Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Maggie Iannuzzi, Co-Founder of Precipice Coffee

Transcript

Maggie Iannuzzi, Co-Founder of Precipice Coffee · Coffee People Podcast

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  rostar.com, that link in the show notes or in our newsletter.
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  And now on to the show. I think, I think I'm all set.
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  Yeah, get into. It I'm glad I'm excited too.
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  Hey there everyone. Welcome to the Coffee People
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  yourself a cup of coffee, now is the time.
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  All right, Excuse me. Our guest today is Maggie
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  Iannuzi. Did I say that right, Maggie?
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  Maggie Iannuzi. Iannuzi, the owner, co-owner of
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  Precipice Coffee in Ellsworth, Maine.
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  You can find precipiceonline@precipicecoffee.com.
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  And of course we'll have those links in our show notes and
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  everywhere that we send this out to.
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  Maggie, welcome to the Coffee People podcast.
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  How are you today? I'm good.
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  I'm so happy to be here, Ryan. Thank you for having us.
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  You are welcome. I mentioned co-owner, but can we
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  shout out your fellow Precipice Coffee partner?
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  Of course, absolutely. Yes, Bill is roasting right now
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  and the sound quality during that process is probably not
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  ideal, but he wishes he could be with us too.
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  Bill I Newsy is my husband, roaster for our business and
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  kind of general operations manager.
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  And yeah, we're we're happy to be here.
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  I'm glad to hear it and we wish Bill well wherever he might be
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  roasting, but it makes it easier for us to talk about him here on
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  the show today. I think we should just get
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  started though, with you. And I'd love to know a little
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  bit more about you kind of in particular, you know, if you
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  have any memories of coffee earlier in your life that you
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  remember that stood out or that made you think this is kind of
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  interesting. I.
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  Actually the industry when I was 14 via my first job pouring, you
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  know, drip cups of coffee at Yum Yum Donuts in the Pennsylvania
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  Philly suburbs where I grew up. And then in high school, I
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  actually worked at a small local coffee roaster in my hometown.
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  So this would have been like 2004.
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  So I would guess like early days of micro roasting, they had the
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  small gastrum roaster right up in the front at the in the cafe.
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  And a woman named Sharon owned the business.
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  So she would roast all the coffee.
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  We would do flavored coffees. So we would pump our little
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  syrups into the beans and mix them up.
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  Of course, had, you know, all the flavors you can imagine.
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  But we made espresso drinks there.
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  So yeah, I was working an espresso machine from a young
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  age, making drinks, helping roast the beans.
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  I remember the big sacks of the green beans in the backroom and
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  you know, that smell, the burlap, and that's, you know,
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  specific kind of papery green coffee smell that they hold.
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  So yeah, I've been, I've been in the game for a long time for
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  front of the house perspective and coffee and just kind of
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  worked in hospitality all from there, but definitely had early
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  days of coffee roasting in my background.
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  Did you at any point try to say, to get out, to say, hey, you
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  know this, I'm going to go off into the world, I'm going to
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  start a new career, do a new thing or whatever it might be?
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  And if so, what? What was, you know, the goal
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  there and what brought you back? Oh, yeah.
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  I worked in, you know, hospitality through my whole
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  career, working my way, you know, serving bartending up to
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  beverage manager for a restaurant group in Philadelphia
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  where I was kind of spotted by a local brewery.
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  So I ended up working as a craft beer salesperson for a small
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  local brewery. Then I worked for Heineken for a
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  while. I worked for a couple of
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  national craft breweries and that really led me into kind of
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  the beverage sector overall as far as sales go.
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  Then, you know, Bill had been roasting coffee through that
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  time. He started working for some
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  small micro roasteries, you know, working his way up in that
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  industry in Philadelphia and the pandemic happened and I watched
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  him. The last company he worked for
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  was in Washington, DC and they were kind of focused more on
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  supplying Nitro cold brew via kegs to Weworks throughout the
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  country. That was their specialty.
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  And during that during the pandemic, obviously that changed
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  a lot for him. It changed my job a lot too.
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  And seeing him help them pivot from this very specific model to
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  more of a direct to consumer sales model was really inspiring
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  to me. His sales, his production force
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  went from like, I think there were like 15 guys working in the
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  warehouse from roasting to brewing and packaging, just to
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  him and one other person. So just seeing just him like
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  bounce back on his feet and really help them navigate this
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  like insane time and transition made me think, I don't maybe we
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  could do this for ourselves. So, you know, that's kind of
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  what brought me back into it, was kind of poking and prodding
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  Bill to feel confident that he could manage a whole kind of
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  business side of things on his own.
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  And yeah, so I manage our sales for the business.
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  Bill does all the production and it's, yeah, been great so far.
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  Beverage sales. Beverage production worked.
