Latest / Coffee People Podcast / S6:E1 - Chris Vigilante, Vigilante Coffee

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S6:E1 - Chris Vigilante, Vigilante Coffee · Coffee People Podcast

0:00
Hey everyone. If you like the roast West Coast
0:02
coffee podcast, you might also appreciate the, I like beer the
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podcast. Listening to these guys is like
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being a fly on the wall of the pub with a few of your favorite
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show about coffee or head. To, I like beer, the podcast.com
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You are actually my first interview of this season so I've
0:34
been on break for like two months, so I'm probably a little
0:39
off. A little little nervous about
0:40
the whole situation. I spent all morning like can how
0:43
do I turn the computer on? How does this all work?
0:45
Yeah, getting re-acclimated. We're back.
0:49
Yeah, I'm in my little closet Studio again for the first time
0:52
feels good to be home. I like it up there.
0:54
I was just thinking I was like nice.
1:10
Hey, good morning everyone. Welcome to season six episode.
1:14
One of the roast West Coast coffee podcast.
1:18
I'm Ryan Walton. This is the show where I bring
1:20
you the stories of coffee professionals entrepreneurship
1:24
and coffee education. And I'm glad to be back both on
1:28
this show and in my home podcasting studio.
1:31
And I say that, despite the sirens that just went by in the
1:34
truck that was backing up in the motorcycle that was revving.
1:37
And even the crows that are cawing outside my window.
1:41
My wife and I just got back from a long, a very long summer road
1:44
trip. We spent a lot of time hiking
1:47
and camping Going and visiting coffee shops around the country.
1:51
Check out the bean journal on roast westcoast.com to see the
1:54
list of all 32, shops and Roasters.
1:56
We visited normally coffee is my thing, so it was really nice to
2:01
share that. With someone I love and whose
2:03
opinions I value and depend on to keep me headed down the right
2:06
path with this podcast. Normally the bean Journal is
2:10
just for paid subscribers, but to celebrate the launch of the
2:13
new season. The road trip, post is available
2:16
to everyone in a few moments, you'll hear my interview with
2:19
Chris vigilante. He's the founder of the
2:22
bicoastal Vigilante coffee company but first, I just want
2:25
to tell you that one of our roast industry.
2:27
Partners first light whiskey is available online with free
2:31
shipping on orders over $50 right now, head to First Light
2:35
whisky.com to order, and to get a preview of some coming soon.
2:39
And cold brew cocktail offerings, the founders of First
2:42
Light David and Ryan are going to be on this show in a few
2:45
weeks, they'll be sharing some details about how they got into
2:47
innovating new products and the back story on why they decided
2:50
to jump into the coffee space. You won't want to miss that.
2:53
So you might as well, just subscribe to this show.
2:55
Now, wherever you're listening to the podcast today, Chris
2:59
joined me from the newest vigilante coffee.
3:01
Roaster location in Oceanside, California.
3:04
He was sitting outside leaning up against the building just a
3:07
few miles away. Way, from where I was sitting in
3:10
the podcast Booth, what I want you to know about vigilante
3:13
before we get started, is that when you walk through the big
3:16
open garage door, you'll immediately be struck by a teal,
3:20
blue wall behind the coffee bar, where some mounted letters,
3:23
spell out the word happy, which is how I feel when I'm drinking
3:28
coffee and when I'm working on this show, if you want to see
3:32
photos of the newest Roastery space while you're listening,
3:35
follow, and check out at vigilante, coffee on Instagram.
3:38
Or just check out the news letter that accompanies this
3:41
show on roast westcoast.com. And now I ask you what makes you
3:47
happy. I hope it is.
3:49
Listening to podcasts with a full mug of coffee because it is
3:53
time for this interview on the roast West Coast coffee podcast
3:57
with Chris vigilante, founder of vigilante Coffee Company.
4:16
Let's just get into a Chris, welcome to the roast West Coast
4:19
coffee podcast. If you might for me, let us
4:23
know. The audience know your name.
4:25
What your role is at at your company and what's your favorite
4:29
ninja? Turtle is Donatello is my
4:32
favorite Ninja Turtle, the purple Joy.
4:35
My name is Chris vigilante. My role is the CEO and founder
4:38
of vigilante golf company. Just to clarify.
4:43
You were at one time the head roaster, but you are not now.
4:49
Yeah, out in the company, from a basement, in Northeast d.c., I
4:52
was The Roaster Barista manager, I wear every hat in the company
4:56
and as we've grown, my role has become more CEO based as well as
5:01
green coffee buyer. But even in that role of these
5:04
days, I'm starting to have some help from some of our other
5:08
teammates in the company. So I'd say, CEO is my main role
5:12
green coffee buying Center. Got it and I'm gonna I'm gonna
5:15
kind of come back around to that but I want to learn a little bit
5:18
more about you. What got you started in coffee
5:21
Jarrett? You have like a first experience
5:23
that made you think? Yeah, this is something I'm kind
5:26
of into I want to kind of go down this path, you know.
5:29
My path is a little like I don't have any memories as a kid.
5:35
My family really like being really into coffee and I didn't
5:39
really touch the stuff until I was 19 years old for fear of
5:43
stunting my growth. Growth.
5:44
I had aspirations to play in the NBA and so I think it was like
5:50
in college I was struggling to find a job one summer.
5:55
While living out in Hawaii, my family had relocated there, my
5:59
dad worked for the military and so I was out there for the
6:02
summer crashing on their couch, surfing and trying to find a gig
6:06
for the summer. Just to stack some coin before I
6:08
head back to school and I can find a job.
6:11
Anywhere is the middle of the recession like the Beginning of
6:14
2008 that summer and unemployment was extremely high,
6:19
things like 40% in Hawaii. At that time, really difficult
6:23
just like 40 people and job for a waiter job, you know, in line
6:27
for a waiter job. So because I can find an
6:31
internship or a job that I thought would make me most
6:35
amount of money in the shortest amount of time.
6:38
I had this Epiphany, that maybe I would enjoy running my own
6:42
coffee shop one day and Perhaps I should pursue something that
6:45
would make me happy not necessarily make me a ton of
6:48
money and so the Epiphany was just it could be cool to own a
6:51
coffee shop. So why don't I get a job at a
6:53
coffee shop? And see if that works for me?
6:57
And I had planted the see the year prior when I was doing an
7:01
internship in Miami I was an intern at the Miami Seaquarium
7:05
working with manatees and dolphins and feeding alligators
7:09
and all that stuff and that wasn't for me.
7:12
I quickly realized that Wasn't what I was really passionate
7:16
about. So, I had a second job, because
7:18
I only made like 650 an hour at that internship.
