WEBVTT - Rebuilding after a blaze: Luna Gourmet Coffee & Tea 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:03.480 In March of twenty twenty, when the entire world was 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.880 first reeling from the pandemic, Doug and Jason Barrow's coffee 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.920 company had well other problems. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:11.280 Well, when I get to the back and it goes 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.800 anything going on, Everyone's like, no, everything's perfect, and then 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.480 one person in the corner goes but it smells like campfire. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.560 I'm like campfire. Coffee roasting doesn't smell like campfire. About 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.479 that time, the ceiling melted, opened up, and all the 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.599 trusses above us were on fire. Within an hour, it 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.320 was a complete loss. We weren't left with a paper clip. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.720 I was like, I never thought this could actually happen. 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:34.040 What did you say to each other? 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.040 Oh shit? Oh shit? 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.640 Yeah? Oh shit is right. That's a moment every small 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:47.080 business owner can tell you about. It happens in the 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.800 lifespan of every company, and it's a moment that really 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.640 tests your resolve. It might also be a moment that 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.720 changes you and your business forever. I'm Ben Walter, CEO 0:00:57.760 --> 0:00:59.040 of Chase for Business. 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.640 And I'm Tanya need Fanoe, a lawyer and consultant for 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:02.800 business owners. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.120 And this is a show about those moments. Welcome to 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:12.200 the Unshakables from Chase for Business and Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Hi, Tanya, 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.679 Hey Ben, how are you. I'm great, We're here, we're 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.840 doing it. We're starting the podcast and I am fired up. Okay, 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:19.119 So do you want to tell the folks at home 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:20.640 what we're going to be talking about on the show. 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.839 This is a show about small businesses. It's a topic 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.440 that I'm very passionate about. I'm a small business owner myself, 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:29.679 by the way, shout out to the Nebo Law firm. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:31.919 I know it can be hard to get a business 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.959 up and running, let alone lead a business through a crisis. 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.199 And that's what we're doing on this show. We're sharing 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.600 the daring stories of small business owners who face that 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.000 crisis point and tell the story of how they got 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.080 through it. Now, importantly, these aren't big Wall Street firms 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.480 or Silicon Valley companies with big, fancy venture capitalists behind them. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.200 We're talking about regular people. They're the people who sponsor 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:52.840 the Little League in your town that you see at 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:53.680 the grocery store. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:57.240 Yeah, people forget that. These unicorn stories are the exception. 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.400 I'm really excited that we're going to get a chance 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.320 to speak to typical business owners and we get to 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.680 hear their stories. So not only do we get to 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.400 be inspired, but the people listening get to be inspired 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:07.840 as well. 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:09.600 Okay, I think we should get to the stories. What 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:10.080 do you think? 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:11.160 I say, let's do it. 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.920 On today's episode, Luna Gourmet Coffee and Tea from Denver, Colorado. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.560 At the top of the episode, you heard Doug and 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.960 Jason Barrow. They're brothers and owners of Luna Coffee. But 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.800 back in the early two thousands, Doug never dreamed of 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.960 owning his own coffee company. He worked an everyday corporate 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:33.520 desk job. 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.840 When you're in corporate America, in management, you know, there 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:41.040 are things like golden handcuffs, parachutes four one k's that 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.320 are very attractive, you know, and when you go out 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.200 on your own, it's a different game. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:46.160 Now. 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.400 Doug wasn't sure what he wanted to do other than 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.240 he knew he wanted to leave corporate America behind, and 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.760 as it turned out, his brother Jason had been thinking 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:54.359 the same thing. 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.200 But then we kind of woke up one day We're like, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.440 wait a minute, we're making a lot of money for 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.000 these big guys. We probably could go to this ourselves. 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.760 But exactly what they wanted to go do well, they 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.600 weren't really sure. They started working through a lot of 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.560 different business ideas, frankly, just throwing things at the wall, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.119 including I think we should mention for posterity selling hot 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:19.200 dogs outside of hardware stores. Nothing really stuck. They kept 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.560 circling back to the same question. 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.320 How do we find something where the market is really 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.160 really big, but there are still niche opportunities to really 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:30.519 knock it out of the park with. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:36.280 And finally it hit them coffee. Starbucks was national and 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.040 back in the early two thousands, a new location was 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:43.680 opening on every corner. They'd found their really really big market. 