Brewsers #270- Aaron with Race Street Coffee

Today on Brewsers, we talk to Aaron with Race Street Coffee. We talk about his journey in coffee, what makes Race Street stand out, and so much more. Follow us on instagram and twitter at Brewserspod. Like, share, review, enjoy and cheers. #brewsers #brewserspod #Enjoylife #DrinkLocal #Cheers 



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze and bruisers.
I'm your host, Shorty John, and today we talked to
Aaron with Race Street Coffee. We talk about his journey
in coffee, what makes Race Street stand out, and so
much more. This is such a fun conversation. Aaron is
running an absolutely great coffee place out in for Worth, Texas.
So if you are in the Forworth, Texas area, definitely
make sure two head on over. You don't hear from me,

(00:42):
you want to hear from him. So, without further ado,
here is Aaron with Ray Street Coffee.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
I would like to welcome to show Aaron with Ray
Street Coffee. How are you doing today, sir?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Doing all right? Doing all right? How are you John?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Doing well?

Speaker 4 (01:04):
So we're sitting outside your beautiful establishment. But let's go
all the way back in time. What is your earliest
memory of coffee?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
My earliest memory of coffee, I had to be well.
I think, like most young people, I thought coffee was terrible.
Right as an eight or nine year old, you're kind
of going like, what is this weird beverage that all
the adults drink? And then I definitely had have adhd
and one summer day, I think I decided I was

(01:33):
gonna have a coffee. Why it was a summer day
and we don't, well, never know, but I remember it
being hot. I remember a hot drink and a hot
day and kind of feeling like, Okay, things are quieting
down upstairs, stuff starting to make sense. This is kind
of a nice feeling. But then, hilariously, I think really

(01:55):
didn't touch coffee again until much later in life, So.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
I always smelled it all the time, and I remember
having teachers that would have it in the classroom.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
I was like, this smells nice, and I taste them like,
oh nope.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
This is you got, like the parent that comes over
and their breast.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Is yeah, well my dad all the time.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
That's kind of a nostalgic feeling, too, smell of someone's
coffee breath.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
I'm always cautious about it now, Like I keep mints
in the car because I'll drink coffee on the way
to work.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
And then I'm like, all right, the Papa mint.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
So I don't have the exactly yeah, for that exact reason. Yeah,
everyone's thinking about it.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Well, how did so I read that on your website
that you're an event photographer, yes, and your travels around
different places, you try different coffee shops, which I think
is always a fantastic thing to do. Ye, definitely try
your local coffee shop or wherever you are, and every
place of different the way they set things up or
do the drinks or however they do everything. What was

(02:47):
it about seeing all of those that you were just like.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, maybe I'm kind of maybe I should do this.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, I think so there's an element of excitement
and every new city you go to, and I think
we're always looking for food and drink and hospitality as
a way to sort of experience the culture of the place.
And so that's what we did as a team whenever
we traveled and we went to you know, local cafes.

(03:18):
And I think what was interesting to me and that
experience is every cafe we went into had it was different,
like they each had their own personality. One might be
like the grunge coffee shop and it's like all blocked
out and they're playing heavy metal. And one might be
like the super fancy hipster one and it's totally devoid
of all things and it's quiet and there's ambient music

(03:41):
playing but in general, the hospitality of the people serving
it felt the same kind of warmth in all environments,
and you kind of just felt at home wherever you were,
which is a really cool feeling. Because I was in
my early twenties and I was on the road and
I was kind of like, I don't know, you kind

(04:03):
of go like I miss home a little bit. This
is new to me. I mean, being a young kid
and working in that way, I think I was looking
for a feeling of like homeliness. And then there's also
just like the experience of a well made drink. So
up until that point, my experience, like many people with coffee,

(04:26):
was like Starbucks, and so you go in and they
make you a quartado or an espresso or a flat white,
and you're tasting something like I had never had coffee
that tasted like that, and so it was kind of
a new experience to me. I was sort of this neat.
My experience with coffee is you know, like camp coffee,
like Soldiers Black Death, you know, or just tons of

(04:48):
sugar and milk, and so yeah, it was a really
those those two intersections of sort of the product and
the craftsmanship in the hospitality really affected me in a
way that yeah, it was just it was a cool experience.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
Yeah, it is always interesting to me now, especially talk
to so many different coffee places that Starbucks is so
many people's gateway into coffee for sure, but then like
their beans always burn, they're like super sugary. And then
every store now is getting so much smaller that you
don't really get that at home or even like you

(05:22):
watch a movie or a TV show and you see
their coffee shop and you're like, well, I can't go
Starbucks and have that, like what are we thinking? So,
but then people build off that and they actually do
find out more about their local coffee shops and it's
so much better because of the fact that they do
have they take better care of their beans or they
get better beans, and then like you know, they're not
putting too much sugar in it, and they actually can

(05:42):
sit down and hang out and really enjoy themselves.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, for sure, And I'm not I'm kind of compassionate
towards all journeys on the coffee right right right spectrum.
I think there was an early stage of third wave
coffee where it was like you go into the cafe
and it's the cliche of like the breasted kind of
didn't care about you, and they're just like You're like
I could I ordered a coffee, please, And so that

(06:07):
really fueled me opening this. I wanted I thought, like,
you should be able to have like a I mean,
say what you will about Starbucks coffee, but a lot
of the time their customer experience was pretty good. Oh
of course, and I mean not all the time, but
you know, you kind of have more of that, like
this person cares that I'm here there, they seem to
be happy where they are, which I don't want to

(06:28):
go to a place where someone's miserable. Yeah, and then
and then the coffee tastes good. So yeah, that was
definitely a goal going into this was to kind of
do both. I thought like they shouldn't be separable, like
you shouldn't have to not be cared about to get
good coffee and yeah, and good hospitality shouldn't mean bad coffee.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
Yea, yeah, yeah, well so yeah, I also read that
you had met up with a guy that started a
coffee company out in Oakcliff.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
How did you guys come into contact with each other?

