Eating While Broke: JON KINNARD - Garnachas

The Black Effect Presents... Eating While Broke!

This week on Eating While Broke, our guest entrepreneur Jon Kinnard has an incredible story of hustling to build his coffee business Coffee Del Mundo. We go all the way back to his upbringing in Tennessee where he experienced racism that lit a fire in him to want to make change someday, especially in education policy.

Jon is all about being strategic and seeking knowledge, which led him to find corporate management training programs early in his career to gain skills, even though he knew he eventually wanted to work for himself. His love of travel brought him to El Salvador where he was inspired to help coffee farmers and learned firsthand the unfair practices of the industry.

This experience motivated him to start his own coffee company that could showcase the stories of farmers and cultures behind the beans. What's amazing is the creative ways Jon bootstrapped his business on a tiny budget, like exchanging helping a company sell equipment for the chance to learn from them.

Jon's hustle is real! When COVID hit and funds were beyond tight, he actually lived out of an RV in the back of his coffee shop. His passion for bringing healthy drinks to his community kept him going.

I love how Jon focuses on honoring the origins of coffee and aims to shift the narrative to be more authentic. He believes coffee culture in the U.S. has been wrongly colonized by Europe. Even the names of drinks and equipment used are Italian, which ignores the real roots of coffee.

Coffee Del Mundo has an intentionally curated menu designed with people of color in mind. Jon's mission runs deep. Make sure to tune into this whole conversation to hear more of his incredible journey firsthand!

 

Connect: @wittcoline  @hustletocreate

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Coleen Witz, and today we have a
very special guest, entrepreneur founder of Coffee del Mundo.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Did I say it right? Coffee de del Mundo.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
John Kinnard's in the building and this is all the
way in South LA. So we have a black owned
coffee business, so this is very unique. I don't actually

(00:48):
drink coffee, but today I'm gonna drink coffee. I'm gonna
test the colebrew before i even pass him over to
the dish he's about to cook us.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Let's just do a test. This is the Coco Blanco.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
CaCl blanco, my favorite one blanco.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So fun fact, I actually don't drink coffee, and if
I do, I usually mix it with hot chocolate and
then usually I get the jitters and I start to
think I'm gonna have a panic attack. It's weird. I
don't know why I react to coffee like that, so
let's test it. And I'm not a coffee fan, so
if I make a certain face, it's because I'm genuinely

(01:28):
not a coffee fan. So it doesn't mean you should
be taking my advice on coffee. You should not take
my advice on coffee at all. This hot chocolate, yes,
I've even mixed. I mixed vanilla.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, this is a white chocolate coffee that's.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
All enjoy Yes, and I'm only gonna drink it a
little bit because we don't even.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Be bouncing off the walls.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
I can mess with this, Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
It has a little bit of a coffee taste. It
definitely has a coffee taste, which is good for coffee drinkers.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Right, absolutely, I ain't on front.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
I could probably kill this whole thing. I could probably
drink this thing. But will I get the jitters?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
You will? This is like two servings in one and
for you that may be like three servings.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
So that means what is coffee made of? Caffeine? Right?

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Caffeine content? Yeah, cold brew is three times stronger than espresso,
so a third of that is like one cup of coffee.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Okay, you need to have. This is delicious.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I ain't gonna run. This is actually delicious. I would
drink this whole thing and probably end up in the hospital.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Right, yeah, sensitive, babe, I'm not gonna lie. This is
so easy to drink.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
It's made with oat milk, white chocolate and coconut condensed
milk with our Nicarockuan cold brew.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
This is actually this is really I'm a low key
surprised how delicious this is.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
And it's plant based hundred percent, so it's good for
you now and later.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, this is so you should probably take this from
me because how much can I drink without getting the jitters?

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Uh, you know, probably to like right there, okay, yeah, probably, Like.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Guys, I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably gonna drink this.
And then the other flavor is it's.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Our Cafe o the Oia, a traditional flavor in the
Latino community, made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and dar Mexican colbrew.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
And you make this from scratch right yeah?

Speaker 3 (03:14):
All at the shop?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Wow? Okay? And where's your shop located.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
On seventy four fourteen South Vermont Avenue.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
And when I was on the call with you, I
don't know if you notice, and it's very discriminatory, but
I had.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
To ask how old are you?

Speaker 3 (03:28):
I'm thirty three, thirty three?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I was like, you're thirty three? What did I say?

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
I got to have you on the show, so young
black Latino man, cute ladies. I had to say. I
had to say it to help you all out.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
And you own your own coffee business and it's award winning.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
It's award winning, the only award winning shop in the city.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yes, and what is your broke dish?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Oh, that's a good one. So my broke dish is
a spin on a traditional plate called the granaches and
I've been eating that since I was little because most
families make it because it's just so easy, it's so cheap,
it's so affordable and versatile. So that's my dish of
the day.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah. So this dish, I want to say costs. I
think it was like maybe under ten dollars, but I
mean the corn tortillas, there's so many, so I would
guess you can get at least.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Ah, yeah, a lot out of it.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
So this is definitely a cheap dish, really affordables.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Why don't you walk us through the ingredients?

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah? Sure. So it's made with a corn tortilla and
that's the benefit, like you said, is that comes in
a pack, so you can make this dish the whole week.
And what you do is you fry it in the
oil for a little bit to let it get crispy,
like a tostada, and then we have some traditional black
beans that will be spreading on it, kind of like

(04:53):
a Mexican pizza, and then your choice of topping. So
I like to add avocado. I'm dairy free, so we
got some vegan cheese along with some dice tomato cilantro.
And then at the very end we'll ad our lime
and our traditional Marie Sharp Belizion avenarow pepper sauce.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
And then you made sure to make a note that
the beans had to be what was it refried or
mash mashed, And so just in case y'all go out
there and buy a can of beans, you may buy
the wrong ones. That's probably what I would do, so
just make sure you look for refried or mash.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
All right, go ahead, feed me all right?

Speaker 3 (05:29):
All right, So what we're gonna do is we're gonna
start off making sure our oil is hot. We turned
it down a little bit, and then we'll get our
beans warmed. So I like to put a little bit
of coconut oil. But you know we're not in Belize today,
so we're gonna have to make de and warm up
our beans here.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
So you put the coconut oil before.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
You before it. Yeah, and it gives it a little
more flavor because this dish comes from Belize and that's
what my mom is and so the coconut oil is
a really signature taste in a Belizian dish.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I like coconut flavoring. And like when I make a
Stoopies and rice, oh yeah, Like do you use coconut
milk in your rice?

