Latest / Coffee People Podcast / RECAP: Arda Barlas, Owner of Boxx Coffee Roasters LA joins the Coffee People podcast.

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RECAP: Arda Barlas, Owner of Boxx Coffee Roasters LA joins the Coffee People podcast. · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:26
  Hey everyone, welcome to our Coffee People podcast recap
• 0:29
  episode. Thank you for being here and
• 0:32
  being a supporter of the Coffee People platform.
• 0:34
  I'm your host, Ryan Wolt, and you can follow or subscribe to
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  the show wherever you're listening, but you'll find all
• 0:41
  of our episodes, links, and bonus content on
• 0:44
  coffeepeoplepodcast.com. Become a subscriber and help us
• 0:48
  tell the stories of Coffee People.
• 0:51
  Our podcast is presented by Rostar Coffee Packaging.
• 0:54
  You can find them online at rostar.com.
• 0:57
  Please check out rostar.com to find examples of high quality,
• 1:00
  affordable, customizable packaging that they offer for
• 1:04
  coffee, tea, snacks and beyond for 1/3 time.
• 1:07
  That's rostar.com. Our recent podcast guest Arta
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  Barliss is the owner operator of Box Coffee LA, an offshoot of
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  the original location in Istanbul, Turkey.
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  We're here to recap that conversation in case you didn't
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  have a chance to listen to the full pod or you just want to
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  reinforce a few important takeaways.
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  For example, Arda is an owner and as such, his job changes
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  day-to-day, sometimes hour to hour.
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  He relocated to LA from Ankara, Turkey in 2017 and was looking
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  to get into a business, a hospitality business.
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  He tried a few things before considering coffee, which was a
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  topic he didn't know much about other than his friends were
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  taking him to local specialty shops.
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  His first aha moment we all have one where coffee became more
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  than a commodity was his first day at an SCA barista training
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  event. His trainer brewed him an
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  Ethiopia Yorgichev natural pour over.
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  The trainer suggested he give it a try before adding any of the
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  requested sugar or milk. The key component of the
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  experience for Arta was, in retrospect, the lack of judgment
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  from the trainer when he asked for those additives and then the
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  overwhelming fruit bomb flavor the coffee offered.
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  Naturally, it was a life altering moment for the future
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  coffee roaster. To that point, we all have room
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  to grow. I learned early in our chat that
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  the Turkish coffee I've been served at various hip coffee
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  shops in Southern California and New York, where coffee is heated
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  up in a little sandbox, isn't really a traditional Turkish
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  thing. More realistically, Turkish
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  residents were likely getting freshly ground coffee imported
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  from Yemen or Ethiopia at a local market that would be
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  heated in the coal embers left after a meal was cooked.
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  The sand thing is more of a gimmick.
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  I mentioned earlier that Arta joined an already existing
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  business in boxed coffee. His relationship with the owners
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  was organized through a family connection, but it was only
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  after they met for a coffee tour to learn if their vision for a
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  business, their tastes and personalities aligned that Box
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  LA became reality. It took time, but at Box, they
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  know what they like, who they are, and what they do well.
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  Instead of chasing trends in coffee, they're trying to
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  OfferUp what they do best and build a community around that.
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  Arda doesn't consider himself creative artistically, but he is
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  good at creative problem solving.
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  It's an important skill for any entrepreneur.
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  When I asked what made this the right opportunity for him,
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  Arthur replied that he never really considered the
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  possibility that it wouldn't work.
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  Why wouldn't it be the right opportunity?
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  Why wouldn't he take it on? That type of entrepreneurial
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  coping blinder can be helpful in pushing forward sometimes
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  because you don't see any other way than to keep going until you
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  get to the other side of a problem.
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  The new Box LA launched in 2021. It took 21 months to finish
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  construction and get approvals. Opening a coffee shop during
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  Covid's heyday would have been a challenge for numerous obvious
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  reasons, as was keeping a place afloat.
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  But when I hadn't considered was how bureaucratic channels were
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  affected. All of the Inspectors Health
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  building, that sort of thing, responsible for signing off on
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  the Box Coffee Cafe build changed from the time of the
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  first wave of coronavirus shutdowns to the second to the
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  third in the city reopening. But because this was Arda's
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  first shop, he had never known any different as an operator,
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  just kept pushing forward. Arda and I were chatting during
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  protests in Minneapolis after the shooting of Renee.
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  Goodbye ICE immigration officers.
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  But before the recent shooting of Alex Petty, I had almost
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  forgotten that there were ICE protests in Los Angeles months
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  ago during the first wave of immigration sweeps by the
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  current administration. Artist Shop and his home were in
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  the heart of that. Curfews were put in place and it
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  LED us to chat about one of the most impactful things a small
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  business can face during times of political instability.
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  Unpredictable variables which lead to caution in decision
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  making, and an unpredictable environment which causes caution
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  among consumers as well. Entrepreneurs can only control
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  so much. Coffee shop owners can only
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  control so much. And Arta cautioned that
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  sometimes you need to price for danger, not prosperity.
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  There's a conversation going on right now about whether or not
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  the coffee shop or the restaurant or the grocery store
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  is a political place and there's an argument for and against
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  that. It's hard to say what is the
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  right thing to do. I know a lot of coffee shop
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  owners are struggling with it. If you have thoughts, we'd
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  certainly like to hear them. Please share those with Coffee
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  People podcast. During our Coffee Smarter
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  moment, which we do on behalf of our presenting sponsor, roast
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  our coffee packaging, I asked Arta about the reality of
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  joining or buying into an established business.
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  He said that what you need to do first is due diligence.
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  Understand what you're getting into.
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  And then second, remember that even though you may be friends
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  with your partners or future partners, it's still a business
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  and you should treat it as such. Business partnerships are akin
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  to marriages. Art defines that being calm
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  helps. Don't make business problems
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  bigger than they need to be. Don't lose respect for the
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  person across from you if you have a disagreement because
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  you'll have times where working relationships are good and times
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  where they're bad. So stay calm.
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  Carry on, drink some good coffee, you'll get through it.
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  Finally, being calm feels like pretty good advice.
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  Just generally speaking when facing the uncontrollable feels
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  like we're going through an exponentially increasing number
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  of traumas in the form of politics and climate and
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  economy, for starters. And it's easy to forget about
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  yesterday in the face of today's current events.
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  I don't have a solution for that.
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  I wish that I did. What I can say is that grace in
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  the face of disaster goes a long way.
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  It's only been one year since the Palisades fires in the Los
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  Angeles area feels like a lifetime ago.
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  The rebuilding and recovering and trauma is ongoing.
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  And I hope there are moments where a cup of really good
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  coffee gives at least some of those residents a moment to
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  breathe. That's something that I think
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  that coffee shops bring to our communities, moments where we
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  can take a breath. That's our recap of the episode
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  featuring coffee roastery owner and operator and entrepreneur
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  Arta Barliss of Box Coffee Roasters.
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  You can find them online at Box Coffee dot LA.
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  You can watch or listen to the entire episode of the Coffee
• 8:03
  People podcast on most podcast platforms, including YouTube,
• 8:08
  which is where we could use your help in growing our subscriber
• 8:11
  list. We went from no subscribers to
• 8:14
  more than 100 over the past few weeks, which is pretty cool.
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  So find us on YouTube at Coffee People Podcasts, as well as
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  Spotify or Apple. All of the important links are
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  in this show's notes wherever you are.
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  Thanks again to friends and partners of our show, including
• 8:31
  Roast, our Coffee packaging, Cibbetts Roasting machines,
• 8:34
  Husaya Coffee Source, Relative Coffee Company, and of course,
• 8:39
  all of you. Wherever you are, please tip
• 8:42
  your baristas and of course, drink good coffee.
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  The.