt Inspire another entrepreneur listening to this
39:57
show right now. Also a big thanks to the rest of
40:00
the show's roast industry Partners including Cafe, litter
40:04
steady-state, coffee, roasting Camp, Coffee Company, coffee
40:07
cycle, roasting ignite, Coffee Company, Maria coffee, Cape Horn
40:12
coffee, importers Ascend to coffee.
40:15
Esther's and moisture Coffee Company.
40:17
I can't remind you enough to get your most real and Experience
40:19
tickets. Now their anniversary is less
40:22
than a month away details on. Most your coffee.com, the links
40:26
to all of those businesses. As always can be found on roast
40:29
westcoast.com. Please check it out, and
40:32
subscribe to the newsletter. And I also need to thank this
40:35
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40:39
show can be found wherever great podcasts are found including
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Spotify YouTube and apple pie. Casts where it really helps me
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40:57
Thank you all. Before I go, I want to send my
41:00
thoughts out to everyone in Florida.
41:02
I'm recording before we know the full details of what the impacts
41:05
of hurricane Ian are, but I know that I'm grateful.
41:08
My father who lives in Cape Coral, Florida for half the year
41:11
was back in Wisconsin. When the storm hit this morning?
41:14
Because natural disasters, don't discriminate, they just
41:18
devastate fingers crossed. This storm ends up being more
41:21
Bluster than expected. This episode of the roast West
41:26
Coast coffee. Podcast is one.
41:28
Was has been written produced and recorded by me Ryan wolfed.
41:33
I hope this episode is, found you happy healthy and with, at
41:36
least enough sanity to make it through the day, always tip your
41:40
Baristas and be sure to drink. Good coffee.