Speaker 3 (06:10):
I use coconut as many times. Look, I put it
in the coffee. I try to put as much coconut everywhere.
There's coconut milk in it, coconut condensed milk.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
I thought there was oat milk and oat milk.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
So the coconut condensed milk gives it that creamy texture
that you experience like it, and then the oat milk
just gives it that you know, additional lowers that pH
and gives it that creamy texture too.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm not gonna lie, like I could see me easily
drinking this whole thing, but I'm just scared about how
like jittery I would get.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Oh yeah, I mean we convert people all the time,
non coffee drinkers into coffee because most people are not
used to good coffee. They're used to burnt coffee. Good. Yeah,
And this roast is super fresh at our site in
South Central So literally you're not going to get a
fresher cup of coldbrew coffee.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
I mean, this thing is delicious.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
I'm not gonna lie, but this is for someone like
me because deliciousness.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I suck it down fast, then it creeps up later.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
And so for those of you who are scared of frying,
or maybe have never fried something, this may be your
first time checking out this broke dish. A good way
to test your oil is just to put a little
bit of the tortilla in there, and if it bubbles
up and floats immediately, then the oil is hot enough.
But if not, then you want to wait, because that's
really the key to a good granachis and get that

(07:27):
good crispiness and it's not too oily and too unhealthy
for you. Because, like I said, I would make this
with breakfast, lunch, dinner. I would just fry up a
whole bunch of tortillas at the beginning of the week
and then just pop it out.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
How do you keep them fresh there?

Speaker 3 (07:41):
It's like a tortilla chip, just in a zip lock
bag on the counter.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Oh but sometimes they sell it like that.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, but it ain't nothing like the thick, the fresh.
Oh and it's also more expensive, just like the beans.
I wouldn't even do the can like I said, I
would do a pot a week, a big old pot
of black beans.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
You make it yourself.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, that's how you say money. The cam beans are expected.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Wait a minute, So okay, I don't really deal with
a lot of beans, So tell me how do you
make it?

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Oh? Okay, So like I said, oh, I haven't said it.
I come from a lineage of on my mom's side,
from Belieze, of restaurant owners and chefs. So with the
black beans, first you got to soak the beans.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
How long do you have to soak them for?

Speaker 3 (08:20):
I like to do it overnight and then in the
next morning I start my process to cook the beans.
So then you turn it on, let it cook a
little bit. Then once the beans have cooked, then you
chop up some dice onion. You put up a whole
aven arrow in it along with the secret ingredient, which
is really hard to find around here. The only place
I find it is at the Asian markets, which is

(08:41):
called kulantro culantro. We grow it in Belize and in
all the Central American countries. And see the tortilla starting
to flow, so it's almost ready. But it's like a
stronger tasting cilantro. But you put that in there with
a little bit of sassongoya, a little bit of all
purpose seasoning.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
You sound like you can really cook. Oh I don't,
I don't know. I don't know if i'm mining, But
you sound like you really a chef in the kitchen.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
And then you let that simmer once it's done. Oh
my gosh, really amazing.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
But you didn't add any coconut milk to your beans.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Coconut oil?

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, oh, it's coconut oil. The beans in the pot.
You use coconut oil.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Right, put a little bit of coconut oil and that
just sits on the count I use coconut oil for everything, eggs.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
So but when you do your tortillas, are you using
coconut oil?

Speaker 3 (09:27):
No? No, no, you can't fry in coconut oil because
the temperature to burn is too high.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Oh my god, you sound like a chef.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
You're like, legit, I love it almost in it. Go
to college and went to culinary art school, Like that's
that's why my business is around cooking coffee all day
because I had to do something with cooking. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, I always say that if I if I went
to school again, I would love to go to culinary school.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Me too, I would love to me too. All right,
So we think our first tortilla is ready, I'm gonna
do this one.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
We'll just put it and then how many do you
usually eat to get full?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Like three, depending on how much I stack it up.
So see how that started.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Then how do we know when the tortilla's done?

Speaker 3 (10:10):
It's brown, golden brown, and it's do you flip it? Yep,
we'll flip it eventually.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Okay, it's bubbling up. Okay, Okay, got a little cook
in action. So take me back to what was going
on at the time when you were making this while
you were broke or struggling, or when your family was
broke or struggling.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
You know, when I first came out here, the only
family because I graduated from grad school and packed up
my car with whatever could fit and I just drove
out here. And the only person that had space in
our family out here was my aunt that lived in Paris, California.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Okay, first, wait, where did you graduate.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
From Wake Forest in North Carolina.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Okay, so you came from North Carolina, you move out
here to live with the auntie.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yep. And my job was in La So I was
driving eighty three miles.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Oh you got a job before you got a job. Yeah,
And what were you doing.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
I was doing this management program for this marketing company
called Vantage. And so my aunt she would make a
big old pot of black beans because she had her kids,
you know, I was there, her sons, her daughters, and
then you know, she just enjoyed cooking, so there would
always be no matter when you got there, there was
always a good, big old pot of black beans. And

(11:29):
so with garnachas it really is, you know, it doesn't
take much. It's just tortilla black beans and whatever toppings.
So even if you have picky eaters, you can, you know,
make it up yourself however you like it. But that's
when I really started just making them all the time
after living there, because it was just so easy. So
I just made my pot of black beans. If it's
breakfast time, I'll make some scrambled eggs, put that on,

(11:52):
add that on there. If it's dinner time, I'll bowl
some chicken mince it up, add that on there, same toppings,
but you know, change up the pro team depending on
the time of day. And because I was hustling, working
sixteen hours kind of you know.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Make it and this is for that company, right yeah,
for that company. Okay.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
And then so shout outs to your auntie for really
pouring the bean meals into you, right oh yeah, oh yeah, okay,
so you're working, tell me the next step of what's
going on in your life.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
So then I ended up only doing that company for
a year and started doing an insurance for this union
company and that was another management program, and so did
that for four years.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Why do you keep saying management program like it's school.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Because I'm just started at school because I felt like
I needed I had just education. And so what I
looked for initially for my first jobs were, you know,
programs that had a pathway to promotion, and so that's
what this company had. And so within those four years
I ended up becoming the regional manager and seeing how

(12:59):
much money I was making for the company, I was like,
if I could make them this much money, imagine what
I could go out there and do for myself.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I think it's interesting though, I've never actually heard someone
say before the way you look at a job as
like a learning experience, or you're not just looking at
it as a check, You're looking at it for much
more than that.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's also why I did the insurance business specifically for
that union company, because I mean, ultimately, the reason I
moved out here is to get into government. But I'm
not from here. I don't know anything. I don't know
how the people think. I don't know what people need.
And so the insurance game was I was able to
literally go into hundreds of homes of teachers, firefighters, police,

(13:39):
average citizens, still workers and learn what their true needs are,
and learn how they think, learn how much money they're making,
learn what they actually have in savings, putting things aside,
so really getting that understanding of what the landscape is.
So ultimately, one day I could really feel confident about
representing them. Okay, because that's what.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Your long term goal was government, And when you say government,
what do you mean government?