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, so my business partner in Race Street
coffee is Shannon Neefendorf who started Oakliffe Coffee Roasters, Candor Bread,
Five Mile Chocolate, and then they have a cafe there
in Oakliff called David Street Espresso. The fun sort of
short version of that story is my wife and I'm

(07:22):
moving into this neighborhood in twenty twelve, and so we,
I mean, we felt like Race Street had a lot
of potential, and so we got involved with like a
little community organization that we put on like street festivals
and art shows. There was a lot of vacant buildings
and so we would like do an art show and

(07:43):
people would come, and like the landlords would kind of
let us do whatever, just to sort of bring people
over here. Because my sense was like this street makes
a lot of sense. It's not super long, it has
good buildings, it has character and charm, it's close to us.
So I like that as it's thirty seconds, uh, and
then we don't have to drive all over Fort Worth,

(08:03):
you know, to go get good coffee, good food, whatever.
And so through that organization we met like I got
wind that uh, you know, this coffee guy from ote
Cliff had bought this building and at that time I
was like in year ten of kind of working remotely
in the corporate world doing it doing the event photography work,

(08:25):
and you know, I was just kind of looking looking
around anyone else is out there looking for a new adventure,
and so I reached out to him. I mean it
was literally just like a cold email and just like, hey,
I heard you bought this building. I'm interested in doing
something together. And then we met and you know, shared
a lot of the same values around like hospitality and

(08:46):
what a neighborhood cafe can mean to a community like this.
I think it is very transformative as as simple as
it can be. It also, you know, has a lot
of power of belonging for people in the neighborhood. So yeah,
and that's what's how I met him, and kind of
that's that's uh, that's how we got to here.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Nice.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, how did you guys decide on moving to Race
Street in general? Because this area is still under development,
it's still growing, it's still changing, and I think it's
almost one of the last pockets of Fort Worth that
hasn't really it's not gotten to the level of Magnolia. Obviously,
West Seventh and that whole area is gonna be different

(09:29):
I hear that they're working on North Fort Worth in
that whole front area just north of the stockyards. But
this area still feels like an interesting pocket that's still
not completely to the peak and where it could be.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah. So, I mean, the short version is he bought
the building before he kind of knew what he wanted to.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Do with I met, like you guys moving here in general?

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Oh my wife okay, yeah, yeah, Well, we had been
looking in Magnolia and South mean, and we were young,
married couple and we were you know, we wanted to
get a house, and we both had okay jobs, and
it was just already expensive over there, and so we
looked and looked and look and kind of got heartbroken

(10:07):
because you can see a lot of good spots and
then you can't make the math work and and then
just on a whim, you know. So there's a cemetery
over here, and like some of my wife's family is
buried in the cemeterial. So occasionally we would go over
there and like spend time. And on the drive back,
we were going through the neighborhood and at this point

(10:28):
we'd kind of given up on like owning a house,
which is hilarious because now, I mean I talked to
my brists and they're like, way way given up. But
even then, you know, I think it's sort of felt
out of reach. And then we just we were driving
through the neighborhood, saw this house, brought it up, and
then literally we were under contract like three weeks later.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, so and that that kind of is what brought
us into the neighborhood. So and the great thing about
Oakhurst is I just think it's one of those neighborhoods
in Fort Worth that people don't really think about. It's
sort of stayed off the beaten path. And then, you know,
I would say only in the last five years it's
kind of become more known. I still think it's kind
of largely unknown. But yeah, that's because I think a

(11:11):
lot of the people and oakres don't want people to
know about it. They like it to be a little
little hidden gym. But just great access to everything. I mean,
you can get on to any highway and kind of
get out of the city easily. Yeah. Yeah, that's kind
of how we ended up over here. I grew up
on the west side. So oh did you Arlington Heights
and Okay, South High Mountain all that over there.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
So yeah, I grew up in Arlington and now I
live on the other side of like Arlington, it's technically
for Worth.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
I call it West West Arlington.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeaheah, yeah, I mean, hey, I've been hearing good things
about Arlington.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
Honestly, Arlington's fantastic. Yeah, So it's growing very nicely. We
just hit or they just hit four hundred thousand people,
but then four War just hit one million people.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
So yeah, you can see. It's like between Dallas and
for Worth, everything's kind of bleeding into the middle. It's
like people got to go somewhere, and I feel like
in some ways Arlington's the last sort of affordable vestige
of good.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Good housing, right And they keep building over there too,
which is great.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, and there's still room to build so that definitely helps.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah, because there's like I mean, there's you know, Dowery
in the gardens and Pantigo inside of it. Yes, yes,
they're different cities, but we all call it Carlington still too.
But there are still so many farm lands there that,
you know, because that's what it was initially. Yeah, and
now all you know, unfortunately people are dying off and
the families aren't like, yeah, we want to still be farmers,
but no, like we're gonna sell it off.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
To make money.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, it's u I mean, that's a whole other comboy.
I feel like we're approaching an interesting you know, the
statistic it's like one farmer produces food for like two
thousand people, Like the number keeps going up, the ratio,
and it doesn't make it kind of going. That's a
lot of pressure for fewer and fewer producers.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
Well, also, you can't control the weather totally. You can't
control if your crops are gonna be good or not.
Obviously you put as much work into it as you can.
But then yeah, at the end of the day, like.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
But the resilience of the food supply relies upon sort
of this diversity of producers and the fear and fear
there are. Yeah, anyway, we won't talk about that, we won't.
Let's move on.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Well, when it comes to being in this area that
you know, supposed to be secret, but people are still
somewhat talk about a little bit, how do you guys
try to make your coffee place different and you know,
just stand out with all the other places.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, yeah, so I think I don't know. This is
a it's a hard question because I think a lot
of the time I have an idea of what we
do and then people have their experience and you know,
they are still coming. We're still growing, so it seems
to be working. Yeah, But yeah, I think the core
focus is definitely what I talked about earlier, which is

(13:45):
like that intersection of good hospitality and in quality craftsmanship,
and like there's layers below all that, you know, so
like craftsmanship, what does that mean? Well, like we're spending
time weighing our shots, styling in everything on a daily basis.
We have a lot of systems and processes for making
our own syrups and house making our own toast, using

(14:07):
ingredients from you know, like our sour dough comes from
our bakery and Oakliff, trying to sort of do the
unexpected and delightful things of caring about very granular details
in the process, all the little things that add up
to like a really nice, you know, end product. And