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  Out how did how did you get to where you are now in Ellsworth
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  in Maine? It's a bit of a hike from
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  Pennsylvania. I lived in Pennsylvania for a
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  bit a little bit familiar with that world.
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  And so you know what brought you to this what is admittedly a
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  small town in the Northeast to start this business.
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  So because not only are you then jumping into running your own
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  company or your own business, you're moving.
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  So yeah, we had kind of jumped the ship.
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  Bill's from South Jersey, I'm from, we're both from the Philly
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  suburbs. And so when we moved to
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  Washington, DC for Bill's coffee roasting career, we, you know,
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  jumped ship, kind of left home. We're kind of experiencing that
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  and realized, OK, we want to start a business for ourselves.
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  Going back home is not necessarily what we were looking
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  to do. But, you know, the DMV is.
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  It's an expensive proposition when it comes to the whole world
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  of business ownership and property ownership.
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  It seemed pretty a far reach there.
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  Bill and I have been coming up to Acadia for our whole
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  relationship. A few of his friends brought him
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  up to Maine for the first time when he was in high school.
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  And then inevitably, his family started coming up here every
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  summer. So we would come up every year
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  to Acadia. And it kind of just, you know,
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  Bill really introduced me to hiking.
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  And I feel like I am a Pisces. I'm a water person.
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  And so, you know, there's just a really special magic about this
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  area had like the pine trees and the mountains kind of meeting
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  the sea. It's really magical.
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  So I think once you get here, once you experience Maine and
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  down east Maine and Acadia, like it really gets in people, it
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  sticks with you and it really infiltrates your soul in a way.
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  And so we, we thought this could be a great place for us to start
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  a business. I had noticed at the time maybe
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  a lane for the kind of business that I wanted to run.
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  And so we all, you know, stuck at home during COVID thought
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  looking at Zillow, seeing what options were there in this area.
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  And actually the property where we ended up in Ellsworth, the
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  previous owner had built an outbuilding on, we're at
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  downtown. So we're kind of, we're in a
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  small town, but we're right in the downtown.
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  But she had built an outbuilding on her property to operate like
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  a bakery business that she would bake in the house and sell out
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  of the building. And so I saw that and I thought,
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  huh, OK, let me do a little more research.
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  I started understanding there's a, you know, term cottage law,
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  which is very important to Mainers because it allows people
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  to operate lots of different businesses from home.
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  It's, you know, we're not alone as kind of a home business with
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  a secondary building that we sell out of it.
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  It's pretty common here. And so learned more about that,
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  kind of started to understand what we would need to do to
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  roast coffee in there. Talked a lot to the city as well
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  to try and see if this was a valuable investment for us as
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  far as, like you said, not only just starting a business, but
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  uprooting our lives. And yeah, as I started talking
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  with them, they pointed out there is a another company that
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  roast coffee in town and it's a Gastrum roaster and meet.
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  There may have been some complaints over the past few
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  decades. They've been here forever about
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  the smell and and, you know, neighbors saying what is the
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  smell? You know, and so I thought, Oh
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  yeah, maybe that could be a problem being in downtown.
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  You know, we're in the midst of all other homes and like a dual
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  zoned area. And so that led me to discover
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  the bellwether, which, you know, it was only invented and put on
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  the market in 2019. So it was just, it was new to
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  the market. You know, it was already kind of
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  winning these SCA awards and about, you know, new kind of
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  technology for the coffee industry.
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  There was no one roasting up here on a bellwether.
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  And you know what, we're very much, we moved here because of
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  our love for the outdoors. That's what brought us here and
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  you know, to be able to kind of sync our passion for the
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  outdoors in the sense of preservation and conservation,
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  which is just like a huge thing for our community in here in the
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  Acadia region with our kind of life's work in coffee roasting
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  and in the beverage industry. It just kind of, it all seemed
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  to be really kismet like it all just kind of came together.
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  So yeah, that's pretty much the tale of what brought us up to
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  Maine. Yeah.
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  Just kind of timing and just that that kind of magic that
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  life sometimes has, I think is what has the only way I can
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  explain it. I would point out to anyone
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  listening, cottage laws are in 49 out of 50 states for running
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  businesses out of your home, but they are a little bit different
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  in every state. So make sure that you know what
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  the rules are where you are. Sometimes they're different even
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  by like county or town. They'll have little caveats out
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  of their rules. So just throwing that out there
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  for anyone listening. If you're Googling cottage law,
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  make sure you're specific about it.
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  You just mentioned the bellwether, which was of course
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  my next question, how you found it, how you chose it.
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  And you mentioned conservation and your, your love for the for
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  nature as part of that. And for anyone who doesn't know,
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  the Bellwether is a 0 emission solar electric electric machine
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  that can run on solar power. You find that machine, but like
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  you said, it's relatively new. We had Ricardo Lopez, the
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  founder of Bellwether on the show a while back.