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Ultimately I want to change education across the US federally,
so potentially holding a seat and Senate to sit on
that committee. Wow. But that's like why I moved here
and wanted to start my own business, because I don't
believe that. If you want to be in charge of
this city's budget, but yet you independently haven't ever managed

(14:29):
a budget like that, how can we trust you? There's
no proven history like this is a lot of money
that you get to decide in an instance. So I
want to when I get into office, I want people
to know that I've built my own wealth, I've managed money,
and I can also do that if you trust me
with this fund.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Wow, and those are big goals? Where did you get
that goal from?

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Seeing all the injustices growing up? I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee,
and if you know anything about Nashville, it's mostly white black.
There's not many Latinos, definitely no Bellegians. And so just
going through the education system, seeing the unfairness, experiencing it,
witnessing it, and then going to college for my bachelor's
at the University of Tennessee where down the street that's

(15:14):
where the KKK was founded, And they would still have
rallies downtown in Knoxville while I was there.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Wow, And what year is that?

Speaker 3 (15:20):
This was two thousand and ten and they were.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Still they're still having rallies still rallies.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
When Obama won in two thousand and eight, they put
cotton balls around the Black Cultural Center, not them specifically,
but students on our campus. So it was just blatant
racism just and when I was there, the most thing
that struck me the most was the fact that we
were only celebrating fifty years of allowing black people to attend. Wow.

(15:45):
I said, so you're telling me you've only allowed two
generations of black folks to get educated here. But yeah,
you're charging us all of this money and debt to
just study freak. And so that really really upset me.
And so I was going to dedicate go to law
school and that was going to be my pathway. But
then you know, right at the last minute, God tapped
me on the shoulder and said, hey, I know you've

(16:06):
been practicing for the l side and think you're going
to be an attorney, but you need to go to
business school. I hadn't taken math since high school because
I wasn't gonna do nothing with math. I was going
to be an attorney. That was my path to get
in the government, but ended up, by the grace of God,
getting into Wake Forest their business management program. Some of
my classmates were from Princeton, Mit I felt like I

(16:28):
had no idea what I was doing. Never study business
in my life, but I made it through thanks to
some amazing teachers and office hours and peers, and made
it through that program. But it gave me. It really
changed my life and gave me that confidence to navigate
the world because I witnessed my parents who had the
desire this talent, but they didn't know necessarily, Oh that

(16:51):
was a little dark how to navigate the world. And
that's where the education came in, coupled with what I
learned from seeing them, and because they were both entrepreneurs
and my mom had a daycare, my dad had a
landscaping company, but they were never able to really scale
the business and take it to a point where they
could retire from it.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
Like do you feel like they built the business to
be like self employed versus like building an actual organization.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
At one thousand percent even to this day. I mean,
my dad still has his business and it's still basically
the same.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Way, like he's working for himself versus he has a
team absolutely okayutely perfect, And that's actually I want to
say that, like, kudos to your dad, I think scaling
and delegating work in a business is very it's a
very hard.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Thing to do. But kudos to him is to stay
in business as long as he has.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, it is a blessing because you know, I grew
up my mom came here, you know, immigrated here from
Belize illegally for a better opportunity, and they were able
to do that together and they're still married to this day.
Blessed with that as well. But they taught me a
lot of those things and we had a we were
able to have all our needs taken care of growing up.
And so I knew myself watching them that I knew

(18:01):
one day I had to have my own business to
get that same freedom. But I also knew that I
needed the education if it was ever going to be sustainable. Nice,
and that's where that business school came in and really
really changed my life, honestly, all right.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
And then just so you know, unless you're cooking for
everybody in the.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Studio, yeah, we do can be done.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
He's over here cooking for a family, and that's.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
What I'm used to looking. I'm gonna get eat something.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Somebody's you know, I'm trying to judge him hard because
he looks a little too clean cut, guys. So one
of his tortillas from here looked like it could be
Crispy burn.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
It's a little do you know, you just.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Put yeah, so you know, just so you know, guys,
we're judging. I mean, right now, I'll see one brown tortilla.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
It looked like it could be an African American tortilla.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Just saying, but all right, So so you're in l A,
You're you're you're moving up in this in this organization.
What's going on? What's the next step? What is your
next chess move? Because you're you're definitely playing chess. I
see why you are where you're at because you're not
playing checkers.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
You're playing chess right now. I like it. I'm very
very impressed.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Not that my opinion.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Matters, but my opinion does matter a little bit, but yeah, no,
I'm very impressed.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
So continue.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
So then with the insurance gig, again, I was doing
very well financially, and so I was like, I can't
do this no more. It's either I do something for myself.
But I didn't know what it was going to because
I knew it had to be around my passions and
I love to cook. As you can see, I'm really
enjoying this. Thank you for the opportunity. Again. I love

(19:39):
to travel, so I've traveled to so many different countries
and that's how I've learned about my first opportunity well
with coffee. So one of my friends, I always go
back in December to visit my family in Belize. And
so I had a friend who was from Alsalvador and
he goes back to visit his family. So I said, hey,
next time you go, let me. We're neighbors. Let me know,
and I'll just hop on playing over there and visit

(20:01):
El Salvador. Tour me around, and I didn't know his
family were coffee farmers, a lineage of coffee farmers, the
whole way. And so when I get there, you know,
he's giving me a tour of his place and everything,
and then you know, start talking to his parents and
learning about their coffee farm and then that it was struggling,
and how the whole industry was struggling, and just in general,

(20:22):
how the wealth was being extracted through coffee because of
all the bullying, like these huge conglomerates like Starbucks, and
they would and Nestley who would come in there and
just tell them, hey, either you pay this rate or
we're not buying from you. Good luck, and then restrict
them from all the access. And so I said, you know, well,
what can I do to help that? And so I

(20:43):
packed up my suitcase with some raw coffee beans whatever
could fit, and I said, I know there's some roasters
or something in la I could you know, take it
to you.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Now you were able to take that across.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
The first of all, rewind educate us on the bullying,
like I hate so certain companies do this.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
But it's interesting to hear. So can you restate them?