7:21
So, my second job was at a small Cafe called books and books and
7:24
Coral Gables Miami. And they had a very magical
7:28
setting Courtyard tied in with this bookstore.
7:31
That felt very old and traditional, kind of Cuban style
7:34
coffee. And so not specialty coffee, and
7:37
then traditional Cafe. Fair and I loved that job.
7:42
I remember thinking like that didn't feel like A quark and so
7:44
maybe owning a coffee shop that that to would not feel like
7:48
work. That would feel like play and I
7:51
was interested in turning my work into play and finding
7:54
something that I would be passionate about, and I thought
7:57
would make me happy. And so I applied for some jobs
8:01
in Honolulu Hawaii, trying to get a coffee shop job, but is
8:05
really difficult. One place in downtown Honolulu
8:09
was hiring called downtown coffee, and I emailed them and I
8:12
showed up like every day for a week, and Till they were like,
8:14
all right? You're obviously the most
8:15
interested you can have the job. And so, that's how I got my foot
8:18
in the door. I started as a barista.
8:21
Small 500, 600 square foot shop. They roasted right there.
8:25
We would roll out a little Dietrich, ir3 Dietrich 7, kilo
8:29
roaster. Out into the courtyard roast,
8:33
and then serve those coffees in that coffee bar and it's just me
8:35
and the owner and it was just a great education.
8:37
It was such a good introduction to the world of specialty
8:40
coffee. And before long, I was cupping
8:43
coffees from farmers in the Big Island on Oahu over to Maui
8:48
Hawaii as well. And so, I was getting to trial
8:50
these different coffees directly from farmers in a cupping
8:54
atmosphere with some of the Great's of the coffee game,
8:58
Pete. Licata World barista champion,
9:01
Founder of pts was in the rooms Rusty's Hawaiian coffee of
9:04
really well. World-renowned Hawaiian grower
9:07
and I just got started realizing that this was a better
9:09
education, the college and the summer was winding down and I
9:12
was like, you know what, I want to keep on pursuing coffee.
9:15
I'm going to hold off on going back to school and I'm going to
9:18
stay in Hawaii and keep pursuing a career in coffee and and
9:22
that's really how I got my foot in the game.
9:25
I pulled a couple of things out of that one is is I can estimate
9:28
that. I'm just a couple years older
9:30
than you because I remember that recession as being a recent
9:32
college graduate which was real fun.
9:35
Oh yeah. We got dose of reality.
9:38
That didn't work. Oh yeah.
9:40
You know, I had bought a house and couldn't get a job and just
9:44
ended up. We ended up selling the house.
9:45
It was a whole thing was an interesting time in interesting
9:48
generation to be part of, but I think a lot of entrepreneurs
9:51
came out of that because they were looking for opportunities
9:54
to provide For themselves, it sounds like, even at a very
9:57
young age 19, you already knew that you wanted to Be Your Own
10:01
Boss at some point, we really. I felt that I wanted to.
10:05
I didn't feel like I felt fit in the corporate world, you know, I
10:09
I told you I had done an internship at a Sea Aquarium is
10:12
because I was in pre-veterinary medicine, in my freshman year, I
10:16
did poorly in it and it gets some C's and D's.
10:19
And then at my grades were so low, I couldn't even get into
10:21
business school. And so I felt like I wanted To
10:24
be in that business path. But I was maybe not able to
10:28
achieve it because of my grades. And so I always kind of had a
10:31
chip on my shoulder and then in 2008, I was watching some of my
10:35
buddies. Graduate, very little Direction,
10:38
very little opportunity and I just wanted to have something a
10:43
skill. I wanted to say, like, oh this
10:45
skill, you'll at least pay me to do this, whether it was roasting
10:49
coffee and preparing it. I thought of that as a skill
10:51
set, that would be really valuable because I felt like my
10:54
college, Keishon, wasn't that concrete valuable at the time?
10:58
Like it wasn't going to guarantee me a well-paying job
11:01
and most of the jobs that could get work that desirable.
11:05
And so it was really just out of the chip on the shoulder.
11:10
Plus this feeling that, you know, the coffee world was
11:14
somewhere in this counterculture non-corporate section.
11:18
And I dug that I'd always been in the punk music and the skater
11:21
skating, my whole life and like, throughout the 90s and early
11:24
2000s. And it's just until recently
11:26
that was like, widely accepted in the popular culture.
11:29
Whereas, back in the day, you know, we would get sued by a
11:31
bank for skating a handrail and like cops would show up and sit
11:35
us all in the curb 15 cops. So I guess I kind of came from
11:40
that counterculture world as a youth.
11:43
And I felt that coffee was an extension of it.
11:46
Especially coffee at the coffee house in America.
11:50
At that time, was an extension of it, but also blossoming.
11:54
Into this. Really cold culinary driven
12:00
culture where the quality of the coffee was dramatically
12:04
important. And there's at that time from
12:07
what I could see. Just a few companies that were
12:09
really approaching at that level and you know that brings to mind
12:13
like your Intelligentsia is and your blue bottles and your stump
12:17
towns and counterculture coffees and George how I'm sure.
12:21
I'm forgetting a whole bunch of great ones too.
12:23
But those folks, Be laying the foundation and I just dug a man.
12:28
I thought it was cool shit. I thought the whole scene was
12:31
awesome and I wanted to be part of it and I felt like it
12:35
provided me with a skill set that was tangible that people
12:39
would pay me money to do something with her.
12:42
That was gross. Beans, prepare the beverage and
12:44
so that's really what I was after.
12:47
And then as I got going, I think I got frustrated at times in my
12:53
growth where I like wanted better.
12:55
Quality, or I wanted more control over a certain aspect of
12:59
things. And the only way I would ever
13:00
get that is if I owned it myself.
13:03
Yeah. I think that's where it kind of
13:05
slowly developed from. But I do remind myself, I
13:07
started with the intention of owning it from the jump.
13:11
I just, I knew I needed to learn every little aspect if I was the
13:15
one day. Only, you know, I needed to know
13:17
the bar and management. I need to know, marketing, and
13:21
sales and roasting and green by, and all of that.
13:25
And so yeah, I just said about trying to build a career I'm
13:30
smiling because I can relate to that feeling of like I'll never
13:34
get that level of control without owning it.
13:36
And I have certainly been like the second-in-command enough
13:40
times to know how frustrating it can be when you're like, this is
13:43
what we need to do. I'm the one you're doing it
13:45
every day, you know? That's that's why people end up
13:47
where they are. You end up going back to the
13:51
east coast? I believe that's where you're
13:52
from originally, if I'm not mistaken.
13:54
Yeah. Where are you?
13:55
Time. Yeah.