(14:28):
then on the hospitality side, I think it's you know,
I think there's a lot of great cafes out there,
but there's like trying to understand this difference between a
cafe you go to and it's like, you know what
you want, You're just going in. You're just going to
get the thing, and you're out of there, and it's
kind of transactional. I definitely think we're trying to create
a place where you're going to very likely bump into

(14:50):
someone you know, like you're going to have more a
richer experience. There's this guy will guy Ardai's like a
restaurant tour and he talks about the difference between service
and hospitality, right, and so like service is kind of
black and white. It's like you ask for a thing,

(15:11):
you gave the money, you get the thing, you're on
your way, and it's like that is acceptable. I don't
nothing wrong with that. And then hospitality is color right,
It's like you got the thing, they asked you how
your day was, They followed up on a conversation you
had a week ago. So like a lot of our training,
a lot of our recruiting, a lot of our hiring
is to like find people that sort of have that
in them to go a little bit further. I call

(15:32):
it fifteen percent more. I think those are ways in
which you know, we kind of differentiate ourselves. And I
think There's something about like coming to an area that
is largely unknown and having what I would consider like
a four star, five star experience that's delightful and unexpected. Right, Like,
it doesn't make sense. And I think eventually, you know,

(15:56):
as this area changes, that we'll have to work harder.
Right but right now we can kind of ride that
and then yeah, just focusing on that qualitay and that hospitality.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, that's that's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (16:08):
When you get those people that, like you said, we'll
ask you about that's that thing that you guys talked.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
About the last time they were in here, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Or like remember their kids or their partner or whatever
it is. Yeah, that is that is really, like you said,
the fifteen percent extra going above and be up.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Yeah. Yeah, And I again I want to really say,
like I don't think there's anything wrong with just like
giving somebody what they ordered and that's the end of it.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Some people just don't want to talk.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
I actually think the hardest thing we do here is
not make amazing. I mean that requires effort to like
make good food and drink consistently. I think the hardest
thing is to like show up that extra fifty percent
every single day there's days where people, you know, everyone's
got stuff going on in their life and said, how
do you find that zone and sort of kick in
even when whatever is going on? You know, so try

(16:54):
to have ways that we load balance, and you know
we're close on Sundays. So I just feel like rest
and sort of thoughtful balance of the schedule and everything
help make that a sustainable thing.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
But yeah, so, and it make people feel like home when.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
They're yeah yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Thing that you were looking for while you were on
the road. Exactly people here.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Yeah. So I always say like whenever a regular brings
like their best friend or like their parents, a lot
of them bring their parents, and like that's the ultimate compliment,
you know, don't I don't even care about the review.
Like if your parents are showing up with you and
you're like, these are my parents, They're like, it's like
if you feel like this is a place you can

(17:37):
bring these different people in your life. I love that
we can be a place and for everyone, and not
like in a kumbay ausense, but just like in a
there's something everyone can find inside of here that they
feel like makes them belong.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
I think that's awesome, right, Yeah, you want to.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
It is great that they want to show off this
place that they love their parents or their friends or whatever.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, that's that's the ultimate compliment.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
Well, when it comes to your menu, how do you
guys kind of come up with different drinks or do
you guys kind of follow trends or you kind of
try to see what you want to do or what
the breezes want to do and then go from there.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
I think yes to all all the about. I really
fought against all trends. When we first opened. I had
no syrups, I had no alternative milks, I had no
to go cups. Yeah, and after about now, granted we
opened in November twenty nineteenth, so we kind of opened

(18:35):
into COVID before COVID happened, though, Like I would say,
like in early February, I was like thinking, if I
don't get some syrups, this isn't going to work right,
And so it's kind of like I'm not rigid in
any of that. I have things I wanted to try
and reasons why I want to kind of make it

(18:55):
less complicated, But I think you have to take on
some amount of complexity for the thing to be sustainable.
So there's still other areas of values were kind of unmoved,
but uh, anyway, so we we added vanilla, we added lavender,
and so the structure around like how we come up
with with food and drink as it relates to like

(19:19):
our coffees, you know, we we're selecting those based on
kind of what oak Cliffe has available, and that's all
sort of based on seasonality and sort of when their
crops come in with syrups. That's largely kind of seasonally oriented.
So we have some base things that are around all
the time, vanilla, chocolate, lavender, and then we rotate so

(19:42):
we have spring, summer, and then fall and winter kind
of put together. Yes, it's kind of you do and
so some of that's baristas. So they all come up
with recipes. We have a very Darwinian program which is
like they come up with it, we all tried as
a team, and then we' we're sort of very honest,
like does it taste good, do we like it? Does

(20:03):
it kind of make it through? If it can't sort
of get everyone on the team on board, if they
can't be excited about it, how could they communicate that
excitement to a customer? Right? So also everybody's palate so different. Yeah,
so you in a way you are kind of choosing
more general sort of flavors. So nothing like too radical

(20:25):
because again it's to some extent it's about that accessibility.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Also in a sense, it's also not that you're trying
to rush the drinks, but people also don't because of
the instant gratification that we all live in right now
that there, they won't be like ten to fifteen minutes
later I order coffee, but it's all here yet.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, So that's how
we that's how we work the syrups. And then like
so we have a housemade toad, so we we get
our sour dough from oak Cliff, and then we have
a few year round so like our avocado toast with
soft World egg that's very popular. We have a banana

(21:06):
nut butter toast, so it's like pecm pistachio and almond butter, okay, bananas, salt,
a little bit of honey drizzle, and so those are
year round, and then we have a little seasonal things.
So like spring just rolled off and our spring toasts
were our Funky Town so that's like pickled red onion
pickled carrot, pickle, jalapeno on top of like an avocado toast,

(21:28):
getting some good vinegary flavors there, and then yeah, we're
going into summer right now. So that one one of
the people on the team came up with it's a
garlic con feet So it's like roasted garlic. You know,
you've blended up into this pace that goes down and
then you've got avocado, red pepper, a little lemon juice.
So yeah, and then that's again it's like the team

(21:49):
comes up with it, we try it, and it's sort
of the survival of the fittest, right and then yeah,
then we're all the more excited about it. What's funny
is we do make an earnest attempt to kind of
rotate new things in so on our seasonal menu, but
right now, our seasonal menu is generally a repeat of
the previous year's season because it's become so beloved and