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  What made you confident in in your husband, Bill being in
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  coffee, already familiar with the industry, What made you guys
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  confident that this could handle what it is that you wanted to do
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  with it and would roast a product that was at the quality
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  you wanted? Yes, we were investigating the
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  bellwether. They, they helped us feel
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  confident from kind of their sales side.
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  They sent us a bunch of any samples we wanted.
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  So we got to taste the coffee. We got to cup it at home in
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  Alexandria before we moved here as we were putting our thoughts
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  together and our business plan together.
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  And we were really impressed with the marketplace that they
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  were offering for green coffee. But Bill also has worked in
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  sourcing green coffee, worked for a small importer in probably
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  2018. 20/17/2018 So, you know, we knew that we'd feel
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  confident, you know, it was a good place where we can start
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  our business. The fact that they offered some
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  amazing coffees. It really simplified getting
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  started, which was amazing. And then, you know, we, they
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  also put us on a call with a few different businesses that were
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  operating. Bellwethers 1 was, you know, in
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  Michigan, they were pretty much a wholesale and online business.
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  They didn't have any retail space.
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  One was a bakery in New York that had was running, you know,
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  using the bellwether in a small way compared to all the other
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  revenue streams of their business with baking.
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  And then the other was a cafe that was using it to to power
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  their cafe. And so, you know, we kind of got
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  all these different perspectives and like different narratives of
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  feedback about how the bellwether supported different
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  types of businesses. And yeah, my confidence was was
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  pretty much secured there. I feel like, you know, Bill
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  roasted on, you know, his first roaster he used was probably,
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  you know, I guess a 12 kilogram Diedrich.
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  I don't, I don't remember the exact size, but you know, kind
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  of a six to 12 LB Diedrich roaster.
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  And then at his job in DC, they were dumping the whole sack in.
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  So, you know, he definitely has a ton of experience.
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  So you know, they do build this machine as something that is
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  super user friendly for someone that doesn't have coffee
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  roasting experience. And I can agree that anyone can
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  hop on and press the buttons to get roasts going and everything
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  like that. But just because Bill, there are
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  different operations inside of the machine than its traditional
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  gas drum rooster, but they're a lot of it is the same.
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  So, you know, he used to being very cognizant of every little
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  sound, every, you know, little difference to feel like, huh,
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  maybe something's not quite right or he's, and he's also
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  confident to like, you know, go in there cleaning the machine
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  and doing some tasks ourselves because of his experience and
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  his confidence, you know, at a roaster.
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  So just, you know, going into it knowing we had that background
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  as well as, yeah, just getting tons of information from
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  Bellwether made us confident to to take the plunge and use it
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  for our business. So.
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  You mentioned concern from neighbors about the smell of a
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  previous roaster or noise or whatever there might be.
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  I would point out that the one thing that's really unique about
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  the bellwether is it the no emissions.
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  It kind of keeps all that internally and you're not
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  necessarily having to start installing a full emission
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  system, exhaust system, which in a very small business and Kotich
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  laws generally have a limits to the size that your business can
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  grow if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, luck.
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  Luckily in Maine, we don't have size limitations as far as that
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  goes, but there are certainly certain products that you can
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  and can't produce at home. We're lucky because we do have
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  this outbuilding. So, you know, our whole property
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  is under our license if we wanted to take it to the
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  basement or something. But but, but yeah, the fact that
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  the bellwether, you know, we have no natural gas or propane
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  at all on our property in Maine. We are in a rural part of Maine
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  where, you know, where I grew up, there's natural gas lines
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  everywhere. You don't really think about it.
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  But here, you know, you'd have to install a propane system.
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  That's another, that's a huge other additional cost that we
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  were able to avoid by using the bellwether and then getting that
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  refilled. I mean they come on
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  automatically like they, they keep coming and refilling it.
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  So you know, it's the systematically different than
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  what I'm used to growing up. So it was great to be able to
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  avoid all of that. You know, people do ask about
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  like the cost of the machine versus traditional and it's
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  like, you know, we were able to avoid a lot of costs by using
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  it. And overall, I think we probably
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  saved money and now that we we are solar powered, we definitely
• 17:46
  save money by going fully electric for our business.
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  I'm curious about that community then.
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  Is this something that the community cares about?
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  Obviously you care about, you know, being more environmentally
• 17:59
  friendly or more aware of your impact and your, you know, your
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  your community, your realness kind of demands it to some
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  extent. But does the rest of the
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  community care or do they just say we like the coffee or we
• 18:11
  don't like the coffee one? I'm assuming they'll like the
• 18:13
  coffee, but that's good enough for us.