13:56
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, what made you leave?
14:00
Excuse me. What made you leave Hawaii to
14:02
decide to open up your own place.
14:05
Well, I think it was, you know, on some levels economical, I was
14:09
22 21 at the time and sleeping on my parents couch, still
14:15
trying to save up some money to start my own coffee Venture and
14:19
on a breeze, the salary, you're not really able to save much at
14:22
all, even if you live with your folks, think I saved my five
14:25
grand and like And so one. I didn't want to live with my
14:32
folks anymore now, is the big part of it.
14:34
Like, I wasn't used to that. I never liked since, like 17, I
14:38
had gone and like I hadn't lived at home anymore.
14:40
So why was grateful that they? Let me stay there.
14:42
I was eager to leave. And so it was a path out of my
14:46
folks house, which would again was like, some more control in
14:49
my life and, and the Jew trajectory, I had more of a
14:53
foundation as far as friends and colleagues in, d.c. in the
14:59
Philly area in the New York Region, like, I felt like if I
15:02
came back East, I could put my flag in the ground, a little
15:06
easier, you know, being in Hawaii in the kind of a
15:09
transplant, it was a bit lonely at times.
15:11
And so I think wanting to come back East was also like
15:16
reconnecting with friends and family that I had back there and
15:19
getting started there, just made a lot of sense.
15:22
And so that's where the main motivators.
15:24
And then, when I Google specialty coffee or special
15:27
coffee roasters in d.c. Philadelphia and New York, DC
15:32
had the few amount of hits and there was seem to be not much of
15:36
a scene yet. And so I figured that would be a
15:39
good place to get started as a place where they seem to still
15:44
be catching on to the specialty wave.
15:46
Sure that's truth. Be told why I left Hawaii and
15:49
ended up and watched well, and when you're there and you open
15:53
your own place, you put your own name on it.
15:55
Correct me if I'm wrong but vigilante is your is your last
15:58
name, right? It is.
16:00
Yes, it was a little bit Levolution to get to that place
16:02
too. Okay, well, where did you start?
16:06
And how did you get there? Sure.
16:08
So when I came back East, I was working for a Hawaiian coffee
16:11
company, based out of the Big Island.
16:13
He's one of the farmers that had brought in a cup of coffee.
16:16
That was just extremely high quality and I was eager to learn
16:20
more about how they were achieving that quality and just
16:22
work for them. So I started roasting for them
16:24
doing farmers markets, learning that whole CD and then post it.
16:29
And so those are great opportunity for me early on a
16:33
college. And I'm trying to learn the
16:35
ropes. When I came back East, I had
16:39
about 5 grand in savings and then a friend who is in the
16:43
marijuana business I'd get said, hey look, I know, you're headed
16:47
east to start this thing. Here's a little like, seed
16:50
investment of around 15,000 which was more money than I've
16:54
ever seen in my life. And I was like, wow, this is,
16:57
you know, it's kind of coming together, you know, like how how
16:59
many young college recent college graduates have this
17:03
opportunity to give it a go 15 grand Isn't much to do all that
17:08
much, but I felt like it was enough to get started and so me,
17:13
and he had of that Hawaiian coffee company.
17:15
I work with decided, purchasing a coffee cart back east in that,
17:19
I would start through a coffee cart where I serve espresso
17:23
outside, like a busy building gross.
17:25
My own beans, probably on my back porch, because that's how
17:28
we were doing it in Hawaii. So, I was applying a lot of the
17:30
same techniques. I was learning there to the
17:33
East, and so that's what we did. We bought like this old school,
17:36
Coffee cart on eBay. And this dude showed up to my
17:39
mom's house, my parents were relocating back to the east as
17:44
well coming like I guess I can hear after I left Hawaii but
17:46
planning for it and so they had a house in Lancaster
17:50
Pennsylvania which is like Amish country and we sent the coffee
17:54
cart over there and I moved to DC and I became a barista at
17:59
several cafes to be able to survive and I was wholesaling
18:03
Hawaiian coffee for that coffee grower.
18:06
Based on the big island and the idea was I would eventually
18:10
springboard into my own coffee cart.
18:12
And I would sell coffee wholesale to various businesses
18:15
and I'd have this direct Hawaiian plug.
18:18
But the problem became that the quality started to really drop
18:23
in the consistency and I just became frustrated with the
18:26
situation. And it became clear to me that I
18:28
was going to need to Branch off and do my own thing if I wanted
18:31
to have the control I needed. And if I wanted to be really
18:34
proud of the product, that was created.
18:36
And so I parted ways with them and then the name vigilante came
18:41
about because it's my mother's maiden name and it's been in my
18:44
family you know I have a hyphenated last name, being my
18:48
father's Puerto Rican and often Latino families who see a
18:51
hyphenated last name and I never really used vigilante until I
18:55
was working at that coffee shop in Honolulu in my mentor was
18:58
like Hey last name is vigilante like yeah but I don't use it
19:01
that much. It's like if you ever start a
19:03
coffee company, you should call it visual aid.
19:05
I was like okay. Just like put it in the back of
19:07
my mind and and then when we were kicking around names that
19:11
we thought might go, good vigilante was the one that
19:14
everyone liked the most. And so while a bit narcissistic,
19:19
I felt it worked. And it said what we wanted to do
19:22
in coffee and it had my name behind it.
19:25
So I had to make a product. I was really going to be proud
19:28
of. And yeah, that's how I'm going
19:30
to do it. I have to confess something to
19:33
you, which is when you opened your most recent location.
19:36
And Oceanside and I saw the name vigilante go up just like on a
19:40
sign like coming soon sort of thing.
19:43
I assumed the name was relate was somehow politically related
19:47
because we were in such as a crossroads, right?
19:51
And I thought, oh great, like I'm gonna have to go to this
19:54
coffee shop and be you know deal with this nonsense.
19:57
I mean I'm still gonna go but like I'm gonna check it out but
20:00
I didn't have that awareness of the company before that.
20:03
And so, it's really, it was really interesting to me when I
20:06
We did go there. I probably didn't come to your
20:08
shop for at least several extra months because I thought there
20:12
was some sort of connection there and realistically that's
20:16
just ignorance on my part, not only not knowing what it meant
20:18
but also what vigilante means, you know, as as a yeah, you get
20:23
it on your website. Yeah.
20:25
Negative connotations around the that taking the Law into your
20:28
own hands, especially in the time we live in, we literally
20:31
have people like storming the United States Capitol, that kind
20:35
of stuff. And so Oh, it does following
20:37
that. We've come to redefine it as a
20:40
company, the root word, vigil re means to keep awake.