(22:14):
good example is like our sweater Weather latte, which is
in the fall, in the winter, and so that's like
we buy whole spices, gloves, cinnamon sticks, you know, nutmeg.
When we're grinding spices, we're kind of cooking it into
the syrup, and every year it's like people are getting
pumped about coming back. So I think there's something too

(22:36):
like having it and then taking it away and then
we get to sort of feel the loss and grief
and we let that sort of go, like good things
come to an end and then but they will come
back to us, and so we can kind of move
through that process and then you you experience it with
sort of a renewed excitement it comes back around and.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
Then obviously you can help pipe it as well, be
like sweater Weather's coming back.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Yeah, So I think that's the funny thing about our
sort of selection processes, like that came from this sort
of internal tasting, but now a lot of the sort
of same thing that sort of repeating. So but we
sub things in and out here occasionally we try new stuff.
So right now for the summer, a new new thing
is we're doing like sodas, like house sodas, like sparkling

(23:23):
water with some of the syrups that we make. One
of the syrups we're all really excited about is it's
a strawberry syrup. But it's like it's a maceration process
cut up the strawberries. You coat them and sugar and
then you just kind of leave them alone in the
fridge and the sugar draws out the strawberry juice and
you can kind of cut it off. And so we're
gonna do that with like a little bit of basil.

(23:45):
It's just like a it's like a better version of
a fanta.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, yeah, so and healthier.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
I mean, I won't make any help. I'm not a doctor,
so that's fair, but but made more thoughtfully than a fanto. Sure, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So anyway, well.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
We touched on COVID a little bit.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
How did that process go for you guys, because, like
you said, y'll just open and then this mass thing
comes through and you can't really be more than six
feet in front of people. And then I imagine owning
a business where people you want to come in and
hang out one hundred percent really come in and hang out,
but they you know, we're gonna probably get stuff to go. Still,

(24:27):
how was the whole process and what did you guys
learn that you guys had to like fast track because
of the fact that, yeah, this whole thing happened.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
So many layers, Yeah, so many layers to COVID. I
think about like I still have the moment I knew
like things are about to get wild. Also, just like
as a precursor to that, you know, I left a
very good, well paying corporate job thinking like I'm gonna
do this.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Uh yeah, but there's also event photography, and there weren't
really events going on enough.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah yeah, but yeah, So I remember the moment because
I think I was in here making a coffee for
somebody and my phone ding and I was like, oh, okay,
what's this and it's like Adam Silver cancels the NBA.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Oh yeah, once sports died.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
And I was thinking in my mind, I was going, Okay,
every stadium empty, this is we're We're at a new level.
And then yeah, about a week later, the lockdown started
and so we never closed.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Good.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
We stayed open the whole time. We closed our cafe
and then we served out of the window right here.
And you know, part of the measures that we took
to survive was we started doing delivery, so like we
were delivering into our neighborhood. We had certain days that

(25:50):
we did it, and yeah, people would order and you
know I could sort of tell like they're ordering a
lot because they're just trying to take care of us.
But yeah, we're delivering it to their door. And we
had we sold a lot of bread and a lot
of eggs and a lot of milk because we were
getting it sort of full supply and Walmart had empty shelves,
Like it was kind of weird because we're sourcing kind

(26:10):
of you know, we worked with Milking, which is a
is a dairy down at McGregor, and so they were
just like normal, you know, we'll keep making all the milk,
and so we were selling a ton of milk and
eggs and bread. Kind of interesting. So we operated like
a like a mini grocery store and delivery service. And
then yeah, so selling out of the window. I mean,

(26:33):
it was a really hard time challenging to kind of
endure with just an immense amount of unknown and obviously
we're all feeling that for many different reasons. And then
I think there was another element of it that was interesting,
which is like, you know, we held we had a

(26:56):
mass policy here and so for me, I was operating.
I kind of told everyone at that time it's like
I'm just sort of operating with the information I have.
I don't make any claims to sort of know what
the ultimate ride is here, and it seems to me
that like, for now, we're gonna, we're gonna, you know,
make this a policy. And so I had a lot

(27:16):
of regulars who really did not like that. Yeah, but
one of the things that I felt, really I don't
think uplifted is the right word, because it was uncomfortable.
But I think through a challenging time for everyone for
many different reasons. I would I would stand at this
window and those regulars be like, I'm not gonna wear

(27:37):
a mask in here, and I'm like, okay, well, you know,
I prefer you don't come in, and then we'd have
like a forty five minute conversation because of course is
like there's not a lot of people at this time,
so and really the conversation was just like, you know,
here's why I'm making this choice. And then he's he
or she's kind of going like this is why I don't,

(27:57):
and so we're kind of having like an adult conversation,
which I really love.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
I love that because there's so many people who didn't
have that conversation. They were just it's always unfortunately we
live in America, and it's not.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Unfortunately live in America. Sorry, that's kind of bad.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
It's unfortunately we live in a time in America where
you're either one or the other. There is no somehow
in between, which there is always in between, and whether
people actually want to openly have that conversation, it's a.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Whole other situation.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah, yeah, And so we we had those conversations. I
had them many times. And the end of that conversation
is always like, well, here's what I'm doing, and I'm
going to kind of do this until I have new information,
but I want your business, I want you here, I like.
And it would end like, why no, I'm not going

(28:43):
to do that, and they would leave. But what was
interesting is as we lifted our mass mandate and as
we opened up our cafe, and that kind of came
you know, months after, they came back. Yeah, and they
kept coming back and they still come here today. And
so I think there's something interesting about we didn't really
have to agree. We just sort of had to let
the tension exist, and we had to kind of know

(29:08):
each other's reasoning even if we didn't one hundred percent
agree one way or the other. It wasn't binary to me.
It was very human, very muddy and sort of complicated.
And I don't know. I just think that I that
felt very healing in a time where there was just

(29:28):
so much happening in the world and a lot of
you know, incredibly challenging division between people who share the
country together, that felt like, okay, well we it was
like an example I could hold on to, like we
held space for each other. We had a conversation, we
disagreed thoughtfully and sort of peacefully, and then we resolved it. Right.