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  Does this this add to the story or is it just kind of like a
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  bonus to your story? I think that there's a mix for
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  sure. I think as far as like kind of
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  third wave coffee goes, in our direct town, there were a lot of
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  people waiting for someone to make them a really good latte,
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  you know, kind of have a great cold brew and have consistent
• 18:44
  coffee. That's, you know, especially
• 18:46
  with our light roasts or medium roasts that you know, that just
• 18:49
  didn't exist. I mean natural processed coffee,
• 18:51
  we are blowing minds with that category here, which is amazing.
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  And I, but I will say, you know, from a marketing standpoint that
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  to say we have tons of customers that come because they are
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  conscious of, of emissions. You know, they, they drive an
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  electric car, they or they just haven't bought a new car since
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  1970. You know, we have tons of those
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  type of customers here in our area.
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  And so I do think that not to mention, you know, we get a four
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  million person influx every year that for people going to Acadia
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  National Park, we're 15 miles from the park entrance where we
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  live. So, and you kind of have to pass
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  by Precipice Coffee to get to Acadia.
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  So yeah, we we get a mix of that.
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  And then I will say, you know, I it was maybe like a little
• 19:40
  easier for me to get in and break into the market as a new
• 19:43
  business here because I was able to point out to buyers from a
• 19:47
  wholesale perspective, like what sets us apart?
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  I think that of course, you know, every other coffee roaster
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  before people using electric, we're on the same machine.
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  So it's style machine more or less.
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  So it's something that buyers weren't really even conscious of
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  or thinking about in any way. And I think that, you know, I
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  was able to kind of build out a unique lane for us.
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  That was a it was it. We didn't have a hard time.
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  Infiltrating the accounts like, you know, our Co-op grocery
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  stores, we're in every Co-op grocery store in Maine basically
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  because, you know, it's something unique.
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  It's there's, there's some something besides, I don't, you
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  know, consumers are only so knowledgeable on individual
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  origins or what to expect from specific roasts.
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  I think that the general consumer, they see something
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  that they didn't think of, oh, it's 0 emissions, solar powered
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  and that's on the packaging. And so I think it's, it's helped
• 20:45
  us with our momentum, you know, across the board, I think.
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  Are you primarily wholesale? I know you mentioned the
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  outbuilding and I know you have limited retail and people
• 20:55
  driving by, but is, was that the goal from the beginning was to
• 20:59
  be more of a wholesale operation or is there a bigger plan here?
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  You know, has it turned out into what you imagined when you were
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  looking at Zillow and and thinking about this?
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  Yeah, We actually do pretty much half of our business.
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  We do almost equal parts wholesale and retail.
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  Of course, our retail includes more than just the beans.
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  And so when you're looking at being at bean sales, we are
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  weighted more in wholesale as far as volume goes and that was
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  part of the goal. We do.
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  We have our, I call it the tiny shop.
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  So we have our small retail space, but then we also do 3
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  farmers markets in the area. So, you know, we do have this
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  and we, we ran a cafe last year on Mount Desert Island
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  essentially like tucked in Acadia.
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  So, and we're sorting out how we want to manage our retail
• 21:49
  business this year. Staffing is, is a challenge
• 21:52
  across the country, but we, we don't have many people that live
• 21:56
  here. So staffing is definitely a
• 21:58
  unique challenge when you're in a rural market.
• 22:01
  We're sorting out how we want to grow as far as retail goes, but
• 22:05
  our plan was to do a lot of wholesale.
• 22:07
  I mean, I think that also allows us to have a little bit of
• 22:11
  diversity in the schedule, which we appreciate.
• 22:14
  You know, when you are running that Cafe seven days a week, you
• 22:17
  know, even if you have the best staff on earth that you trust,
• 22:20
  you know, I think it's still is a 24/7 job.
• 22:23
  And you know, I know that from my restaurant background.
• 22:26
  I don't know that I want to run a restaurant.
• 22:29
  So we love the farmers markets are an A fabulous retail outlet
• 22:33
  for us. Of course, being, you know, kind
• 22:36
  of in the eco friendly sector, we fit in really well.
• 22:39
  But then we source almost all local ingredients for our baking
• 22:44
  side of our business. And so, yeah, we, we were all
• 22:46
  suited for the markets and it's great to be outside in the
• 22:49
  summer in coastal Maine, you know, so.
• 22:52
  I, I hate to be a Debbie Downer this morning, but there's quite
• 22:58
  a few people who were working in national parks looking for jobs
• 23:03
  and, you know, perhaps would like to stay in those, those
• 23:07
  regions. You know, it might be an influx
• 23:09
  into this industry and, you know, state forest as well,
• 23:13
  National Forest as well. Where does the name?
• 23:17
  Speaking of the outdoors, where does the name come from?
• 23:20
  You know, how did you guys decide this is the brand we want
• 23:23
  to represent? You know, Bill and Maggie,
• 23:26
  because you could have just been like, this is Bill and Maggie's
• 23:28
  coffee company. Absolutely.
• 23:30
  Of course. Yeah, we could have done that.