Speaker 3 (21:21):
Yeah. So basically, as you know in America, when you
think of coffee, you think of.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
What I think of Starbucks, Espress, so.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Lat cappuccino as Starbucks, right, And so coffee was here
long before it was colonized by the Europeans, and that
espresso machine was ever even invented. And so a lot
of the money that in the industry when they go there,
they pay them pennies on the dollar. And these folks,

(21:51):
it takes a coffee plant four years to grow. They
have to literally climb up the sides of mountains because
it only grows in remote places that have a micro climate,
and then they pick it by hand and have to
carry it back up and down the mountain. And I've
done the exact same truck. I go to the farms
and work with these farmers and then they get paid
like pennies on the dollar for it, and the workers

(22:13):
are in poverty. The farmers aren't doing as well. And
I was like, so coffee industry is billions and billions
of dollars.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Where's the wealth being extracted. It's all here because they
pay them pennies and then they go and make all
the money. So I told them, I said, well, I'll
pay you more. I'll pay you what you're worth, and
I'll create a stage for your story to be showcase
and for people to know coffee is not a European thing.
It's a Nicaraguan thing. It's an Ethiopian thing. It's a
thing of the culture that has been here way before

(22:44):
it was introduced through the European perspective. And so that's
also where Coffee del Munda came about, because I said,
if I am going to create a company in this industry,
I want to change and shift the narrative back to
more of an authentic story that honors the efforts and
the hard work that goes into these things, because I've
I felt it, I've done it, I've done the exact

(23:04):
same things as them, and there's no way they should
be living like this when all of this money is
being made in this industry.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Do you have any any video or footage of what
it's like when you're like.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I got tons of footage, tons of footage,
tons of I had my Apple Watch on. It was
four miles down, four miles back up. I barely made it.
And they're carrying one hundred back pounds of coffee.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
And these guys are making they're living in.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Povertis met yep. And it's young young.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
How young, sixteen fourteen?

Speaker 3 (23:36):
But this is where the work is. They go where
and they're migratory, so they go where where the work is,
so they they don't have no rights, they don't have
no benefits and so.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
And then what about the education. They're not able to
go to school because in.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
The school they're picking coffee and you got to pay
for school.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
So it's and that's still going on in two thousand
and trial going on.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
I literally left Nicaragua in January December and same situation.
But the good thing again is the farmers that I
work with, you know, have a little more infrastructure and
we're paying them more so that way we can help
because I know my dollar helps the farmer, the land,
the workers, and my consumers here.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
But like the Nestli's and Starbucks, they're paying bully raates.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah, yeah, they're playing bully rays and the quality is
a lot lower. Yeah, it's just terrible. So now there's
a lot of more emphasis on knowing where your coffee
comes from. But this is a recent shift. It's still
a lot of shifting that needs to occur. Yeah, for
this wealth to be properly distributed to those who really
deserve it.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's crazy to think that you're right, I would think
of coffee as more of a European thing. I wouldn't
even think, I mean, but then again, I mean, I don't.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Know that much about coffee. But okay, so school me
some more. So, what was the next step in your
story once you went to Salvador and you heard the story.
Obviously you have a lot of empathy and compassion for people.
It's very clear moved you to what too.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
So then I came back with the beans, right, and
so I went around to different roasters. None of them
looked like me, and importers, none of them looked like me.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
What do you mean, what would they look like?

Speaker 3 (25:13):
White people, white, all white, all white, the whole industry,
even at Coffee Fest it was all white when I
went the first year, and so I'm like, wait a minute,
wait a minute, winter the only people that can grow
this thing look like me. But then you get to
America and it's a white dominated industry, and I said,
this don't make sense. I said, so really, how complicated
is it to roast these beans? I love to cook.

(25:35):
I'm pretty good at it, and used my dark one
over here.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Before you went to Outsalvador and saw the coffee beans,
you liked coffee.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
I loved coffee. I needed I told you I was
sixteen hours. I was made.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Coffee was your best friend. So when you went there,
neated it. When you went there and saw the farms
where you're like.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Oh my gosh, I was. I was in awe. But
also I just love explorations. Yeah, learning, so to be
able to learn. Before I went to Salvator, I didn't
really I didn't know coffee was a cherry. It was
a fruit.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
You're gonna have to take this coffee from me because
it is highly so good, isn't it?

Speaker 3 (26:08):
And it's very free.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
You know, I'm not even saying this to promote his business,
but like, it's so good. You're gonna have to really
take this from me because I will drink it all
and be really sick.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Later.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
You'll be all right, you just won't go to sleep.
You'll get a lot of work done. Just plan some work.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Really, yeah, I won't get. I won't get if you
stay up like the.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Shakes, don't drink more than half then, but.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
I do get a little shaky feeling in me when
I drink coffee.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Well, I get that if you drink more than half. Okay,
if you drink more than half, take it for me.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
All right, this coffee is really good. I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
You're gonna have to go check it out for yourself.
And I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know for
sure like this you should get all right, so go
on with your story. Sorry.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Yeah, So then I was like, okay, so what does
it take to roasts thing? I love to cook. So
then I'm a I'm a very I'm a person who
loves to physically touch things and manifest thing. So I
know these machines are expensive. So I started googling who
sells them, and I was like, let me go see
what they are. Even if I know I can't buy
when they're like a buying a car, when.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
You mean buying a car, they're like twenty thousand thirds.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Yeah, yeah, these things are expensive because they come from Turkey.
It costs like three thousand dollars just to get it shipped. Like,
these things are huge and expensive. And so I went
to this one manufacturer from Turkey ended up being I mean,
they ended up being from Turkey. And so talking to
the guy, he had a very thick Turkish accent, and
come to find out, he had just got here and
he was responsible to sell these machines for the entire US.

(27:33):
Doesn't have much experience, doesn't know much about the culture,
and that's what I specialized in. So I told him,
I said, hey, why don't I help you sell these things?
Create a sales pitch for you, help you sell these
machines and then I could earn a roaster, get a discount.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
He was like, you are the most gangster person my goodness.
So he's like yeah, so then they literally did that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
I was like, look, I can't afford it, but I
know you need some help and I'm skilled at what
I do and I can sell these things. So then
ended up.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
You know, entrepreneurs, are you paying attention?

Speaker 1 (28:08):
You just got You basically said, Okay, I don't have
the money, but I got this skill set and you
know we could work out a deal.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Okay. I like where you had it, so okay, so
then you work out the deal.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
You start out to deal. The owner of the company
had come to the US to visit, loved it, and
he took me back. That's how I went and studied
roasting because they was like, we'll pay for you to
learn roasting. All I had to do is get my flight.
They paid for everything else, Like I got to tour Turkey.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
And you sold them on hiring you, right, and you
had zero experience, but you had a sales background.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
I had. That's what I did. I taught and trained
people how to do sales. Yep.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
And I always tell people in entrepreneurship the number one
skill you have to have in entrepreneurship is sales.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
That's it. And that's why I did the insurance too,
because I needed to learn that skill. And I was
a though salesman, especially not in these waters. You've got
some deep, big old sharks up in here.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
People.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
It's funny because there's a stigma around salespeople. But the
truth is, I tell people, one of the skills that
I want to teach my daughter is essential skill is sales.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna have to sell. So that
was one of the skills that I wanted to master. First.
I read, studied, and executed those demonstrated those skills with
building a sales team and selling roasters successfully for them,
and that's when I learned to study in roasting in Turkey.
So I got that taken care of. Then I came.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Back and how long were you doing that for?

