Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Roast! - Dan Romeo, TRVLR Coffee Roasters

Transcript

Roast! - Dan Romeo, TRVLR Coffee Roasters · Coffee People Podcast

0:00
Good morning and welcome back to the roast West Coast coffee
0:16
podcast. Where I interview the coffee
0:19
Professionals of the West Coast and try to help us all get a
0:22
little bit coffee smarter in the process.
0:24
I do that by asking coffee experts coffee questions and by
0:29
interviewing people. Today's guest Dan Romeo, he's
0:32
the founder and head Roaster at Traveler Coffee Roasters.
0:35
He's also the owner and head Brewer of beer and booch at one
0:38
season brewing and he's likely the first phase.
0:41
You will see when you walk through the doors at the Rose
0:44
Torito. In just a bit, Dan will tell you
0:46
what the Roasterie do is and how it came to be.
0:49
But first I need to ask for your help.
0:51
This is the third season of the roast West Coast podcast and
0:55
it's time for the show to go Global or at least really
0:59
heavily Regional. Appreciate any help.
1:01
You can offer to spread the word, tell your friends to
1:04
listen, share the links on whichever social media.
1:07
You think is the least evil and go support your local coffee
1:11
roasters. Then tell them it's because of
1:13
the roast West Coast coffee podcast.
1:15
Assuming you're not driving or pouring hot water into a French
1:18
press for the next 45 minutes. Take a second while listening to
1:22
the show to follow at Traveler Coffee Roasters, I'll add the
1:25
link to the show notes and again, as always on roast
1:28
westcoast.com, I feel like I'm always telling you who to
1:32
follow, but if you have suggestions for me, please tag
1:34
me on Instagram at roast, West Coast, this morning, I'm
1:38
drinking a coffee. I probably don't need to mention
1:40
that I've been on a bit of a just discovering cold.
1:43
Brew could actually be delicious cake.
1:45
And I have a can of steady-state roasting his most recent Brew
1:48
which actually says and I quote do stupid shit faster on the can
1:54
I couldn't agree more. Make sure you have your own cold
1:57
brew or a full cup of coffee because it is I'm for this roast
2:01
West Coast interview with Dan Romell of traveler coffee
2:04
roasters. Could you do me a favor?
2:26
And just say who you are and what your company or companies
2:31
is? So everyone knows.
2:32
Yeah, my name is Dan Romeo based in San Diego.
2:37
Two companies. I currently own are, is traveler
2:40
coffee roaster and one season Brewing Company.
2:43
One season Brewing, kind of was a was born out of the pandemic
2:47
and travelers started at The end of 2017, when I initially left,
2:52
my corporate gig and decided, you know, I wanted to use my
2:54
hands and get out from within an office and do something on my
2:59
own. Well, that's a, that's a great
3:02
place to start. Let's go back before that.
3:04
And just say, what about your coffee experience?
3:08
What was it about coffee that made?
3:10
You think this is something interesting that I'm interested
3:13
in and, you know, kind of a first experience about coffee
3:16
that led you to deciding that was what you were going to leave
3:19
that corporate job for. Yeah, I mean, I think everyone
3:22
has their own coffee experience. So before coming to San Diego, I
3:27
was in New York. I worked in New York, lots of
3:29
coffee shops, A lot more coffee shops than just Starbucks
3:33
basically, and every quarter, you know, working from those
3:36
locations studying going to school in New Brunswick, New
3:39
Jersey at Rutgers, there's always coffee shops.
3:42
You're always there, you always met people.
3:45
It was, it's something that connects us all.
3:48
It's something that can be seen in every single country in the
3:50
world and just the feeling and especially in the east coast,
3:54
there's something there was always something about going to
3:56
a coffee shop and like the middle of the winter when I was
3:59
freezing outside. And you went inside with a
4:01
couple friends, girlfriend date, whatever it might be, and you
4:06
just spend an hour there and there was that feeling that you
4:09
always had, or at least I always had it.
4:11
And it's one of the things that I will always remember and I was
4:15
always like, man, that would be so nice to own a coffee shop.
4:18
Wouldn't be so nice to brew my own beer.
4:21
One day, these are these are thoughts.
4:23
I had 15 20, 25 years ago. I remember reading there's one
4:28
River Horse Brewing in New Jersey.
4:30
A there is a little tag on their, on their, on their box,
4:34
it says, I kind of like their story and it was like bunch of
4:37
Finance, guys. Quit their day jobs.
4:40
Start a brewery and I'm overthinking to my my the girl I
4:43
was with the time. I was like that's going to be
4:45
me. I want to do that one day.
4:47
Like I'm I just don't want to brew at home.
4:49
I don't want to, you know, I had an air popper for coffee.
4:52
You know, I used to make cheese used to make bread, not used to.
4:55
I still do these things and always to, you know, use your
4:59
hands met Made wine a handful of times.
5:02
It was always involved in just making things and they give it
5:05
to somebody and they have that that smile on their face.
5:09
And it's like, you did that. And they're, they're happy and
5:11
it's like my that feelings. Like, that's great.
5:13
You don't get that really in the office too much, you know, the
5:17
same, those same qualities, don't really exist.
5:21
And yeah, so that that that's kind of the back story there and
5:24
kind of how I got what I wanted to do with my life eventually.
5:28
What brought you from New York to here?
5:30
I also We're from New York. Yeah, so not, I mean, I worked
5:33
in New York but lived in New Jersey North Jersey Hoboken, New
5:36
Jersey. You know, for a good chunk of my
5:38
life, basically, it's as simple as this.
5:41
I visited a couple friends years ago, about, 10 years ago.