• 23:34
  Yeah. Well, just to add to your
• 23:36
  comment, we have a lot of our close friends and customers work
• 23:40
  for the National Park Service. I think that, you know, as far
• 23:44
  as like a demographic goes, they are totally aligned with our
• 23:47
  brand and they support us so much.
• 23:50
  And this hearing from friends about, you know, there's people
• 23:55
  that were in, you know, kind of probationary periods of hiring
• 24:00
  where they were hired in the past year or two.
• 24:03
  They were all let go also because of the seasonality of
• 24:07
  Acadia National Park. It sounds like there's a lot of
• 24:11
  concern that they won't be able to hire seasonal employees this
• 24:14
  year. And that's going to impact so
• 24:16
  much. And that can lead into, you
• 24:19
  know, the name of our business. There's kind of the most, I, I
• 24:23
  would say iconic with the most lore in Acadia.
• 24:26
  The trail is called the Precipice Trail, and it does go
• 24:29
  up the precipice of Champlain Mountain.
• 24:32
  It's kind of iconic because it's got metal rums built into the
• 24:37
  trail. So you're essentially like
• 24:38
  hiking slash jungle gym climbing.
• 24:43
  And you know, people, people love it, myself included.
• 24:46
  I think that really like opened my eyes to hiking just it's just
• 24:51
  something so unique that you don't see on every trail or in
• 24:54
  every park. And so.
• 24:57
  Yeah. So being that we also are using
• 25:00
  the bellwether and our goal was always to operate with solar and
• 25:04
  that is something that's unique. You know, not to be too corny
• 25:08
  about it, but like we really did feel like we would be on the
• 25:11
  precipice of something new. And when we talked to business
• 25:15
  owners here, people, we in conversation, I, I push everyone
• 25:19
  to use the bellwether because I just think that, you know, if
• 25:23
  you want to roast coffee for yourself, why would you not go
• 25:26
  this way when it's available to you?
• 25:28
  You know, so kind of a dual thing.
• 25:32
  It's we're named after a famous trail in the park.
• 25:35
  And like I said, Katie is a huge part of our relationship.
• 25:39
  You know, we're a white husband and wife business and it's, you
• 25:44
  know, it's a huge part of our love story, to be quite frank,
• 25:49
  is well. That's a yeah.
• 25:52
  You work together, you play together, you live together, you
• 25:57
  do it all on the same property it sounds like.
• 26:00
  We do. Yeah.
• 26:00
  How does that impact your life? I mean, you have to kind of like
• 26:04
  each other too then I mean that's got to be part of it, I
• 26:07
  would assume. But how did you develop your
• 26:09
  roles in the business versus your personal life?
• 26:13
  Yeah. Is there a difference?
• 26:14
  Yeah. That's hard to say.
• 26:18
  I won't say there's clear lines. We do try and you know, I will
• 26:24
  say, you know, owning a business is, it's a lifestyle.
• 26:28
  You know, I, I think we maybe are still trying to figure out a
• 26:32
  better way to separate that time.
• 26:35
  You know, we sometimes have our best like meetings and meetings
• 26:38
  of the mind, like while out hiking because you know, you're
• 26:41
  just in that clarity and you're just, you know, your heart's
• 26:46
  pumping, you know, your blood is flowing and, you know, maybe
• 26:50
  those, those thoughts kind of come to the surface better.
• 26:54
  But, you know, we, we just try and, and find some separation
• 26:59
  like, you know, trying not to keep the work e-mail on my
• 27:02
  personal cell phone, like little things like that that just help
• 27:05
  you like when you do find those moments to stay in the moment.
• 27:08
  But yeah, we we like each other. We get along well.
• 27:13
  And, you know, I just think that we both have a lot of experience
• 27:17
  in the roles that we bring to the business.
• 27:20
  And so because of that, we both take a lot of ownership of the,
• 27:25
  the roles that we that we inhabit in this kind of
• 27:28
  ecosystem that we've built. So, you know, I don't expect
• 27:32
  Bill to go, I kind of run our shop, you know, and I'm in
• 27:36
  charge of however that is going to grow.
• 27:39
  That's, that's in my wheelhouse. And I don't expect Bill to be
• 27:42
  out interviewing a barista. You know, I don't expect him to
• 27:45
  do anything like that all and he doesn't expect me when an order
• 27:49
  comes in to to jump out and go start bagging up an order.
• 27:53
  You know, it's so I think that we both have some unspoken
• 27:56
  respect for what each other does and, you know, just, I guess
• 28:00
  respect for each other in general.
• 28:03
  Not that it's not not the easiest thing, I guess always
• 28:06
  for every couple, but we found I think that that kind of that
• 28:10
  kind of niche for each other. And yeah, we like hanging out.