Speaker 3 (29:28):
For like a year, and so I would go to
coffee fest with them and then we would help sell.
And that's actually how I met my Nicaraguan farmers because
they bought a machine from me when I was selling.
I think we met in Portland when they came to
the coffee fest, or maybe it was La one of
these cities, and so That's how I ended up meeting
that farmer to work with, and so fast forward, I

(29:53):
was practiced. I got my baby roaster, earned my first
little baby roaster.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
And how much was it worth, I'm just curious.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Eighty five hundred and you earned?

Speaker 2 (30:03):
You earned it.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Basically they let me use it as a showroom to
teach people because they had a lot of interests, but
the people didn't know how to use the roaster. So
I was basically the kind of us showroom to help
teach and train. And so I had the little baby roaster,
and so I found a space that was a live workspace,
so I had my studio on the back and I
had my little warehouse in the front with my baby roaster.

(30:24):
And for that year, I just practiced roasted roasted. And
then I ended up leaving the insurance game.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh you were still an insurance were all that?

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yeah? Yeah, because that was just off time, you know,
follow up easy things on the side. And so I
ended up leaving the insurance game. And because I did well,
I had residuals. So I let my residuals come in
and then if it didn't make what I needed to take,
I just go uber for a day or two and
make my balance. And then the rest of the time

(30:56):
I just focused on building the business, like the business plan, studying,
roasting labs, marketing, all of those things. And are you
a spicy eater?

Speaker 2 (31:04):
No?

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Okay, so flavor, but I gotta warn you this is
it gets it can get really hot. But we're just
gonna put a little tab on it because it goes
good on the avocado.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
He's talking about this. What do you call it?

Speaker 3 (31:16):
This is our pepper sauce, the Beligian abba narrow pepper sauce.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
And then it looks like a pizza almost, guys.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah, kind of like a kind of like a toasta.
But it's like it's like my souped up you get
It's not it's more for taste. You'll be out right,
You got your water, right?

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Can I invite you to sit down with me and
Katie to come in. We're gonna throw the commercial, okay.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
And we're back and let's just sample your dish.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
All right, all right, here we go before you gotta
get the lime. You know it ain't nothing, got the lime.
Put the lime on it, your little drizzle on there.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Whoever cut these limes, they didn't cut right, it's supposed
to be chunkier.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
It's okay, you just use a little more muscle. That's all.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Get it in my eyes? Okay, there we go. Lie
looks like a little pizza. I'm glad you made it
all pretty. Is this the brown one? You didn't give
me the brown brown? I'm just trying to make fun
of them, all right.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
It's got the beans, the avocado, tomato, cilantro, and cheese.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Here we go.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
This is technically vegan. A lot of times I don't eat,
you know, like meat.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
By the way, I have a question. Country Wayne was
on our show. Shout out to the Country Wayne.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Okay, we'll be getting little spats off camera. But the
truth is I bought baked beans. It says vegetarian on
the can. Okay, it doesn't say vegan. Wouldn't it technically
be vegan?

Speaker 3 (32:43):
No?

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Why because of the sugar.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
Vegetarian just means there's no I guess meat in it,
But vegan means it wasn't made with any animal products.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
But is there such a thing as vegan baked beans?

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Yes, yes, we're gonna cut that.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
We ain't gonna share that.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, there is.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
We're not gonna share that. If you find it, let
me know. But Country was swearing that there's a such thing,
and I was like, no, there isn't that whole foods.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
It ain't at a regular grocery store, That's what he said.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, damn, I'm glad I didn't wait for that. All right, cheers.
We gonna cut that clip and just send it to
his DMS. All right, cheers, let's try this all right,
all right here, let's click. All right, Okay, you know what,

(33:34):
eating broke? Ain't that bad if you creative?

Speaker 3 (33:37):
Look like you said. It's under ten dollars. And I'm
eating this more than one day.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
That was just when I'm rich or not.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
I still do.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah, I was knocking the way you fried these tortillas,
but you did it. These are amazing. I love the
way you fried them. I'm gonna fry them just like that.
Mh okay yo. That is simply wonderful.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Easy too.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
I'm gonna be making these at home.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
M hm. And if you already got the tortillas, pribabe,
what you do is warm up the bean in the
market way because everything else is in the fridge, easy
quick from home.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
You be cooking at home, career, I throw down. You
know what, I actually like the sauce too right.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
It's not too hot. It's just a good EPI sauce.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
It's literally perfect. Like someone could be broke with you,
they could live in a hook with you and be fine.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Trust me, all my roommates loved me because they never
ate so good.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
They'd be like, oh, he's in the kitchen. We chilling, okay,
and we're back. I annihilated mine. I'm gonna have to
go back to interview mode and then I'm gonna have
you cooked.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
The rest of the tortillas before you leave.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
They're so good, Okay, fantastic dish, ten out of ten,
one of my favorites. Really DELI now back to your
amazing story. One of the things I noticed about you
in this whole story is you're not looking at the clock,
or are you when I say the clock? Like, You're
not like I have to be this successful by this date.
It seems like you're taking life on as a journey,

(35:15):
not as a destination.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah. Absolutely. When I first moved out here, it wasn't
the case. I was like, I want to be a
millionaire ten years out of college and so just experiencing
life the pandemic, and it really allowed me to understand
that really, if you are just present and operating your

(35:38):
purpose every day, then ultimately you will get to where
you want to be. And so you know, to come
out here to La. I believe God gave me that
vision to say, hey, you need to be in La
and that's why I came here. And so I came
here with an open mind with the understanding that this
is my desire. But if I'm diligent and using my

(35:59):
gifts to serve what I believe is my purpose, then
you know that God says He'll give you the desires
of your heart, and so I believe there my heart
is filled.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Okay, so then after you acquire the baby Roaster, I
like the name of the baby Roaster. All Right, you're
in this loft workspace.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
What are you doing? What's the day in the life
of you?

