Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Coleen Witz, and today we have a
Speaker 1: very special guest, entrepreneur founder of Coffee del Mundo.
Speaker 2: Did I say it right? Coffee de del Mundo.
Speaker 1: John Kinnard's in the building and this is all the
Speaker 1: way in South LA. So we have a black owned
Speaker 1: coffee business, so this is very unique. I don't actually
Speaker 1: drink coffee, but today I'm gonna drink coffee. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: test the colebrew before i even pass him over to
Speaker 1: the dish he's about to cook us.
Speaker 2: Let's just do a test. This is the Coco Blanco.
Speaker 3: CaCl blanco, my favorite one blanco.
Speaker 1: So fun fact, I actually don't drink coffee, and if
Speaker 1: I do, I usually mix it with hot chocolate and
Speaker 1: then usually I get the jitters and I start to
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna have a panic attack. It's weird. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I react to coffee like that, so
Speaker 1: let's test it. And I'm not a coffee fan, so
Speaker 1: if I make a certain face, it's because I'm genuinely
Speaker 1: not a coffee fan. So it doesn't mean you should
Speaker 1: be taking my advice on coffee. You should not take
Speaker 1: my advice on coffee at all. This hot chocolate, yes,
Speaker 1: I've even mixed. I mixed vanilla.
Speaker 3: Well, this is a white chocolate coffee that's.
Speaker 1: All enjoy Yes, and I'm only gonna drink it a
Speaker 1: little bit because we don't even.
Speaker 2: Be bouncing off the walls.
Speaker 3: I can mess with this, Okay.
Speaker 2: It has a little bit of a coffee taste. It
Speaker 2: definitely has a coffee taste, which is good for coffee drinkers.
Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, I ain't on front.
Speaker 1: I could probably kill this whole thing. I could probably
Speaker 1: drink this thing. But will I get the jitters?
Speaker 3: You will? This is like two servings in one and
Speaker 3: for you that may be like three servings.
Speaker 2: So that means what is coffee made of? Caffeine? Right?
Speaker 3: Caffeine content? Yeah, cold brew is three times stronger than espresso,
Speaker 3: so a third of that is like one cup of coffee.
Speaker 2: Okay, you need to have. This is delicious.
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna run. This is actually delicious. I would
Speaker 1: drink this whole thing and probably end up in the hospital.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, sensitive, babe, I'm not gonna lie. This is
Speaker 2: so easy to drink.
Speaker 3: It's made with oat milk, white chocolate and coconut condensed
Speaker 3: milk with our Nicarockuan cold brew.
Speaker 1: This is actually this is really I'm a low key
Speaker 1: surprised how delicious this is.
Speaker 3: And it's plant based hundred percent, so it's good for
Speaker 3: you now and later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is so you should probably take this from
Speaker 2: me because how much can I drink without getting the jitters?
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, probably to like right there, okay, yeah, probably, Like.
Speaker 2: Guys, I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably gonna drink this.
Speaker 2: And then the other flavor is it's.
Speaker 3: Our Cafe o the Oia, a traditional flavor in the
Speaker 3: Latino community, made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and dar Mexican colbrew.
Speaker 2: And you make this from scratch right yeah?
Speaker 3: All at the shop?
Speaker 2: Wow? Okay? And where's your shop located.
Speaker 3: On seventy four fourteen South Vermont Avenue.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And when I was on the call with you, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you notice, and it's very discriminatory, but
Speaker 1: I had.
Speaker 2: To ask how old are you?
Speaker 3: I'm thirty three, thirty three?
Speaker 2: I was like, you're thirty three? What did I say?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: I got to have you on the show, so young
Speaker 2: black Latino man, cute ladies. I had to say. I
Speaker 2: had to say it to help you all out.
Speaker 1: And you own your own coffee business and it's award winning.
Speaker 3: It's award winning, the only award winning shop in the city.
Speaker 2: Yes, and what is your broke dish?
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good one. So my broke dish is
Speaker 3: a spin on a traditional plate called the granaches and
Speaker 3: I've been eating that since I was little because most
Speaker 3: families make it because it's just so easy, it's so cheap,
Speaker 3: it's so affordable and versatile. So that's my dish of
Speaker 3: the day.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So this dish, I want to say costs. I
Speaker 1: think it was like maybe under ten dollars, but I
Speaker 1: mean the corn tortillas, there's so many, so I would
Speaker 1: guess you can get at least.
Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, a lot out of it.
Speaker 1: So this is definitely a cheap dish, really affordables.
Speaker 2: Why don't you walk us through the ingredients?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Sure. So it's made with a corn tortilla and
Speaker 3: that's the benefit, like you said, is that comes in
Speaker 3: a pack, so you can make this dish the whole week.
Speaker 3: And what you do is you fry it in the
Speaker 3: oil for a little bit to let it get crispy,
Speaker 3: like a tostada, and then we have some traditional black
Speaker 3: beans that will be spreading on it, kind of like
Speaker 3: a Mexican pizza, and then your choice of topping. So
Speaker 3: I like to add avocado. I'm dairy free, so we
Speaker 3: got some vegan cheese along with some dice tomato cilantro.
Speaker 3: And then at the very end we'll ad our lime
Speaker 3: and our traditional Marie Sharp Belizion avenarow pepper sauce.
Speaker 1: And then you made sure to make a note that
Speaker 1: the beans had to be what was it refried or
Speaker 1: mash mashed, And so just in case y'all go out
Speaker 1: there and buy a can of beans, you may buy
Speaker 1: the wrong ones. That's probably what I would do, so
Speaker 1: just make sure you look for refried or mash.
Speaker 2: All right, go ahead, feed me all right?
Speaker 3: All right, So what we're gonna do is we're gonna
Speaker 3: start off making sure our oil is hot. We turned
Speaker 3: it down a little bit, and then we'll get our
Speaker 3: beans warmed. So I like to put a little bit
Speaker 3: of coconut oil. But you know we're not in Belize today,
Speaker 3: so we're gonna have to make de and warm up
Speaker 3: our beans here.
Speaker 2: So you put the coconut oil before.
Speaker 3: You before it. Yeah, and it gives it a little
Speaker 3: more flavor because this dish comes from Belize and that's
Speaker 3: what my mom is and so the coconut oil is
Speaker 3: a really signature taste in a Belizian dish.
Speaker 2: I like coconut flavoring. And like when I make a
Speaker 2: Stoopies and rice, oh yeah, Like do you use coconut
Speaker 2: milk in your rice?
Speaker 3: I use coconut as many times. Look, I put it
Speaker 3: in the coffee. I try to put as much coconut everywhere.
Speaker 3: There's coconut milk in it, coconut condensed milk.
Speaker 2: I thought there was oat milk and oat milk.
Speaker 3: So the coconut condensed milk gives it that creamy texture
Speaker 3: that you experience like it, and then the oat milk
Speaker 3: just gives it that you know, additional lowers that pH
Speaker 3: and gives it that creamy texture too.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, like I could see me easily
Speaker 1: drinking this whole thing, but I'm just scared about how
Speaker 1: like jittery I would get.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean we convert people all the time,
Speaker 3: non coffee drinkers into coffee because most people are not
Speaker 3: used to good coffee. They're used to burnt coffee. Good. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And this roast is super fresh at our site in
Speaker 3: South Central So literally you're not going to get a
Speaker 3: fresher cup of coldbrew coffee.
Speaker 2: I mean, this thing is delicious.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, but this is for someone like
Speaker 1: me because deliciousness.
Speaker 2: I suck it down fast, then it creeps up later.
Speaker 3: And so for those of you who are scared of frying,
Speaker 3: or maybe have never fried something, this may be your
Speaker 3: first time checking out this broke dish. A good way
Speaker 3: to test your oil is just to put a little
Speaker 3: bit of the tortilla in there, and if it bubbles
Speaker 3: up and floats immediately, then the oil is hot enough.
Speaker 3: But if not, then you want to wait, because that's
Speaker 3: really the key to a good granachis and get that
Speaker 3: good crispiness and it's not too oily and too unhealthy
Speaker 3: for you. Because, like I said, I would make this
Speaker 3: with breakfast, lunch, dinner. I would just fry up a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of tortillas at the beginning of the week
Speaker 3: and then just pop it out.
Speaker 2: How do you keep them fresh there?
Speaker 3: It's like a tortilla chip, just in a zip lock
Speaker 3: bag on the counter.
Speaker 2: Oh but sometimes they sell it like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it ain't nothing like the thick, the fresh.
Speaker 3: Oh and it's also more expensive, just like the beans.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't even do the can like I said, I
Speaker 3: would do a pot a week, a big old pot
Speaker 3: of black beans.