(29:53):
I don't know, so I still think about that too.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
Yeah, years later, ycisive.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah, and I still have no you know, I don't
claim to know what the right answer is.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
No one does, because everybody's right is different from everybody
else's right.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Sure, yeah, sure, But I do think there's something about
and I think that fits into sort of what I
believe about what this space can be for people, which
is there's this idea of like decentered spaces. So you
think of like a bus or a train or it's
a spot where like you're gonna be and have the
same space as a person who you know is potentially

(30:29):
radically different, right, mean, and you just kind of have
to witness their humanity and sort of acknowledge that they exist,
but then I think there's like these chance encounters where
like they maybe appear to be radically different from you,
but they have like chickens in their backyard, and so
just then the regulars start talking about chickens and it's
like this whole thing, and yeah, I just think there's

(30:51):
more we have more in common than we realize. Yes,
and space is like this. I think with the right
sort of environment tool creation can allow for that connection
to unfold.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Yeah, I do think that coffee places are that hub
for a community where they can have those open conversations
and still be open to because people put way too
much I think emphasis in.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Their beliefs, their political views, whatever it is.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Without thinking, oh, wait, I have so much more in
common with some of these people than we'll probably know
because we don't actually get into those conversations.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
We think, oh, you support this, so they just want
everything else into all that crap too.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
It's like, well, no, it might just be like they
did this because of whatever, but they don't.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
You're not actually gonna find out because you're.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
Not gonna have that conversation with them because you're already
you're already closed off to it.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
But if you actually open up is like local sports team.
Oh you you're breathing air too?

Speaker 4 (31:49):
Oh this weather like yeah, weather's a small top conversation,
but it can lead into something far more, bigger and better.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I do feel like
I should make the caveat. I say this all the time,
but like an asshole still an asshole, right, but that
doesn't you know, there's no label there. That's just someone
who's behaving in a way that's unacceptable and so but
that's in my experience, very rare. We don't have a
lot of those most of the time. It's like we
can talk it out.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
Yeah, So as you should just give people the time
then yeah your fun, yeah yeah, don't just go hide
in your fun.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
Well, speaking of community, you guys have a art program
here helping the local artists. We sure do talk about that,
please because I love helping local artists and we need
more focus on local artists.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah. Yeah. So we started this, I don't know, maybe
one or two years after we open and for me,
the main this is get soundhilarious, but it was kind
of more logistical in the sense of, right, we need
a good system around this so that it can be sustainable,
and so we came up with that and it's like
every two months and like we went out into the
community and try to find people. But the main I

(32:58):
think sort of the main criteria that we do sort
of seek out with our artists that we work with.
It's like someone who obviously has art that we think
is interesting and compelling and is in you know, the
Fort Worth area, but who has potentially never shown their
art before, so like to kind of be the place
where they like come out of their show. And so yeah,

(33:21):
a lot of those artists that have been have sort
of shown their art here. We were the first time
they've shown their art in public, and then they've gone
on to like show it in other places. That helped
kind of like bring them out. I think that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
So many artists are interred in there.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah. Yeah. Like one guy that we had, his art
was so insane and very unique and like he had
created these characters like that that were of his own imagination,
but they were like kind of hilarious and beautiful and
and he said to us, He's like these were just
sitting in my closet and he had like all these
things he painted and I'm just like, come on, man,

(33:54):
like take it out. Yeah. And then yeah, typically for
our artists will do like an artist night, and so
it's just a chance for them to sort of shake
hands with the people that maybe appreciate their work and
then we'll have like wine and snacks and things. So
recently we did a partnership with a Bonnie Bray Elementary

(34:16):
which is an elementary school just right up the street here,
and so their art club, which is all you know,
grades three through five, they produced art that they hung
on the walls and then they had an art night
where they had like milk and cookies and the kids
were in here sort of like standing with their art
kind of. So yeah, you could see it in their eyes.

(34:39):
It was just like it made it more real that
they had to kind of like stand next to their
art and talk about it and sort of be proud
of it in a way. It wasn't just like in
a school setting. It sort of like bubbled. So that
was really fun and you could just it was just
cool to see, you know, the kids out in the

(34:59):
world seeing it next to their arts. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
Yeah, because like you said, they do it and it's
you know, you normally have art nights at the school,
but you're outside of the school where other people could
be like, oh man, this is see stuff that they
normally wouldn't have seen.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, so that's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
Yeah, what other things do you kind of love doing
for the community that really help people bring people here?

Speaker 3 (35:23):
So up until recently, I was the president of a
nonprofit for for Riverside Race Street. I did step down
from that role, even though I still talk to those guys.
It's called the Riverside Arts District, and so they're actually
the organization that I was working in with my wife
ten years ago when I ended up meeting my business partners.
Yeah but yeah, three kids and multiple businesses. I had

(35:46):
to kind of had to put on pause for a minute.
But yeah, they're still doing work in the community. I mean,
I definitely think arts is, you know, a focus of
the things that we do here, and I think largely, yeah,
just trying to be consistent and have a space where
people want to or feel comfortable coming in and joining

(36:10):
their coffee, bumping into their neighbors. We do have some
unconventional practices, so we don't have Wi Fi. Oh good
for you. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
I mean, well, imagine you got a lot of people
that are like, oh, the WiFi is like, well, it
doesn't exist there.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yeah, I mean it definitely creates frustration. And I'm empathetic
to that because like nine percent of coffee shops have
Wi Fi, which is, like I said, for conversation, like,
is wi fi a public good like a street and point?
That's that's an interesting I don't know the answer to that,
but you can sort of see where that becomes the expectation. Yeah,
but but yeah, we don't have it, and I you know,

(36:47):
it's not some huge philosophical thing. I think for me,
what I see is like when it's not there, you
reduce friction to interaction, So like, uh, you're increasing friction
to sort of like a technological cutoff. You know. It's
not like you open it up, you click it on
and boom you're there, or even with your phone. You

(37:10):
create an opportunity for more human moments. And so I
I mean, if you have a hotspot, what if we
don't care. I'm not against technology, it's just it's just
I just see every day somebody bump into somebody and
then they have a five minute conversation, and so I
think that's the space we're trying to cultivate, and I
think right now and for the last five years, and

(37:33):
the Wi Fi being off has sort of been a
factor in that. But yeah, yeah, so that's uh, and
I think that that feeds into sort of what creates
community in this space, yeah, and other fun community things. So,
like my project of the last year has been working
on our patio here that we're sitting in right now