Speaker 3 (36:23):
Pretty much, I would wake up and plan out my
day on what research needed to be done, because again
I wanted I wasn't just building a coffee shop, which
it wasn't even in that I wasn't even building a
coffee shop. I was building an e commerce brand. And
so being as I'd never done this before, I'm a
super researcher and a deep analyzer, So I'd spend about
my first three hours of the day doing research, and

(36:46):
then the middle part of my day is when I
would do the roasting, and so I would test out
different roast. And then the next day, if I'm not roasting,
then I'm testing all of the roast, brewing it and
cupping it, which is how we determine it. What kind
of specialty, what kind of aromas, what kind of flavors is,
if it's acidic, if it's not acidic, if it has

(37:06):
a lot of body. So I would study to get
my palette up, kind of like Ali for coffee.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
So if I walked in your place, would it look
like a science lab, because that's what it sounds like.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
It was, And it would be many cups labeled and
many bags labeled, dates with dates, the type of roast,
and then it's I have scientific tools called the actron reader,
which tells me the color of the roast and gives
me a score so that I can roast specifically to that,
and a density measurer to measure the density of.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
The You're not just buying beans, and when you say roasting,
you mean like when they turn into powder or.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Something that's grinding. So roasting is the coffee is actually
a seat a green seed kind of like a dried
white bean.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
So it doesn't look like a brown bean.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
No, that's the roasting. So once I put it into
the machine and cook it, depending on if I want
a light, medium or dark roast, then that's where I
roast the bean.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Okay, So when you get it, the bean looks.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Like what it looks like a seed, like a I
would say, like a green bean pee. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
It's so funny because when you were talking about getting
the the the green the coffee beans, I thought of
what's that fairy tale jack? And the I was like,
are they doing what?

Speaker 2 (38:19):
They climbing up and they're coming down?

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah, the mountains because it grows on the side of mountains.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
So you get them as green beans. And then you're
sitting there like a science mad science is roasting in
your place.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Exactly, And that's where the skill comes in, is figuring
out what's the ideal temperature, what's the ideal time, what's
the ideal airflow, what's the ideal drop temperature, all of those?

Speaker 2 (38:41):
How long were you doing that part?

Speaker 3 (38:42):
Of your business for like eight months, just studying and practicing.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
And then at this point you're not making money off this, No,
you're just are you searching.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
It out to friends to test?

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Yeah, So I started my e commerce site and then
I would try to sell the coffee, but everyone would say, well,
I need to know what it tastes like. I don't
know with this taste like. And so I started to
have tastings at my place on the weekends, and that's
where people started saying, oh, you know, this is a
dope experience. You should turn this into a coffee shop.
And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no no,
that's gonna take so much more work, so much more money.

(39:15):
And so just listening to the needs of the community.
There's you know, south Central, there's a food desert.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
And this is in South LA. They're saying this, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
This is in South LA. There's a food desert. There's
no healthy options, there's no non you know, good coffee
outside of they had seven to eleven, you know. So
I was like, Okay, I think I could do this.
So I moved out, did a friends and family round,
raised twenty five thousand.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
When you say friends and family like you went over
there with a business plan and did all the presentation.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Told you, I spent eight months building this business plan,
so then I.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Shared it and I did eight months doing a business plan.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Eight eight months practicing roasting and getting the research to
get my business plan.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Okay, I mean your family at this point definitely believed
that you were passionate about this business and it was
worth investing in.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Oh yeah, yeah yeah, but they didn't have yeah yeah, yeah, yea.
My parents didn't have no money to invest but friends
and out exit.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
So you did around and you raised the money in
trade of equity.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
And trade of equity. Okay, so I gave us some
equity of the company and raised twenty five thousand.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Now how long What was that twenty five thousand supposed
to cover? Because that doesn't sound like a lot of money.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
Right, So again, because traditional coffee shops are European style,
So the reason why my business model didn't cost as
much is because we were non European. The largest expense
is typically your espresso machine, which is like eighteen thousand dollars.
We don't have that machine. We don't even serve any
espresso drinks, So that took away a big chunk, and

(40:40):
then the plumbing and the equipment needed to sustain that
equipment is also expensive. So for us, we just need
a drip brewer and a roaster and that's it.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
So how much time did that twenty five k buy you?

Speaker 3 (40:53):
Well, the unfortunate thing is literally two months after we opened,
COVID hit and so I was sick. I was sick.
We always kick apparently, and so I couldn't afford the
place plus my studio downtown. But I was like, if
one thing got to go, it's not gonna be my dream.

(41:15):
I'll sleep.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Did you move into the store.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
So I rented out my studio so at least my
studio to a student, rented a RV, parked it in
the back of the shop, and from there for the
next three months, I slept in the RV in the
back of my shop, and I showered at the gyms
until eventually COVID after that three months got real bad
where they like shut the whole world down, and then
I was like, Okay, I need my studio back because

(41:40):
I can't do this no more.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
I need you didn't like DARV life anymore.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
I was fine with it, but because I could go
shower at the gyms. I go to the gym all
the time. So gym right when COVID got real bad,
they like.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Ye and it was like two years. Yeah, so what
was your mental state? Were you depressed at all?

Speaker 3 (41:57):
No, I wasn't depressed.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
I was focused.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Yeah, I was focused. It happened. I believe everything happened
for a reason. So it like gave me time to
again continue working on my brand, the development of it.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
And how are you surviving the checks from the government?

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Unemployment? So I had unemployment and then that's when I
also do my own life coaching and business coaching. Okay,
and that's what led me to get a contract with
the city to do coaching for them, and then eventually
that's what I still have a contract with them now
where I do business coaching.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Holy.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Yeah. So when I'm not working on my business, I'm
helping you know, people in my community who can't access
that education to help them build their businesses.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Wow. And that's for South La, South La.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Wow, you're a gangster. I use gangster as a term
of endearment just so you know. Okay, So then throughout COVID,
you survive COVID. Now you're doing the coaching during COVID, Yeah,
virtually virtually. And then how'd you know to apply for
that job?

Speaker 3 (43:00):
Happened is before COVID. I went to this event, this
kJ LH Awards dinner that they have and wherever location
they have it, I can't remember, but the l the
elevator was taking forever and people there was a line
to elevator. So I ended up taking the stairs and
nobody else was taking the stairs. But once I walked
up to the top of the stairs, there was this

(43:21):
guy standing there. He's like, oh, you were one of
the only people that took the stairs, and he ended
up being the CEO of Vermont's lass In Economic Development Corporation. Joe.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Yeah, Joe is a mentor of mine. Shout out to Joe.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
Shout out to Joe, Shout out to Joe. So Joe,
Joe was there. He was looking dressed.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
He dressed like a pimp with the attack.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
He had the what do you call those cuple links
and ever he dresses to the nine regal.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
That's my definition of Joe. Yes, So he was like, yeah, oh,
nice to meet you. I'm Joe, you know, and he
said what do you do? I said, oh, I have
a have a coffee business that I just opened up
on her mind. He's like, oh, you need to come.
I want to see what resources we have for you
over here. And so I ended up going there. I
brought my business plan, I brought some coffee. And then
when the business coach met with me, they were like,

(44:09):
who helped you do this? I said, I did it.
I said, you know, I went to school for there,
she said, And he was slipping through his like, no, no,
you need to work here. We need your help to
teach people to do this. And so he's like, send
me your resume. And then they didn't have any openings
at that time, but a year later they when the
openings came there was like, yes, we loved you to
be one of our coaches. And so that's how I

