Latest / Coffee People Podcast / S6:E15 - Christopher Owens & Doug Meils, Right Quick Roasters

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S6:E15 - Christopher Owens & Doug Meils, Right Quick Roasters · Coffee People Podcast

0:02
And I'm using the old crappy headphones today.
0:06
As I were using the laptop speakers.
0:07
So that's even more awesome. You don't honestly, for whatever
0:11
nice new equipment I've had or have had guests, have it ends up
0:15
being like the person with like the Apple laptop Mike and, you
0:20
know, sitting outside next to the road.
0:21
Sounds the best like there's I think it's all this is all a
0:25
scam but I'm having one of those days.
0:29
This thing is like I literally taped it together this morning
0:32
because the new headphones that I had of course.
0:35
Shit the bed So, excuse my language, we're all fine.
0:52
Hey, good morning everyone. Welcome to season 6 episode 15
0:55
of the roast West Coast coffee podcast.
0:58
I'm Ryan Walton disses the show where I often wait, briefly for
1:02
the motorcycle to pass by and then bring you the stories of
1:04
coffee. Al's entrepreneurship and coffee
1:07
education. Today I'm chatting with
1:10
Christopher Owens and Doug miles.
1:12
They are the entire team of right, quick Roasters in Los
1:15
Angeles, right quick is a young roaster in the industry.
1:18
In business, entity, only Christopher and Doug have
1:21
already made names for themselves in the coffee
1:23
industry and have a history of collaborating.
1:26
Their resumes are littered with well-regarded coffee names, like
1:29
Intelligentsia handsome, Coffee Roasters, and Coffee Bar.
1:33
LA to name a few I met Christopher and Doug at Coffee
1:36
Fest La, where they were kind enough to give me a sample of
1:39
one of their recent roasts during the upcoming episode.
1:42
They mention a Honduras of they're particularly proud of.
1:45
And while I'd normally give you that detail at the end of the
1:47
show, they also mentioned that they have a very limited Supply
1:51
One. Burlap coffee sacks Worth to be
1:53
exact. So I want you to be able to jump
1:55
online and order while you're listening today, shop for that
1:58
coffee and others on right quick. .L a, you can go directly
2:02
to that link or detour through roast.
2:04
Westcoast.com where you'll find that link in this week's
2:07
newsletter, not to mention so much more this morning, I've
2:11
brought my coffee, thermos, out to the beach.
2:13
The waves are rolling in, and I'm imbued with a sense of calm,
2:16
because I know, it's all good, and it's going to all be.
2:19
All right? As long as there's coffee in
2:21
this muck, now is the time to double.
2:24
Check your own coffee mug. Make sure there is more than
2:26
just one last Sip and settle in for this interview, with Doug
2:30
miles, and Christopher Owens of right quick coffee.
2:32
Roasters in Los Angeles, California.
2:34
Cornea on the roast West Coast coffee podcast.
2:50
Let's see, you guys have a coffee over there today.
2:54
I was drinking this morning, our Ethiopia here, Chef, we have,
3:01
but currently right at this moment, I am not drinking any
3:04
coffee. I was a, I really enjoyed the
3:07
coffee. You guys were giving out at the
3:09
coffee Fest wearing. That blue is the Honduras.
3:12
Yeah. And that's actually I reached
3:14
out again right after that, so, I would say welcome to the roast
3:18
West Coast coffee podcast, guys. I appreciate you being here.
3:22
If you would for me and for the audience just let me know what
3:26
your name so that people can identify your voice and maybe
3:30
what your what Your Role is at right quick coffee roasters.
3:34
I'm Christopher Owens and I guess my role is director of
3:38
coffee, / founder right, quick Roasters and I'm Doug miles and
3:44
head roaster. And then Sort of found it again,
3:49
then we do everything else. Yeah so it's just the two of us.
3:53
So we do all the jobs. But you're not strangers to
3:58
coffee. This isn't like your first job
4:00
in coffee, so just to kind of build up a little bit of
4:03
History. I'm wondering if you could just
4:05
share with us what you'd been doing in coffee before this
4:09
before right quick came about. And if you wouldn't mind
4:12
confirming just how long has right quick been around?
4:14
How long has this been marinating and in business?
4:18
Well, you know, probably mid pandemic.
4:22
Is when we really started it, the idea of sort of been
4:25
rolling. Around for a little while before
4:28
that because we also are part of a company called Las Lila's
4:33
coffee. I met a gentleman named George
4:36
Pope whose families had a coffee Farm in El Salvador in the sun,
4:42
Miguel region since 1850 1851. And he approached me to create a
4:51
roasted brand to basically, to make the farm economically
4:55
viable. Bubble.
4:56
They were struggling. He wanted to save the Family
4:58
Farm history and and so we had been working on that, but
5:05
Avenues are tough when you only have one origin to sell.
5:08
So that we swim, we decided we wanted to keep the family brand
5:12
and you know keep that intact and not sort of detract from it.
5:16
So we decided let's start this other Mark to have a more full
5:21
menu offering and and have two different Avenues to explore in
5:26
terms of what customers want and need.
5:30
We have we have a catalog that we can we can give them.
5:35
Roasting the same coffee for like a year, it was really
5:38
boring for me. So I pushed it is like he had
5:44
the idea and had it taken around his head and I was like, please
5:48
please, I would if you just wrist one origin all the time,
5:54
it get this going to get boring, no matter what.
5:56
Origin it is for me, at least, sure.
5:59
I mean, I had a lot of regular listeners, but for new listeners
6:02
kind of that coffee. Roasting coffee is Like a
6:05
production is like a factory line to some extent.
6:07
I think there's this kind of magical Aura around it from
6:11
maybe the outside but there's a lot of just physical repetitive
6:15
you dial in your coffee and that's fun.
6:17
But then I've got to create the same consistent over time.
6:21
Yeah. I'll tie it back to then like
6:26
what is your coffee history before Leslie Lewis, and before
6:29
right quick, where were you guys at in the coffee World?
6:33
Well, I've worked Worked, I guess I started.
6:37
You know. Quote-unquote for real, in
6:39
coffee, in 2004 at a company called give me coffee out of New
6:44
York. They had just opened their
6:47
Williamsburg location which I believe is no longer there and I
6:52
started working there with my friend, Mike White and left New
6:57
York, moved to Atlanta worked for Counter Culture, coffee left
7:02
Atlanta. I moved to San Francisco work
7:04
for Well, Coffee Roasters. And that's where I started
7:07
roasting before that. I was Barista and customer
7:10
relations, that kind of thing. And then left, San Francisco to
7:15
move to LA and helped, open intelligence his Venice location
7:21
and worked at Venice and then worked in Pasadena and then left
7:25
that to found handsome, Coffee Roasters, with Mike Phillips and
7:30
Tyler Wells and then we sold handsome and I took some time
7:34
off and that's when I Met George now.
7:37
We're back. Yeah, for me I quote unquote got
7:41
like a real coffee job in 2007 at a place called mix in Ashland
7:49
Oregon where I went to college and they were stumped on account
7:53
and had their coffee. And was my first time having
7:58
quote, unquote, real coffee, blew my mind work there for a
8:01
few years, became manager, left and went to Seattle, had a
8:08
little Little bit of a coffee break went down to La down here
8:13
and applied at intelligence, a Silver Lake every day for a few
8:17
weeks until they got annoyed and hired me, they transferred me to
8:24
Pasadena where Chris and I open intelligence a Pasadena
8:28
together. That's where we met.
8:30
I think it was a pretty instant, like we're friends.
8:33
Yeah, that was 2010. Maybe Early 2011 late 2010?
8:40
Yeah, 2010 work there for a bit opened Coffee Bar, El La ran
8:46
that, which was the exact opposite of intelligence here.
8:50
I only hired my friends and you really push the limits on having
8:55
a good time and that's when Chris founded, handsome with
9:03
Mike and Tyler. And I put my notice in a coffee
9:06
bar and gave him a call. Said, I'm a free agent.
9:11
Chris took math. Lunch said, what do you want to
9:14
do said, I want to try resting and he said, okay, which
9:18
immediately made me scared started, roasting a handsome.
9:23
Did that for a while, went back to Seattle, had a Bruce, a job
9:28
at Togo coffee with Brian Wells to be honest.
9:33
Just partied for a few years after a couple of intense jobs
9:37
with handsome and intelli, Came back down here and worked at
9:41
what was then called, take flight.
9:43
It was the head roaster there, take flight had to change the
9:46
name to tectonic. They're currently running as
9:49
tectonic and had rested for Tonic for a while left there.
9:54
And I had met George by that point.
9:58
And the writing was a little bit on the wall that I would work
10:01
for them at some point or with them started, roasting for Los
10:05
Angeles and then the idea kicked around for four right quick,
10:08
Make sure to follow ups. And I one is, is we may have
10:13
crossed paths before because I used to go to that Pasadena,
10:16
inteligencia in like early 2011, when we first moved to LA, I
10:20
live right up in Altadena down the road for sure.
10:25
Yeah, I think we can remember. I believe we left Tyler and I
10:30
left. I think we've formally announced
10:35
Handsome 2011 at there's 21. Yeah 2011 at SCA Houston.
10:44
Leave those Houston. And so, whatever that sort of
10:48
spring summer, I forget what it was would have been when we were
10:52
done at Pasadena. Yeah, it's always a small world.
10:56
I'm always amazed at the connections people have not just
10:59
in coffee, but always, the second thought I have, just for
11:01
the audience's, I don't know this yet.
11:03
I'm gonna google it. You guys might know, but we
11:05
don't have to get into it, but if take flight had to change
11:08
their name because of Michael Jordan.
11:09
I think that's phenomenal, that's almost better.
11:11
Yeah, yeah, really speak for sure.
11:15
But I don't think I have one more year left on that idea.
11:28
Well, I think it's interesting you both have had kind of West
11:30
Coast and the East Coast industry experience at least a
11:33
little bit. Do you see differences in those
11:37
two coffee world's? I mean, obviously you're your
11:40
ingratiated and one side of things now.
11:42
So there's some recency bias but I started in the midwest.
11:46
My first cup of coffee was in Chicago and then I moved to New
11:49
York and then I came to the West Coast and the vibe was always
11:53
certainly different. But I wasn't The industry.
11:55
So I'm wondering from your perspective if there is a
11:58
difference kind of between those two if it's like the rap wars,
12:02
if it's like East Coast West Coast Sports you know any
12:07
Reflections on that. All right, you know, I think I
12:12
think every scene or location or Community inherently thinks
12:19
their stuff is the best, so you're going to get that sort of
12:23
ego, no matter where you go. I think it's been so long since
12:29
I was in New York. That it's hard, just to comment
12:33
now, because so much has happened since then.
12:36
And I think to that point for me, When I was working, it was
12:41
it felt very lonely. There were only there was only
12:44
gimme 9th, Street espresso, and Joe, when I started that we're
12:49
doing, you know, quote unquote, good coffee.
12:52
I'm sure there are some other shops that will take offense to
12:55
that. But, you know, even Cafe, Grumpy
12:59
hadn't opened yet. And so, I was only getting my
13:03
exposure in my community online. Essentially, you know, in the
13:06
early days of sight, Forum called coffee door, you know,
13:12
that kind of thing. And then, so that's sort of
13:16
spurred me to I wanted to get better.
13:19
I wanted to understand coffee, and then I didn't feel like
13:23
there was a way, I could do it locally.
13:25
So, I actually ended up reaching out to the 2005 World barista
13:35
champion, Tim wind'll, blow for 5.
13:38
I can't remember, number exactly, I think five Forgive
13:42
me. Tim anyway, I reached out to him
13:45
to just do some training and myself and my boss the owner of
13:49
gimme at the time. Kevin Cuddeback we took a trip
13:52
to Norway and I did a training for the week with with Tim and
13:58
in the Roasterie. It's over again Hanson and like,
14:00
Bruce the training and just that whole thing and it was really
14:02
Illuminating a great, but it just touches on, like, I didn't
14:06
know where to go, to be better. Because there wasn't a
14:09
community, really, not the time. And I think There is now, I
14:13
think there's a lot of people doing events, and I think that's
14:16
true. Largely was a much different
14:18
landscape in the mid 2000. How did you reach out to him?
14:23
Did you like slide into his Myspace DMS or like, how does
14:26
that? I think I just emailed him.
14:29
I think I just emailed him. And that is something really
14:34
different in our current time period.
14:36
Where if I want an answer about something and coffee?
14:39
I mean, I play the coffee, idiot on this show.
14:41
When we do education stuff, which is fairly accurate.
14:45
But if I want an answer to something like about tamping or
14:49
about espresso, or about whatever, I can go on Instagram
14:52
or YouTube and find out instantly.
14:55
I think that's great because I have access to that information,
14:57
but you actually were kind of forced to kind of find someone.
15:02
And go there. Go across the ocean.
15:05
I almost wonder if that is better because it it allows you
15:08
to know that you're serious. I mean I can dabble in a million
15:13
different ideas at any given moment now, but I used to have
15:17
to work harder to get the information I wanted, which is
15:20
how I knew I cared. Yeah.
15:22
Yeah. I mean I think I think there's
15:24
some truth to that. I think.
15:26
Like like you said that the access to information now is
15:30
phenomenal like what you can learn and from whom you can
15:33
learn is amazing. And but there are some downsides
15:40
to that. I mean it's a it's an experience
15:42
that the the trip to Norway is an experience.
15:45
I will always treasure and look, fondly on.
15:49
I think it was it was a great time and Really.
15:53
It's hard to you know, as the jaded old man and coffee.
15:57
Now, put myself back in that like, young excited, Barista
16:01
mindset, where everything I do, everything matter, everything
16:06
was Monumental and everything was exciting.
16:10
And in some ways that's unfortunate.
16:11
But in other ways I just it's great that I got to do that
16:15
because I think sort of to that point like now you can, you
16:19
know, you can watch any number of coffee professionals doing
16:23
what they do on YouTube or wherever and and get the
16:28
information but you didn't, you do it in a vacuum in a way you
16:34
don't have, I don't know, I don't know.
16:37
I'm not eloquent enough to sort of form like It's like you're
16:40
part of the community, but disconnected from it at the same
16:43
time. Sure.
16:45
And that's something I actually hear from a lot of guests
16:48
especially new Roasters or new coffee businesses.
16:52
I do here that they feel lonely that they don't really they
16:55
learned everything on their own and they didn't have a
16:57
give-and-take with somebody or a network that they built up
17:00
during the learning process. This show is actually in the top
17:04
10 of entrepreneurs podcast in Norway.
17:06
So you might have some fans over there.
17:09
I I just found that out. It's been a long time since I
17:13
was there so I don't know who's gonna remember me if anybody is
17:16
not in the top 10 in America but over there we're doing alright,
17:19
making your top, ten is making the top ten you got.
17:23
Yeah, I mean it was great like that sort of idea like, you
17:25
know, we were doing it. The so Bergen Henson Roastery
17:28
and that was the first time I saw they have they had I don't
17:32
know what they have now to to 120 kilo.
17:35
Pro Bots sitting next to each other and I was like wow you
17:38
know like you know typing in their lab with all these.
17:42
I think I think Tim had also just won the World Cup to stirs
17:47
Championship because we like the really early days of that.
17:49
So I'm like this is my first time in a professional cupping
17:51
and I'm cupping with all these professionals and you know that
17:56
was intimidating but you just you do it because you want to
17:59
learn and I told myself in that moment I was like I'm going to
18:03
do, I'm going to do it all and I'm going to ask the questions
18:08
because I want to learn if if it's a stupid question.
18:11
Well I still needed the answer and in that whole adage there
18:15
are no stupid questions. It's like They're just
18:18
questions, you don't know and just ask them because at the end
18:22
of the day you have to learn somewhere.
18:24
Don't be afraid to find out. I think for me the problem comes
18:30
when people feel like they know it.
18:32
All you while you've closed yourself off, you're not going
18:36
to learn anymore and no one's going to want to tell you
18:38
anything because you just beg. Well, I know I have it all
18:41
figured out and that just like it doesn't Foster growth when
18:47
when you're like, oh, I know everything.
18:48
And I've worked at jobs where I work for people who quote know
18:53
everything we say. Quote, unquote, a lot.
18:56
And it's, it's like, okay, well I find myself like not bringing
19:02
ideas to the table anymore and it gets stagnant, it's boring.
19:06
And then you, you don't want to work there anymore.
19:10
You get unhappy. So, like Chris and I think we
19:14
really since we met, we have been really, really good at
19:19
being like, hey, that's a dumb idea.
19:23
But let's go get a drink still like like or that's a great idea
19:29
or you did great. Like we it's very easy to share
19:34
and be either vulnerable or like, hey, I have this idea but
19:39
that's not going to work and we check in with each other also,
19:46
You know where we've been, we've been in the industry a long
19:50
time, we, you know, have egos and we have whatever and so we
19:56
keep checking in with each other and saying, hey whatever I say
20:03
about this roast or this coffee or this packaging or whatever it
20:08
is, we're talking about in business or even in our personal
20:11
lives. It's in service of making it
20:13
better. So don't we're not taking it
20:16
personally. Italy.
20:18
It may, it may still be uncomfortable to hear the
20:20
feedback because you want whatever you're doing to be
20:23
right in to be good but we know that it's we're not attacking
20:26
each other. Everything that we're doing even
20:29
in the tense moments is about making things better and I've
20:33
really grown to Tool of the negative feedback like there are
20:39
times where I would just every roast I did was once again quote
20:45
unquote, so good are the best. or delicious, and I'm like,
20:51
Okay, I need some negativity in here, so I can improve like, and
20:58
Chris was really one that, like not didn't bring the negativity,
21:01
but he was just, he was just honest.
21:03
He's like, hey, let's tweak this.
21:04
Let's do this. And that's how I learned when I
21:06
was first starting roasting. And I really appreciated that.
21:12
I remember, I remember at handsome, I sent coffee to heart
21:17
and I really looked up to Heart of the time and and they gave me
21:22
some really honest feedback and then I kept it and I was like,
21:25
dang it Hank. There it is.
21:28
Underdeveloped, like the right night, I couldn't see through my
21:32
own ego of, I'm doing everything right?
21:34
And so I yeah, I appreciate the honesty and and we just we don't
21:38
take it personally, we'd leave it at the door.
21:41
You are you're both experienced coffee professionals.
21:46
Was there ever a path that led you away from coffee?
21:51
I'm From the sounds of it. You both got your start
21:53
relatively young, so I'm not making any assumptions there,
21:56
but, you know, I'm in my 40s, my early 40s.
22:01
So I feel like I've had like five careers, six careers at
22:04
this point, was there ever a chance that you guys would have
22:07
left coffee and gone in a different direction?
22:09
Or was this always? Once you kind of got into it,
22:11
this was it. Well, I think I'm, I just turned
22:15
47 and so I've had several careers myself and In my early
22:22
days, I was sort of a home coffee nerd.
22:25
Like, you know, looking at home, brew home, Barista and like,
22:29
learning about stuff and learning proper Brewing
22:31
technique. And I went to school to be a
22:36
recording engineer and, as an illustration in music business
22:42
class because we had to take music business, at the end of
22:45
that class psycho, we had to do a presentation on anything we
22:50
wanted to do. Related to music business, it
22:54
was a wide open. So my presentation was teaching,
22:58
everyone how to brew a proper cup of coffee because everyone
23:01
that left that school, that's what they were going to be
23:03
doing. When they got to his Studio was
23:04
making coffee. It was huge hit, but I sort of
23:09
should have known at that point, but I went on to work in
23:12
recording for a little while and started in LA and then I moved
23:16
to New York and I was working the studio and it was just a
23:18
miserable time for me and for he has reasons.
23:22
And so I stopped, I was having lunch with a friend who I knew
23:26
from l.a. who happened to move to New York and I was like, I
23:30
have to have to leave this. I can't do this anymore and I
23:34
have to leave New York because I can't afford it.
23:37
And she's like, I can get you a job at the restaurant.
23:39
I work at. Okay.
23:40
And that's actually where I started making coffee or I
23:44
should say having an opportunity to make coffee, they had an
23:48
espresso machine, they kept, you know, five pound bags of whole
23:54
being in the walk-in refrigerator and you know, we're
23:57
not talking about high-end spot but I did my best and it was it
24:02
gave me the opportunity to play with coffee and that was sort of
24:05
it after that. And the only time I left coffee,
24:11
was after I sold handsome, and I didn't really leave it.
24:14
I just didn't go right back into it, and now I'm back.
24:19
For me, I went once. I Stumptown had some Stumptown
24:23
Coffee, I was like, oh this is it.
24:26
And then I was going to leave coffee after Intelligentsia and
24:31
coffee bar. I called Chris, I think a text
24:35
Chris actually was like, Hey, I'm a free agent was like, let's
24:37
go to lunch said, I wanted to be a roaster.
24:41
If if he had said no then I wouldn't be in.
24:44
I was at that point. 100% done. With being front of house.
24:50
Like I didn't want to be, I didn't want to talk to people,
24:55
really, to be totally honest. I wanted to hide in a room and
24:59
but still have there's creativity to coffee that I
25:03
love. And I find more creativity and
25:06
roasting and and cupping and green and all that stuff and
25:10
it's want to do it alone with a couple of other people.
25:14
And yeah, if you would have said no, I doubt I would be a highly.
25:19
Highly doubt would be in coffee right now and that changed
25:22
everything. Getting a roasting opportunity.
25:25
What do you mean by creativity? How would you expound on that as
25:29
far as like what you're doing now and you're kind of
25:31
philosophy towards roasting? How do you infuse creativity
25:34
into that? I mean we mentioned earlier kind
25:36
of the production aspect of it. Where does that come from for
25:40
you? My main things creativity is
25:43
creating the Blends. It's my, it's my favorite thing
25:46
to do, especially once you're in a place size-wise to, really
25:50
play around and, and get creative.
25:54
I think there's, there's also creativity and green buying
25:56
which Chris does and somehow pretty much entirely for the
26:00
last 12 years. We see incredibly eye-to-eye on
26:03
green buying but there's there's creativity like dialing in your
26:09
lines like to. Making the coffee tastes good.
26:15
It's super fun for me to rest a new copy.
26:19
And it it's really the Honduras. We have a hunter is that Chris
26:23
and I are really proud of and it's like the most fun I've ever
26:26
had roasting every time like it's the all the creativity that
26:30
led up to me choosing to do. That line is very like rewarding
26:37
that I don't know. I don't know if I'm explaining
26:38
that very well but that's like it.
26:42
I think, you know, I want to add, I think for roasting
26:47
outside of actual roast defect, you know, you can bake a coffee,
26:53
you can under develop a coffee, those, those things do exist,
26:58
but outside of that for me, My Philosophy.
27:01
Is that how you roast the coffee?
27:04
Is your creative Choice. It's your personal stylistic
27:08
choice. I tried to move away from the
27:11
sort of right or wrong dogma of like, you should roast light, or
27:14
you should roast dark or whatever.
27:16
I buy the coffee's that I think are delicious on the cupping
27:19
table and we together come up with the roast profiles that we
27:26
think make those coffees taste delicious and then Doug
27:30
consistently hits those profiles.
27:33
Keeping those coffees delicious. So I think and the team is just
27:36
us. So When you taste that coffee,
27:40
you are tasting our creative choices.
27:43
We don't have, you know, a team of five green buyers and you
27:48
know, 10 to 15 Roasters and you know facilities in multiple
27:52
parts of the country, you're tasting.
27:55
The job that we do for better or worse, the mistakes that we make
28:00
and the triumphs that we we have.
28:03
So I think that's how it's creative in terms of roasting,
28:08
but I also I I've long said that coffee as a as a career, there
28:13
is a position somewhere in there for every personality type.
28:19
If you are that extrovert rock star center of attention person,
28:23
being a barista is so fun and you get to community and the
28:28
instant gratification of your customers love you.
28:30
And you get to do that every day.
28:32
And, you know, there's little things, like whatever designing
28:36
your artistic visually, you can design menu.
28:39
Use and graphic design for labels and like there's just an
28:43
Avenue if you're the if you're the sort of more science-minded,
28:48
there's roasting and quality control.
28:50
And in numbers you can find everything within the industry
28:54
that that works for you. You don't have to be a barista.
28:57
Now, I know that sometimes making those moves can be
29:00
difficult because there are only so many roaster positions but
29:05
you know, there is there are opportunities for you to Or
29:09
express yourself and express your creativity.
29:13
You mentioned earlier that you started this company kind of in
29:17
the middle of the pandemic. I'm wondering how that impacted
29:21
your choices, if I'm not mistaken, please correct me if
29:23
I'm wrong. You do not have like an
29:24
operating Cafe. You do pop-ups and events.
29:27
And that sort of customer engagement, was that a reaction
29:32
to the pandemic or was that just the idea that we wanted to be a
29:36
roaster first. And then what comes comes?
29:40
I think both. If I'm honest I mean we started
29:45
it knowing that we already had roasting infrastructure going.
29:49
So it wasn't you sort of easy thing to do to start with
29:52
roasted coffee, but also because of the pandemic and because
29:57
building a cafe is expensive, you know, the overhead is is
30:00
crazy. We wanted to just move it slowly
30:05
and the pandemic sort of forced us to move slowly, because in
30:09
the early days it's not like you go out and get sales.
30:13
You just we just sort of started slowly and did some online stuff
30:18
and told our friends in the industry that we were doing
30:21
something and so there's just a few few out there at the moment.
30:26
I think for right quick, the goal is to have our own retail
30:32
Cafe operations. But again we're not in we're not
30:36
sort of steam rolling toward that we're trying to move slowly
30:40
and grow comfortably and not strain everything so that it
30:45
breaks. Yeah.
30:46
I think that Chris and I have a lot of past experiences with put
30:51
the pedal to the floor and we're old now.
30:59
All right, and it just like you get burnt out, so We're
31:04
definitely ramping up these last.
31:08
For five months, really? Yeah, but we took it really,
31:12
really slow at the beginning and trying to get get everything
31:16
right and just grow comfortably and not, you know, we still we
31:21
want to grow. Somebody's like, Hey, we're in
31:23
order of 5000 pounds week. We're going to be like, okay,
31:26
you know, but but we had to get to a place to be comfortable
31:30
with doing that and we're there now, I think we're roasting good
31:35
coffee like, you know, I think Branding is getting to where we
31:40
want it. And we're, you know, we hit
31:43
coffee that we kind of thought of coffee fast as our as a real
31:47
launch coffee of Estelle. A we weren't really announcing
31:51
two people to Los Angeles before that.
31:54
We just had our Instagram, just mostly our friends and yeah.
31:59
So how long will it moves cost us two months ago?
32:02
So yeah, I guess really been like two months since we've.
32:05
Yeah, that me think that I agree.
32:07
I think that was our official sort of, you know, coming out
32:10
party so to speak. It's we're here now and so we'll
32:16
see. We'll see how it goes.
32:18
I think that was a lot of people's coming out party.
32:20
It was certainly my first time going out to like a big event in
32:24
a long, long time. Yeah, yeah.
32:26
So it was certainly the start of something.
32:29
I wonder for you too. How Ow, being entrepreneurs,
32:33
kind of impacts the rest of your life.
32:35
It takes a certain personality to be willing to take on the
32:38
risk of it. Obviously, you guys are working
32:40
through this slow and you have a partnership which I'm becoming
32:43
more and more envious of as we talk here.
32:47
How does being somebody who has their own business or who is
32:52
kind of working on their own time line, where if your work
32:55
doesn't get done, that's really only on you.
32:56
There's nobody looking over your shoulder or if you're not
32:59
successful, that's also on you. How does that impact?
33:02
Rest of your life in a positive or negative way or just need a
33:06
neutral. I think at this point I have a
33:11
different approach than than when we did handsome.
33:14
It was it was handsome, was bigger, had far more eyeballs.
33:21
Like, we were in every publication it was there were
33:26
great moments, but it was sort of always there was always a
33:30
little bit of stress, just sort of always lingering and
33:33
sometimes a lot of stress but there was never this like Moment
33:38
to breathe. And that's not the that's not to
33:41
say that I didn't love a lot of what happened with that and l.a.
33:49
loved it. We still get people like oh man,
33:52
I loved handsome, like still but this is different I guess I
33:57
don't know if it's I'm different or the scenarios different or
34:00
both, probably both but we're taking a much more relaxed
34:05
approach in a sort of Health. Easy or what I think is a
34:10
healthy approach to it and not letting it overtake Our Lives,
34:16
certainly our personal lives, we're good at leaving it at
34:21
work, you know? Yes it all falls in us, there's
34:25
no Backup. Employees.
34:28
You know, there's no way to call in sick or any of that.
34:31
It has just has to happen, but we're pretty good about well.
34:36
We're going to deal with that problem tomorrow tonight, I'm
34:39
going to have dinner with my wife and like, do whatever.
34:42
Like I just, you know. Yeah.
34:45
I think I think I've always been pretty good at like, When I'm at
34:50
work, I'm at work and I'm giving it everything I have sometimes.
34:57
To the detriment of myself. And then when I'm at home, kind
35:00
of a work, hard play hard situation, but I'm just not like
35:05
I'm leaving it. And it is a little bit harder to
35:12
do that in like this partnership.
35:15
We have with Leslie Lewis and and right quick because it, you
35:19
know, I do get you no more phone calls and texts and slack at all
35:26
times. But it's more fun so I don't
35:30
think I'm like this is cool like had an emergency order yesterday
35:34
after I was done resting and already home and I was like hey
35:38
Chris this is happening I'll let you know.
35:42
Hey Chris I took care of it like in it that used to like really
35:48
pissed me off. Like why didn't you order on
35:51
time? And now I'm just like, who
35:53
cares? Like let's take care of it and
35:55
move on. We got to take care of Of it
35:58
anyway. Like so, right, so who cares and
36:02
you know, at on the receiving end of that text, I'm like okay.
36:08
And then I know that if we need to go in and roast, well, I'll
36:14
go in and roast with, you know, we'll pack it up.
36:16
We'll make it happen, will deliver.
36:17
It will get it there but I'm not going to worry about it until
36:22
Doug's like we got to go in and rest like okay well here we go.
36:26
Otherwise I'm just going to go back about my day if that makes
36:29
sense. Yeah, it's he's got it handled
36:32
or I've got it handled. We're not going to we're not
36:35
going to fight about it. Worry about it.
36:38
Sure. I like that.
36:39
There are emergency coffee orders not to me is just
36:42
amazing. That's a very more often than
36:44
you would think pretty frequently.
36:48
Like somebody just panics and realizes we are out of coffee
36:50
and we need it. Now I don't want to lose this
36:53
before we hit the ceiling on our time today but you are based in
36:58
La, how does La impact What you do with your coffee company and
37:05
how do you think right quick represents Los Angeles?
37:08
I think Los Angeles and I'll just kind of expose a little
37:11
commentary but I wouldn't have known Los Angeles was such an
37:15
incredible coffee Community coming from the Midwest or the
37:19
East Coast. But it's it's almost kind of
37:23
like it's like I think one of the few things Los Angeles does
37:25
quietly is every single neighborhood seems to have this
37:28
fantastic coffee roaster. Kathy coffee shop.
37:31
How do you find that? reflection, what you do and and
37:35
how you feel about representing la I actually I thought about
37:39
this earlier when you were talking about East Coast West
37:42
Coast and I'm from the Pacific Northwest and Seattle, and
37:47
Portland have these long, storied coffee histories and
37:54
pretty big coffee egos. And that's what I grew up with,
37:58
you know, and then when I moved to LA, in January 2010 it was
38:05
like coffee was just starting here, right?
38:08
And so they had this like, Freedom that I found it
38:15
intelligence Iya like we can do whatever we want.
38:22
That's good. There's no you're not
38:24
pigeon-holed. Like Seattle is no, I love
38:27
Seattle. No offense coffee up there but
38:31
it's this narrow. It feels very narrow and like
38:35
kind of lonely like you guys are talking about earlier.
38:38
And in LA because it was a little bit late, there was a
38:41
freedom and anybody could kind of do anything they wanted that
38:44
tasted good and it exploded really fast like I credit
38:50
inteligencia. Hmm.
38:52
Big time for just completely changing the scene here in LA
38:58
and because it's La. People saw it went.
39:02
That's awesome. I'm going to do it too and some
39:04
hit like struck gold and some Fela burned out, but it just
39:10
kept building and building and building.
39:12
And it I have never stopped wanting to be a part of that, in
39:18
La of that kind of creativity again, being able to do a good
39:24
thing. Make coffee tastes good and kind
39:28
of not care about anything else, just make it taste good.
39:33
Yeah, I think for me right quick.
39:38
So when I was formulating the idea for this brand, you know, I
39:44
wanted to infuse myself in it without it being a caricature
39:49
or, you know, overly sentimental or something.
39:53
You know, I was born and raised in Houston Texas, then I moved
39:57
to Tucson Arizona. And then I moved to LA
40:01
essentially. There are a few other places
40:04
that I mentioned before, but most of my life has been the
40:10
sort of Southwest. And so the name right quick,
40:15
right? Quick is a saying that is very
40:18
common in Texas, right? You know, it's just, can I
40:22
borrow your truck right quick? I need to run to the store and I
40:26
just liked that. Subtle omage.
40:30
But I also like that it has a meaning, like things are going
40:33
to be done, right? And they're going to be done
40:34
quickly, sort of thinking forward to that that future cafe
40:39
or something like that. And then the sort of brand
40:42
identity is built around the color palette and idea of
40:48
Southwest sunsets sunsets, that happen in Los Angeles and in the
40:54
desert of Arizona, things like that.
40:57
Just Things that are part of me that I think are beautiful and
41:01
important and formative of who I am without it being you know,
41:06
Johnny Rockets 50s, Nostalgia nonsense.
41:09
You know, like I wanted to put myself in a way that was
41:14
meaningful but not beat you over the head with it and and sort of
41:18
imbue it with that sort of Southwest and specifically
41:22
Southern California. Creative Energy, but laid-back,
41:28
I'm cool with it attitude, like it's all good.
41:33
And so that's sort of what it means to me.
41:36
Like Houston and Los Angeles are probably the two most important
41:42
cities in my life and I wanted to have them both into brand.
41:45
Somehow, the Southern California kind of, it's all good
41:50
laid-back. Vibe is deceptive to people
41:53
outside of Southern California because they think that's all it
41:57
is. And yet underneath that attitude
42:00
is this incredible Innovative like excitement and energy
42:04
towards creating new businesses and new products, which I think
42:08
is having been here now, for 10 years, 12 years, whatever it's
42:13
been is just, I always just amazed at like it's it's not
42:17
what I expected growing up as a kid somewhere else in the world.
42:21
Is there anything else today that we didn't cover that you
42:24
guys want? People to know about right quick
42:26
or or about yourselves. I think one thing, it's just
42:31
like, if you have questions for us or for me specifically, just
42:35
send them Instagram or whatever if you want to talk, let's talk
42:39
II that's one place. I have gotten into into in my
42:42
coffee career where like if you want help roasting or guidance
42:49
or thought whatever reach out like yeah, I don't have ego
42:54
about That sort of stuff. I just, I want to help like
42:58
Chris help me or like everybody Intelligentsia that trained me
43:02
and like kind of paying that back sort of a deal.
43:06
If you want to come in and roast with me like I can't give you
43:09
any money but that's like I'll tell you what I'm doing.
43:13
I don't care. Yeah we've is part of what we
43:17
wanted to do or what we want to do at right quick.
43:20
Is create Avenues and open doors for people particularly People
43:25
that don't always get doors open for them.
43:26
There's a lot of people in the industry that look like us.
43:30
Yes I think that needs to change a little bit and I think it is
43:34
but I think you know, if we can do our part to help future
43:38
Roasters or Barista training, whatever it is, whatever you're
43:42
interested in, let us know because there's probably a way
43:45
we can we can help you learn and like Doug said we can't hire
43:51
anyone at the moment but we're happy to let you come and And
43:55
watch us and ask questions. And, you know, whatever will
43:59
give you some coffee. Chances are you'll get a bag up
44:04
here. Okay, well, it's either of two
44:06
to six hour drive depending on traffic.
44:08
So I'll see you soon. Yeah, exactly.
44:11
I always close out with asking when you guys are out in the
44:14
world and you're getting a cup of coffee, somewhere else.
44:17
What are you guys order? Best actually, I know you order.
44:22
Yeah, and I don't deviate. I basically drink espresso and
44:26
black coffee, I have an espresso and a black coffee at least once
44:30
a day. I mean, I have my own set up at
44:32
home, so every morning I make a cappuccino for my wife, in an
44:37
espresso for myself. And then we have filtered coffee
44:39
along with that. And when I go out, it's most
44:43
often black coffee, and depending on the shop, I met on
44:47
my also doing a Yeah. So I will do a personal rant for
44:52
myself, just purely for me. I don't love natural process,
44:57
coffees to I don't love to consume natural process coffees.
45:01
I don't want to, you know, get into an argument about Naturals
45:04
and where they sit and in the world of coffee.
45:08
But I don't love to consume them.
45:11
And so I don't like when I shop has them on espresso, but it is
45:15
not noted that it's a I do not like the surprise naturalist
45:21
president, that's just my personal thing, just wanted to
45:24
put that up there. Yeah, if I'm checking out a
45:28
shout, I agree with Chris about the natural.
45:30
So like just let me know if I'm checking out a shop.
45:33
It's an espresso and a drip, almost consistently.
45:39
I just get a drip. That's my by far favorite way to
45:43
drink coffee. It's not even close but you
45:47
know, I love little like cortado to depending on the shop and my
45:54
trust level and said shop. I'll probably get a productive.
46:00
But yeah, a drip just classic easy and when it's good, it's so
46:05
good. I really appreciate both of you.
46:09
Taking time to be on the show with me and share part of this
46:13
jerk. This part of your journey,
46:15
coffee Journey with us and and I'm looking forward to trying.
46:18
More right quick. I had some of your coffee from
46:20
coffee Fest and really enjoyed it.
46:21
And thanks for being here, guys. Thank you so much.
46:25
This is thank you for having us. Okay, to recap, both Chris and
46:38
Doug, admittedly say, quote, unquote a lot.
46:42
They also both took distinct paths through coffee until
46:45
meeting at Intelligentsia and Pasadena in 2010.
46:48
For a Time Intelligentsia was one of the names in third wave
46:51
craft coffee, they inspired a generation of coffee shops that
46:54
came up very quickly behind them.
46:57
They were so successful. That a majority of
46:58
Intelligentsia was purchased by the German based JB holding
47:02
company, which was big coffee news.
47:05
They also own a majority of Peet's Coffee, Caribou Coffee,
47:08
Stumptown, Keurig, Green Mountain, and even Krispy,
47:11
Kreme, but I digress. The point being that Christopher
47:15
and Doug were on the Forefront of a quickly, growing wave of
47:18
coffee. Both of whom were seeking more
47:20
and more answers for their coffee questions.
47:23
Their paths, diverged, for a while, before coming back
47:25
together at handsome coffee, they diverged again before
47:28
coming back together, once again to roast under the Lost Lila
47:32
spanner, and now right quick Roasters, part of their
47:35
partnership, involves being willing to share and in Doug's
47:38
words be vulnerable. They also need to check in on
47:41
one another to make sure that they're both on the same page.
47:44
Sometimes, honesty can be uncomfortable, but that doesn't
47:47
make it personal, they're working together in service of
47:50
the coffee and to ensure that they are ready to grow when the
47:54
opportunity arises when it does. You can be sure that the coffee
47:58
they put out will be a reflection of their creative
48:01
choices. Finally, if you find yourself in
48:04
need of a coffee Mentor, or have a question about coffee, maybe
48:08
reach out to Christopher and Doug, they are open to share
48:11
what they've learned and pay forward all the experience.
48:14
They've gleaned over the years. I'm going to share more about
48:18
right quick Roasters, business Partnerships and some not from
48:21
the show, coffee content in the roast West Coast coffee
48:24
newsletter, which can be found on roast westcoast.com.
48:28
And of course, don't forget to head to right quick dot LA, to
48:30
order that Honduras roast while you can and follow.
48:32
Follow at right quick coffee on Instagram to stay on top of what
48:36
they're roasting today where they can be found and
48:38
occasionally, how the dogs feel about the whole operation now on
48:42
to our closing business. Did you know that this podcast
48:45
is a listener and reader supported creative effort?
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It's true. There are a bunch of crazy.
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Cool people. Who subscribe to the paid
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version of the newsletter at roast westcoast.com.
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You're probably getting sick of hearing that URL, if you've been
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enjoying this episode or the 120, some that came before it
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please, That are subscribing. The podcast is always free but
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damned if I don't appreciate the support that comes every time.
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Thank you to everyone on that list.
49:14
I also have a few key coffee industry Partners who I depend
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on for expertise and a bit of financial support that said I've
49:22
been lucky enough to only partner with Brands.
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I really believe in and feel good telling you to support.
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You can find links to those Partners in the show notes and
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each newsletter post and even right on the front page.
49:32
Age of roast westcoast.com, so a special shout-out to Cafe
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litter. Most, your coffee company Camp,
49:39
Coffee Company, coffee cycle, roasting ignite, Coffee Company.
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Roasters, and steady state coffee roasting who also have
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their own monthly newsletter, which you should definitely
49:53
follow a link to that in the newsletter coffee cycle.
49:56
Roasting is in the Pacific Beach.
49:58
Neighborhood of San Diego. And this Sunday, they're hosting
50:01
a local Makers Market, I Hope to see you there I'll be the one
50:04
giving out free stickers. Thank you all for listening and
50:07
supporting this show. This episode of the roast West
50:10
Coast coffee. Podcast is was has been written
50:14
produced and recorded by me Ryan Walt.
50:17
I hope this episode has found you happy healthy and with at
50:20
least enough sanity to make it through the day, always tip your
50:24
Baristas and be sure to drink a coffee.