(37:54):
is beautiful. Yeah, and so we have actually started building
community through like native and perennial plant and gardens folks.
I work with a gal here in the neighborhood who
helped us design this and this being this pollinator garden
that no one can see.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Right now, right yeah, because it's the audio, so you have
to actually come here and see it.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Yeah, come and see it. And yeah, so but they've
been hosting groups here of just like people who love
native gardening, and yeah, this is kind of a fun
community to establish here. And then like in the process
where you know, beautifying this whole space exactly, it's been
a journey. You know, when we opened up, this was

(38:37):
like a chain leak fence back here. So you sit down,
you like looking into a parking lot, and so every
year it's just like more and more layers of building
this sort of I don't know what to call it,
a little oasis.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah there a copy.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
Yeah yeah, where you can kind of have a quiet
moment and maybe dal back in the right sort of
get yourself settled.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Yeah yeah, I mean we touched on it earlier. People
there's a lull on a conversation or a lull and whatever,
they just pull their phone out right into it, and
it's like, no, just either be bored or yeah, get
lost in your surroundings.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
My kids do not like it when I tell them
to be bored.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
That's because they didn't grow up being bored. Like there's
always something to stimulate everything.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
Right, Yeah. Yeah, so, I mean I didn't like being
bored either, but we didn't have a lot of options.
So yeah, you just kind of Okay, I guess I'll
go outside it for a little while, right, see what happens.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, Well, we also I think we need to get Yes,
we live.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
In Texas where it's too hot for a quarter of
the year, so but being outside is not the best. However,
Nature's always around you, and so whether or not you
actually go and include yourself and being a part of
it is one thing, but getting out there. There's been
so many studies that show being in nature and just
being lost in nature is so much better.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Yeah, there's just cool. I mean you've probably heard it.
It's like a thousand hours outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah, where
you're just trying to like when you start to think
about that, I think about that with my kids, it's
just like seems impossible. Yeah, And that is interesting because
I can remember being a kid and literally going out
the door and not coming home until like you know,
it was dark. Yeah, my legs wouldn't carry me anymore. Yeah,

(40:28):
So that's definitely been a factor and sort of wanting
to create a space here that's sort of inviting and
draws people out, right, So I'm not asking them to
come out. I'm trying to create a space that invites them,
draws them into it. And that's you know, that's generally
what's happening. Like there's people walking right now with the
dog and Saturday's here. It's just like full of kids.

(40:49):
I put it like a closer on this gate right here.
It used to sit open, and I was just seeing
like all these kids on the patio on Saturdays, and
so I was like, there's a busy street out here,
let's create something a sense of enclosure and safety. And
then yeah, that's become a sort of set of precedent,
so that now Saturdays are like the kid day on

(41:09):
the patio. Everyone's out here playing and we've got our
stumps and wood blocks, and you know, it's hilarious because
we had toys for a little while and nobody cared
about them, and they would just like they want to
play with the flowers and move the stumps around, and
they were finding random rocks and things. So you just
kind of go, they know what to do, They'll figure

(41:31):
it out.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
So where do you see the next five years for
you guys? And then also what do you see the
next five years maybe even Race Street yourself?

Speaker 3 (41:42):
Yeah, a great question. Last year I spent a lot
of time looking out in Fort Worth like other potential locations,
and you know, the short version is really didn't find
anything that was really excited about. And then there's also
like financing and loans were mutso and so I kind

(42:04):
of took that as a sign to turn my attention
back towards Race Street and kind of tunnel deeper here.
And that's that's really I think what the next five
years will be about, you know, unless some humongous opportunity
presents itself. I think really trying to go deeper here,
invest into the team, invest into this patio, and sort
of continue to make it a place where because you know,

(42:24):
we've got twenty seats inside, so this is this is
sort of the last space where we can kind of
bring more people into the into the building. So yeah,
and focus more in on our quality, on our consistency.
I just think that you can never do enough to
make sure you're doing good work. Often. I can tell

(42:45):
you from doing this for you know, six years now,
that the hardest work is doing it every day again
and again and again. But obviously that pays dividends. And
sort of how we've been able to grow and the
team that we've been able to attract here. So and
then yeah, for Race Street, we've gone through a lot

(43:07):
of waves. Yeah, I mean I've witnessed many businesses open
and close in.

Speaker 4 (43:11):
The actually confuse people would come in thinking it was
the coffee place and they'd be like, no, they're street.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
Yeah, I remember when they first I think Stan was like, yeah,
we're opening up and everyone thinks we're a coffee shop.
It's like, yeah, neutral ground, you know, so so yeah,
we've got right now, we have some new places opening up.
I'm encouraged that, you know, they'll figure out a way
to make it work here on the street. I my

(43:45):
experience is like we've only grown, and so I think
so much of what makes a business successful on Race
Street has to do with how they engage with the neighborhood,
engaged with their customers. And you know that isn't to
say that the place is that haven't worked. You know,
they were not able to do that. But I just
think that it's you know, when you're opening a small business,

(44:09):
when you're figuring everything out, there's a lot of things
to focus on, and so it's very easy to you know,
point your attention on something that may not result in
sort of the longevity of the business because there's a
lot to think about.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
Yea.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
I feel fortunate that we have a great team that
we have been able to I think focus in a
way that we've been successful. I'm sure no small part
due to the fact that I live in the neighborhood
and I'm here almost every day. There's not a way
to really do it well passively. I don't. Yeah, so
not that I know of. If someone knows, please let

(44:45):
me know. I'd love to not work all the time.
You can email me below. But yeah, I'm encouraged to see,
you know what that holds. I do think it is
possible to be successful on the street. I just think
you have to have a mindset and approach. It's gonna
be challenging, but also like you know, create something that's

(45:07):
fun and that people enjoy. There's I mean like Tosorrow
is a great example. They opened up a couple of
years ago and they have lines out the door all
the time. So I definitely think it can be done. Yeah,
so I'm encouraged to see what the next few years
look like. We had this streetscape done probably you know,

(45:30):
right before the coffee shop opened about five years ago.
And while everyone doesn't love reverse parallel parking, bringing trees
and bringing art and bringing you know, landscaping and sort
of beautification to the street has been an important part.
I think of what make this place more attractive? And

(45:50):
then yeah, I think how the community continues to I guess,
like how the street, the businesses, the organizations that support
it continued engage with the neighborhood and sort of have
their finger on the pulse of like what needs can
we meet for this community right now? So I really
think for this area, like a lot of what the

(46:10):
needs are is like a place for people to go
with their kids, like to have a day and you know,
they don't they don't have to spend the bazillion dollars
to have a good time, and so a lot of
that I think is just like great public spaces, like
you know, we have a lot of green areas around
here that could be turned into parks and sort of
more accessible places where people could spend time. And then yeah,

(46:31):
restaurants and businesses that you know have that space that
aren't you know, you're going to spend a bunch of
money to be able to have a nice time with
your family. So yeah, I definitely think that's a part
of it.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
How much do your kids think this is also their home?