(44:30):
kind of started being a coach for them.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Okay, okay, okay, Yeah, I had a contract with Joe
before the pandemic, and then I got annihilated during the pandemic.
But that's amazing, Okay, Okay, we yeah, shout out to
Joke because he mentors a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
He does, he does.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Okay, So all right, so after this, so now you're
doing the coaching. You make it through the pandemic, what
happens next.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
During the pandemic? To survive with all the COVID regulations,
we had to start bottling our cold our coffee. I'd
never had this in the business plan, never thought of it.
But because the regulations you can serve open containers. I
had to figure out, Oh, I got a bottle.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
This And at the time, were you doing hot brew
or hot and cold cough? Oh you were doing both, yes,
but no bottling. I never thought of it, and so
I had to. The regulation said you had to be.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
You know, sealed container in a way that was tamper
proof so the customers would know. And so oh, I
guess I have to go to bottles. And that the
bottles took off and it literally saved my business and
today where it's now, the reason people know about it
and like how we're growing.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Even everybody when I heard about you was talking about
these bottles. Oh, you got to get a bottle. You
got to slide the bottles into the budget. When I
say that was an actual conversation and like order the
hot brew.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
But we got to make a way to get at
least twenty five bottles twenty four bottles into that budget.
I'm like, okay, okay, so we can't feed everybody these
cold brew but it's a necessity.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
You want to make sure the special ones get a bottle.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
Yeah, and I could see why. It's highly addictive. I mean,
this tastes great.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
And it works too. If you've got a long day,
you want a healthy energy like. This has way less
calories and sugar content than a red bull like and
it's natural, it's healthy. It's designed for our bodies. And
that's what my shop is. It's one hundred percent plant based.
Our menu literally is designed for people of color.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
But are you vegan?

Speaker 3 (46:37):
I am not vegan, but I'm dairy free. I can't. Yeah,
so our whole menu is dairy free and our pastries
are vegan.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Okay, yeah, I did see that you didn't bring any pastries.
I didn't do you actually make the pastries out?

Speaker 3 (46:48):
We outsource something. Okay, work, but.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Then the bottles take off, and what happens.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
Then the world opens back up? We open back up,
and that's how you know what really took off for us?

Speaker 2 (46:59):
How did people know about the bottle coffee though?

Speaker 3 (47:01):
Because you could only do deliveries during covid.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
But how did you promote that you had it?

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Oh? Eventually, yeah, through advertisements online, our postings on social media,
social media. We started running promotions, did some good content,
made a video that advertised did and then we had
door dash and then we made a website just for
the bottles.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Okay, yeah, and okay, okay, So then what happens next?

Speaker 3 (47:27):
So then, yeah, we started getting bigger contracts. We get
our first we get our first big deal, not a deal,
but are one of our first big clients to La
Marathon and they buy the bottles for their VIP booths
for some of the runners, and so we just started
getting bigger clientele universities.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Are you selling it out more wholesale rates? Because these
bottles go.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
For what six dollars a bottle retail, that's retail rates,
but we do have wholesale rates for retail partners and
then catering orders. Depending on how many bottles you get,
we give discounts.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Okay. And then have you what's the farthest you shipped
this product out?

Speaker 3 (48:07):
We don't ship the bottles out, but as far as deliveries,
the farthest we've gone that's a great question. Pretty much local. Yeah,
pretty much local.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
Yeah, Okay, that's pretty awesome, man. So what's the next milestone?

Speaker 3 (48:27):
Man, next milestone is to move. We're part of this
development over by USC, so we'll be moving to a
bigger space.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Now, you moving or you're going to add another location.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
We're gonna move. So where we're at now is just
too small and also it's it's just not the ideal
situation for how we want to continue moving forward. So
in the meantime, there's this place called Baba's Vegan Cafe
which is down the street from us, not too far,
so we've already been in talk with them, so we'll
do a partnership and a pop up so we'll still

(48:57):
have a presence right where our customers are, and then
the USC would just be a little further away for us.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Now, do you see yourself expanding franchise wise or do
you see yourself just breaking mortar one store at a time?

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Definitely franchise. When I built the business, I wanted it
to be built in a way that I could align
with many other people to one impact their communities because
our menu again is a very healthy, conscious menu, but
also impact people who have the same values and so
with this business model, it's low overhead. We've already got

(49:35):
the supply chain down, so it's really just you serving
our recipes. Because it's no high skill. You don't need
a barista.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
But do you still need a baby roaster.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
No, we'll do all the roasting. Oh, he'll do all
the roasting. Ye. So we also roast for other coffee
shops too. Really like, so we have wholesale that we
roast for, but we're not expanding that line of business
just because that's that's our niche is. We have these
rare coffees that know one else has.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
So you said you're not wholesaling, then.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
We have we have wholesale. We roast for four shops
right now.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Okay, are they it to sound racist, but are they European?

Speaker 3 (50:10):
No, they're European style. Yeah. Every coffee shop in America
besides US, is European style.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Okay, so you're the only one that's the world's first.
And the thing that separates you from a European style
is what.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
We do not serve any European style drinks. So the
European model is based on the espresso machine, so everything
comes from there. Even the names of the drinks are Italian,
but for us, we don't even have that machine. So
you'll get a variety of single origin coffees. You'll know
who's the farmer, where it comes from, the unique flavors.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
Is that what the QR code is for exactly?

Speaker 3 (50:38):
You scan it and it tells you all about it.
So it's your boarding pass.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
That's our thing, is that, and that's why it says
la X two ni.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
C to Nicaragua day.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
You're amazing. I love that you honor the history. Absolutely,
you remind our people. Yeah, you know, you really respect
the culture.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
That's what it's about because you know experiencing you know,
my life growing up in Tennessee, and it's like I
see so many elements where our stories and narratives are erased,
and I want to be the one to help bring
that back.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Yeah, it's important. And how did you know how to
price the drinks?

