Thank you, Bill Kennedy.

A note about the passing of Bill Kennedy, the CEO, Owner, Head Honcho of San Franciscan Roaster Company in Carson City, NV.

Find SFR Co. online at www.sanfranroaster.com and @sanfranroaster on social media.

Listen to the full episode of Bill Kennedy on the Roast! West Coast podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cXyQY5Tqv5kJiOvinIqbl

Find the Coffee Roasting Legends Podcast on the SFR Blog: www.sanfranroaster.com/blog or on Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qSdigAyvxsrGfOpfasuoo?si=35be383e724541c3

We'll reshare all the links and the full interview with Bill on www.coffeepeoplepodcast.com.

Episode Transcript

(00:11):
Hey, good morning. I'm Ryan Wolf, the host of the
coffee people in coffee smarter podcasts.
Coffee industry lost an icon this week with the passing of
Bill Kennedy, the CEO owner self-proclaimed head honcho of
the San Franciscan roaster company in Nevada.
Bill Gray star show for an hour in early 2023.

(00:33):
And it was without a doubt one of those coffee experiences that
shaped my early podcasting days.I clearly walked away with more
wisdom and and insight then thenhe did.
And I merely hoped I didn't bring the average down.
I remember thinking, that's, that's Bill Kennedy.

(00:53):
Why is he doing this little podcast?
I was lucky enough to pass through Bill's orbit in real
life too. I got a chance to tell him how
much that meant to me, how much it meant when he appeared on the
show, when we met in real life at several coffee festivals.
And I got to sit and and have a coffee with him and he invited
me to stop by San Franciscan, the facility, earlier this year

(01:16):
when I was on the free coffee tour.
I was going to be passing through and it didn't work out.
I didn't stop and we didn't connect.
And I just kind of said it'll it'll happen on the next pass.
Bill wasn't only important to coffee because of San

(01:39):
Franciscan, because it was a success, or a company that
people look to, or because he made a point to produce
beautiful machines. He was important to coffee and
beyond because he gave a shit about people.
He gave a shit about the people that worked for him and his
community. He gave a shit about the the

(02:00):
people his machines enabled to support themselves and the
people in their orbits. Bill started his own podcast
last year called Coffee RoastingLegends.
He was a a natural interviewer who was curious about his guests
and interested in continuing to learn from others when he was

(02:22):
arguably sometimes the more legendary of the legend.
In any interview. You should give it a listen.
I'll link to it. I know that he was trying to
glean a few bits of wisdom from each episode and, and I, I
certainly do too. I want to leave you with one
such nugget that he shared in aninterview at our first meeting.

(02:42):
Paraphrasing just a bit, but Bill said that in order to make
it, you need to make sure you believe in what you're doing,
have grit, perseverance and endurance.
That stuck with me and and I've used that quite a bit in my life
and with this show. So cheers to you, Bill Kennedy,

(03:04):
and thank you. You know, I, I would say, you
know, from an entrepreneurial point of view, one, make sure
you believe in, in what you're doing.
And if you do, and I did and, and I and I, I believed in the
values behind what we were doing.

(03:26):
You just have to have grit, determination, perseverance and
endurance. And you know, our, our marketing
advertising young lady, her, herfather's a Nevada rancher.
And we were talking about this just the other day, and she
said, yeah, my, my dad, she would go.

(03:49):
He says, what you do is you get it done or you get it done.
Those are your choices. And you just do it.
You just do it. Of course, obviously, you know,
sometimes you're going to reach a point where it's clearly not
going to be sustainable, you know, and you know, failure is

(04:10):
your only option for that. But in any entrepreneurial
enterprise, you know where you take failure is you.
You just learn from it and you start your next opportunity.