20:44
And so that's very fitting for our name, vigilante working in
20:47
coffee. But then we changed it to say a
20:49
citizen organization that challenges the status quo,
20:52
right? Like that could be third wave
20:54
coffee shops challenging, the traditional second wave shop and
20:58
or the Starbucks. And creating something that is a
21:02
superior product and betters their larger Global Village as
21:05
well as their local communities. And so, I like the way that it
21:08
flipped it on its head. And I also kind of in some ways
21:11
I liked how, when we do the farmers markets, people
21:14
acknowledge Landing, you know, you guys like the Batman of
21:16
coffee. And we would hear that kind of
21:19
rhetoric quite often, but it was often like they would judge the
21:22
book without checking out or did you know, chip judge us just off
21:26
the cover and then when they open the book and they tried the
21:28
product thing, Will be pleasantly surprised.
21:31
So I found that it works for us but on some cases maybe it's got
21:35
some people at day, which is unfortunate.
21:37
I hope that they'll give us a try.
21:40
Well, I did and I'm really glad that I did.
21:43
I've been really enjoying that you're in my community.
21:45
Not far down the road just for everyone.
21:47
Listening, Chris is sitting outside of his coffee shop in
21:51
Oceanside. I'm guessing Oceanside since I
21:53
don't think there's palm trees and and DC.
21:55
Nope no I mean Oceanside that's that's kind of my next question
21:59
is you you are on the East Coast, you've established your
22:03
you open your company, you have some success, you open a second
22:06
location at some point. You decide to open a third?
22:10
Why go bicoastal? Why come to the West Coast and
22:14
open this location? Which I believe opened during
22:17
the pandemic. Twenty twenty twenty twenty one.
22:21
Twenty twenty one is when we open 20 toys, we 70s.
22:25
Well, I always tell people, you got to count the failures before
22:28
you count, the success is because Whole series of failures
22:31
leading up to the success. So the first coffee cart shat,
22:34
the bed, I custom built it. Try to get it street-legal.
22:38
They were like it's to custom no way, but you can use this
22:41
special events. And so, basically was a total
22:45
bust. I used it a few events.
22:47
When you're a rookie, you don't even know what events to do.
22:49
So I was choosing terrible events like motorcycle rally in
22:52
July in Washington. D.c., that is not this place for
22:55
specialty coffee. So I learn.
22:58
So, you know, damn near bankrupted us through the
23:03
learning lessons of just being a beginner in business, and The
23:08
failure of the coffee cart LED to a concept that I read about
23:12
called the papa and the pop up around. 2012 was a relatively
23:15
New Concept, you know, where you show up in someone else's
23:18
business and maybe you display close, if you're closing
23:20
manufacturer, or maybe you set up a coffee bar inside of a real
23:24
bar, while they're closed, and then flip it to the regular bar,
23:27
once the ready to open in the evening time.
23:30
So we took the espresso machine off the car and started doing
23:34
pop-ups around Washington DC. We were already familiar with
23:37
farmers markets and so we were really strengthening our ability
23:41
to do these pop-ups and informal kind of coffee bars.
23:45
And that is really how we existed for a number of years.
23:48
As we honed in our skill set as Roasters.
23:50
I went to roasting School in San Francisco as we eventually found
23:54
the building that we started roasting out in Maryland and
23:57
Hyattsville Maryland going from a basement farmers markets to
24:00
That I was a big deal for us. And so stepping stone to that,
24:03
another coffee cart attempts out of music venue in d.c. called
24:07
The Anthem, which was successful in some ways, because we got to
24:10
see a lot of do concerts. But, you know, in the late
24:13
evening time, a huge coffee drinking crowd and so ended up
24:17
selling that car as well. But still lives on inside the
24:21
inside the business of van and then we got to the College Park
24:24
store, which was, we had kind of been blessed to see some success
24:29
by that point. Those seven years and we're
24:31
around 2017, 2018. And we're by this college park,
24:34
this town that needs great coffee.
24:36
And so that's why we opened up. The College Park stories is
24:38
really, there's a huge need for great coffee in the college
24:41
town, nearby us. And then I came back, West to
24:46
California started traveling out here in 2018 up, and down the
24:52
coast, from San Francisco down to SoCal.
24:55
Really, trying to find the town, the vibe, the energy that we
25:00
felt Alt match stars that we wanted to contribute to and that
25:05
had great weather and had great waves and those were big parts
25:09
of the reason why I left Hawaii and the big Surfer.
25:11
And so spending a decade away from the ocean was really kind
25:14
of a painful experience. And I was eager to get back
25:17
closer to the oceans, but for me is kind of a spiritual special
25:21
place. And so, those were the main
25:24
motivators and we started looking 2018.
25:26
And then 2019, we start get a little closer and right around
25:30
the end of 2019 or no. Beginning of 2020.
25:35
We were close to signing a lease in Old Town, San Diego, but the
25:39
pandemic hit, and, you know, took out most small businesses
25:44
by the knees. And we shut our shop down for
25:46
about a month and, you know, had to go re-establish, everything
25:49
and which was good in some ways and bad in some ways.
25:53
Like we had to kind of like, step back from the San Diego
25:56
dream, or dream of opening in California, and the west coast
26:00
and we discovered Oceanside, you know, for simply out of luck, we
26:05
were driving around during the pandemic, and there's a lot of
26:08
buildings that were starting to come up for lease.
26:12
Whether it was businesses, going out due to the pandemic and the
26:15
word just their time, tenure had come to an end and we drove by
26:19
this really epic building and Oceanside and we just fell in
26:22
love with it from the jump. Um, and so we just give a call
26:26
to the leasing agent and at the time, I don't think there was a
26:32
lot of people making moves on leases, because of the pandemic
26:35
situation, there was a lot of uncertainty in the air.
26:38
But we knew what we wanted to build, and we knew we need many
26:40
years to do it. So we have longer vision for
26:43
what we wanted to go about do and the timing just worked out.
26:47
And so yeah, we signed the lease for the Oceanside building in 22
26:50
aunty and it took about nine 11 months to build it.
26:55
Well, the the building is shared with South.
26:58
Oh Brewing, what is it that you want people to feel when you
27:01
were doing the Spilled Out? What were you thinking about how
27:04
people will react when they walk into the store?
27:06
And I'll preface this by saying, I think the layout in your store
27:11
from a business standpoint as someone who appreciates keeping
27:15
things for sale. In the line of sight is one of
27:17
the more impressive ones I've seen in any coffee shop that
27:20
I've been in in a long time. We definitely wanted that
27:24
transparency. We wanted you to see the work
27:26
because if we're doing it with a craft intention, then it's
27:30
almost beautiful to watch to work.