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Well? One, how much it costs me? And then two
just looking at the market and with our drinks they
really should be about eight dollars, seven to eight dollars
a bottle, but because I know in our community, they
can up hold that they're at six dollars and of
course they can also get a discount if they're part
of our membership.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Okay, okay, Yeah, I noticed that in the black community
when it comes to businesses, I noticed that the prices
are a little bit higher. And I can't figure out why.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
I was thinking it's because maybe they're not ordering in
a bulken of capacity.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
Yeah, I mean that's also the case. But you know,
when I built this business and decided it was going
to be in South Central, I knew I was building.
I wanted to build something in my community for my community,
and show my community that we can do something for
us and it be profitable. So I knew that initially
in order for us to become profitable and to grow,

(52:11):
that my revenue could not just be dependent on that location.
We don't even have good parking. We're right beside a hotel.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
If business, do they do business with you, No, not
at all.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
This is one of them sketchy hotels that you has
other types of customers, and so most of our business
comes from the wholesale and the bottles and the catering.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Yeah, it's an honor to have you on the show,
straight up, Like, it's such.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
An honor to be here.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
So what advice would you give to someone trying to
be in your shoes.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
I would say, to really seek out a relationship with
God throughout my life. That's the consistent thing that's been
the driving factor. People always ask me, you know, why
you in South Central? What why'd you pick there? I say,
you know, the short answer is God. You know, some
people consider themseelves missionaries and have to go across the

(53:07):
world to go serve all these other places. But I'm like,
you know, God sent me right here to help my community,
people who look like me, people where I could go
outside and see bellition flags in people's cars, you know.
And so you have to believe in something, and that's
really the answer is to believe in something. For me,
it's God and that's my beliefs. But for you and

(53:27):
the listeners, you have to pick something. Going out there
in the world and not believing in anything, then what
happens is you eventually get anchored to things that you
shouldn't be right yeah, yeah, and based and those are
usually based on your emotions. What feels good right now
may not feel good tomorrow. But if I know ultimately

(53:47):
that this is my purpose and this is why I'm here,
and what I'm built to do as a creative born
in the image of my creator. Then I have a
little more peace through those highs and lows.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Wow, I feel like every time I do an interview
that is the most consistent message around on everyone on
my show, Everyone That's successful. God is literally the number
one ingredient on everyone's list.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
And not crazy, you know, yes, it's the common denominator
when you're cut from a different cloth and you're not
you're doing things that are typically trailblazing, or you know,
you're literally deciding I'm going to take a more difficult
path every day. That's what you decide. You're deciding, I'm
going to go do something that's specifically catered for me

(54:35):
and that's tough. And so through experience, whether you believe
in God in the beginnings of your journey or later
on you develop a relationship with God, it's going to happen.
And even with these successful folks, eventually you start to
see them honoring and giving glory to God. Because at
the end of the day, once you make money and
you feel like you checked off the things on your list,

(54:56):
it's always that question of well, what really is next?
Why am I here? Then? I already did the things
I thought I was here for what's beyond that? And
that's where that relationship really becomes transparent.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
All right?

Speaker 1 (55:09):
And then my next question is what does a relationship
with God look like for people that have never or
don't have a relationship with God.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
I would say vulnerability. A lot of times, we as
human beings put up a lot of walls because we
have to meet all these other human beings and we
don't want to be judged, we don't want to be misinterpreted,
and so we oftentimes that's how we treat God too,
because we're talking about him as if he's a person.
So it's just a natural response to treat him as

(55:40):
I've been treating all these other people. But ultimately, you
have to realize that God is nothing like humans and
anyone you've experienced, and so you really have to seek
him for what you really want and need, and sometimes
initially you may not know what that is, and then

(56:00):
a situation occurs and it just makes it very clear.
Like I said, I didn't think I was going to
get in the coffee. If you had asked me ten
years ago what I was doing, I would have said
I was gonna be the best litigator out there, you know,
getting helping everybody. But look where I'm at now, and
it's because I was able to really lean into what God.
When God told me to turn left, I didn't turn right.

(56:21):
I said, Okay, guys, even though I think I was
supposed to be turning right. You said left. I don't
see no path, it's not lit. But we're gonna turn
and you just got to keep going.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
And then how much self doubt did you have on
this journey? Like how much on like if you had
to be completely real, like how much self doubt? I mean,
I've met some people that say they didn't have any
self doubt, but I'm curious for you, like was there
self doubt?

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Was there moments where you questioned?

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Or shaking time all the time every day Because it's
not like my life is consistent with comfort, it's consistent
with change, and so I'm constantly having to face this
decisions that are typically a lot bigger impact than I've
had to do in the past. Now that my business
is more successful, we're getting more exposure and so even

(57:09):
you know, this past week working on this project to
move and it's going to be three times of space
three times, a rent three times, the employees like all
of these factors that I've never done before. It produces
that doubt because I haven't done it before. But the
good thing is you know that doubt is looked at,
and then it's set up on the shelf and then
I pull out that faith and move forward with that.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
All right, guys. Uh, that wraps up our interview with John. John.
How can people keep up with you?

Speaker 3 (57:40):
You can you talk straight to the camera. Okay? People
can follow me on Instagram Hustle to Create, that's my tag.
I believe we were all born to create, so we
should be hustling to create, not to consume. Uh. And
also that's where you'll find if you go to Hustle
to Create dot com, you can find my life coaching
and business coaching as well.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
And then one last thing. I always I have this
discussion with my cousin a lot, Trevor. I always say,
you don't want to get too comfortable, you don't want
to get fall in love with complacency. And I'm a
firm believer, like you know, my company's called Famous Failure.
Like I'm a firm believer that you just really got comfortable.
You have to kind of almost be comfortable with failure

(58:22):
and challenges and being uncomfortable. Has there ever been a
position amongst this journey where you chose comfort over or
complacency over the latter, And what was that thing that said,
uh uh, bounce back?

Speaker 3 (58:39):
I would say, when I was doing the insurance game,
I got real good at what I was doing. I
got real comfortable with the money I was making. And really,
if I didn't leave that company, I would have probably
just been doing the same thing over and over. And
so that was a real big moment for me where
I said, I gotta get out of this. If I

(59:01):
don't make a decision now, the trajectory of my life
is not going to be how I want it to be.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
I feel like sometimes uber some of these what do
you call gig economy jobs, for some people, they can
get very caught up in the complacency of that. I
think it's like a gift and a curse. You know,
it can save you, but then you can get comfortable
and lazy in that.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Oh yeah, and absolutely, like I said, my ultimate goal
I moved out here to give into government. But you
can't be a broke politician So for me, I can't
get comfortable until I have a position where I can
effectively make change that I want to do, which is
why I came here. So you know there's no option
for me.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
Okay, yeah, I like that.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
We don't have to be homies, man, And I'm now
a coffee drinker. Only this drink though, right, you know what?

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Can I test this one? It sucks because I don't
know this is but I'm gonna just test. This is
the boat. I feel like I'm going to be spinning
off the walls, but I.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Have to test it. I just want I hope this
isn't Katie's. I feel bad I'm drinking your coffee.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Hold on, what flavor is this one? Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
My favorite one is this one.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
It's cal blancocko cal blanco.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
I look Puerto Rican, you know what I'm saying. But CaCO. Yeah. See,
this is my favorite. So if you guys want to
check out my favorite.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
My favorite too, and your favorite?

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
See what, guy?

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
I mean, this one's good.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
If you're like an avid coffee drinker, you probably love this.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
But if you're the beginner, this is the one. All right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Thank you for taking time out your busy schedule to
come kick it with us. If you guys want to
check out more content, check us out at Eating While
Broke or wherever you listen to your podcast peace up.

(01:01:11):
For more Eating While Broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows,