In 2008, every area of commerce was starting to feel the burden
of economic stress and the motorsport/racing industry was no different. In
fact, since a large portion of our client base considered racing a hobby or
luxury, it was the first corner to be cut when the belts needed tightening.
Needless to say, money was no longer coming in and it was time to find
something a little more recession-resilient. This was the beginning of my move
from Engineering to Food and Beverage.
This is when I began with a small coffee roasting company
called “The Healthy Bean”. We took the
concept of a healthy, fair trade, organic, and antioxidant coffee…and turned it
into a solid, marketable product. Within a matter of years, we grew from a
small coffee roaster to a company with multiple wholesale accounts and several
retail locations.
When the time came for me to open my first retail location,
I called on the knowledge and experience of Jeff Chean and Phillip Hand of The
Supreme Bean. They took me to coffee school- from basic brewing methods to
coffee roasting theory…boy did I learn a lot! I took to coffee quite naturally,
as my engineering background allowed me to understand the mechanical operations
and chemical reactions required to produce the ideal espresso shot and the
perfectly siphoned cup. Another pleasant surprise was that the coffee world
uses much of the same lingo as the wine world. Another very natural transition.
The idea of selling coffee as a culture instead of a product
really took to heart with me because of my influences from Jeff, Phillip and
other industry figures I have met over the years.
In late 2009, I launched my first café. At 25 years old,
I think I did a pretty good job of not letting everyone know that I had NO idea
what I was doing. There was a pretty massive learning curve, and there was a
heck of a lot more to running a café than I thought. Staffing, scheduling,
operations, inventory control, quality control, customer engagement, product
promotion, accounting…I mean you name it, and it went WRONG. It was all very
overwhelming at first, but over time I just learned to take things in stride,
one at a time, and knock them down.
I was fortunate to have other entrepreneur friends to help
keep me motivated and sane. As a business owner, many times you feel alone in
your problems because…well…everything is your responsibility. There are no
fingers to point and no blame to shift. If something goes wrong then you have to
deal with and fix it. My friends Allen Doan and Mendrick Leelin really helped
me realize that every business has flaws, every company has problems, and that
the key to succeeding is diligent management and effective decision making. I watched them not give up when
hurdles seemed too large or too numerous. We often took time to exchange 'war stories', sometimes to give insight and advice, but generally just to feel like we weren't alone against the world. I look at where their perseverance has
gotten them today, and I hope to join them at the top sometime soon.
