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RECAP: Sam Larobardiere, Theory Coffee Roasters · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:25
  Hey, good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Coffee People
• 0:27
  podcast recap episode. Thank you for being here and
• 0:31
  being a supporter of our Coffee People platform.
• 0:34
  I'm your host, Ryan Wolt. You can follow or subscribe to
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  this show wherever you're listening, but you'll only find
• 0:40
  the bonus context links, recaps to this episode on
• 0:44
  coffeepeoplepodcast.com. This podcast is presented by our
• 0:49
  friends at Rostar Coffee Packaging.
• 0:50
  You can find them online at rostar.com.
• 0:54
  Check out Rostar to find examples of high quality,
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  affordable, customizable packaging that they offer for
• 1:00
  coffee, tea, snacks and beyond. That's at rostar.com.
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  Our recent podcast guest Sam La Robardier is the Co founder and
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  operator of Theory Coffee Roasting in Redding, CA, as well
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  as a collaborator in Podium Coffee Club, a subscription
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  coffee program that only offers coffees from award-winning
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  coffee roasters. We're here to recap a bit of
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  that show if you didn't have a chance to listen to the full pod
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  or you just want us to reinforce a few important takeaways for
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  you. For starters, Sam has a great
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  beard, which kind of makes us look alike.
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  I'll share a side by side on the video and on the newsletter at
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  coffeepeoplepodcast.com. It's actually why I reached out
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  to Sam to have him on the pot. My wife saw a photo of him
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  online and asked if it was me and unfortunately I said no.
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  He's taller and I think his beard's probably a little
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  better. Sam got to start in coffee by
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  being a roaster. The first iteration of what
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  would become Theory was a mobile cart collaboration was a mobile
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  cart and then a mobile cart collaboration with another
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  roaster. Back in the early days there
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  were about 3 roasters in his town and during a sourcing trip
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  to Nicaragua, Sam and his future business partner, Jason Miller
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  got to talking about what they wanted for the future of their
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  businesses and seemed like they wanted a lot of the same things.
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  It seemed clear to Sam that they could either compete to the
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  death of one of their companies or join forces and Jason agreed.
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  So by combining their efforts, each bringing their own customer
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  base and ideas, they were able to be stronger, grow faster, and
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  with the ancillary benefit of exponential growth of a
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  supportive community who appreciated what they were doing
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  for the art and the craft and the care they put into it.
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  The efforts that they had made, you know, building that audience
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  at pop ups and farmers markets, hosting events paid off when
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  they finally opened the doors of their first CAFE before
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  officially being licensed. The initial sales of Theory went
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  beyond their expectations. And and certainly, you know,
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  compared to the time at the cart made them think, yeah, we made
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  the right call. The partnerships that he's had
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  in the ownership of Theory have changed some over the years.
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  Sam's role has changed as well. He loved being a roaster but was
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  bitten by the unexpected desire to grow his business and the
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  company. And once that idea of growth was
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  planted, he just couldn't let it go.
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  He used the word intoxicating, which I thought was a great way
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  of putting it, and kind of get stuck in your head.
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  The byproduct of that growth was the necessity to put faith and
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  trust in his team to take on the day-to-day duties that he might
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  have otherwise done for himself but was now taking a bigger
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  picture viewpoint of. And so he grew as a manager, as
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  an owner. And I think we both took turns
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  acknowledging that maintaining sanity is an admirable goal for
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  an entrepreneur, but not a guarantee.
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  Work at the ownership level or even that of a manager who
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  cares, doesn't stop just because a clock says it's time or the
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  whistle blows. Sam proffered that
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  entrepreneurial work life balances is a myth and you
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  should be prepared to put yourself out there in a way that
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  pushes you to the limit. I would agree physically,
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  mentally and emotionally I have seen that limit.
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  I have been to that edge and looked over and in some cases I
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  fell backwards and curled up into the fetal position.
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  Others, I went right over the edge into the abyss.
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  And and with coffee people, we're still just climbing to the
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  summit. Growth in business is sometimes
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  the byproduct of opportunity as well.
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  Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban was recently Speaking of
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  the value of being prepared to strike when the time is right.
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  And sometimes that means doing nothing, nothing right now
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  anyways, even if you can, because the timing isn't right.
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  That can be hard to identify. But for Sam, the pandemic
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  actually led to favorable lease terms for a Second theory
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  location, which was only miles from their original shop but was
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  an entirely different audience. You know, I don't know what town
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  you live in, but sometimes towns are kind of split by a major
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  landmark. Whether it's a highway or a
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  river or something else, a few miles can make all the
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  difference. I asked Sam for some coffee.
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  Smart advice on behalf of our presenting sponsor.
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  Roast our coffee packaging. And to paraphrase our
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  conversation there, he said that you don't need a ton of gear to
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  get started. You don't need a lot of coffee
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  minutia just to to open the doors or get your cart out or
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  start your business. But you will do your business a
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  great service if you invest yourself into the community
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  around you as much as possible. You can add to the coffee setup
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  as you go. The caveat being that the
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  quicker you can get to that espresso machine, the better.
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  But just opening the doors and hoping for the best, it isn't
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  enough, certainly not now as we're approaching a more
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  saturated specialty coffee marketplace.
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  In some coffee mad communities and just some normal
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  communities. People like coffee and people
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  want to work in things that they like.
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  Coffee's definitely been the beneficiary of that.
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  Secondarily, if you do open a shop, you know, do it well.
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  Not going into debt is great, but sometimes it reflects what
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  you're presenting to the audience poorly.
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  So Sam suggests that you learn to use debt wisely.
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  Thirdly, never underestimate lighting, which I wholeheartedly
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  agree, especially in the restaurant cafe space.
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  Too bright? I'm not walking through those
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  doors. I would argue that there isn't a
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  too dark short of black, but that's just me.
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  And finally, kind of the last piece of coffee.
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  Smarter advice Have a true passion for hospitality.
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  You need to have a true passion for hospitality, for making
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  people happy. In Sam's Theory coffee, the
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  customer is always cooler than he is, always cooler than the
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  staff. It's a simple recipe for
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  success, but it's one that works more times than not.
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  I always say be like a duck, you know, calm and cool above the
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  surface, but kicking away furiously down below.
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  Remember that you're you're there to offer a service to
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  people who are coming through the doors.
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  So don't suck the energy out of the room.
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  You can go do that in whatever your version of a scream closet
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  is. Beyond theory, Sam has gotten
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  involved in a second collab. Podium Coffee Club, the
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  subscription coffee program, sells coffees from US based
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  award-winning roasters or roasting competitors who stood
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  on the podium at events like Golden Bean or the Roastronics
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  Pro Cup. Finally today, if Sam wanders
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  through the door of your cafe, he's going to order an espresso
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  and either a pour over or a filter coffee, depending on your
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  menu. He mentioned that there's been a
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  trend towards not including pour overs as often on menus at
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  cafes. I haven't actually seen that in
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  my own experience, but I also haven't been looking
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  specifically for it. Curious to know what you think
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  Are pour overs essential to a specialty coffee shop?
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  Let us know in the comments. That's our recap of the episode
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  featuring coffee roaster owner, operator Green, coffee buyer,
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  and entrepreneur Sam La Robardier.
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  You can watch or listen to the entire episode of the Coffee
• 8:26
  People podcast on most podcast platforms and YouTube.
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  You can certainly use your help in growing our YouTube
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  subscriber list. You can find us there at Coffee
• 8:35
  People podcasts. All the important links are in
• 8:37
  this show. Thanks to our friends and
• 8:40
  partners including Rostar Coffee Packaging, Civets, roasting
• 8:43
  Machines, I say a coffee source, relative coffee company and of
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  course all of you. Wherever you are, please tip
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  your baristas and of course, drink good coffee.
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  Cheers everyone.