• 28:14
  So we hang out. It's it's not, it's not all so
• 28:17
  super serious too. So, you know, we have fun with
• 28:21
  it. You're Ellsworth, as you
• 28:25
  mentioned, a smaller community. I think there's a little bit of
• 28:29
  pressure that comes with opening a coffee business in a smaller
• 28:33
  community. I think that there's only so
• 28:36
  many businesses to go around. You guys coming from the
• 28:40
  outside, how has Ellsworth welcomed you?
• 28:43
  Do you feel that there's any sort of pressure to be that cafe
• 28:46
  and you know, that retail coffee spot?
• 28:48
  I mean, where, where do you guys fit in this new community?
• 28:53
  So yeah, when we first moved here, I kind of took it upon
• 28:57
  myself. We got we're getting the
• 28:59
  business open. I took it upon myself to kind of
• 29:02
  get involved in the community. I joined our, well, you know, we
• 29:07
  joined our Chamber of Commerce. We also joined our kind of
• 29:11
  downtown association. It's called the Heart of
• 29:14
  Ellsworth. So I'm a board member for the
• 29:16
  Heart of Ellsworth and I kind of just like jumped right in.
• 29:20
  You know, we had been here enough that we had some
• 29:23
  understanding of like a demand for what we do in the community.
• 29:27
  Like I said, there's a great, you know, everyday cafe that
• 29:31
  uses like a bigger, a bigger size roaster, but a main
• 29:36
  roaster. And then we have a coffee
• 29:38
  roaster a, you know, it's a like a, a great store.
• 29:42
  It's an amazing store. It's a kitchen and fine goods
• 29:44
  store that also roasts coffee. And they've been doing it since
• 29:48
  like 1985. So, you know, there, there's a
• 29:51
  demand for coffee. People are already coming to
• 29:53
  Ellsworth to get coffee. And so, you know, definitely
• 29:57
  there's there's more competition now than there was when we moved
• 30:03
  here. And like, you know, that's just
• 30:06
  how the cookie crumbles as far as our greater region, more
• 30:11
  people are kind of roasting for themselves.
• 30:15
  It seems like a couple cafes we'd worked with in the past are
• 30:18
  transitioning to roasting for themselves, which it is great.
• 30:22
  I think there's definitely like a DIY spirit here.
• 30:25
  That's like a big part of the main culture is, you know, doing
• 30:29
  things yourself. So yeah, I think that the
• 30:32
  community has accepted us. I mean, we have a great network,
• 30:38
  Mainer customers and that term is used to explain people who
• 30:42
  were born here for like a few generations.
• 30:46
  But then because of the National Park, there is, and we have a
• 30:49
  few, like there's a big research laboratory that has a couple of
• 30:55
  locations in our area that draws a lot of workers from all over
• 31:01
  the country. And so there are a lot of
• 31:03
  transplants here as well. Of course, the park draws
• 31:06
  people, you know, oh, I'm a teacher.
• 31:09
  Maybe I should go teach and live in Acadia, you know, So we get a
• 31:13
  lot of that. And so I think that, you know, a
• 31:16
  lot of people are looking for something a little more familiar
• 31:19
  maybe to where they came from, and they seem to find that in US
• 31:22
  and what we offer. So, yeah, I mean, I, like I
• 31:26
  said, I think getting involved when you're starting a business,
• 31:29
  if I'm like giving anyone advice of, you know, doing this
• 31:32
  somewhere where you don't know everybody, it's just, you know,
• 31:35
  volunteering your time I think goes a really long way.
• 31:39
  Are there concerns, have you guys already discussed how
• 31:42
  impacts to the National Park system nationally are going to
• 31:45
  affect tourism? I mean, is that a topic of
• 31:47
  conversation among business people in your area?
• 31:51
  I think it's just beginning to be.
• 31:53
  I think that, you know, as the political landscape has been
• 31:58
  shifting very swiftly, What are you talking about?
• 32:03
  Sudden we're like, all of a sudden we're like, oh wait.
• 32:07
  If there's not, you know, there's In Acadia, there's many
• 32:13
  different areas you can hike where you don't have to go
• 32:15
  through kind of like a checkpoint for a park pass,
• 32:19
  which, but there is like kind of that, that main entrance where
• 32:23
  you're going to see the the key sites of the National Park.
• 32:27
  You do go through in your car, you drive through and you know,
• 32:31
  in some rooms past the lines with COVID, especially where
• 32:35
  people were limited traveling, whether it be like in the
• 32:38
  country or definitely out of the country, we did see a huge pick
• 32:42
  in in visitors. And so, you know, we're
• 32:46
  wondering now when that line gets longer and longer because
• 32:49
  there's not enough staff, how does that impact the tourist
• 32:53
  experience? Yeah, it's something that I
• 32:56
  think we're just starting to really think about and it's
• 33:01
  starting to sink in. So, you know, I think Acadia is
• 33:06
  for the kind of greater NE corridor between like DC and
• 33:11
  Boston, It is kind of the one of the places you can go to really
• 33:16
  get away. So I and you can, you know, and
• 33:19
  by car, you know, you can pack the family in and drive and
• 33:23
  there's tons of free stuff to do because you can just be outside
• 33:26
  and you're having a blast. So I do think we'll be OK, but
• 33:32
  it's certainly something to consider and like didn't expect
• 33:35
  to have to consider, but seems as though those conversations
• 33:39
  will be happening more and more I assume.