Speaker 2: You make it yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's how you say money. The cam beans are expected.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, So okay, I don't really deal with
Speaker 1: a lot of beans, So tell me how do you
Speaker 1: make it?
Speaker 3: Oh? Okay, So like I said, oh, I haven't said it.
Speaker 3: I come from a lineage of on my mom's side,
Speaker 3: from Belieze, of restaurant owners and chefs. So with the
Speaker 3: black beans, first you got to soak the beans.
Speaker 2: How long do you have to soak them for?
Speaker 3: I like to do it overnight and then in the
Speaker 3: next morning I start my process to cook the beans.
Speaker 3: So then you turn it on, let it cook a
Speaker 3: little bit. Then once the beans have cooked, then you
Speaker 3: chop up some dice onion. You put up a whole
Speaker 3: aven arrow in it along with the secret ingredient, which
Speaker 3: is really hard to find around here. The only place
Speaker 3: I find it is at the Asian markets, which is
Speaker 3: called kulantro culantro. We grow it in Belize and in
Speaker 3: all the Central American countries. And see the tortilla starting
Speaker 3: to flow, so it's almost ready. But it's like a
Speaker 3: stronger tasting cilantro. But you put that in there with
Speaker 3: a little bit of sassongoya, a little bit of all
Speaker 3: purpose seasoning.
Speaker 2: You sound like you can really cook. Oh I don't,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know if i'm mining, But
Speaker 2: you sound like you really a chef in the kitchen.
Speaker 3: And then you let that simmer once it's done. Oh
Speaker 3: my gosh, really amazing.
Speaker 2: But you didn't add any coconut milk to your beans.
Speaker 3: Coconut oil?
Speaker 2: Well, oh, it's coconut oil. The beans in the pot.
Speaker 2: You use coconut oil.
Speaker 3: Right, put a little bit of coconut oil and that
Speaker 3: just sits on the count I use coconut oil for everything, eggs.
Speaker 2: So but when you do your tortillas, are you using
Speaker 2: coconut oil?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, you can't fry in coconut oil because
Speaker 3: the temperature to burn is too high.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you sound like a chef.
Speaker 3: You're like, legit, I love it almost in it. Go
Speaker 3: to college and went to culinary art school, Like that's
Speaker 3: that's why my business is around cooking coffee all day
Speaker 3: because I had to do something with cooking. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always say that if I if I went
Speaker 1: to school again, I would love to go to culinary school.
Speaker 3: Me too, I would love to me too. All right,
Speaker 3: So we think our first tortilla is ready, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: do this one.
Speaker 2: We'll just put it and then how many do you
Speaker 2: usually eat to get full?
Speaker 3: Like three, depending on how much I stack it up.
Speaker 3: So see how that started.
Speaker 2: Then how do we know when the tortilla's done?
Speaker 3: It's brown, golden brown, and it's do you flip it? Yep,
Speaker 3: we'll flip it eventually.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's bubbling up. Okay, Okay, got a little cook
Speaker 1: in action. So take me back to what was going
Speaker 1: on at the time when you were making this while
Speaker 1: you were broke or struggling, or when your family was
Speaker 1: broke or struggling.
Speaker 3: You know, when I first came out here, the only
Speaker 3: family because I graduated from grad school and packed up
Speaker 3: my car with whatever could fit and I just drove
Speaker 3: out here. And the only person that had space in
Speaker 3: our family out here was my aunt that lived in Paris, California.
Speaker 2: Okay, first, wait, where did you graduate.
Speaker 3: From Wake Forest in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you came from North Carolina, you move out
Speaker 1: here to live with the auntie.
Speaker 3: Yep. And my job was in La So I was
Speaker 3: driving eighty three miles.
Speaker 2: Oh you got a job before you got a job. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And what were you doing.
Speaker 3: I was doing this management program for this marketing company
Speaker 3: called Vantage. And so my aunt she would make a
Speaker 3: big old pot of black beans because she had her kids,
Speaker 3: you know, I was there, her sons, her daughters, and
Speaker 3: then you know, she just enjoyed cooking, so there would
Speaker 3: always be no matter when you got there, there was
Speaker 3: always a good, big old pot of black beans. And
Speaker 3: so with garnachas it really is, you know, it doesn't
Speaker 3: take much. It's just tortilla black beans and whatever toppings.
Speaker 3: So even if you have picky eaters, you can, you know,
Speaker 3: make it up yourself however you like it. But that's
Speaker 3: when I really started just making them all the time
Speaker 3: after living there, because it was just so easy. So
Speaker 3: I just made my pot of black beans. If it's
Speaker 3: breakfast time, I'll make some scrambled eggs, put that on,
Speaker 3: add that on there. If it's dinner time, I'll bowl
Speaker 3: some chicken mince it up, add that on there, same toppings,
Speaker 3: but you know, change up the pro team depending on
Speaker 3: the time of day. And because I was hustling, working
Speaker 3: sixteen hours kind of you know.
Speaker 2: Make it and this is for that company, right yeah,
Speaker 2: for that company. Okay.
Speaker 1: And then so shout outs to your auntie for really
Speaker 1: pouring the bean meals into you, right oh yeah, oh yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so you're working, tell me the next step of what's
Speaker 1: going on in your life.
Speaker 3: So then I ended up only doing that company for
Speaker 3: a year and started doing an insurance for this union
Speaker 3: company and that was another management program, and so did
Speaker 3: that for four years.
Speaker 2: Why do you keep saying management program like it's school.
Speaker 3: Because I'm just started at school because I felt like
Speaker 3: I needed I had just education. And so what I
Speaker 3: looked for initially for my first jobs were, you know,
Speaker 3: programs that had a pathway to promotion, and so that's
Speaker 3: what this company had. And so within those four years
Speaker 3: I ended up becoming the regional manager and seeing how
Speaker 3: much money I was making for the company, I was like,
Speaker 3: if I could make them this much money, imagine what
Speaker 3: I could go out there and do for myself.
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting though, I've never actually heard someone
Speaker 1: say before the way you look at a job as
Speaker 1: like a learning experience, or you're not just looking at
Speaker 1: it as a check, You're looking at it for much
Speaker 1: more than that.
Speaker 3: That's also why I did the insurance business specifically for
Speaker 3: that union company, because I mean, ultimately, the reason I
Speaker 3: moved out here is to get into government. But I'm
Speaker 3: not from here. I don't know anything. I don't know
Speaker 3: how the people think. I don't know what people need.
Speaker 3: And so the insurance game was I was able to
Speaker 3: literally go into hundreds of homes of teachers, firefighters, police,
Speaker 3: average citizens, still workers and learn what their true needs are,
Speaker 3: and learn how they think, learn how much money they're making,
Speaker 3: learn what they actually have in savings, putting things aside,
Speaker 3: so really getting that understanding of what the landscape is.
Speaker 3: So ultimately, one day I could really feel confident about
Speaker 3: representing them. Okay, because that's what.
Speaker 1: Your long term goal was government, And when you say government,
Speaker 1: what do you mean government?
Speaker 3: Ultimately I want to change education across the US federally,
Speaker 3: so potentially holding a seat and Senate to sit on
Speaker 3: that committee. Wow. But that's like why I moved here
Speaker 3: and wanted to start my own business, because I don't
Speaker 3: believe that. If you want to be in charge of
Speaker 3: this city's budget, but yet you independently haven't ever managed
Speaker 3: a budget like that, how can we trust you? There's
Speaker 3: no proven history like this is a lot of money
Speaker 3: that you get to decide in an instance. So I
Speaker 3: want to when I get into office, I want people
Speaker 3: to know that I've built my own wealth, I've managed money,
Speaker 3: and I can also do that if you trust me
Speaker 3: with this fund.
Speaker 2: Wow, and those are big goals? Where did you get
Speaker 2: that goal from?
Speaker 3: Seeing all the injustices growing up? I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee,
Speaker 3: and if you know anything about Nashville, it's mostly white black.
Speaker 3: There's not many Latinos, definitely no Bellegians. And so just
Speaker 3: going through the education system, seeing the unfairness, experiencing it,
Speaker 3: witnessing it, and then going to college for my bachelor's
Speaker 3: at the University of Tennessee where down the street that's
Speaker 3: where the KKK was founded, And they would still have
Speaker 3: rallies downtown in Knoxville while I was there.
Speaker 2: Wow, And what year is that?
Speaker 3: This was two thousand and ten and they were.
Speaker 2: Still they're still having rallies still rallies.
Speaker 3: When Obama won in two thousand and eight, they put
Speaker 3: cotton balls around the Black Cultural Center, not them specifically,
Speaker 3: but students on our campus. So it was just blatant
Speaker 3: racism just and when I was there, the most thing
Speaker 3: that struck me the most was the fact that we
Speaker 3: were only celebrating fifty years of allowing black people to attend. Wow.