Speaker 3 (46:46):
That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know
how they think about it. But I've got an eight
year old, a five year old, and an eighteen month old,
So big white spread there. My son has done dish here,
and he's bus tables, so he you know, he he
feels like he's already on it, but I don't want

(47:06):
to put any pressure on themore nor. Yeah, but they
do have fun. We come. We're closed on Sundays and
so occasionally I got to get like milk or something.
I'll come up here and I'll unlock the door and
they come with me. So I think they're excited. It's like,
you know, like we have access or something. Yeah. Yeah,
I think they love it good. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
I always like hearing that from other business owners with
their kids, and they're like, oh yeah, they think this
is their place too.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious you know how they'll feel about
that when I do start putting them behind the bar
when they're like ten and eleven.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
I mean you've already started them with washing dishes and stuff,
so they got.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
To learn how to work. You know.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Eventually, my eldest and my son, you know, he's going, Okay,
how can I make money? He's starting to think about that.
It's like, well, you can work up here. You know.
Summers are a time where I bring him up here.
So yeah, we'll see ye see. But I try to like,
you know, it's not my expectation that everyone should fall
in love with this incredibly difficult work. It is hard work,

(48:07):
but I do think it is rewarding, you know. I
think there's something about there's a reciprocity to true hospitality,
which is like, I think there's a way you think
about this kind of service industry work as like draining. Yeah,
and it is. It's incredibly draining and if you can care,
could be emotionally yeah, but if you care, it's even
war draining, right, But I do think there is a
reciprocity and like an authentic experience where like my baristas

(48:29):
will regularly report, you know, some really beautiful encounter that
they had that is like filling their cut back up.
So that's not all the time, but you know, I
do think I do think there is an element of
it that is, you know, can be reciprocal in that way.

Speaker 4 (48:45):
Right, Yeah, especially if they like when I walked up,
you were you're still actually fixing some of these tables
because it's outside Texas. Brain and heat don't exactly go
well together with a lot of furniture the UV. Yeah,
but if you show them the un sexy parts, they
will learn really that, yeah, there is this stuff that
I need to do behind the scenes to really make
sure that you get these people coming in and you

(49:08):
get that really great, like you said, filling your cup
of the people to come in on a regular basis,
you get to know their family, get to know what
they're going on in their lives. Yeah, and that helps
you know a lot of people, helps renew you know,
your sense in your people in general, because a lot
of times, especially if you're on social media a lot,
you don't think people are great at all. Yeah, but
if you get that one on one of like no,

(49:29):
individually like people were fantastic.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
And that's why I think I have this sort of
maybe naive belief that a place like this can be
transformative for people. And I'll continue to be believe it
naively until someone forces anything else. But uh yeah, yeah.
And I mean even in the six years I've been
running this, I've watched young couples come in and then

(49:53):
they came in as you know, engaged, and then they
came in and they're married, and then they came in
with their kid. So I'm seeing, you know, the circle
of live on a regular basis. I don't know, it's
just really cool. It's really cool. To be a place
that sort of bears witness to that the full human experience, or.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
I imagine you probably had people that have met here
in here.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
Like yeah that too, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
If it won't for you guys who knows if they
would ever met.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
I can't think about that, shouldn't Yeah yeah, Well, owning.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
A coffee place, and like you traveled before trying all
the different coffee, what is your kind of go to
when you do want coffee now? And then also what
is some drinks that people should definitely go out of
their way to check out when.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
They're Okay, what's my go to for coffee right now? Well,
I think there's some great I'm kind of scared to
name any specific shops because like you're your order in general,
oh okay, okay, okay, because someone's gonna fill left out.
I'll just say, you know, as a blanket statement FORWTH
has come a humongously long way in the last five

(51:00):
years of having a really good coffee scene. So just
get on Google. You'll find some good ones. There's a lot.
I think my go to is gonna sound incredibly conceited,
but I typically like I like to order an espresso, okay,
just like a regular espresso. I just think you learn
a lot about sort of what a shop's playing attention
to by ordering that.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
Oh, kind of going to a donut place and getting
their blaze and if that's not good, the rest of
the ones.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Yeah, yeah, I like that example.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Breweries do the same thing that if they go to
a different bwery they try the logger or the longer.

Speaker 4 (51:32):
Yeah, if they mess that up, and the rest of
them are going to be because they're probably hiding a
lot of.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
Stuff, yeah for sure. Yeah. So and then if if
I want a little milk, which you know I don't.
I'm not against milk, I just I don't drink a
lot of milk. Say I'll get a quartado, and like
a cortado is going to tell you, you know, did
they pull good espresso? Because you're gonna be able to
taste it, how do they seem the milk, You're gonna
be able to tell. So it's a great drink. I

(51:57):
think to evaluate, you know, just a shop, and that's
not like are they a good chopper or not. I
think it's just like the quality of their craftsmanship. And
I think it's exciting to go in and and sort
of see where everybody's at and have conversations with the
baristas about, you know, like what they're excited about and
what they've been sort of working on and work shopping,

(52:18):
how they're dialing into this or that so and then
what was the other question?

Speaker 2 (52:24):
What are some drinks people should be Oh?