27:32
And then you appreciate it more. I think, you know, and we walk
27:36
into a Starbucks, you literally can't see past that point of
27:39
sale, usually because there's machines and a lot of objects
27:42
for sale and stuff, and we wanted to create more
27:45
transparency and a little be a little bit more visible.
27:48
But I think what we want people to feel when they walk into our
27:51
store here is too. Feel uplifted.
27:54
I want them to feel positive energy.
27:57
That's emitting from the speakers with the music from the
28:01
way. You're greeted.
28:01
When you first walk in to the smells the aromatics that the
28:05
coffee is creating in the room from the roasting to the
28:07
grinding and I want it to be seamless.
28:11
And and hopefully yeah simplistic to where you could
28:15
come alone and feel like this is awesome and you come with a
28:18
friend and it be equally as awesome or come with your
28:21
family. I like it to be versatile in
28:24
that way. But the thing that we strive for
28:27
is a company, our mission is to uplift others through coffee.
28:30
And so that is ultimately what we want to see happen when they
28:33
come in our doors and leave, they are going to get up lifting
28:36
from the caffeine that's like a guarantee.
28:39
But if our energy if our welcoming attitude, if our
28:43
approach to hospitality is authentic, I think they'll walk
28:48
away feeling uplifted from that too.
28:50
And so that's what we aim to do. One of the ways that you, you
28:55
present yourself, you mentioned you want people to be able to
28:57
see the work, is you have a transparency report on your
29:00
website, you actually list some of the prices that you pay for
29:03
coffee. Why do that, why aside from,
29:07
just the experience in the shop? How do you think that's a value?
29:10
Add to your customers and then you specifically reference
29:13
climate change on when I'm reading about your company and
29:16
kind of teach people how to recycle your products or coffee
29:19
products in general. What do you think your
29:22
responsibility is as a producer of a product in that Realm?
29:27
Well, as a business, we create a product and then put it on the
29:31
world. But our products create waste,
29:33
our brought us have excess liquid.
29:36
Those are the used coffee grounds.
29:37
We produce winners the cups, whether it's the thousands of
29:41
boxes. We receive to be able to do what
29:43
we do. Have our merchandise, or shirts
29:46
are puffy sleeves or filters, you know, everything.
29:50
So we're creating a lot of waste and we want to be a more
29:54
sustainable business and contribute to Better future.
29:58
And if we're going to do that, we got to manage our situation
30:02
better. And that means reducing that
30:04
waste, that means being intentional learning how to do
30:08
that, you know? Like we were just as ignorant as
30:09
anybody else on how to approach that stuff.
30:12
It was over time and just being intentional about learning it
30:15
and applying it that I think made sense studied other
30:20
businesses like ours like Patagonia comes to mind and
30:23
their approach to just win, win win at attitude.
30:27
Like Like we can make a product that's customer wins with.
30:29
We make a product that this company wins with and we make
30:34
one that is good for the environment.
30:35
It's not going to negatively harm the environment and I
30:38
subscribe to that like to leave as little of an imprint on the
30:42
earth. Why leave it as possible, but
30:43
hopefully some positive Griffin's.
30:45
And so as a business, we feel there's a responsibility.
30:50
To run our operation in a sustainable way and continue to
30:55
get better. We have a lot more work to do
30:59
and improving it. We admire a lot of the B Corp
31:02
companies of the world, we didn't apply for that b quarks
31:06
ourselves simply because we didn't want to answer to a third
31:09
party for this that and the other maybe we're just not there
31:11
yet. I don't think we have the
31:13
infrastructure to be able to submit every document.
31:16
That might be requested but we believe in holding ourselves.
31:20
Countable to similar standards that be for companies do.
31:24
And so that's what motivated us to create the transparency page.
31:28
I truly believe that we might have some of the largest stock
31:31
of high-end specialty coffees in the country.
31:33
Considerable amount of amazing coffees in our inventory and we
31:38
pay top dollar for them and because we pay top dollar for
31:41
them, we have to charge top dollar for them.
31:44
And the only way that was it's going to make sense to a
31:46
customer is if they kind of have some inclination as to why Why
31:50
this shit cost so much and I could tell you super specialty
31:53
and tats and refined process done to it.
31:56
But the more authentic and real ways just say, yeah, it cost me
31:59
$30 a pound. So that's why it's going to
32:01
cost. You 45, they have the choice of
32:04
not buying. I'm going with the cheaper
32:05
coffee. But if you're interested in
32:07
trying, you know, what's the bee's knees at the moment?
32:10
Then you're going to go for that, super high-end coffee.
32:12
And I find that I've never seen myself as a Salesman.
32:16
I've just kind of said, hey this is the product.
32:19
I think you'll love For these reasons, these authentic real
32:22
reasons, how we Source it, how we, how we work with those
32:25
producers, how we approach, The Roasting, how we try to use,
32:29
sustainable packaging, how we try to give great service.
32:32
If you buy into all that, then I think it would make sense that
32:35
we do Business Without Me. Pitching you on some
32:38
romanticized version of why you should work with us.
32:42
And so that's why I think we do. The transparency reports.
32:46
We talk about the sustainability and packaging.
32:48
We admire the be Corpse of the world and the companies taking
32:52
the steps to operate on a higher level.
32:54
And we would like to be considered one of them one day.
33:00
Sure. And I'll just mention that you
33:01
have the Vigilante gives Foundation which I believe gives
33:04
one percent of your annual sales back into the communities that
33:08
you're in. If I'm not mistaken on how that
33:09
works, which is similar to kind of the 1% for the planet.
33:12
But again, as you were talking earlier, a little bit more
33:15
control, because you're choosing where that 1% goes snack, Ali,
33:19
that was a big deal. Me because I've done things
33:22
where like I went for a big NGO and like donated my time to
33:26
teach people how to roast, but, and being kind of a DOT and not
33:30
working out the way I had hope. And I just decided like, okay, I
33:33
think we can be more impactful if we control exactly where, who
33:36
we put the money into whose pocket you know.
33:39
And oftentimes it can be very direct when we're doing those
33:43
support initiatives and we're going right to the source.
33:47
Sometimes it's a roundabout way, we support like the Red Cross
33:51
for some initiatives in the Ukraine earlier this year
33:54
whereas like that was the best Avenue for us to help.
33:57
But often times, I like to get as close to the actual folks
34:00
were trying to assist and bypass all the in between people.
34:05
You know, I think that's we're small and Nimble enough as a
34:09
company where we can still do that.
34:11
And so we like to take advantage of that but helps you appreciate
34:15
where that money is going and how it's being it's being used.
34:20
Some experience in non-profit work.
34:21
And I think one of the things that was always frustrating was
34:24
seeing people who donated money or money that was coming in, and
34:29
then seeing it not being used in a way that seemed effective.