Speaker 3: I said, so you're telling me you've only allowed two
Speaker 3: generations of black folks to get educated here. But yeah,
Speaker 3: you're charging us all of this money and debt to
Speaker 3: just study freak. And so that really really upset me.
Speaker 3: And so I was going to dedicate go to law
Speaker 3: school and that was going to be my pathway. But
Speaker 3: then you know, right at the last minute, God tapped
Speaker 3: me on the shoulder and said, hey, I know you've
Speaker 3: been practicing for the l side and think you're going
Speaker 3: to be an attorney, but you need to go to
Speaker 3: business school. I hadn't taken math since high school because
Speaker 3: I wasn't gonna do nothing with math. I was going
Speaker 3: to be an attorney. That was my path to get
Speaker 3: in the government, but ended up, by the grace of God,
Speaker 3: getting into Wake Forest their business management program. Some of
Speaker 3: my classmates were from Princeton, Mit I felt like I
Speaker 3: had no idea what I was doing. Never study business
Speaker 3: in my life, but I made it through thanks to
Speaker 3: some amazing teachers and office hours and peers, and made
Speaker 3: it through that program. But it gave me. It really
Speaker 3: changed my life and gave me that confidence to navigate
Speaker 3: the world because I witnessed my parents who had the
Speaker 3: desire this talent, but they didn't know necessarily, Oh that
Speaker 3: was a little dark how to navigate the world. And
Speaker 3: that's where the education came in, coupled with what I
Speaker 3: learned from seeing them, and because they were both entrepreneurs
Speaker 3: and my mom had a daycare, my dad had a
Speaker 3: landscaping company, but they were never able to really scale
Speaker 3: the business and take it to a point where they
Speaker 3: could retire from it.
Speaker 1: Like do you feel like they built the business to
Speaker 1: be like self employed versus like building an actual organization.
Speaker 3: At one thousand percent even to this day. I mean,
Speaker 3: my dad still has his business and it's still basically
Speaker 3: the same.
Speaker 1: Way, like he's working for himself versus he has a
Speaker 1: team absolutely okayutely perfect, And that's actually I want to
Speaker 1: say that, like, kudos to your dad, I think scaling
Speaker 1: and delegating work in a business is very it's a
Speaker 1: very hard.
Speaker 2: Thing to do. But kudos to him is to stay
Speaker 2: in business as long as he has.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a blessing because you know, I grew
Speaker 3: up my mom came here, you know, immigrated here from
Speaker 3: Belize illegally for a better opportunity, and they were able
Speaker 3: to do that together and they're still married to this day.
Speaker 3: Blessed with that as well. But they taught me a
Speaker 3: lot of those things and we had a we were
Speaker 3: able to have all our needs taken care of growing up.
Speaker 3: And so I knew myself watching them that I knew
Speaker 3: one day I had to have my own business to
Speaker 3: get that same freedom. But I also knew that I
Speaker 3: needed the education if it was ever going to be sustainable. Nice,
Speaker 3: and that's where that business school came in and really
Speaker 3: really changed my life, honestly, all right.
Speaker 2: And then just so you know, unless you're cooking for
Speaker 2: everybody in the.
Speaker 3: Studio, yeah, we do can be done.
Speaker 2: He's over here cooking for a family, and that's.
Speaker 3: What I'm used to looking. I'm gonna get eat something.
Speaker 1: Somebody's you know, I'm trying to judge him hard because
Speaker 1: he looks a little too clean cut, guys. So one
Speaker 1: of his tortillas from here looked like it could be
Speaker 1: Crispy burn.
Speaker 3: It's a little do you know, you just.
Speaker 1: Put yeah, so you know, just so you know, guys,
Speaker 1: we're judging. I mean, right now, I'll see one brown tortilla.
Speaker 2: It looked like it could be an African American tortilla.
Speaker 1: Just saying, but all right, So so you're in l A,
Speaker 1: You're you're you're moving up in this in this organization.
Speaker 1: What's going on? What's the next step? What is your
Speaker 1: next chess move? Because you're you're definitely playing chess. I
Speaker 1: see why you are where you're at because you're not
Speaker 1: playing checkers.
Speaker 2: You're playing chess right now. I like it. I'm very
Speaker 2: very impressed.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: Not that my opinion.
Speaker 1: Matters, but my opinion does matter a little bit, but yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I'm very impressed.
Speaker 2: So continue.
Speaker 3: So then with the insurance gig, again, I was doing
Speaker 3: very well financially, and so I was like, I can't
Speaker 3: do this no more. It's either I do something for myself.
Speaker 3: But I didn't know what it was going to because
Speaker 3: I knew it had to be around my passions and
Speaker 3: I love to cook. As you can see, I'm really
Speaker 3: enjoying this. Thank you for the opportunity. Again. I love
Speaker 3: to travel, so I've traveled to so many different countries
Speaker 3: and that's how I've learned about my first opportunity well
Speaker 3: with coffee. So one of my friends, I always go
Speaker 3: back in December to visit my family in Belize. And
Speaker 3: so I had a friend who was from Alsalvador and
Speaker 3: he goes back to visit his family. So I said, hey,
Speaker 3: next time you go, let me. We're neighbors. Let me know,
Speaker 3: and I'll just hop on playing over there and visit
Speaker 3: El Salvador. Tour me around, and I didn't know his
Speaker 3: family were coffee farmers, a lineage of coffee farmers, the
Speaker 3: whole way. And so when I get there, you know,
Speaker 3: he's giving me a tour of his place and everything,
Speaker 3: and then you know, start talking to his parents and
Speaker 3: learning about their coffee farm and then that it was struggling,
Speaker 3: and how the whole industry was struggling, and just in general,
Speaker 3: how the wealth was being extracted through coffee because of
Speaker 3: all the bullying, like these huge conglomerates like Starbucks, and
Speaker 3: they would and Nestley who would come in there and
Speaker 3: just tell them, hey, either you pay this rate or
Speaker 3: we're not buying from you. Good luck, and then restrict
Speaker 3: them from all the access. And so I said, you know, well,
Speaker 3: what can I do to help that? And so I
Speaker 3: packed up my suitcase with some raw coffee beans whatever
Speaker 3: could fit, and I said, I know there's some roasters
Speaker 3: or something in la I could you know, take it
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 2: Now you were able to take that across.
Speaker 1: The first of all, rewind educate us on the bullying,
Speaker 1: like I hate so certain companies do this.
Speaker 2: But it's interesting to hear. So can you restate them?
Speaker 3: Yeah. So basically, as you know in America, when you
Speaker 3: think of coffee, you think of.
Speaker 2: What I think of Starbucks, Espress, so.
Speaker 3: Lat cappuccino as Starbucks, right, And so coffee was here
Speaker 3: long before it was colonized by the Europeans, and that
Speaker 3: espresso machine was ever even invented. And so a lot
Speaker 3: of the money that in the industry when they go there,
Speaker 3: they pay them pennies on the dollar. And these folks,
Speaker 3: it takes a coffee plant four years to grow. They
Speaker 3: have to literally climb up the sides of mountains because
Speaker 3: it only grows in remote places that have a micro climate,
Speaker 3: and then they pick it by hand and have to
Speaker 3: carry it back up and down the mountain. And I've
Speaker 3: done the exact same truck. I go to the farms
Speaker 3: and work with these farmers and then they get paid
Speaker 3: like pennies on the dollar for it, and the workers
Speaker 3: are in poverty. The farmers aren't doing as well. And
Speaker 3: I was like, so coffee industry is billions and billions
Speaker 3: of dollars.
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
Speaker 3: Where's the wealth being extracted. It's all here because they
Speaker 3: pay them pennies and then they go and make all
Speaker 3: the money. So I told them, I said, well, I'll
Speaker 3: pay you more. I'll pay you what you're worth, and
Speaker 3: I'll create a stage for your story to be showcase
Speaker 3: and for people to know coffee is not a European thing.
Speaker 3: It's a Nicaraguan thing. It's an Ethiopian thing. It's a
Speaker 3: thing of the culture that has been here way before
Speaker 3: it was introduced through the European perspective. And so that's
Speaker 3: also where Coffee del Munda came about, because I said,
Speaker 3: if I am going to create a company in this industry,
Speaker 3: I want to change and shift the narrative back to
Speaker 3: more of an authentic story that honors the efforts and
Speaker 3: the hard work that goes into these things, because I've
Speaker 3: I felt it, I've done it, I've done the exact
Speaker 3: same things as them, and there's no way they should
Speaker 3: be living like this when all of this money is
Speaker 3: being made in this industry.