5:44
Now, it was January or February, never forget it land here,
5:49
beautiful 70 degrees. I think, I might have been a
5:52
heat wave might have been like 80 at the time we did all the
5:55
all the Southern California, San Diego things.
5:57
When the Torrey Pines went to the beach and After three days I
6:01
ended up Landing in Newark and it was like 40 degrees and sleet
6:05
rain and I was like, I didn't know that this place existed
6:10
that whether existed in America, I didn't know that that was
6:13
going on over there. And then basically, nine months
6:17
later, I was on the road. I packed my bags.
6:19
Had a house, sold it and drove across with a buddy and was, you
6:23
know, didn't stop to eat, hit Pacific.
6:26
That's such a, such a common story.
6:28
I find out here and won't similar to Own and that my wife
6:32
had an internship out here in January, February March, and we
6:36
spent the month before with our family and Wisconsin, and it was
6:41
that particular year about similar timeline, is you
6:43
actually I think it was below zero or add zero for like 20
6:48
straight days before we laughed and then we went back.
6:51
We spent three months in Chicago and we got there, I think April
6:54
1st or 2nd or something and it literally was icy rain for a
6:58
month and we just thought this is Worst.
7:01
Yeah, yeah. We never thought about it
7:03
before, you know, just never seemed like an option and yeah,
7:07
now that we've been here, eight, nine years.
7:10
What? I tell people back home when
7:11
they ask when we're moving back, is I don't think you realize how
7:14
hard the weather is on your body.
7:16
I just feel better every day. Feels a little better out here.
7:19
Yeah, agreed. So at some point there is a
7:23
Tipping Point that says I'm going to leave this job and
7:26
start this roasted not just roast but start a business which
7:30
A whole nother mindset. What was that?
7:33
What what made you decide now is the time G.
7:37
So like the the long and short of it is, I was CFO of to
7:43
marketing company and production company.
7:46
Like the TV commercials, basically, in San Diego here and
7:51
they kind of put me through the meat grinder and just, you know,
7:57
I'll get in too much details. It's just, you know, it was hard
7:59
to look at myself. In the mirror at the end of the
8:02
day and say Hey you know that's this I'm this is what I want to
8:05
do. I'm happy about what I'm doing
8:07
and especially when you're in a position of like finance and
8:10
that that's that type of level in a company of which it was
8:13
only between 50 and 100 people but still you know you start
8:17
looking at people as just Commodities and you start
8:20
looking at people as you know just to meet goals at the end of
8:24
the year or you know, to make Executives happy you know, with
8:29
bonuses and stuff. And you know, you get to the
8:32
point where just, you know, cost-cutting becomes a part of
8:34
your life and you know, like this is not what I want to do
8:37
with this is not how I want to run a company.
8:39
This is this this is not what it should be to work here 8 or 12
8:44
hours a day and you know as putting in shifts where, you
8:47
know, I was there two in the morning and then I was getting
8:49
back to the office that same morning at six and I'm like,
8:54
this is definitely why I didn't move to San Diego.
8:57
I wanted to avoid doing something like this and And yeah
9:02
I just basically just got up and I said, you know I'm I'm done I
9:05
don't know what I was going to do at that point.
9:08
I had you know kind of something in the back of my head but you
9:11
know I was just wanted to reset my mind and reset my body and
9:14
kind of get healthy and it was really taking a physical toll on
9:17
me kind of working, those kind of hours under that kind of
9:19
pressure. And for what at the end of the
9:21
day I still don't know what it was for.
9:24
Yes I just I just basically left at the end of 2017.
9:27
I said goodbye to a handful of people that I work.
9:30
Actually within the company and I was out.
9:33
And then the next day, I kind of just sat with the drawing paper
9:38
and started just jotting down, like what are my passions to
9:41
your point earlier about OU bike and you do beer and you're into
9:45
coffee. And so, I started writing all
9:47
these things down and I said, why can't I come up with a
9:50
company? Why can't I live like the way I
9:53
want to live? Why can't I live this dream?
9:54
Why can I, you know? But this is not going to be
9:56
about me. Some about other people that I
9:58
know are interested in these things, I know.
10:00
San Diego, the Beer Capital, the world, there's coffee shops,
10:03
coffee roasters, all over the place.
10:05
People love to bike the weather's.
10:07
Beautiful. Let me come up with something
10:08
that kind of brings all these things together.
10:11
That's kind of how it was born. And I was like, you know what,
10:14
you know I didn't have any kids yet and you know, there was a
10:19
point in time where you just can't make decisions like this
10:21
any longer that they just they wouldn't fly.
10:24
So I was like, this is kind of my last shot.
10:26
I've been talking about doing this for since I got out of
10:29
college. I'm glad I did all the business
10:32
and had all that experience, because there's no way I could
10:34
be doing this now. Without that, either good or
10:37
bad, how awful some of it was but how great some of it was,
10:41
you know, working with people and working on a projects and
10:44
dealing with the office politics and all those things that kind
10:47
of go along with it. But, you know, there's also
10:49
really great times. There's things I do miss from
10:52
hanging out in an office with people.
10:54
But, you know, without that background, there's no way I
10:57
could be doing this. And I mean, I think really like
10:59
the, like, the finance side. Side of it and accounting side
11:01
of it is really underrated, especially with everything that
11:05
we've gone through the past year.
11:07
I'm probably going off course here talking about too much
11:09
stuff, but, you know, being able to really have that mind to,
11:13
okay? This is how we're gonna grow the
11:14
business where the Investments are going to be.
11:15
This is kind of where the money is that the cash flow?
11:18
This is and I'm still a geek into that.
11:20
Like I still love looking at that type of stuff.
11:23
And now, since we're finally starting to grow again and
11:26
things are starting to look up like, you know, it's makes it
11:30
more Arresting to see. Look at the numbers.
11:31
Not just not not, not just a bloodbath on the paper anymore.
11:36
And now you're trying to buy equipment and trying to, you
11:40
know, grow production like that stuff, is that those are all
11:42
great problems to have and trying to find solutions for
11:45
that and trying to be as, you know, creative as possible.
11:48
And that's what I've done, you know, from basically day one,
11:51
but really pushing the high year during covid-19 Is about
12:00
experienced. Traveler was, always meant to be
12:03
more than coffee and it took me into the pandemic to really push
12:06
me into doing all these other things that I wanted to do that.
12:09
I kind of was not too scared to do all at once, but I just
12:13
wanted to just kind of roll out little by little by little, but
12:15
I was like, you know, now screw it.
12:17
We're going all in, you know, because if not, I'm going to be
12:20
going bankrupt. Yeah.
12:21
And it's been this great in the whole traveler traveler, you
12:25
know, spelled out and the the logo that I use and that and
12:30
that The Traveler is TR V LR but you know, traveler meant, you
12:34
know, it's you know it's cliche if you're not living it but it's
12:37
all about the journey. You know, I shouldn't be here
12:39
right now. I should not be talking to you.
12:41
I should be in an office somewhere.
12:42
I should never have left that job.
12:44
That was a cushy job if I could have just you know grin and bear
12:48
it and just said, you know, whatever working 10 12 15 hours
12:51
a day is okay. You know, two weeks a year
12:54
vacations. Okay, whatever I'm going to be
12:57
fighting for the bonus that they'd send me worth it, cuz I'm
12:58
gonna get a bonus, maybe that hasn't come But whatever, you
13:01
know, it's like I shouldn't be right.
13:02
I shouldn't be here right now. So traveler is the journey, but
13:06
it's not just my journey. It's everyone's Journey, you
13:08
know? It's the and that's why I try to
13:10
tell people when they come and I speak to people about what we're
13:13
doing is like, this is is a lifestyle.
13:16
This isn't this isn't just a coffee shop.
13:18
If, you know, if you're in here for just a cup of coffee, you
13:21
missed the point. You know, there's 20 coffee
13:23
shops down the street, this is about, it's about experience is
13:27
about a way of life and that's kind of why I'm living it now.
13:30
I think you're living my dream Dan.
13:32
I think that's what you just described to me and I would say
13:37
that I love doing all the all the different things that you
13:39
mentioned as well. And I very career path.
13:42
But where you have that Finance background?
13:44
I don't want to think about the money, I will because I come
13:48
from hospitality and I could tell you what my expenses were
13:50
to the penny and and where that money was going.
13:52
But I just want to make all this stuff and do all the things and
13:56
have someone else deal with that.
13:57
And I've been able to do that in my personal life, my wife.
14:00
Life is very willingly taken on the challenge of managing all
14:04
the money, but in my my working life, that's the part that I do
14:08
it because I have to but not because I want to and it sounds
14:11
like you still get the benefit of you.
14:13
Get to keep that part of your old life that you like and you
14:15
love. Yeah.
14:16
And now you're including this whole other Life Style part of
14:19
it is traveler, which kind of jumped into already.
14:22
Yeah. And you mentioned that, it's
14:24
part of the journey and that's kind of I'm assuming that's
14:26
where the name came from, what it means to you.
14:30
What? Of the customers that have been
14:32
coming into. When did you open, it cut
14:34
myself, short there, what you? Because you open right at the
14:36
beginning of the pandemic, right?
14:39
So I let actual storefront are the actual retail store was.
14:44
Yeah, it was fourth quarter of twenty, twenty twenty.
14:50
It was when I sew in the middle of last year, when things are
14:53
really after a couple months, I was like, all right, wait a
14:57
minute here, I wholesale business all my restaurants.
15:00
Durant's cafes, they all closed. I basically all the work that I
15:04
did for the prior year of Business Development, went down
15:06
the tubes, I would say, okay, let me wait this out, you know,
15:11
then after a few months, it got to about August.
15:13
I was like, all right, this this is we're in this for the long
15:16
haul. A lot of these businesses, I
15:18
already lost a couple clients. Totally, I was like, okay, look
15:23
at the money to your point. It was going to run out, I was
15:27
like this, I'm just bleeding too much of this point.
15:29
There's not enough coming in. And also, by the way, I can't do
15:32
business development, everyone's closed.
15:34
So, I have to change right now and wow.
15:38
So back story, when I initially left my job and I wanted to do
15:43
this after months of pen to paper, I was then I started
15:47
searching for a retail location. I was going to put this in a
15:50
middle of like a walkable area in San Diego.
15:53
Retail shop coffee roaster. Active lifestyle store think of
15:57
something like an REI with that. You would go to all The time
16:01
right? REI you know you go there once a
16:04
year for a jacket but if there was a coffee if there was a more
16:08
of a community aspect where people would meet up, you would
16:11
go there a lot more and then you would probably buy a couple more
16:13
jackets you know you would have more reason to go there and I
16:16
always thought like why is that? Like I've seen these another and
16:19
other areas of the country Colorado and Arizona and they
16:22
have like this you know that they have that lifestyle, plus
16:25
they have coffee which obviously we'd like talked about earlier,
16:28
it connects everyone on the planet.
16:30
No, there's something with it. The smell of it or anything.
16:33
That's just the people who are attracted to it.
16:35
So yeah. So that was the middle of the
16:39
August. I started planning, I have to
16:41
Pivot hard. So then I built a bar started
16:44
filing for the ABC. Permits to start a brewery
16:48
started, making kombucha started working with different vendors,
16:52
the State bicycle, and other vendors.
16:53
I wanted to sell for this lifestyle, the lifestyle side of
16:57
the store. And yeah, I opened up my soft.
17:00
Or whatever you want to call, it would be like in the fourth
17:02
quarter of last year and the whole goal was to hit 21.
17:07
Pretty hard with the whole new business model in place.
17:11
So I want to pause real quick on that and say and ask you you
17:16
were selling coffee Wholesales. So in 2017, were you already
17:19
roasting before you started before you left your job as like
17:24
just on your own just on my own. Yes yep.
17:26
Yeah. And then you expand that, that
17:28
experience into the whole cells. Of things.
17:31
But it sounds like you went into this.
17:35
This new retail storefront, at the end of last year, with the
17:39
you already knew, you were going to do coffee and beer and
17:42
kombucha. Are You The Roaster and the
17:45
Brewer of all of those things? Or did you bring on how poor
17:48
experts or anything like that or what was your process?
17:52
So so for the Brewing yes. I brought on a friend who's in
17:55
San Diego. He had he had a brewery in
17:57
Mexico City at one point. He's now executive chef.
18:00
A restaurant here, just actually I sold.
18:02
I sell coffee to him. Still at his restaurant is
18:04
brunch spot, and he actually was the one that came up to me.
18:09
He's like, have you ever brewed beer before?
18:10
I'm like, oh yeah, I brewed beer.
18:12
He's like, in the middle is like, August last year.
18:15
He's like, you need to start brewing beer.
18:17
He's like he's like what? He's, he was thinking because I
18:19
was, you know, complain to him and venting to him how his
18:22
business was shut down, and they just built at this new location
18:25
for millions of dollars and all this other stuff and he's like I
18:28
he was feeling the pressure, they had a But he's like you
18:31
know if you needed he's like you're doing all whole say you
18:33
need to switch. You say you have to start doing
18:34
beer. He's like I'm like honestly I
18:36
don't know anything at that scale to me.
18:39
I don't know what quipment. I mean I can do this on a stove
18:41
and a kitchen but I don't know what I'm doing at this type of
18:44
level and he's like, I'll help you.
18:46
And basically had a couple conversations, we sat down drew
18:49
some things up. He told me, this is the
18:51
equipment. You need to come up with he's
18:53
like I'll work it, I'll will connect.
18:55
It will set it up. We'll get it going.
18:56
He's you file for the permits, he's like, will come up with
18:59
some recipes and we'll start brewing.
19:00
Together. And I kind of, was when under
19:04
his wing, he gave me the pointers the tips to how to use
19:07
stuff and had a make it work. And now it's been pretty much
19:10
meet the last few months and we're doing small batch, only
19:13
one barrel at a time. And I'm trying to buy more
19:16
equipment, more Cold Storage to as all these problems that you
19:19
have. You can't you can Brew it but
19:20
then you can't keep it. So yeah.
19:24
So so that that was pretty much how that Brewing that the
19:28
Brewing side of it started. But yeah.
19:29
He's but he helped me initially. But I definitely want to bring
19:32
in more help sooner than later because obviously, I'm juggling
19:35
a lot of balls right now. Yeah, for sure.
19:38
There's a real interesting Dynamic out in the world right
19:41
now. I think traditionally people
19:43
look at brewing beer and coffee as very collaborative Industries
19:48
and they are. But there there's also people
19:51
who are less collaborative or, you know they're like, hey this
19:53
is my business and we're competing.
19:55
I think the pandemic really brought that out where it kind
19:57
of split that community and into more than one, A group, it's
20:01
kind of too. There's the, there's the side
20:03
that's like, you know what, we're all in this together.
20:04
Let's all learn together. Even though we're competing and
20:07
there's the other side going. Hey, we're in a pandemic like
20:09
we're all competing for the same pennies.
20:11
I'm, I'm focus on my own thing and it sounds like you found
20:14
yourself in that in that first Camp.
20:16
Just before I forget, what's the name of the brewery?
20:19
So people know one season burrowing once, we've been
20:22
growing a basically, it came out.
20:24
I was thinking about names for months, and then in February, or
20:28
March earlier this year, I was on the beach at like, 7:00 in
20:32
the morning. Walking my dog and I was like,
20:36
just Mumble to myself like man. We only have one season here,
20:39
you know, it's February. I would think I was talking to
20:41
my mother, the night before, and it was a miserable day back
20:44
east, and I was like one season. I'm like, well, that's it.
20:48
That's it. That's it.
20:49
That's the name. And there's nothing more San
20:52
Diego than that. So, yeah, that that's how the
20:55
name came to Bay. So the location that you're in,
20:59
you call the roast. Dorito, which is, yeah, people
21:02
can go in, they get traveler coffee, they get one season
21:05
beer, you also have kombucha and I believe bicycles.
21:09
How did the other part of that lifestyle incorporated into this
21:12
space? And what's your, you know, how
21:14
did bicycles come into play? Yeah, so, we'll take another
21:17
step back. We'll do it.
21:18
We'll go back again. When I was looking for, after I
21:21
left my job and I was looking for a retail space and I came up
21:23
with a whole traveler concept, you know?
21:26
Like I said, I want to do the retail coffee roaster in a
21:29
walkable area. I wanted this.
21:30
Up, I want to do bikes. I want to surf boards on you
21:32
skateboards things that were like quintessential San Diego
21:35
for San Diego. People to, you know, just to
21:38
embrace the, the One season that we have kind of, like I didn't
21:41
know what at the time but that's what I was kind of doing like a
21:44
one season store for, you know, for for active Lifestyles.
21:50
So, yeah, it when I started when that fell through and I should
21:53
probably say the reason why that the retail space never came to
21:57
be was the landlord Dad was still going to fix with the
22:01
building. He failed a bunch of permits a
22:04
year later. I was in a lawsuit with the guy.
22:06
I had to get out of it. I was like, this is taking
22:08
forever. This is all 2018.
22:10
Then simultaneous, I'm trying to look for another space.
22:12
I already bought a coffee, roaster is sitting in a box.
22:15
I didn't know what to do. And at this point I'm thinking,
22:17
like maybe this just isn't for me.
22:18
Maybe, I'm just going to have to go back to the office.
22:20
Like, I'm just burning through money here not doing really too
22:24
much. I mean planning and trying to
22:26
set things up and then everything's fallen through.
22:28
I can't get the space open. Keeps on failing for permits.
22:32
So I am getting out of that lease and then I found this
22:34
warehouse space in Mission Gorge San Diego.
22:37
And I immediately signed the lease even before I was out of
22:40
the other one and I was like, okay, now I'm going to middle of
22:43
nowhere. I have, you know, I have no
22:46
retail hope. So I have to Pivot, I got to do
22:49
scrap the whole traveler experience in the lifestyle and
22:53
I sort of start roasting coffee wholesale.
22:56
And that's why I spent 2018 2019 doing Just business development,
23:01
trying to build up the wholesale business, which I didn't know
23:04
anything about and I still don't know anything about.
23:07
I stride tell it to people all the time, I'm learning something
23:09
new every single day. And that's the beauty.
23:12
That's the journey. And that's the, that's, that's
23:14
the best part about the job. And I think we you mentioned
23:18
earlier about the, you know, the camps in terms of people on two
23:21
sides, you know, in terms of like, you know, they want to
23:24
help, they don't want to help and I'm in the camp.
23:27
And the reason why I left this is to be in the camp.
23:30
Of I want to be business partners with people.
23:33
I want to work with people, I want to help them grow their
23:35
business. That's the only way I sell
23:38
coffee wholesale and you know, I do it too.
23:42
I want them to be, you know, coffees coffee.
23:45
They can get it from 15 other Roasters in San Diego, you know,
23:48
I want this to be about like my relationship with them and just
23:51
knowing that they can call me anytime.
23:54
And I'm there to, you know, give them ideas and how they can grow
23:57
their business. And let's do some private label
23:58
bags or whatever it might be. Be other revenue streams for you
24:02
and try to give it to him at the absolute best price, not to sit
24:05
there and just try to rip them off or whatever, but something
24:08
that they could still grow their business, they can reinvest back
24:11
in their business, especially now more than ever.
24:13
I rather make a few less dollars knowing that they have a few
24:16
more dollars that they can live make another month.
24:20
There's a long-term thinking versus a short-term thinking
24:22
that. Yeah, yeah.
24:23
Penny smart, you know, pound foolish and that's the way I
24:27
approached. All of my business development
24:29
and then, unfortunately, That came to that crashed and burned.
24:33
So now I'm, you know, I pivoted to the to the to the retail
24:36
model and I still have a couple wholesale clients and we want to
24:38
kind of keep that at a minimum. I kind of want to just do it
24:41
just a handful and not be a wholesale wholesaler.
24:45
I never want to go back, you know, 100% again, it's just too
24:48
risky. I mean, I love the
24:50
diversification what I'm doing now, but to your point you have
24:52
the Roasterie do is, I was like, yeah.
24:54
You know, I'm coming up with, you know, silly things and
24:58
marketing concepts and different things.
25:00
And you know, you have Rosarito Mexico and everyone goes down
25:04
there and and then I, you know, I was like, you know, this is,
25:06
this is the Roasterie do. It's a little Oasis in the
25:09
middle of nowhere. In this Warehouse District, it's
25:12
hard to find, I have to start blastin Asal building some kind
25:15
of, you know, something on Instagram and other social media
25:19
channels about this to kind of give more than just, oh, there's
25:22
a coffee roaster. I was no, it's a roast to read.
25:24
Oh, it's something that. So what is that like you know?
25:26
And basically, I had been saying Four months and I was like, I
25:32
don't think this is sticking. I don't think this is sticking.
25:33
And then my one friend message me is, I'll meet you at the
25:37
Roasterie. Do at 2:00 today, and I was
25:40
like, it's working as a, this is working.
25:42
It's a the name is, it's not just me saying it on all the
25:45
time and now I have on shirts and I have it on the wall.
25:48
And, and it's known as the Roasterie toe for those.
25:51
For those people, that that have heard about traveler and one
25:55
season brewing, and it's we call it the beans boots, and brew
25:58
house. And it's as A little Oasis in
26:01
the middle of nowhere. And if you're there, you will
26:04
come back for sure. Because it's nothing like you've
26:06
ever seen. It's really interesting to me to
26:08
hear that your original plan was to be kind of, in the heart of a
26:11
walkable San Diego community, and you've ended up on the exact
26:15
opposite of that, but creating your own destination.
26:18
Yeah, yep. That can be a tougher road but
26:22
can also lead to longer term success because people are
26:24
making the effort to come to you.
26:26
So when things change or the communities change, they're
26:29
already making that. Free totally.
26:32
I completely agree. And I've, you know, I've said
26:35
it, like it's filled the dreams, I've built it.
26:37
And then my whole last year, I was like, I'm going to build it,
26:40
but hopefully they come. And it's like now they're
26:42
starting to come and month-over-month more and more
26:44
people, and, you know, it's great when someone shows up once
26:48
for this place in the middle of nowhere.
26:49
But it's the greatest feeling in the world when they show up a
26:52
second time because then I'm like, wow, I really got them.
26:56
Like, they felt that they felt that this was different, that
26:59
obviously they can. I'm a Always, usually always
27:01
there. Trying to, you know, drop my
27:05
hours a little bit. Just because that was a whole
27:07
nother thing. I end up getting in the middle
27:09
of last year, whoo, towards the end of last year and the
27:13
beginning of this year, I got like, Health took a turn for the
27:16
worst. I was had basically worn myself
27:19
into the ground burning. My candle at both ends, so, I'm
27:21
trying to take it a little bit easier.
27:24
Now, just, and now it feels a little better.
27:26
I think maybe it's the stress alone of the cult covid and Not
27:30
knowing what to do. And just up at night, sweating
27:33
staring at the ceiling. Going or what am I doing with
27:35
myself right now? Like, how is this is, this is
27:38
this, how it's going to crumble, you know?
27:40
Because I felt so out of control.
27:42
But then once I kind of reset, and I was like, all right, no,
27:44
it's still in my control. I have to just, I have to Pivot.
27:47
I have to do, think I have to, I have to think outside the box
27:50
right now and that's what that's what traveler is.
27:53
It's the journey and like I that's this is the sounds like
27:57
the perfect story if I can pull this off, you know, it's Speaks
28:00
to the brand itself in terms of the the change in the direction.
28:04
So it's just life. Yeah and I didn't mean to
28:07
chuckle at your anxiety. I was kind of snow misery rating
28:10
because I totally get that from an entrepreneurial standpoint
28:14
entrepreneurs. In general take on a lot of
28:16
stress because you are risk, you're taking risk that other
28:19
people that are not entrepreneurs, don't necessarily
28:23
yeah, there's great reward that comes with that risk as well,
28:26
but they're still risk and it's not as simple as opening a
28:29
coffee shop or a bird. Or whatever, starting a podcast
28:33
and expecting that you'll make money doing it and make a living
28:36
and pay your bills. And then with covid, there was
28:39
the stress on entrepreneurs of, how are we going to survive the
28:42
business side of it? But then collectively we all had
28:45
a, we all have this covid stress on us, whether we realize it or
28:48
not whether we believe in covid or not.
28:50
Yeah, I'm a firm believer in covid myself, but in the science
28:54
of it, but there's this weight and my wife was chatting about
28:58
it and I were chatting about the other day.
29:00
She works in a school system and she's like, man, I just my brain
29:03
wasn't working today and these other things and she's and she
29:06
was frustrated with herself and I said you got to give yourself
29:08
a break, you know. You not only have your work
29:11
stress but you have this whole other thing that's been just
29:13
building over time and we've gotten used to it, but that
29:17
doesn't mean it's not there and so we're all going through that
29:20
and having places like what you're trying to build with the
29:23
Roasterie do to go or to release some of that is important.
29:27
And yeah, this show not just with Sisters.
29:30
But with consumers view here on both sides, how the coffee shop
29:36
or that that Hospitality place that they were able to go to for
29:40
that hour during especially in the early days was the thing
29:44
that got them through right at the beginning.
29:46
And I think I think more than ever we're seeing how valuable
29:52
that is, there's some people that take it the wrong way and
29:54
get a little too over-the-top with how they're, they're going
29:58
out into the world of hospitality.
29:59
But I think there's a lot of other people who are
30:01
appreciating more than ever the luxury of going out.
30:06
Yeah, I appreciate this moment. It's not something that's
30:09
guaranteed to me. Yeah, you are roasting and
30:13
brewing and doing kombucha. Is there anything?
30:16
That's kind of surprised you about the processor that you
30:18
find those skills. Overlap.
30:20
Anything you've learned this year outside of the business but
30:23
unlike the actual roasting and brewing and and Boots side that
30:27
you kind of learn the hard way this year.
30:30
Yeah, I mean so the one thing that's clear with all three of
30:36
those in the kombucha was my my pandemic project at the
30:40
beginning of the pandemic. That's when I was sitting in my,
30:43
my apartment not really knowing what to do and I'm gonna start
30:47
doing something other than coffee.
30:48
And I have to start just messing around, so that was that.
30:51
But anyways, they the booch the coffee and the beer.
30:55
I mean, there's 90% passion, I mean, And it's an art.
31:01
I tell people all the time. Like, you know, to sit at a
31:04
coffee roaster, in mines, like a manual machine, I don't have
31:06
any, it's not automated at all. Seven and a half pound roaster,
31:10
you know, you got to want to do that.
31:12
You got to really want to be next to that machine for four
31:15
hours and 450 degree heat and and want to do it.
31:18
There's an art there's a there's obviously a science to it like
31:21
there's a science to the kombucha making and and and the
31:24
beer making obviously, but there's just a level of passion
31:28
you have to like want to Actually do it.
31:31
So when I started doing each of these things, I'm always asking
31:34
myself. Like do I really want to do this
31:36
in terms of like, you know, the type of company I want to grow
31:38
and not go back into an office doing things.
31:41
I didn't want to do answering those questions to myself in
31:44
terms of. Yeah this is what this is what I
31:45
want to do. I love this I want to use my
31:48
hands, you know this is this is this is at the end of the deck I
31:52
can make you smile with a cup of cup a cup of coffee as like the
31:56
overall driver to doing it. But yeah, there's the They're
32:00
overlapping thing is the passion necessary that connects
32:04
everything. And in terms of small business
32:06
owning just in general, I mean, if I don't, if I'm not
32:08
passionate you walk in that door, you're going to know what
32:10
pretty quick. You know, and then you probably
32:12
won't come back. I work a lot and probably cliche
32:16
to say that. Yeah, it doesn't really feel
32:18
like I'm working now if it feels like I'm working, you know, but
32:22
so I won't say that but, you know, there's a, there's a sense
32:25
of pride in terms of making something, you know, there's a
32:29
sense of pride. Terms of owning something is
32:31
sense of pride. In terms of being like, you
32:33
know, I can change things and going different direction
32:35
because I want to change them, but don't do things willy-nilly,
32:39
but do things with Direction and purpose and, you know, Clarity
32:42
and in a process and a plan, which is, I think a lot of small
32:47
business owners, probably lack is that plan, especially now
32:50
they're kind of, just, you know, throwing things on a wall to see
32:54
what sticks and that works sometimes.
32:56
But overall the long long term that's not going to that.
33:00
That's going to sustain you. And yeah so the passion overlaps
33:03
everything and then but yet they're all so different and I'm
33:07
one of these people, I just love to do.
33:10
I'd love to do things and having that coffee, roasting being a
33:14
part of it, and I have a part-time roaster who's helping
33:16
me do that, which is great. That's, you know, something in
33:20
itself as it won't experience, and then making kombucha and
33:23
that's a two-week process or whatever and then playing around
33:27
with different flavors and trying to make that.
33:29
And I'm trying to say, Scale that can't make it fast enough.
33:31
People absolutely love it. That's great.
33:33
And then making the first batch of it when it was carbonated, I
33:36
was like, this is amazing. I can't, you know, this is
33:37
great. You know, you see this science
33:39
is right in front of you, you know, it's all it's happening.
33:42
You know, it's great experience. It takes time, you have to be
33:45
paid just like business just like covid last year.
33:47
It's about patients, not just, you know, waiting, you know, but
33:51
waiting with purpose, you know, and not getting too antsy and
33:55
pulling the plug on something sooner.
33:56
And then beer is just a another Beast, because there's so much
34:00
Involved. There's so many steps and, you
34:03
know, but at the simplest, it's all about being clean and you
34:06
have to be passionate about cleaning if you're not going to
34:09
be passionate and thorough about being, you know, the cleanest
34:13
you can possibly be, you know, while you're messy and hot and
34:16
sweaty and all these other things, you know, it's about
34:20
doing all the little things that people don't see behind the
34:23
scenes that make that product coming out of the tap, you know,
34:27
and sitting there and just, you know, having your back hurt
34:29
after that. The after the day be going, you
34:31
know what, that was worth it and we'll see, you know, three weeks
34:33
later. We'll see what we got.
34:35
And that whole eating, again. There's a, an old, an old
34:39
Hospitality saying, which I'm sure everyone on the show is
34:42
heard me say before. But if you've got time to lean,
34:45
you got time to clean. And that's how I've always I
34:48
always learned in hospitality and and there's all these mr.
34:53
Miyagi like things that come with cleaning, you know, I used
34:56
to sweep in front of the restaurant that I ran with like
34:58
an actual broom instead of a Or anything like that.
35:01
And when the staff would ask me why?
35:03
Why I did it. I was like, well because when
35:05
I'm sweeping I'm talking to people that are coming by
35:08
outside, their people are seeing that.
35:10
The person who runs this business is out doing this work.
35:12
Yeah. And and I'm showing you guys to
35:14
that there's there's multiple things that I'm doing here at
35:17
once. I'm not only checking out the
35:19
building, I'm making sure that things are clean and presentable
35:22
to people, but I'm also communicating with the
35:24
neighborhood. And yeah, my dad, my dad always
35:27
said that and I always hated it. Because when I was a kid, I had
35:31
to work for him for free, but but I think that's something
35:33
that's so important in hospitality and in coffee and
35:36
Brewing as you're saying is so much more of the job is cleaning
35:40
than it is. Then I think most people realize
35:43
what's really interesting, is there anything else that about
35:46
traveler about one season about you that I didn't ask that you'd
35:49
like people to know today. I mean, I mean, yeah, just that
35:56
traveler and one season and is ultimately, it's me in a way.
36:03
You know, it's, you know, everything I do in that
36:06
warehouse, everything I'm trying to do long-term is, you know,
36:11
it's, you know, I put my heart and soul into everything and I
36:15
hope people see that and they can feel it and it's, I really
36:20
don't want to ever be. Just another coffee guy and me,
36:23
I'll sell a lot less coffee. But, you know, I want that that
36:28
result to be. If I'm selling a lot less
36:30
coffee, you know, the goal is not to be, you know, Filthy
36:33
Rich. It just to put a smile on
36:34
people's faces and make that connection.
36:37
That's why I left the office because I wanted to have those,
36:40
those great conversation, like you sweeping outside and talking
36:44
to people. It just it just those little
36:46
those little conversations that you have during the course of a
36:48
day. And I say this all the time, the
36:50
greatest part of my day, And the greatest part of, you know
36:53
running these businesses at the Roasterie do is every single
36:57
day. Somebody walks in that I never
36:59
met before and we'll have a great conversation about
37:03
nothing, you know. Sometimes it just you know what
37:07
who are they were they from or they ask me and I say the same
37:09
story that I've told you maybe 30 times a day but that that's a
37:14
part of the job. And, you know, I greatly
37:17
appreciate telling the story every single day because people,
37:20
you know are interested. They want to know And the
37:22
traveler experience, a traveler story, has a story, you know,
37:27
maybe a lot of other companies don't have that type of story
37:29
and those type of heartaches and the kind of up and down in the
37:32
change of direction that, you know, everything that's kind of
37:34
gone on. But yeah, it's Meeting those
37:38
people that you never met before and just having them sit down
37:42
and having a great conversation with somebody to the point of
37:44
when we started earlier is, you know, that's, that's the conduit
37:48
is that that's the connection. It's always with coffee.
37:50
You always meet those people. Oil.
37:52
And that's, that's the best part of the day.
37:54
And I hope that never changes. And if that never changes that I
37:57
consider traveler a huge success.
38:01
Last question, I ask everybody this at the end of the show.
38:04
But if you're going to another coffee shop, another roaster
38:07
just randomly on the road, what is it that you order for you?
38:11
So I get the same two things every single time.
38:14
I always get a cup of drip, whatever they have usually a
38:19
medium, a lighter roast, no, No cream.
38:22
No, any like that. Just drink a black and then I
38:23
always get a shot of espresso, two shots of espresso.
38:26
So I want to see you kind of like what that tastes like.
38:28
And then obviously the drip is, I just love a cup of drip
38:32
coffee. Good cup of drip coffee.
38:34
People don't realize, like it should be black, you know, it
38:38
should be super flavorful, you know, should be fruity, or
38:40
whatever. Whatever that bean is trying to,
38:43
you know, get through, you know, you should be dousing it with
38:46
milk and cream and all these other things, and that's another
38:48
thing we kind of do it traveler. Is that some a coffee roaster?
38:51
Are, you know, I don't use, I don't have cream, I don't have
38:55
sugar, we make to summer drinks. Now that have a little bit of a
38:59
little bit of coconut syrup in it for the summer and a little
39:02
like, oat milk whipped cream on top of it.
39:05
I'm trying to, like, really minimize those type of things
39:08
that are sold. I'm like, I don't want to be no
39:11
pumpkin spice. No, no, no pumpkin spice.
39:14
We do make a house, simple syrup with nutmeg cloves and cinnamon,
39:20
that kind of tastes kind of pumpkin.
39:21
But yeah, I'm trying to avoid having, you know, giving people
39:24
for four pumps of syrup and on your way it's just I just can't
39:29
do it. But yeah that's usually order
39:31
when I go to a coffee as you get it a drip and a cup of an
39:35
espresso and I really can, you know, usually it's good.
39:40
I usually enjoy it Dan. I really appreciate you.
39:42
Taking some time to talk to me. Tell your story today and now
39:46
I'm excited to get down to the Rosarito.
39:48
Thank you, I appreciate you, having me.
39:55
A big thank you to Dan for spending some time with us
39:57
today. He's got a lot going on with
39:59
traveler coffee and one season Brewing.
40:02
The through line is his passion for creating products, that help
40:05
create experiences for the rest of us.
40:08
I've got some coffee news and coffee vocab for you today.
40:11
To just yesterday, it was reported that the Coffee Bean.
40:14
Crop coming out of Colombia. One of the world's largest
40:17
coffee. Bean producers was short by an
40:19
estimated 1 million bags. Or about 154 million pounds of
40:24
coffee due in part to adverse weather conditions affecting
40:28
this year's crop, in addition to Farmers anyone who Imports or
40:31
trades, coffee from Colombia or likes, buying Colombian coffee
40:35
will be feeling this, it speaks to the challenges facing farmers
40:39
and how important those direct trade rostered.
40:41
A farmer relationships are, I'll link the whole article in the
40:44
newsletter on roast westcoast.com as well as our
40:47
previous coffee smarter episode where we break down the coffee
40:50
economy next week. I'll be talking to a new coffee
40:53
expert on this show, specifically about climate
40:55
change. So, if you haven't already
40:57
subscribed or bookmarked, now, is the time.
41:00
Our coffee, vocabulary terms for the day are puck knock box and
41:05
channeling. A puck is a compressed cake of
41:08
ground coffee that your espresso.
41:09
Machine is forcing water through to extract.
41:12
The coffee flavor. After your espresso is pulled
41:15
the round cake of grounds, which looks a little bit like a
41:17
hockey, puck is left over. It'll often get dropped into a
41:20
knock box which is A basket or a bucket for the discarded grounds
41:24
its so-called because you knock the portafilter against it so
41:27
you can get the puck to fall out cleanly channeling occurs during
41:31
the pulling of an espresso shot the water being forced through.
41:34
The puck finds a crack or an imperfection causing the water
41:37
to pull through a channel in the grounds channeling causes and
41:41
uneven, extraction of flavor, as some grounds engage with more
41:44
water than others. Basically, it's not good for
41:47
your espresso shot, and it speaks to the scale and training
41:50
of our Baristas, that It doesn't happen that often.
41:53
That's it for today's show. A new coffee smarter episode
41:56
comes out this Thursday, our first this season was serious
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simran, Khalsa, the executive director of coffee at lofty
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coffee and our next interview is with Marc Wortman of make good
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coffee company, which will drop next Tuesday.
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Also, head to roast westcoast.com to find links to
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this show supporters Maria coffee leap, coffee our
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first-ever sponsors, zoom bar, coffee and tea steady-state.
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Roasting Cafe lechera. Cape Horn coffee.
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Coffee cycle, first light, whiskey and Camp.
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Coffee company in Oceanside. Thanks again, to Dan for being
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here. Thanks to you for sharing this
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show with your friends and be sure to support the roast
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industry Legacy Partners. If you want, these shows sent to
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you right in your email along with articles about coffee
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photos and videos and vocab. Make sure to sign up for the
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newsletter at roast westcoast.com.
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Thank you for being so cool and listening to these podcasts
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instead of watching reruns of the office.
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Office, you should do that too, but I appreciate that you're not
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doing it right now. I'll leave you with a quote from
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Terry Pratchett. Author and humorist who said,
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coffee is a way of stealing time, that should by rights
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belong, to your older self. I'm not quite sure.
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I follow and understand everything he says.
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But that one kind of stuck with me today.
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This episode of the roast West Coast coffee podcast is was has
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been written produced and recorded by me Ryan Walt.
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I hope the show is found you happy healthy and and with at
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least enough sanity to make it through the day and please
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always tip your Baristas and be sure to drink good coffee.