34:33
And when you are, the one who is giving that money and especially
34:38
as a small business, it's nice to know that.
34:41
Like am I'm doing the most that I can with what I can do.
34:45
I certainly appreciate that. I want to give you a chance to
34:47
talk about some of your Your your colleagues at vigilante, at
34:53
some point you, when you were phasing out of roasting, and
34:56
you're in the CL duties, Franklin Ventura is your master
34:59
roaster. Now, how did that partnership
35:01
come about? And then you also have kind of a
35:04
second-in-command. Ashley, how do you guys develop
35:08
one your partnership and then to you're overseeing locations and
35:12
multiple States multiple by your bicoastal how do you guys manage
35:16
that? Yeah great great question I
35:19
would Point other Manure is to a book called The e-myth actually
35:22
written by a guy who's just, I think he still lives in Carlsbad
35:26
right here down the street, but that's a great book.
35:28
That kind of guides the way we create structure in our company.
35:31
So as the business grew every role I would develop a
35:35
description for I would create a job title for and then as I
35:41
could no longer take on all the parts that role I would hire
35:44
someone Ashley. Join me in 2012 when we were
35:47
still in the farmers markets and the basements and Getting
35:50
started with pop-ups. She's grown with the company,
35:53
and been there since day, one, pretty much.
35:55
And over time because of her business Acumen, having a
35:59
business degree and more Finance background.
36:02
She handles most of our finance operations, making sure we have
36:06
enough money. For Pure our green beans plan
36:09
for future releases whether that's merge unique, coffees and
36:13
Franklin came into the fold as a Wholesale customer.
36:17
He used to manage a small Cafe in d.c.
36:21
And he was just always on point when I visited, I was delivering
36:24
the coffee myself back then, and I roll up on my longboard
36:28
skateboard and I'd have their 510 pounds in my basket and drop
36:32
it off, and he was just really like professional and a pleasure
36:36
to work with in the wholesale capacity.
36:38
And he's lived in the small town, where we ended up opening
36:42
our first shop and the cafe. He worked at which was in the
36:46
original, Washington Post, building it closed out.
36:48
They were going to kind of like work on the building the
36:51
infrastructure so they close the cafe down and he needed a job to
36:55
fill the time until they reopen we reconnected right as we
36:59
opened up our height. So Roastery and Franklin came on
37:02
board bag and beans, Franklin was in the production bag, and
37:06
beans, jumping on coffee bar, learning to do pour overs, and
37:10
helping us in that capacity. You know, in small cafes,
37:14
oftentimes people wear, many hats, and Franklin wore.
37:16
Many hats and go to Cafe side and the production.
37:20
I too. And then over time it became
37:22
clear that he was a machinist and very capable of fine-tuning
37:27
and dialing in and really understanding the equipment we
37:30
were using from The Roasting to the Grinders all that, whereas
37:34
my mind's, not so good on that front.
37:36
So his skill set as a machinist lent him very well to roasting,
37:42
and he quickly picked it up and was pretty much the second
37:45
person I trained and to be a roaster in the company and
37:49
frankly, Alan I guess was roaster alongside me for about
37:53
three years? And then as I grew into the
37:56
Greenbrier role completely I've handed off the roasting role to
38:01
Franklin and he became the head roasted.
38:04
Since then he's elevated his Acumen through education, both
38:09
independent reading as well as attending classes participate in
38:13
u.s. roasting championships, all that stuff.
38:15
So he he really I think set the goal for himself to become a
38:19
great coffee. Actual, and our company
38:22
vigilante coffee has been an Avenue in which he could do
38:25
that. And then he just became so good.
38:27
That we were like, you can't ever leave.
38:28
And we need you to be back with us.
38:31
We're going to need. We're making part owner, and
38:34
let's keep on running and done in together.
38:35
He agreed thankfully and, and now he runs our East Coast
38:40
operation. So he's the head of the East
38:41
Coast, Franklin would even say he doesn't do much roasting
38:44
these days, that would be frank. Josh, who is our head roaster.
38:48
Now, for the east, Ghost and Franklin is really helping on
38:53
the green buying front and just overall operations ensuring our
38:57
cafes and the roasting go smoothly.
39:00
But it's interesting that you're creating an opportunity for
39:03
career growth, which isn't something that a lot of small
39:06
coffee shops offer. It's a reason why people get out
39:09
of coffee is they kind of hit a ceiling at some point and
39:13
correct me if I'm wrong, but it kind of sounds like when you're
39:16
hitting those ceilings, you're taking on more challenges to
39:20
Create more opportunities that sound familiar to you.
39:24
Yes, but not so much like I look at it I'm like, are we got all
39:28
these talented people? We need to create more
39:30
opportunities for people, you know?
39:35
There's no safety net for me or for our business like this
39:39
snotty by waiting to catch us if we have a significant fall.
39:42
So, I've always tried to calculate our moves very
39:44
carefully and know that each shop is equally as important as
39:50
the other one. Like, if you open a new one and
39:52
it start siphoning off all the profits from the first two, then
39:56
you're also insert, pull your hair out a bit.
39:59
And so just being very careful how we went about our growth, I
40:03
think that there's been several one to two-year gaps in between
40:06
stores where we'll look internally it will say, oh, how
40:10
can we improve as a company, how can we really Elevate our
40:13
quality? How can we get better with
40:14
training? And sometimes during those
40:16
periods, we have very little upward growth and momentum.
40:19
And we lose some talented people because we're in that moment of
40:23
looking inward. But as we've grown over, the
40:26
last decade, there have been some really cool opportunities
40:29
that have presented themselves where people who were bagging
40:31
beans, went on to become head roaster someone to start As a
40:35
barista now is ahead roaster. You know, we've had technical
40:39
coffee technicians people that repair, especially equipment,
40:42
start with our company who now own their own company.
40:44
That we work with on occasion, we have folks that have gone on
40:48
to start restaurants and things like that.
40:50
So we've often explained in our team that we intend to keep
40:54
growing but added control healthy pace.
40:57
And so sometimes that's going to mean that you might need to seek
41:00
opportunities outside of the company.
41:03
If you want to continue your growth.
41:04
And especially coffee game and we encourage them to do that.
41:08
Often times, we wish we could keep them with us but
41:12
ultimately, we're just a lily pad that's getting in the day
41:15
the era we live. In, you know, you might have 20
41:17
jobs in 30 years and we want people to see this as a positive
41:23
time in their career path and use it to get to the next place.
41:27
Like I'll be real with them in that it should just be get that
41:30
management title on your resume so that when you go to the next
41:33
thing you can claim that job and that better.
41:34
Valerie. If you want to be ahead roaster,
41:37
be an apprentice roaster here. So that you entered the next
41:39
thing in a better position. And that's what we try to teach
41:43
a lot of the young people that work with us.
41:44
And I think some of the really hard-working talented, people
41:48
have have been able to take advantage of the growth and get
41:53
in great positions. And truth be told we were really
41:55
blessed to have them in those positions.
41:58
So it's definitely been, you know, along sometimes painful
42:02
journey to get to where we are. But we've had some really
42:05
talented people. Contribute along the way, some
42:08
they're still with us and some that aren't.
42:10
But as they say, there's a mountain of people that we stand
42:12
on to be where we are. Yeah, we're very blessed to have
42:16
the talent that we have. Sure.
42:19
So what is you just mention something?
42:22
Where you kind of take some time after opening a shop to look
42:25
inward? You would roughly be in that
42:28
time period. Now after opening Oceanside,
42:30
what is next for you? I mean, what is on the horizon
42:33
for Vigilante coffee? Coffee Roasters for you as a
42:36
person, anything that you guys are looking forward to.
42:41
I think we have Ambitions to open up internationally.
42:44
I think we'd like to do something with this in Asia, or
42:49
with their deaths in Europe. But we have in additions to make
42:53
the world a bit of a smaller place and kind of create a
42:56
specialty coffee, you know, the Vigilante experience in
43:01
different continents. And so, that's an ambition that
43:04
we have. It's a big one, but one that we
43:08
would like to continue to pursue internally, I think we can get a
43:11
lot better with telling our story and communicating that to
43:17
our customer base, but also Continuing to refine and improve
43:22
our approach and coffee. We go through waves, where we
43:24
have really great amazing, train greases.
43:26
And then we have times where we have a lot of work to do a lot
43:29
of training to do and we're in that period of work and training
43:32
and development. So that's what a lot of our
43:34
focus is for the next six months.
43:36
But then we really love Southern California to.
43:38
So I think you'll see us work on putting some shops around here,
43:42
and then ultimately, I'd like to own the building in which we
43:45
operate from that something. Small business owners.
43:48
You're always gonna be slave to the lease unless you're able to
43:53
own the building, which you operate, which is really much
43:56
easier said than done, but that is something I'm interested in
44:01
getting to. And that's where I plan to save
44:04
you. I definitely want to own the
44:05
building which we operate in and then we have some cafes nearby
44:09
from a small business standpoint that helps diversify us.
44:13
Helps set us up so that we have a little bit of safety in terms
44:17
of the business as well as some real estate.
44:20
And yeah, I think that's kind of, the American dream to for a
44:23
lot of people to own property and real estate.
44:26
I don't want to own like a whole block or anything, but I would
44:30
like to control my lease and be able to call the shots on that
44:34
for 20 years or so. Well, it's a good thing.
44:38
You picked two of the most affordable places in the country
44:41
in DC and Southern for Nia to do that.
44:46
Before we go today, when you're out exploring, when you're
44:49
driving up the coast and you stop somewhere, what do you
44:52
ordered a drink for yourself at a coffee shop?
44:55
Pour over if they got it love the classic pour over.
44:59
Feel like you know I like to sip on something for a while and so
45:03
12 ounces is like perfect for me.
45:06
The classic drip to will work. If they got a solid drip on, if
45:10
it's after 1:00 p.m., it's going to be a macchiato for sure.
45:15
It's my go-to and then if it's after dinner, just a little
45:18
espresso for the digestion, is what I like.
45:21
So that's what I ended drink. What do you what do you order
45:23
when you're traveling? Because My wife actually said
45:27
this the other day. She's like, I never know what to
45:29
order for you anywhere. Except when we go into a coffee
45:32
shop and you order a black drip coffee, no room for cream every
45:36
time. And that's always the first
45:38
thing, I order, no matter where I go for the similar reason, I
45:41
like to have something to sip on, but to I always feel like,
45:44
if a shop takes the time to dial in that drip coffee, then I'm
45:47
willing to go to the next step and try it.
45:49
Everything else on the menu, I really appreciate that and
45:52
respect that, that people care about the person that comes in
45:55
that might Not know anything about coffee and just as like,
45:59
give me a coffee, this is what they get, you know, they may not
46:02
buy a 20 dollar bag of coffee or they may not care, but the
46:06
coffee shop cares, or The Roaster cares and they want to
46:09
make sure they're there representing well across the
46:11
board. So that's what I ordered.
46:13
Well, it's good way to measure coffee shops.
46:15
I mean, I my true. I definitely agree with you,
46:18
it's like that's a good measure of like, if you don't care about
46:21
his for the folks who might not work in coffee, most specially
46:25
coffee, Probably serve like out of 400 drinks, 350 330 of them
46:31
are going to be espresso drinks, right?
46:32
Milk-based lattes that kind of stuff.
46:35
So you may sell like 60, 70 drip coffees in your morning or your
46:39
day, so does even represent the majority of your base, but it's
46:43
those customers that often become your regulars, you die
46:47
hards. You're being customers that
46:50
really appreciate the craft you're taking.
46:52
And so for us vigilante, we definitely pay attention to our
46:55
drift. It's one of the biggest things
46:57
we care about and we love to keep it dialed in.
47:01
I'll leave you with. Is there anything that we didn't
47:03
cover today? That people should know about
47:05
about the company or about you? Oh, and also I wanted to say I
47:10
saw that there was a shop dog, at one point, is there still a
47:12
shop, dog? Yes, there's still a shop, dog.
47:15
He had, unfortunately he took the day off today, but Harold is
47:18
usually here at the cafe. He can be found just roaming
47:21
around eating up the crumbs saying hi to the customers.
47:26
I feel like that's a very East Coast thing.
47:28
Like there was always when I lived in New York the or on the
47:31
coast there was always a dog at the bar or the coffee shop.
47:34
I don't see that as much around here.
47:35
There's always dogs but not like this Shop dog.
47:38
The shop dog? Yeah, yeah.
47:40
Hair will, you know, Harold Shop, dog, growls roasting in
47:42
the basement. He was like right there sleeping
47:44
on beans with me. So he's been part of the coffee
47:47
game. Since birth basically, you know,
47:51
I would say that we have an amazing staff that really is
47:56
Abel's us to do what we did. Like it's the people that make
47:59
it special, you know, and my intentions as a cafe owner
48:04
designing, these are choosing beautiful coffees and whatnot.
48:07
Can only go so far and I'm really just a facilitator.
48:10
I don't grow the coffee these days, I don't need me.
48:13
Roast it that much. Nor will you find me making your
48:16
espresso? It's usually are really well,
48:18
trained, excellent, Baristas and Roasters and coffee Growers.
