* Bob Fish, Biggby Coffee

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Way down among Brazilians.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Coffee beans grow by the visions and welcome back and
good morning Michigan. Some of you are probably just waking up,
and you know, the first thing that I want to
do when I get up in the morning is I've
got to have that cup of morning coffee. Man Morning Joe. Well,
our next guest, this is his world, and we're going
to have a great conversation with someone I respect so

(00:35):
much and it's really become a big part of my life.
And I respect him for many, many reasons, but most
of all, I respect him because he has to put
up with my middle daughter, Shanna. Welcome the founder of
Big Big Coffee, founder right here in Lansing, mister Bob Fish,
maybe Big Big Bob himself.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Good morning Bob, Good morning, a big happy Michigan. Morning you.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, thank you so much. And like I say, I
I do respect to you. There are three people I
really respected in my life. My my son in law
who married Shanna, You and Mike McFall because you have
to deal with her, and I tell you.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
She is she is a pistol. We love her. She's
done remarkable things for Big B Coffee in Cincinnati, and
it's it's really extraordinary. You have, you have an amazing family, you're.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
You're so kind. So tell me a little bit about
the Big Bie Coffee. I I've been so impressed as
I've learned more about Big B over the years and
your commitment to your employees, your commitment to the community.
I see this with Shanna in her stores in northern Kentucky.
She just is so involved with the with the community
and and it just comes back to her over and

(01:50):
over again. And I know that's part of the underlying
philosophy of Big B Coffee.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, for sure. I mean we've now grown to, by
the way, way four hundred and fifty locations over that
in thirteen states, and you know we do that one
location at a time. We're one hundred percent franchise. So
you know, the ownership of Big B Coffee in your
neighborhood is your neighbor which I which I really love.

(02:18):
And you know, the thing about being neighbors is we
take care of each other. And the ethos of Big
B has always been that the community supports us, and
we need to support the community. And it's symbiotic, you know,
it is mutually beneficial and Big D coffee's always been
a safe place to be. We've been doing this for

(02:40):
thirty years. We opened the first location, like McFall and I,
March fifteenth, nineteen ninety five.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
That's been an amazing run. And I follow you on
Facebook and I just I get such a kick out
of your post. And I know part of your passion
here at this point in your life is to you
really link up with coffee producers around the world and
tell us a little bit about how that path and

(03:07):
journey is going for you.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah. So my wife Michelle and I started an organization
called One Big Island in Space, and we traveled two
hundred days a year in Central and South America, Africa,
and Asia where these are all places where coffee grows.
But actually, I don't know if anybody noticed, but the
cost of coffee has gone up dramatically, and that started

(03:32):
happening in twenty eighteen. And in twenty eighteen I read
a white paper that said that coffee producers were walking
off their farms, and I'm like, how could that be?
You know, the coffee business is so great. But what
I found out was that coffee producers most of the
time were paid less than what it cost them to
produce their coffee. And so what we decided to do

(03:53):
was change our buying model to a direct trade model,
where we would, as the end user, connect with the
producer of the farmer and eliminate as many of the
unnecessary and the various hands in between, and take that
savings push it down to the farmer so they could
be economically viable so they wouldn't want to walk off
their farms. And it's really been a remarkable journey. We

(04:17):
have five farm Direct partners, and you know, it's allowed
us to stabilize our supply of coffee, it's allowed us
to stabilize the prices. But the most rewarding component of
it has been we've developed real significant and deep relationships
with coffee producers all over the world.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
You know, that is got to be just an amazing story.
And I'm sure it's taking to use some amazing places.
Tell us maybe like the most interesting story you have
from either South America or Africa or Asia that you've
come across in your travels.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, frankly, I mean everyone is interesting. Thing. I just
got back from Mexico City, where we produce a documentary
on one of our farm Direct partners, and they operate
out of Chapas, Mexico, which is a state of Mexico
that sits right up against the Guatemalan border, and the

(05:18):
Chappas is like the poorest state in Mexico, but it's
essentially a highly indigenous population. Mayan indigenous so they often
don't even speak Spanish. They have their own Mayan dialect
and that kind of thing. So we get really deep
into these communities and we often stay at the farms
where there's no running water or no potable water or

(05:41):
no electricity. We live with the producers, the farmers, and
we really learn about their production techniques and so on.
You know, we really only want to work with people
that are treating people right, treating the planet right, and
investing in their community, just like our Big D coffee
owner operator franchise ease. But you know, it is incredible

(06:05):
what you find out about our world out there is
that all human beings, you know, want the same thing.
They want food, shelter, clothing, they want safety, security and
help and something better for the next generation. And to
walk side by side with these people has been really
an incredible experience.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Well, I think it does sound amazing. We've got about
one minute left, Bob. I know that Shannon mentioned to
me she was up here in Lansing and stayed with
us and her mom for a few nights, and I
saw her about two minutes for the entire three days.
Because you had her working so hard, she was just
just beside herself. But she's going to nicaraguas she said,

(06:44):
with you in a week or two.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
That's right. You know, we lead farm direct trips with
folks from Bigby Nation. Shannon's joining us and many others
from Big the Nation. We take Mauricice's, we take store
owner operators, take area representatives like Shanna, and what I
would say about it is a life changing experience when

(07:07):
you go. So I can't wait to spend those five
days with Shanna and the Big B Nation crew.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
I know she's excited. If people want to learn more
about Baby Coffee or a franchising Big B dot Com,
we'll get them there.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
I think correct, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Hey, thank you so much for getting up early and
joining me, Bob, and then enjoy that coffee this morning.