Speaker 2: Do you have any any video or footage of what
Speaker 2: it's like when you're like.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, yeah, I got tons of footage, tons of footage,
Speaker 3: tons of I had my Apple Watch on. It was
Speaker 3: four miles down, four miles back up. I barely made it.
Speaker 3: And they're carrying one hundred back pounds of coffee.
Speaker 2: And these guys are making they're living in.
Speaker 3: Povertis met yep. And it's young young.
Speaker 2: How young, sixteen fourteen?
Speaker 3: But this is where the work is. They go where
Speaker 3: and they're migratory, so they go where where the work is,
Speaker 3: so they they don't have no rights, they don't have
Speaker 3: no benefits and so.
Speaker 2: And then what about the education. They're not able to
Speaker 2: go to school because in.
Speaker 3: The school they're picking coffee and you got to pay
Speaker 3: for school.
Speaker 2: So it's and that's still going on in two thousand
Speaker 2: and trial going on.
Speaker 3: I literally left Nicaragua in January December and same situation.
Speaker 3: But the good thing again is the farmers that I
Speaker 3: work with, you know, have a little more infrastructure and
Speaker 3: we're paying them more so that way we can help
Speaker 3: because I know my dollar helps the farmer, the land,
Speaker 3: the workers, and my consumers here.
Speaker 2: But like the Nestli's and Starbucks, they're paying bully raates.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they're playing bully rays and the quality is
Speaker 3: a lot lower. Yeah, it's just terrible. So now there's
Speaker 3: a lot of more emphasis on knowing where your coffee
Speaker 3: comes from. But this is a recent shift. It's still
Speaker 3: a lot of shifting that needs to occur. Yeah, for
Speaker 3: this wealth to be properly distributed to those who really
Speaker 3: deserve it.
Speaker 1: It's crazy to think that you're right, I would think
Speaker 1: of coffee as more of a European thing. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even think, I mean, but then again, I mean, I don't.
Speaker 2: Know that much about coffee. But okay, so school me
Speaker 2: some more. So, what was the next step in your
Speaker 2: story once you went to Salvador and you heard the story.
Speaker 2: Obviously you have a lot of empathy and compassion for people.
Speaker 2: It's very clear moved you to what too.
Speaker 3: So then I came back with the beans, right, and
Speaker 3: so I went around to different roasters. None of them
Speaker 3: looked like me, and importers, none of them looked like me.
Speaker 2: What do you mean, what would they look like?
Speaker 3: White people, white, all white, all white, the whole industry,
Speaker 3: even at Coffee Fest it was all white when I
Speaker 3: went the first year, and so I'm like, wait a minute,
Speaker 3: wait a minute, winter the only people that can grow
Speaker 3: this thing look like me. But then you get to
Speaker 3: America and it's a white dominated industry, and I said,
Speaker 3: this don't make sense. I said, so really, how complicated
Speaker 3: is it to roast these beans? I love to cook.
Speaker 3: I'm pretty good at it, and used my dark one
Speaker 3: over here.
Speaker 1: Before you went to Outsalvador and saw the coffee beans,
Speaker 1: you liked coffee.
Speaker 3: I loved coffee. I needed I told you I was
Speaker 3: sixteen hours. I was made.
Speaker 2: Coffee was your best friend. So when you went there,
Speaker 2: neated it. When you went there and saw the farms
Speaker 2: where you're like.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I was. I was in awe. But
Speaker 3: also I just love explorations. Yeah, learning, so to be
Speaker 3: able to learn. Before I went to Salvator, I didn't
Speaker 3: really I didn't know coffee was a cherry. It was
Speaker 3: a fruit.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to take this coffee from me because
Speaker 1: it is highly so good, isn't it?
Speaker 3: And it's very free.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not even saying this to promote his business,
Speaker 1: but like, it's so good. You're gonna have to really
Speaker 1: take this from me because I will drink it all
Speaker 1: and be really sick.
Speaker 2: Later.
Speaker 3: You'll be all right, you just won't go to sleep.
Speaker 3: You'll get a lot of work done. Just plan some work.
Speaker 2: Really, yeah, I won't get. I won't get if you
Speaker 2: stay up like the.
Speaker 3: Shakes, don't drink more than half then, but.
Speaker 2: I do get a little shaky feeling in me when
Speaker 2: I drink coffee.
Speaker 3: Well, I get that if you drink more than half. Okay,
Speaker 3: if you drink more than half, take it for me.
Speaker 2: All right, this coffee is really good. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: Guys.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to go check it out for yourself.
Speaker 2: And I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know for
Speaker 2: sure like this you should get all right, so go
Speaker 2: on with your story. Sorry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So then I was like, okay, so what does
Speaker 3: it take to roasts thing? I love to cook. So
Speaker 3: then I'm a I'm a very I'm a person who
Speaker 3: loves to physically touch things and manifest thing. So I
Speaker 3: know these machines are expensive. So I started googling who
Speaker 3: sells them, and I was like, let me go see
Speaker 3: what they are. Even if I know I can't buy
Speaker 3: when they're like a buying a car, when.
Speaker 2: You mean buying a car, they're like twenty thousand thirds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, these things are expensive because they come from Turkey.
Speaker 3: It costs like three thousand dollars just to get it shipped. Like,
Speaker 3: these things are huge and expensive. And so I went
Speaker 3: to this one manufacturer from Turkey ended up being I mean,
Speaker 3: they ended up being from Turkey. And so talking to
Speaker 3: the guy, he had a very thick Turkish accent, and
Speaker 3: come to find out, he had just got here and
Speaker 3: he was responsible to sell these machines for the entire US.
Speaker 3: Doesn't have much experience, doesn't know much about the culture,
Speaker 3: and that's what I specialized in. So I told him,
Speaker 3: I said, hey, why don't I help you sell these things?
Speaker 3: Create a sales pitch for you, help you sell these
Speaker 3: machines and then I could earn a roaster, get a discount.
Speaker 2: He was like, you are the most gangster person my goodness.
Speaker 2: So he's like yeah, so then they literally did that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was like, look, I can't afford it, but I
Speaker 3: know you need some help and I'm skilled at what
Speaker 3: I do and I can sell these things. So then
Speaker 3: ended up.
Speaker 2: You know, entrepreneurs, are you paying attention?
Speaker 1: You just got You basically said, Okay, I don't have
Speaker 1: the money, but I got this skill set and you
Speaker 1: know we could work out a deal.
Speaker 2: Okay. I like where you had it, so okay, so
Speaker 2: then you work out the deal.
Speaker 3: You start out to deal. The owner of the company
Speaker 3: had come to the US to visit, loved it, and
Speaker 3: he took me back. That's how I went and studied
Speaker 3: roasting because they was like, we'll pay for you to
Speaker 3: learn roasting. All I had to do is get my flight.
Speaker 3: They paid for everything else, Like I got to tour Turkey.
Speaker 1: And you sold them on hiring you, right, and you
Speaker 1: had zero experience, but you had a sales background.
Speaker 3: I had. That's what I did. I taught and trained
Speaker 3: people how to do sales. Yep.
Speaker 1: And I always tell people in entrepreneurship the number one
Speaker 1: skill you have to have in entrepreneurship is sales.
Speaker 3: That's it. And that's why I did the insurance too,
Speaker 3: because I needed to learn that skill. And I was
Speaker 3: a though salesman, especially not in these waters. You've got
Speaker 3: some deep, big old sharks up in here.
Speaker 2: People.
Speaker 1: It's funny because there's a stigma around salespeople. But the
Speaker 1: truth is, I tell people, one of the skills that
Speaker 1: I want to teach my daughter is essential skill is sales.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna have to sell. So that
Speaker 3: was one of the skills that I wanted to master. First.
Speaker 3: I read, studied, and executed those demonstrated those skills with
Speaker 3: building a sales team and selling roasters successfully for them,
Speaker 3: and that's when I learned to study in roasting in Turkey.
Speaker 3: So I got that taken care of. Then I came.
Speaker 2: Back and how long were you doing that for?
Speaker 3: For like a year, and so I would go to
Speaker 3: coffee fest with them and then we would help sell.
Speaker 3: And that's actually how I met my Nicaraguan farmers because
Speaker 3: they bought a machine from me when I was selling.
Speaker 3: I think we met in Portland when they came to
Speaker 3: the coffee fest, or maybe it was La one of
Speaker 3: these cities, and so That's how I ended up meeting
Speaker 3: that farmer to work with, and so fast forward, I
Speaker 3: was practiced. I got my baby roaster, earned my first
Speaker 3: little baby roaster.