48:23
And so, to me, it's Continually recognizing how amazing it is
48:28
that we're drinking a world-class cup of coffee.
48:31
That's grown in some Faraway off, exotic place and that
48:35
there's maybe, like 20 different hands.
48:37
That contributed to that product.
48:39
Finally making it to you right in front of you, for this moment
48:43
in time, and this thing is going to give you life.
48:46
It's going to uplift you, it's going to fire off your brain,
48:48
you're going to be able to work, better, be more efficient, and
48:51
hopefully it's going to uplift. I just find that to be
48:54
fascinating and And I like for our customers to know the
48:58
Journey of it, too, because I find the more, you know, about
49:01
the products you're consuming are using the more you care.
49:05
Hopefully, our coffee inspires people to care more about what
49:09
the putting in their body and being intentional.
49:12
Sure. Well Chris I appreciate you
49:15
being here and for being my first guests on season six.
49:18
I know for me it's always a it's always takes a minute to get
49:22
back into it but this was great. I appreciate it.
49:24
Well, Ryan is pleasure to chat with you and I would like to
49:29
connect with you in person and learn more about your journey.
49:32
I'm sure you can do that a couple coffee here.
49:35
I hope so. Okay, to recap like Chris, I to
49:46
assume that someday I would play in the NBA.
49:49
I was a five foot eight inch Giant in seventh grade and I
49:53
assumed, I would continue to grow exponentially.
49:56
It was an assumption that did not.
49:57
Come to fruition my inability to jump.
50:00
Very high or run. Very fast.
50:02
Were also detriments so I found another path as did Chris his
50:07
experience coming of age during the late-2000s recession.
50:10
Inspired him to look for a career.
50:12
Which he would always be able to work and that he liked.
50:16
I think that recession inadvertently created a
50:18
generation of entrepreneurs by forcing them to get creative
50:22
with their career path. I'm one of them, the newest
50:25
vigilante Coffee Company. The one here in Oceanside on the
50:28
west coast opened after a particularly fraught period of
50:32
the pandemic. There was a lot of protesting of
50:35
lockdown restrictions by local businesses and a lot of vitriol.
50:39
Then there was the growing backlash to masks and the Ins
50:42
placed on businesses, despite their still being a lot.
50:45
We didn't know about covid at the time, I suppose.
50:49
There's still a lot. We don't know about covid, but
50:52
we've at least learned how to navigate the world in a much
50:54
safer way. It was in that window that
50:57
vigilante opened and I made an assumption about their brand
51:01
based on the name that turned out to be wrong.
51:04
I'm glad I learned the error of my ways fairly quickly, but I
51:07
was also reminded not to judge a book, by it's cover at least,
51:11
not only by its cover, /. One of the biggest takeaways
51:15
that I took for my chat with Chris came, from his recap of
51:18
the failures that led up to his successes at vigilante in its
51:21
current form. It took him a lot of failing to
51:24
succeed, being able to bounce back from failure, and push
51:28
forward is a really important entrepreneurial trait in Chris,
51:33
it's one that has led to a growing coffee company.
51:35
That inspires humans to be uplifted just by walking through
51:38
the doors a few days after our recording, I checked in with
51:42
Chris again. Just to see what I missed.
51:45
And I learned that vigilante, releases a new coffee, every two
51:48
weeks in Oceanside. They also host live music every
51:51
Saturday during the day, and they offer a free public coffee
51:55
cupping on Thursday mornings, you can follow their social
51:58
media for updates on that or stop by the shop.
52:01
Anyone and everyone is welcome to experience the cupping and
52:05
taste coffee with the Vigilante team.
52:08
Finally, I just want to belatedly.
52:10
Welcome vigilante Coffee Company to North County San Diego.
52:14
I'm really glad that they're here.
52:16
And I also want to say that if and when they're International
52:20
shop, opens, I'm available to baked beans.
52:23
Especially if it is important goal or Spain or France Italy.
52:26
Switzerland. The Maldives.
52:30
Yeah, just give roast West Coast.
52:32
A heads up when those jobs are posted, that's all I'm asking.
52:36
Check out vigilante coffee.com to see what coffees they
52:39
currently have on offer and to order a bag or see more photos
52:43
of their roaster and Cafe spaces.
52:45
You can follow them on Instagram at vigilante, coffee.
52:49
You'll find those links in this podcasts show notes or on roast
52:53
westcoast.com. That's also where I'll link to
52:56
some of the books. Chris recommended, or reference
52:59
during the show. Check out the website, subscribe
53:01
to the newsletter. It's a win-win-win relationship.
53:05
As always, this podcast is free to listen to but you can help me
53:09
grow this show by joining the roast West Coast coffee
53:12
community and choosing one of the paid subscription options on
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the newsletter you'll get access to the bean journal and be one
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of the primary reasons I can keep this program going every
53:22
single week, I already have a Full Slate of season.
53:26
Six, guests lined up this season.
53:29
On the podcast, you'll be hearing from coffee
53:30
professionals from up and down the west coast and our coffee
53:34
smarter. Spurts Jared, hail of Isaiah,
53:37
coffee Source, Chris O'Brien of coffee cycle.
53:39
Ryan Sullivan of most, your coffee Alden history of
53:42
Crossings coffee, and series simran, Khalsa of lofty.
53:45
Coffee are all returning for new coffee, education episodes.
53:50
And I'll be doing more in person, coffee, meetups and show
53:53
events at some of this podcast. Awesome roast industry Partners
53:57
including Cafe lechera. Most your coffee company,
54:00
steady-state coffee, roasting Camp, coffee company, and ignite
54:03
Coffee Company. Which will hopefully be opening
54:06
their doors soon. This fall I'll also be checking
54:09
in with the send Coffee Roasters, first light whiskey
54:13
Maria coffee and Cape Horn coffee importers, just to see
54:17
what's up and so much more. Thank you all for listening for
54:21
supporting the show and this shows industry Partners.
54:24
Don't forget to check out the newsletter at roast
54:26
westcoast.com and for using your power to support craft coffee.
54:32
This episode, the first of season 6 of the roast West Coast
54:36
coffee podcast is was has been written produced and recorded by
54:42
me Ryan Walt. It's good to be back.
54:45
I hope this episode is. Found you happy healthy and with
54:48
at least enough. Sanity to make it through the
54:50
day, always tip your Baristas and be sure to drink a coffee.
55:27
And there is the train. Always tip your Baristas and be.
55:36
I missed your train all the ways tip your Baristas and be sure to
55:41
drink good coffee. Always tip your Baristas and be.
55:36
I missed your train all the ways tip your Baristas and be sure to
55:41
drink good coffee.