• 33:42
  You mentioned, you know, advice, people getting involved.
• 33:45
  I'm wondering if there's anything else, you know, if
• 33:47
  somebody were to say I want to get involved in coffee or I want
• 33:50
  to start a business of my own, anything that you would OfferUp
• 33:54
  and say, well, this is something I've learned along the way or a
• 33:57
  piece of advice that I've heard and I'd like to share.
• 34:01
  I think the most value It's very simple and I do give this advice
• 34:05
  freely. Starting my business plan and
• 34:10
  working with the Small Business Development Center here in Maine
• 34:15
  was the most helpful way to figure out all the things that
• 34:20
  had to get done to start the business.
• 34:21
  I know it sounds silly, but, you know, I would say, like, put the
• 34:25
  ChatGPT away, sit down with a state sanctioned template.
• 34:33
  It's going to include like all the categories.
• 34:37
  You know, it was a template for like a movie theater, you know,
• 34:40
  but it included everything that one would need to start the
• 34:44
  business. And I think that really helped
• 34:47
  as a checklist as well as like, you know, you're starting to
• 34:50
  plug those numbers and those thoughts together.
• 34:52
  And, you know, inevitably it was a really good guide to decide if
• 34:57
  this was viable or not. And yeah, so I definitely think
• 35:03
  just being really thoughtful and putting the time into starting a
• 35:05
  business plan is a great way to start any business.
• 35:08
  When it comes to coffee, I just think, you know, passion is
• 35:12
  obviously really important. But I would, if you want to work
• 35:15
  in coffee, I would say if you have one day a week that's
• 35:20
  available, maybe go see if your local roaster needs any help.
• 35:24
  Maybe go see if your local Cafe could use a hand during the rush
• 35:28
  on a Saturday morning. I would guess they'll say yes,
• 35:32
  you know, even if it's for like a STAJ style or just like, you
• 35:36
  know, over the summer or you know, maybe the winter when you
• 35:38
  have more time in your schedule as people do up here.
• 35:42
  You know, I think that that's the best way is to just immerse
• 35:46
  yourself in whatever way makes the most sense for you 'cause
• 35:50
  there's a lot to learn. It's there's a lot of layers to
• 35:53
  this industry considering, you know, our primary and our soul
• 35:57
  ingredient can't be grown anywhere near where we live.
• 36:02
  There's a lot, and I think it's important to, you know, I think
• 36:05
  that would be a good way to get into it.
• 36:08
  I have a vision of the future where we're growing coffee
• 36:13
  underground. That sounds like it's just kind
• 36:16
  of a random thought, but like with advances in technology, I'm
• 36:19
  not saying it's going to be great, but I can see a future
• 36:23
  where things get erratic enough that we're like, we just need to
• 36:26
  control the environment to a certain.
• 36:28
  Extent yeah, I can see something like that too I mean with just
• 36:33
  developments and like hydroponic growing and I feel like, you
• 36:37
  know just indoor growing in general yeah, I I wonder that
• 36:43
  too. That would be interesting.
• 36:46
  We shall see as a global kind of it's such a global commodity.
• 36:52
  So you know I don't not saying that I advocate for that, but
• 36:56
  you know it's there is a lot of as far as like being a business,
• 37:01
  it's really hard for me sometimes to tout being like
• 37:04
  this eco friendly business. I struggle with like this like
• 37:08
  green washing like demon that sits on one shoulder.
• 37:13
  I just I really struggle when I'm, you know, approached as
• 37:16
  your business is the most eco friendly business to purchase
• 37:21
  coffee from in Maine. It's tough because, you know,
• 37:25
  there's just so many uncontrollable elements to it
• 37:28
  that are arguably really bad for the environment.
• 37:31
  So being in coffee in general is probably not the route for an
• 37:34
  eco warrior. So, you know, I definitely take
• 37:38
  everything with like a grain of salt when it comes to that and
• 37:40
  try and be, you know, at least try and not be like a better
• 37:45
  than or, you know, I try and keep my ego in check or just,
• 37:48
  you know, all of that. But if we could grow coffee more
• 37:51
  locally and my local farmers who are growing my tomatoes and my
• 37:55
  head, the lettuce are taking on coffee, I think that maybe
• 37:59
  wouldn't be the worst thing. I just, you know, not to put
• 38:03
  anyone out of business in Colombia or, you know, in
• 38:06
  Guatemala. They're producing amazing beans
• 38:08
  today, but. Well, I think that that future
• 38:14
  on a big scale, it's just there's so many variables.