Speaker 2: And how much was it worth, I'm just curious.
Speaker 3: Eighty five hundred and you earned?
Speaker 2: You earned it.
Speaker 3: Basically they let me use it as a showroom to
Speaker 3: teach people because they had a lot of interests, but
Speaker 3: the people didn't know how to use the roaster. So
Speaker 3: I was basically the kind of us showroom to help
Speaker 3: teach and train. And so I had the little baby roaster,
Speaker 3: and so I found a space that was a live workspace,
Speaker 3: so I had my studio on the back and I
Speaker 3: had my little warehouse in the front with my baby roaster.
Speaker 3: And for that year, I just practiced roasted roasted. And
Speaker 3: then I ended up leaving the insurance game.
Speaker 2: Oh you were still an insurance were all that?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, because that was just off time, you know,
Speaker 3: follow up easy things on the side. And so I
Speaker 3: ended up leaving the insurance game. And because I did well,
Speaker 3: I had residuals. So I let my residuals come in
Speaker 3: and then if it didn't make what I needed to take,
Speaker 3: I just go uber for a day or two and
Speaker 3: make my balance. And then the rest of the time
Speaker 3: I just focused on building the business, like the business plan, studying,
Speaker 3: roasting labs, marketing, all of those things. And are you
Speaker 3: a spicy eater?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: Okay, so flavor, but I gotta warn you this is
Speaker 3: it gets it can get really hot. But we're just
Speaker 3: gonna put a little tab on it because it goes
Speaker 3: good on the avocado.
Speaker 2: He's talking about this. What do you call it?
Speaker 3: This is our pepper sauce, the Beligian abba narrow pepper sauce.
Speaker 2: And then it looks like a pizza almost, guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of like a kind of like a toasta.
Speaker 3: But it's like it's like my souped up you get
Speaker 3: It's not it's more for taste. You'll be out right,
Speaker 3: You got your water, right?
Speaker 1: Can I invite you to sit down with me and
Speaker 1: Katie to come in. We're gonna throw the commercial, okay.
Speaker 2: And we're back and let's just sample your dish.
Speaker 3: All right, all right, here we go before you gotta
Speaker 3: get the lime. You know it ain't nothing, got the lime.
Speaker 3: Put the lime on it, your little drizzle on there.
Speaker 2: Whoever cut these limes, they didn't cut right, it's supposed
Speaker 2: to be chunkier.
Speaker 3: It's okay, you just use a little more muscle. That's all.
Speaker 2: Get it in my eyes? Okay, there we go. Lie
Speaker 2: looks like a little pizza. I'm glad you made it
Speaker 2: all pretty. Is this the brown one? You didn't give
Speaker 2: me the brown brown? I'm just trying to make fun
Speaker 2: of them, all right.
Speaker 1: It's got the beans, the avocado, tomato, cilantro, and cheese.
Speaker 2: Here we go.
Speaker 3: This is technically vegan. A lot of times I don't eat,
Speaker 3: you know, like meat.
Speaker 1: By the way, I have a question. Country Wayne was
Speaker 1: on our show. Shout out to the Country Wayne.
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll be getting little spats off camera. But the
Speaker 2: truth is I bought baked beans. It says vegetarian on
Speaker 2: the can. Okay, it doesn't say vegan. Wouldn't it technically
Speaker 2: be vegan?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Why because of the sugar.
Speaker 3: Vegetarian just means there's no I guess meat in it,
Speaker 3: But vegan means it wasn't made with any animal products.
Speaker 2: But is there such a thing as vegan baked beans?
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, we're gonna cut that.
Speaker 2: We ain't gonna share that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there is.
Speaker 2: We're not gonna share that. If you find it, let
Speaker 2: me know. But Country was swearing that there's a such thing,
Speaker 2: and I was like, no, there isn't that whole foods.
Speaker 3: It ain't at a regular grocery store, That's what he said.
Speaker 2: Yeah, damn, I'm glad I didn't wait for that. All right, cheers.
Speaker 2: We gonna cut that clip and just send it to
Speaker 2: his DMS. All right, cheers, let's try this all right,
Speaker 2: all right here, let's click. All right, Okay, you know what,
Speaker 2: eating broke? Ain't that bad if you creative?
Speaker 3: Look like you said. It's under ten dollars. And I'm
Speaker 3: eating this more than one day.
Speaker 2: That was just when I'm rich or not.
Speaker 3: I still do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was knocking the way you fried these tortillas,
Speaker 2: but you did it. These are amazing. I love the
Speaker 2: way you fried them. I'm gonna fry them just like that.
Speaker 2: Mh okay yo. That is simply wonderful.
Speaker 3: Easy too.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be making these at home.
Speaker 3: M hm. And if you already got the tortillas, pribabe,
Speaker 3: what you do is warm up the bean in the
Speaker 3: market way because everything else is in the fridge, easy
Speaker 3: quick from home.
Speaker 2: You be cooking at home, career, I throw down. You
Speaker 2: know what, I actually like the sauce too right.
Speaker 3: It's not too hot. It's just a good EPI sauce.
Speaker 2: It's literally perfect. Like someone could be broke with you,
Speaker 2: they could live in a hook with you and be fine.
Speaker 3: Trust me, all my roommates loved me because they never
Speaker 3: ate so good.
Speaker 1: They'd be like, oh, he's in the kitchen. We chilling, okay,
Speaker 1: and we're back. I annihilated mine. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: go back to interview mode and then I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: you cooked.
Speaker 2: The rest of the tortillas before you leave.
Speaker 1: They're so good, Okay, fantastic dish, ten out of ten,
Speaker 1: one of my favorites. Really DELI now back to your
Speaker 1: amazing story. One of the things I noticed about you
Speaker 1: in this whole story is you're not looking at the clock,
Speaker 1: or are you when I say the clock? Like, You're
Speaker 1: not like I have to be this successful by this date.
Speaker 1: It seems like you're taking life on as a journey,
Speaker 1: not as a destination.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely. When I first moved out here, it wasn't
Speaker 3: the case. I was like, I want to be a
Speaker 3: millionaire ten years out of college and so just experiencing
Speaker 3: life the pandemic, and it really allowed me to understand
Speaker 3: that really, if you are just present and operating your
Speaker 3: purpose every day, then ultimately you will get to where
Speaker 3: you want to be. And so you know, to come
Speaker 3: out here to La. I believe God gave me that
Speaker 3: vision to say, hey, you need to be in La
Speaker 3: and that's why I came here. And so I came
Speaker 3: here with an open mind with the understanding that this
Speaker 3: is my desire. But if I'm diligent and using my
Speaker 3: gifts to serve what I believe is my purpose, then
Speaker 3: you know that God says He'll give you the desires
Speaker 3: of your heart, and so I believe there my heart
Speaker 3: is filled.
Speaker 1: Okay, so then after you acquire the baby Roaster, I
Speaker 1: like the name of the baby Roaster. All Right, you're
Speaker 1: in this loft workspace.
Speaker 2: What are you doing? What's the day in the life
Speaker 2: of you?
Speaker 3: Pretty much, I would wake up and plan out my
Speaker 3: day on what research needed to be done, because again
Speaker 3: I wanted I wasn't just building a coffee shop, which
Speaker 3: it wasn't even in that I wasn't even building a
Speaker 3: coffee shop. I was building an e commerce brand. And
Speaker 3: so being as I'd never done this before, I'm a
Speaker 3: super researcher and a deep analyzer, So I'd spend about
Speaker 3: my first three hours of the day doing research, and
Speaker 3: then the middle part of my day is when I
Speaker 3: would do the roasting, and so I would test out
Speaker 3: different roast. And then the next day, if I'm not roasting,
Speaker 3: then I'm testing all of the roast, brewing it and
Speaker 3: cupping it, which is how we determine it. What kind
Speaker 3: of specialty, what kind of aromas, what kind of flavors is,
Speaker 3: if it's acidic, if it's not acidic, if it has
Speaker 3: a lot of body. So I would study to get
Speaker 3: my palette up, kind of like Ali for coffee.
Speaker 1: So if I walked in your place, would it look
Speaker 1: like a science lab, because that's what it sounds like.
Speaker 3: It was, And it would be many cups labeled and
Speaker 3: many bags labeled, dates with dates, the type of roast,
Speaker 3: and then it's I have scientific tools called the actron reader,
Speaker 3: which tells me the color of the roast and gives
Speaker 3: me a score so that I can roast specifically to that,
Speaker 3: and a density measurer to measure the density of.
Speaker 1: The You're not just buying beans, and when you say roasting,
Speaker 1: you mean like when they turn into powder or.
Speaker 3: Something that's grinding. So roasting is the coffee is actually
Speaker 3: a seat a green seed kind of like a dried
Speaker 3: white bean.
Speaker 2: So it doesn't look like a brown bean.
Speaker 3: No, that's the roasting. So once I put it into
Speaker 3: the machine and cook it, depending on if I want
Speaker 3: a light, medium or dark roast, then that's where I
Speaker 3: roast the bean.
Speaker 2: Okay, So when you get it, the bean looks.
Speaker 3: Like what it looks like a seed, like a I
Speaker 3: would say, like a green bean pee. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: It's so funny because when you were talking about getting
Speaker 1: the the the green the coffee beans, I thought of
Speaker 1: what's that fairy tale jack? And the I was like,
Speaker 1: are they doing what?
Speaker 2: They climbing up and they're coming down?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the mountains because it grows on the side of mountains.
Speaker 1: So you get them as green beans. And then you're
Speaker 1: sitting there like a science mad science is roasting in
Speaker 1: your place.
Speaker 3: Exactly, And that's where the skill comes in, is figuring
Speaker 3: out what's the ideal temperature, what's the ideal time, what's
Speaker 3: the ideal airflow, what's the ideal drop temperature, all of those?
Speaker 2: How long were you doing that part?
Speaker 3: Of your business for like eight months, just studying and practicing.
Speaker 1: And then at this point you're not making money off this, No,
Speaker 1: you're just are you searching.
Speaker 2: It out to friends to test?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I started my e commerce site and then
Speaker 3: I would try to sell the coffee, but everyone would say, well,
Speaker 3: I need to know what it tastes like. I don't
Speaker 3: know with this taste like. And so I started to
Speaker 3: have tastings at my place on the weekends, and that's
Speaker 3: where people started saying, oh, you know, this is a
Speaker 3: dope experience. You should turn this into a coffee shop.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no no,
Speaker 3: that's gonna take so much more work, so much more money.
Speaker 3: And so just listening to the needs of the community.
Speaker 3: There's you know, south Central, there's a food desert.
Speaker 2: And this is in South LA. They're saying this, Yeah.
Speaker 3: This is in South LA. There's a food desert. There's
Speaker 3: no healthy options, there's no non you know, good coffee
Speaker 3: outside of they had seven to eleven, you know. So
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I think I could do this.
Speaker 3: So I moved out, did a friends and family round,
Speaker 3: raised twenty five thousand.
Speaker 1: When you say friends and family like you went over
Speaker 1: there with a business plan and did all the presentation.
Speaker 3: Told you, I spent eight months building this business plan,
Speaker 3: so then I.
Speaker 2: Shared it and I did eight months doing a business plan.
Speaker 3: Eight eight months practicing roasting and getting the research to
Speaker 3: get my business plan.
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean your family at this point definitely believed
Speaker 1: that you were passionate about this business and it was
Speaker 1: worth investing in.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah yeah, but they didn't have yeah yeah, yeah, yea.
Speaker 3: My parents didn't have no money to invest but friends
Speaker 3: and out exit.
Speaker 2: So you did around and you raised the money in
Speaker 2: trade of equity.
Speaker 3: And trade of equity. Okay, so I gave us some
Speaker 3: equity of the company and raised twenty five thousand.
Speaker 1: Now how long What was that twenty five thousand supposed
Speaker 1: to cover? Because that doesn't sound like a lot of money.
Speaker 3: Right, So again, because traditional coffee shops are European style,
Speaker 3: So the reason why my business model didn't cost as
Speaker 3: much is because we were non European. The largest expense
Speaker 3: is typically your espresso machine, which is like eighteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: We don't have that machine. We don't even serve any
Speaker 3: espresso drinks, So that took away a big chunk, and
Speaker 3: then the plumbing and the equipment needed to sustain that
Speaker 3: equipment is also expensive. So for us, we just need
Speaker 3: a drip brewer and a roaster and that's it.
Speaker 2: So how much time did that twenty five k buy you?
Speaker 3: Well, the unfortunate thing is literally two months after we opened,
Speaker 3: COVID hit and so I was sick. I was sick.
Speaker 3: We always kick apparently, and so I couldn't afford the
Speaker 3: place plus my studio downtown. But I was like, if
Speaker 3: one thing got to go, it's not gonna be my dream.
Speaker 3: I'll sleep.
Speaker 2: Did you move into the store.
Speaker 3: So I rented out my studio so at least my
Speaker 3: studio to a student, rented a RV, parked it in
Speaker 3: the back of the shop, and from there for the
Speaker 3: next three months, I slept in the RV in the
Speaker 3: back of my shop, and I showered at the gyms
Speaker 3: until eventually COVID after that three months got real bad
Speaker 3: where they like shut the whole world down, and then
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I need my studio back because
Speaker 3: I can't do this no more.
Speaker 2: I need you didn't like DARV life anymore.
Speaker 3: I was fine with it, but because I could go
Speaker 3: shower at the gyms. I go to the gym all
Speaker 3: the time. So gym right when COVID got real bad,
Speaker 3: they like.
Speaker 2: Ye and it was like two years. Yeah, so what
Speaker 2: was your mental state? Were you depressed at all?
Speaker 3: No, I wasn't depressed.
Speaker 2: I was focused.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was focused. It happened. I believe everything happened
Speaker 3: for a reason. So it like gave me time to
Speaker 3: again continue working on my brand, the development of it.
Speaker 2: And how are you surviving the checks from the government?
Speaker 3: Unemployment? So I had unemployment and then that's when I
Speaker 3: also do my own life coaching and business coaching. Okay,
Speaker 3: and that's what led me to get a contract with
Speaker 3: the city to do coaching for them, and then eventually
Speaker 3: that's what I still have a contract with them now
Speaker 3: where I do business coaching.
Speaker 2: Holy.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So when I'm not working on my business, I'm
Speaker 3: helping you know, people in my community who can't access
Speaker 3: that education to help them build their businesses.
Speaker 2: Wow. And that's for South La, South La.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, you're a gangster. I use gangster as a term
Speaker 1: of endearment just so you know. Okay, So then throughout COVID,
Speaker 1: you survive COVID. Now you're doing the coaching during COVID, Yeah,
Speaker 1: virtually virtually. And then how'd you know to apply for
Speaker 1: that job?
Speaker 3: Happened is before COVID. I went to this event, this
Speaker 3: kJ LH Awards dinner that they have and wherever location
Speaker 3: they have it, I can't remember, but the l the
Speaker 3: elevator was taking forever and people there was a line
Speaker 3: to elevator. So I ended up taking the stairs and
Speaker 3: nobody else was taking the stairs. But once I walked
Speaker 3: up to the top of the stairs, there was this
Speaker 3: guy standing there. He's like, oh, you were one of
Speaker 3: the only people that took the stairs, and he ended
Speaker 3: up being the CEO of Vermont's lass In Economic Development Corporation. Joe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe is a mentor of mine. Shout out to Joe.
Speaker 3: Shout out to Joe, Shout out to Joe. So Joe,
Speaker 3: Joe was there. He was looking dressed.
Speaker 2: He dressed like a pimp with the attack.
Speaker 1: He had the what do you call those cuple links
Speaker 1: and ever he dresses to the nine regal.
Speaker 3: That's my definition of Joe. Yes, So he was like, yeah, oh,
Speaker 3: nice to meet you. I'm Joe, you know, and he
Speaker 3: said what do you do? I said, oh, I have
Speaker 3: a have a coffee business that I just opened up
Speaker 3: on her mind. He's like, oh, you need to come.
Speaker 3: I want to see what resources we have for you
Speaker 3: over here. And so I ended up going there. I
Speaker 3: brought my business plan, I brought some coffee. And then
Speaker 3: when the business coach met with me, they were like,
Speaker 3: who helped you do this? I said, I did it.
Speaker 3: I said, you know, I went to school for there,
Speaker 3: she said, And he was slipping through his like, no, no,
Speaker 3: you need to work here. We need your help to
Speaker 3: teach people to do this. And so he's like, send
Speaker 3: me your resume. And then they didn't have any openings
Speaker 3: at that time, but a year later they when the
Speaker 3: openings came there was like, yes, we loved you to
Speaker 3: be one of our coaches. And so that's how I
Speaker 3: kind of started being a coach for them.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, Yeah, I had a contract with Joe
Speaker 1: before the pandemic, and then I got annihilated during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: But that's amazing, Okay, Okay, we yeah, shout out to
Speaker 1: Joke because he mentors a lot of people.
Speaker 3: He does, he does.
Speaker 1: Okay, So all right, so after this, so now you're
Speaker 1: doing the coaching. You make it through the pandemic, what
Speaker 1: happens next.
Speaker 3: During the pandemic? To survive with all the COVID regulations,
Speaker 3: we had to start bottling our cold our coffee. I'd
Speaker 3: never had this in the business plan, never thought of it.
Speaker 3: But because the regulations you can serve open containers. I
Speaker 3: had to figure out, Oh, I got a bottle.
Speaker 2: This And at the time, were you doing hot brew
Speaker 2: or hot and cold cough? Oh you were doing both, yes,
Speaker 2: but no bottling. I never thought of it, and so
Speaker 2: I had to. The regulation said you had to be.
Speaker 3: You know, sealed container in a way that was tamper
Speaker 3: proof so the customers would know. And so oh, I
Speaker 3: guess I have to go to bottles. And that the
Speaker 3: bottles took off and it literally saved my business and
Speaker 3: today where it's now, the reason people know about it
Speaker 3: and like how we're growing.
Speaker 1: Even everybody when I heard about you was talking about
Speaker 1: these bottles. Oh, you got to get a bottle. You
Speaker 1: got to slide the bottles into the budget. When I
Speaker 1: say that was an actual conversation and like order the
Speaker 1: hot brew.
Speaker 2: But we got to make a way to get at
Speaker 2: least twenty five bottles twenty four bottles into that budget.
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, okay, so we can't feed everybody these
Speaker 2: cold brew but it's a necessity.
Speaker 3: You want to make sure the special ones get a bottle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I could see why. It's highly addictive. I mean,
Speaker 1: this tastes great.
Speaker 3: And it works too. If you've got a long day,
Speaker 3: you want a healthy energy like. This has way less
Speaker 3: calories and sugar content than a red bull like and
Speaker 3: it's natural, it's healthy. It's designed for our bodies. And
Speaker 3: that's what my shop is. It's one hundred percent plant based.
Speaker 3: Our menu literally is designed for people of color.
Speaker 2: But are you vegan?
Speaker 3: I am not vegan, but I'm dairy free. I can't. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so our whole menu is dairy free and our pastries
Speaker 3: are vegan.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I did see that you didn't bring any pastries.
Speaker 1: I didn't do you actually make the pastries out?
Speaker 3: We outsource something. Okay, work, but.
Speaker 2: Then the bottles take off, and what happens.
Speaker 3: Then the world opens back up? We open back up,
Speaker 3: and that's how you know what really took off for us?
Speaker 2: How did people know about the bottle coffee though?
Speaker 3: Because you could only do deliveries during covid.
Speaker 2: But how did you promote that you had it?
Speaker 3: Oh? Eventually, yeah, through advertisements online, our postings on social media,
Speaker 3: social media. We started running promotions, did some good content,
Speaker 3: made a video that advertised did and then we had
Speaker 3: door dash and then we made a website just for
Speaker 3: the bottles.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, and okay, okay, So then what happens next?
Speaker 3: So then, yeah, we started getting bigger contracts. We get
Speaker 3: our first we get our first big deal, not a deal,
Speaker 3: but are one of our first big clients to La
Speaker 3: Marathon and they buy the bottles for their VIP booths
Speaker 3: for some of the runners, and so we just started
Speaker 3: getting bigger clientele universities.
Speaker 2: Are you selling it out more wholesale rates? Because these
Speaker 2: bottles go.
Speaker 3: For what six dollars a bottle retail, that's retail rates,
Speaker 3: but we do have wholesale rates for retail partners and
Speaker 3: then catering orders. Depending on how many bottles you get,
Speaker 3: we give discounts.
Speaker 2: Okay. And then have you what's the farthest you shipped
Speaker 2: this product out?
Speaker 3: We don't ship the bottles out, but as far as deliveries,
Speaker 3: the farthest we've gone that's a great question. Pretty much local. Yeah,
Speaker 3: pretty much local.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, that's pretty awesome, man. So what's the next milestone?
Speaker 3: Man, next milestone is to move. We're part of this
Speaker 3: development over by USC, so we'll be moving to a
Speaker 3: bigger space.
Speaker 2: Now, you moving or you're going to add another location.
Speaker 3: We're gonna move. So where we're at now is just
Speaker 3: too small and also it's it's just not the ideal
Speaker 3: situation for how we want to continue moving forward. So
Speaker 3: in the meantime, there's this place called Baba's Vegan Cafe
Speaker 3: which is down the street from us, not too far,
Speaker 3: so we've already been in talk with them, so we'll
Speaker 3: do a partnership and a pop up so we'll still
Speaker 3: have a presence right where our customers are, and then
Speaker 3: the USC would just be a little further away for us.
Speaker 1: Now, do you see yourself expanding franchise wise or do
Speaker 1: you see yourself just breaking mortar one store at a time?
Speaker 3: Definitely franchise. When I built the business, I wanted it
Speaker 3: to be built in a way that I could align
Speaker 3: with many other people to one impact their communities because
Speaker 3: our menu again is a very healthy, conscious menu, but
Speaker 3: also impact people who have the same values and so
Speaker 3: with this business model, it's low overhead. We've already got
Speaker 3: the supply chain down, so it's really just you serving
Speaker 3: our recipes. Because it's no high skill. You don't need
Speaker 3: a barista.
Speaker 2: But do you still need a baby roaster.
Speaker 3: No, we'll do all the roasting. Oh, he'll do all
Speaker 3: the roasting. Ye. So we also roast for other coffee
Speaker 3: shops too. Really like, so we have wholesale that we
Speaker 3: roast for, but we're not expanding that line of business
Speaker 3: just because that's that's our niche is. We have these
Speaker 3: rare coffees that know one else has.
Speaker 2: So you said you're not wholesaling, then.
Speaker 3: We have we have wholesale. We roast for four shops
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: Okay, are they it to sound racist, but are they European?
Speaker 3: No, they're European style. Yeah. Every coffee shop in America
Speaker 3: besides US, is European style.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're the only one that's the world's first.
Speaker 2: And the thing that separates you from a European style
Speaker 2: is what.
Speaker 3: We do not serve any European style drinks. So the
Speaker 3: European model is based on the espresso machine, so everything
Speaker 3: comes from there. Even the names of the drinks are Italian,
Speaker 3: but for us, we don't even have that machine. So
Speaker 3: you'll get a variety of single origin coffees. You'll know
Speaker 3: who's the farmer, where it comes from, the unique flavors.
Speaker 2: Is that what the QR code is for exactly?
Speaker 3: You scan it and it tells you all about it.
Speaker 3: So it's your boarding pass.
Speaker 2: That's our thing, is that, and that's why it says
Speaker 2: la X two ni.
Speaker 3: C to Nicaragua day.
Speaker 1: You're amazing. I love that you honor the history. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you remind our people. Yeah, you know, you really respect
Speaker 1: the culture.
Speaker 3: That's what it's about because you know experiencing you know,
Speaker 3: my life growing up in Tennessee, and it's like I
Speaker 3: see so many elements where our stories and narratives are erased,
Speaker 3: and I want to be the one to help bring
Speaker 3: that back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important. And how did you know how to
Speaker 2: price the drinks?
Speaker 3: Well? One, how much it costs me? And then two
Speaker 3: just looking at the market and with our drinks they
Speaker 3: really should be about eight dollars, seven to eight dollars
Speaker 3: a bottle, but because I know in our community, they
Speaker 3: can up hold that they're at six dollars and of
Speaker 3: course they can also get a discount if they're part
Speaker 3: of our membership.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, Yeah, I noticed that in the black community
Speaker 2: when it comes to businesses, I noticed that the prices
Speaker 2: are a little bit higher. And I can't figure out why.
Speaker 1: I was thinking it's because maybe they're not ordering in
Speaker 1: a bulken of capacity.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's also the case. But you know,
Speaker 3: when I built this business and decided it was going
Speaker 3: to be in South Central, I knew I was building.
Speaker 3: I wanted to build something in my community for my community,
Speaker 3: and show my community that we can do something for
Speaker 3: us and it be profitable. So I knew that initially
Speaker 3: in order for us to become profitable and to grow,
Speaker 3: that my revenue could not just be dependent on that location.
Speaker 3: We don't even have good parking. We're right beside a hotel.
Speaker 2: If business, do they do business with you, No, not
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 3: This is one of them sketchy hotels that you has
Speaker 3: other types of customers, and so most of our business
Speaker 3: comes from the wholesale and the bottles and the catering.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an honor to have you on the show,
Speaker 2: straight up, Like, it's such.
Speaker 3: An honor to be here.
Speaker 1: So what advice would you give to someone trying to
Speaker 1: be in your shoes.
Speaker 3: I would say, to really seek out a relationship with
Speaker 3: God throughout my life. That's the consistent thing that's been
Speaker 3: the driving factor. People always ask me, you know, why
Speaker 3: you in South Central? What why'd you pick there? I say,
Speaker 3: you know, the short answer is God. You know, some
Speaker 3: people consider themseelves missionaries and have to go across the
Speaker 3: world to go serve all these other places. But I'm like,
Speaker 3: you know, God sent me right here to help my community,
Speaker 3: people who look like me, people where I could go
Speaker 3: outside and see bellition flags in people's cars, you know.
Speaker 3: And so you have to believe in something, and that's
Speaker 3: really the answer is to believe in something. For me,
Speaker 3: it's God and that's my beliefs. But for you and
Speaker 3: the listeners, you have to pick something. Going out there
Speaker 3: in the world and not believing in anything, then what
Speaker 3: happens is you eventually get anchored to things that you
Speaker 3: shouldn't be right yeah, yeah, and based and those are
Speaker 3: usually based on your emotions. What feels good right now
Speaker 3: may not feel good tomorrow. But if I know ultimately
Speaker 3: that this is my purpose and this is why I'm here,
Speaker 3: and what I'm built to do as a creative born
Speaker 3: in the image of my creator. Then I have a
Speaker 3: little more peace through those highs and lows.
Speaker 2: Wow, I feel like every time I do an interview
Speaker 2: that is the most consistent message around on everyone on
Speaker 2: my show, Everyone That's successful. God is literally the number
Speaker 2: one ingredient on everyone's list.
Speaker 3: And not crazy, you know, yes, it's the common denominator
Speaker 3: when you're cut from a different cloth and you're not
Speaker 3: you're doing things that are typically trailblazing, or you know,
Speaker 3: you're literally deciding I'm going to take a more difficult
Speaker 3: path every day. That's what you decide. You're deciding, I'm
Speaker 3: going to go do something that's specifically catered for me
Speaker 3: and that's tough. And so through experience, whether you believe
Speaker 3: in God in the beginnings of your journey or later
Speaker 3: on you develop a relationship with God, it's going to happen.
Speaker 3: And even with these successful folks, eventually you start to
Speaker 3: see them honoring and giving glory to God. Because at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, once you make money and
Speaker 3: you feel like you checked off the things on your list,
Speaker 3: it's always that question of well, what really is next?
Speaker 3: Why am I here? Then? I already did the things
Speaker 3: I thought I was here for what's beyond that? And
Speaker 3: that's where that relationship really becomes transparent.
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: And then my next question is what does a relationship
Speaker 1: with God look like for people that have never or
Speaker 1: don't have a relationship with God.
Speaker 3: I would say vulnerability. A lot of times, we as
Speaker 3: human beings put up a lot of walls because we
Speaker 3: have to meet all these other human beings and we
Speaker 3: don't want to be judged, we don't want to be misinterpreted,
Speaker 3: and so we oftentimes that's how we treat God too,
Speaker 3: because we're talking about him as if he's a person.
Speaker 3: So it's just a natural response to treat him as
Speaker 3: I've been treating all these other people. But ultimately, you
Speaker 3: have to realize that God is nothing like humans and
Speaker 3: anyone you've experienced, and so you really have to seek
Speaker 3: him for what you really want and need, and sometimes
Speaker 3: initially you may not know what that is, and then
Speaker 3: a situation occurs and it just makes it very clear.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I didn't think I was going to
Speaker 3: get in the coffee. If you had asked me ten
Speaker 3: years ago what I was doing, I would have said
Speaker 3: I was gonna be the best litigator out there, you know,
Speaker 3: getting helping everybody. But look where I'm at now, and
Speaker 3: it's because I was able to really lean into what God.
Speaker 3: When God told me to turn left, I didn't turn right.
Speaker 3: I said, Okay, guys, even though I think I was
Speaker 3: supposed to be turning right. You said left. I don't
Speaker 3: see no path, it's not lit. But we're gonna turn
Speaker 3: and you just got to keep going.
Speaker 1: And then how much self doubt did you have on
Speaker 1: this journey? Like how much on like if you had
Speaker 1: to be completely real, like how much self doubt? I mean,
Speaker 1: I've met some people that say they didn't have any
Speaker 1: self doubt, but I'm curious for you, like was there
Speaker 1: self doubt?
Speaker 2: Was there moments where you questioned?
Speaker 3: Or shaking time all the time every day Because it's
Speaker 3: not like my life is consistent with comfort, it's consistent
Speaker 3: with change, and so I'm constantly having to face this
Speaker 3: decisions that are typically a lot bigger impact than I've
Speaker 3: had to do in the past. Now that my business
Speaker 3: is more successful, we're getting more exposure and so even
Speaker 3: you know, this past week working on this project to
Speaker 3: move and it's going to be three times of space
Speaker 3: three times, a rent three times, the employees like all
Speaker 3: of these factors that I've never done before. It produces
Speaker 3: that doubt because I haven't done it before. But the
Speaker 3: good thing is you know that doubt is looked at,
Speaker 3: and then it's set up on the shelf and then
Speaker 3: I pull out that faith and move forward with that.
Speaker 2: All right, guys. Uh, that wraps up our interview with John. John.
Speaker 2: How can people keep up with you?
Speaker 3: You can you talk straight to the camera. Okay? People
Speaker 3: can follow me on Instagram Hustle to Create, that's my tag.
Speaker 3: I believe we were all born to create, so we
Speaker 3: should be hustling to create, not to consume. Uh. And
Speaker 3: also that's where you'll find if you go to Hustle
Speaker 3: to Create dot com, you can find my life coaching
Speaker 3: and business coaching as well.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And then one last thing. I always I have this
Speaker 1: discussion with my cousin a lot, Trevor. I always say,
Speaker 1: you don't want to get too comfortable, you don't want
Speaker 1: to get fall in love with complacency. And I'm a
Speaker 1: firm believer, like you know, my company's called Famous Failure.
Speaker 1: Like I'm a firm believer that you just really got comfortable.
Speaker 1: You have to kind of almost be comfortable with failure
Speaker 1: and challenges and being uncomfortable. Has there ever been a
Speaker 1: position amongst this journey where you chose comfort over or
Speaker 1: complacency over the latter, And what was that thing that said,
Speaker 1: uh uh, bounce back?
Speaker 3: I would say, when I was doing the insurance game,
Speaker 3: I got real good at what I was doing. I
Speaker 3: got real comfortable with the money I was making. And really,
Speaker 3: if I didn't leave that company, I would have probably
Speaker 3: just been doing the same thing over and over. And
Speaker 3: so that was a real big moment for me where
Speaker 3: I said, I gotta get out of this. If I
Speaker 3: don't make a decision now, the trajectory of my life
Speaker 3: is not going to be how I want it to be.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like sometimes uber some of these what do
Speaker 1: you call gig economy jobs, for some people, they can
Speaker 1: get very caught up in the complacency of that. I
Speaker 1: think it's like a gift and a curse. You know,
Speaker 1: it can save you, but then you can get comfortable
Speaker 1: and lazy in that.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and absolutely, like I said, my ultimate goal
Speaker 3: I moved out here to give into government. But you
Speaker 3: can't be a broke politician So for me, I can't
Speaker 3: get comfortable until I have a position where I can
Speaker 3: effectively make change that I want to do, which is
Speaker 3: why I came here. So you know there's no option
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1: We don't have to be homies, man, And I'm now
Speaker 1: a coffee drinker. Only this drink though, right, you know what?
Speaker 2: Can I test this one? It sucks because I don't
Speaker 2: know this is but I'm gonna just test. This is
Speaker 2: the boat. I feel like I'm going to be spinning
Speaker 2: off the walls, but I.
Speaker 1: Have to test it. I just want I hope this
Speaker 1: isn't Katie's. I feel bad I'm drinking your coffee.
Speaker 3: Hold on, what flavor is this one? Okay?
Speaker 2: My favorite one is this one.
Speaker 3: It's cal blancocko cal blanco.
Speaker 2: I look Puerto Rican, you know what I'm saying. But CaCO. Yeah. See,
Speaker 2: this is my favorite. So if you guys want to
Speaker 2: check out my favorite.
Speaker 3: My favorite too, and your favorite?
Speaker 2: See what, guy?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: I mean, this one's good.
Speaker 1: If you're like an avid coffee drinker, you probably love this.
Speaker 2: But if you're the beginner, this is the one. All right.
Speaker 1: Thank you for taking time out your busy schedule to
Speaker 1: come kick it with us. If you guys want to
Speaker 1: check out more content, check us out at Eating While
Speaker 1: Broke or wherever you listen to your podcast peace up.
Speaker 1: For more Eating While Broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
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