Speaker 3 (52:26):
Okay here here? Yeah? Well, I mean I love it
so like I price our drip coffee and espresso sort
of price to appeal to the everyman. I feel like
it's important to note that we charge for the go cups. Okay,
so another unconventional thing.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
But if people bring their own to go cups.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
So yeah, so we discount a dollar off if they
bring their own cup or if they have it here,
and so like our drip coffee, if you bring your
own cups too, it's two fifty. It was two dollars
the you know, prices are going yeah, so, but I
still feel like that. I just love having an on
ramp for sort of everybody, and so I think that

(53:11):
that can be that. I you know, I think our
housemade syrups are awesome. I think we do really good stuff.
I right now, I am really excited about our strawberry.
I was telling you about it, but like our strawberry syrup,
So like we're gonna have a strawberry macha on the
summer menu. I think that's gonna be a very popular choice.
And so like we do a strawberry maceration, which is

(53:34):
not a wildly complicated process but really brings out really
great strawberry flavor as opposed to like cooking it, which
I feel like, I don't know what it is about
cooking fruit and making syrups out of it, but it's
just kind of hard to get like a very like
slap you in the face fruit flavor. Blueberry is another one.
It's just like I don't know, somebody probably knows more

(53:57):
than me will tell me how to do it.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
But there's food tights is out there there.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
Yeah yea, well it's actually really easy. Yeah. Yeah, So
I'm excited about that drink. I mean, our vanilla latte
is great. So we buy a whole vanilla beans and
we make a vanilla sirtup out of those, and so
that's obviously very popular. So I'm always encouraging people to that.
But I would say if you regularly get a lot da,
I'd love you to come in and try cortado. There

(54:21):
you go and see you know, so it's two ounces
of espresso, two ounces of milk. See what that experience
is like. I'm always kind of encouraging people to like
try a little less milk in their drinks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so,
and not because it's better, but I just think you
get a little closer to the coffee experience and that
you can taste a little more. But you know, to

(54:45):
each their own. Yeah, choose which you love. Life's too
short to do any difference, so exactly. Yeah, I think
those are great drinks to try.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
There we go. Yeah, well I have second show. I
call it the Five Counts's Five Random Questions. Okay, great,
what would your last mealk?

Speaker 3 (54:59):
My last you know, pastor tacos?

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Oh yeah, any specific place or just in.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
General, as long as it's they're cutting it off that
thing I can't think of what it's called that rotates
are Oh yeah that big yeah yeah yeah, yeah, no,
no preference. I've had a lot of good pastor.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Restrict there you go. Uh, if you were a progress
or MMA fighter, what would your name do?

Speaker 3 (55:23):
It would be? It would be uh, gosh, I want
to have something witty and fun. Let's you're gonna have
to cut some silence on this, that's fine. I think
i'd have it. The flying Arabica.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Oh okay, which the Rabbica.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
This is just the being that is like the the
one that we like. Yeah, there's another on Robusta, which
is fine. So yeah, flying flying a rabbita that sounds exciting.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
Yeah that does sound.

Speaker 4 (56:08):
I guess besides your strawberries, what are you geeking out
on right now?

Speaker 3 (56:13):
So many things. Perennial Texas, native gardening, furniture building, and refinishing.
I love. I love anything that's gonna force me to
learn something new, so cool. What else? What else? I mean,

(56:37):
I've kind of I've kind of got I can't afford it,
but I've kind of gotten into overlanding, which is really
just like expensive vehicles that go into crazy places. And
I can't afford any of the things that would allow
me to do such things. But it's just kind of
fun to look at.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
So yeah, there's always good Who are what inspires you?

Speaker 3 (57:00):
My kids, they know way more than I do, and
they helped me sort of view everything through a renewed lens.
My wife because she works really hard and just never
never complains about any things I would expect her to
complain about. Just she's a beast and and inspires me. Yeah,

(57:27):
And then I think there's some there's some great writers
that I love. So like Oliver Berkman is a writer
that I've been reading, and he writes about, you know,
the finitude of life. Yeah, and just like how we
approach perfectionism, the uncontrollability of the world. Yep. So I
love reading his stuff and he kind of helps me

(57:48):
wake up and sort of remember what it is I'm
doing here.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
So that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, get inspired every day.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
And then what would you tell her seventeen year oeself?

Speaker 3 (57:59):
What would I tell my seventeen year old self. I
want to say, it's gonna get harder, yeah, but in
a way, it's gonna get easier, It's gonna get more beautiful, right,
I would sell him. I would tell him have fun

(58:20):
there you go.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Yeah, I love that. Enjoy the ride, Keep telling yourself
that every age. Really yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
Now people wanted to find you guys online, find out
more about you obviously, come and visit you guys in person.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
How can they do all the things?

Speaker 3 (58:32):
Yeah, So Racetreecoffee dot com. You can kind of see
a little bit about us and order before you come
if you like to do that, or you can come
out to Race Street Coffee thirty twenty one Race Street,
or Worth, Texas seven six one one. Yeah, and here
we are a Race Street coffee on Instagram. You're into
that sort of thing.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
Yeah, I mean I imagine they're your pictures, but all
the pictures on there were fantastic.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Uh yeah, well, actually I have a rest to that
has kind of taken over that. So yes, I have
leveraged my photography in the past, but I have a
great Nikki shout out Nikki. Yeah, she's been taking a
lot of our photos and just keeping our our Instagram
game a plus.

Speaker 4 (59:10):
Yeah, it's been great. So yeah, I like scrolling through there.
I'm seeing all the pictures you guys have love to
hear that. Yeah, I'm a big photographer, guys, so I
love that.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
Okay, nice, Well this.

Speaker 4 (59:19):
Has been great, and uh, I can't believe it is
the first time I've been here, but it definitely won't
be the last time.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
I okay, So yeah, I appreciating this problem.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Thank you so much to Aaron for being on the
show again. If you are in the DFW area, definitely
make sure to head on over to Ray Street Coffee
doing absolutely great things and there's so many options, go
sit inside, to sit outside, different options with creamers, coffee, options, food,
it's it's so great and I can't wait to go back.
While you're doing that, make sure you follow us on
the social media's. It is bruisers Pod. That is b

(59:58):
R e W S c R S p O D
on the Instagram, the threads and the Twitter. If you
want to send us an email, it is Bruiserspot at
gmail dot com. If you're want to follow me directly,
it is Rody John. That is R O d I
E j o N. Roady John is the name on
the Twitter and an untapped In case you want to
find out what I'm drinking, maybe we can have a
beer together. If you're gonna follow me on the threads
or the Instagram, it is official Wordy John. So until

(01:00:18):
next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink local, and cheers,