• 38:16
  It's hard to to navigate the threads as they keep spider
• 38:19
  webbing out. But what I can ask you is we're
• 38:22
  kind of coming down to the end of this chat.
• 38:25
  What is the future for precipice hold?
• 38:27
  You know what is the future for you and Bill look like?
• 38:32
  Yeah, I think that, you know, as I said, it's tough to be like
• 38:38
  the eco person, but we really are.
• 38:41
  Our main goal is to build a sustainable ecosystem for
• 38:45
  ourselves. So you know, we at some point it
• 38:49
  would be great to take on a second roaster and so that we
• 38:53
  can continue to grow. That's probably the the next
• 38:58
  that would be necessary. You know, the bellwether is
• 39:01
  great for starting up a business and it's also great because you
• 39:04
  can have two running side by side, you know, but where will
• 39:09
  that be? Will it be, you know, a
• 39:11
  different location, you know, in the Acadia region or will it be
• 39:17
  a little further South, closer to Portland, where is kind of
• 39:20
  our growth market of between 2024 and 2025 for wholesale Or,
• 39:28
  you know, will we just keep things as they are?
• 39:32
  Because, you know, we're kind of chugging along here learning
• 39:36
  every year in our area. It's it's figuring out how to
• 39:41
  best survive the winter and how to pad yourself for that like a
• 39:46
  little squirrel. So we're definitely learning as
• 39:49
  we go with that, making having better winters every season.
• 39:54
  So yeah, it really is just figuring out the the harmony and
• 39:57
  the balance where we are running a business and we feel really
• 40:01
  proud of the success that we're doing and it's sustaining us.
• 40:05
  But also we still have time to go outside and go hike in the
• 40:11
  park. That's really important to us
• 40:14
  too. So yeah, that's our simple
• 40:17
  future, I guess is slightly unknown.
• 40:20
  No problem. Lately unknown, but with some
• 40:23
  some some loose goals of of growth, especially in the
• 40:28
  wholesale side and just kind of continuing to nurture the retail
• 40:32
  side in the best way. So.
• 40:35
  Anything that I didn't ask today that you really wanted people to
• 40:38
  know about what you guys are doing or about you?
• 40:41
  I mean, I feel like you asked some really thoughtful questions
• 40:45
  that were, you know, very based about the business, but also
• 40:49
  incorporated a lot of personal touches too.
• 40:53
  So I don't know, I can't think of a whole lot else.
• 40:56
  I'm just, yeah, advocating for new businesses to look into the
• 41:02
  Bellwether when it comes to if you have experience roasting
• 41:06
  coffee or not. You know those.
• 41:09
  I think I, I was talking on another interview recently and
• 41:14
  we got these impact reports from Bellwether and we've roasted
• 41:19
  about 60,000 lbs of coffee since we've been in business and that
• 41:25
  the amount of carbon that we've saved is equal to 130,000 Rd.
• 41:29
  miles by a gas a few fossil fuel powered vehicle.
• 41:34
  And so we've basically saved the lifespan of 1 passenger vehicle
• 41:39
  since starting Precipice Coffee. And so I definitely think that
• 41:44
  it's something that more businesses should look into if
• 41:46
  it's possible and explore a little bit, see if it would be a
• 41:50
  good fit for you just to control the controllables as best you
• 41:54
  can. Last question then, Maggie,
• 41:58
  let's just say you get into one of these gas powered vehicles or
• 42:01
  an electric vehicle or a bicycle and you're cruising down the
• 42:05
  road and you see someone else's opening a new coffee shop and
• 42:08
  you stop in. What are you going to order off
• 42:10
  the menu? I'm a cold brew girl all year
• 42:15
  round, so I'm always going for cold brew.
• 42:19
  Give me a little splash of cow milk in there and I'm good to
• 42:25
  go. If you're drinking cold milk
• 42:28
  year round, you're going to need a little extra padding in the
• 42:30
  winter I think. I'm just saying, yeah, yes,
• 42:34
  well, this is New England after all, OK, We drink a nice all
• 42:37
  year. Maggie, I really appreciate you
• 42:41
  being here. It's just been a real pleasure.
• 42:43
  Oh, it's been so great talking to you.
• 42:45
  You're an amazing interviewer. I really appreciate your time.
• 42:49
  Well, most people don't know, but I drink before the
• 42:51
  interviews, just just a splash or two.
• 42:54
  It doesn't matter what time of day to everybody listening.
• 42:57
  You can find all the links that we've chatted about in today's
• 43:00
  episode, including the one to shop for precipicecoffee.com, in
• 43:04
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• 43:06
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• 43:10
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• 43:12
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• 43:29
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• 43:33
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• 43:33
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• 44:10
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