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.760 People go to coffee shops. It's a social, communal product, 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.360 but everyone has like a personalized way of brewing their coffee, 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.360 so this is an interesting medium to try to make 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:54.960 a difference. 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.440 So, yeah, it was big, but there was still opportunity, 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.640 there were niches that hadn't been cleared. And as a bonus, 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.920 it was their passion. The two of them loved coffee. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.040 It's something that you live and breathe and when you 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.320 take a look back and look from a commodity standpoint, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.440 I mean it's one of the most traded commodities in 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.800 the world, maybe like seventh or eighth to oil. Like 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.360 you know, we drank four hundred million cups a day 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:20.360 in the USA, but. 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.680 In Denver at the time, they weren't all good cups. 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.320 We thought to ourselves, well, why isn't there good coffee 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.200 out here? I mean, why isn't there a proliferation of 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:29.440 higher quality coffee. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.159 So they'd found their market, their opportunity, and their why. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.080 They found a small roaster just a few hours outside 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.720 of Denver called Luna Coffee, and they bought it. Tell 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:41.640 us about what it was like in those early days 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:42.840 when you first started. 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.760 Out, scary and fun, scary and liberating. 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.960 Being able to be on top and call the cards 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.479 and make the decision and actually pull the trigger was 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.720 I guess liberating and empowering. However, let's go thirty days 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.200 into being an entrepreneur. We didn't have our cushy offices. 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.440 I was start to roast coffee and my brother was 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.760 starting to package and deliver coffee, and we started to 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:06.600 look at ourselves and go, what exactly do we get 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:07.440 ourselves into here? 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.120 I had so much pride that I would deliver in 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:11.320 slacks and a button down. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.000 When they first bought the business, Luna's existing clients were 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.200 mostly high end restaurants that offered gourmet coffee with dessert. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.240 Walking into all these restaurants, it's not just a delivery guy, 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.239 it's I'm the owner of this coffee company. 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.559 It was a good start, but definitely not where Jason 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.880 and Doug wanted things to end. They knew they could 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:30.480 grow it, but they'd have to hustle. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.200 I think I had many moments of oh my god, 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.360 we're here in the garage. We literally had like pallettes 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.240 of coffee in the middle, with a twenty five kilo 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:42.400 roaster on one side, which is a small batch roaster, 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.080 and then like a wooden old desk on the other side, 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.440 and that was it. We were really bootstrapping it from 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:48.080 the ground up. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.080 Every single day brought new challenges, most of which Doug 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.240 and Jason fought through with a smile and sometimes with 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:56.000 a blowtorch. 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.640 We had a truck pull up to deliver coffee, but 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.720 it had snowed and it was really icy out there, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.120 and we had this forklift that could only go on 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.440 flat surface. If you try to give it any incline 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.040 or whatever, it just didn't have the gusto to do anything. Okay, 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:15.599 so my brother's out there with a blowtorch trying trying 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.839 to melt the ice just so we can get the 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.039 forklift out to pull out, you know, a palette of 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.080 coffee to roast. It was just one of those moments 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:25.919 where you're like, what are we doing? 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.760 So sounds like you started out, you know, your angle 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.640 was selling coffee to restaurants so they could serve differentiated, 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.160 high end coffee to their clients. But at some point 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.880 you realized that wasn't going to scale as far as 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.440 you needed, right, So how did that evolve? 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:44.839 Our philosophy was not to operate coffee shops. We instead 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.240 acquired our way into the channels that we really believed 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:52.560 were important food service, E commerce, consumer direct, and retail grocery. 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.719 Now, every acquisition was a strategic acquisition. We were looking 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.200 for competencies that our company didn't have, and by pulling 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:01.560 it into the full were also looking to leverage the 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.600 synergies and the goodness across the brands. Across the channels. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.960 They acquired a few smaller companies to supply their different 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.480 customer types, and in twenty fifteen they made their biggest 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.440 bet yet. It was a reverse acquisition of a family 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.760 owned roaster in Denver named Boyer's Coffee. Originally founded in 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:23.000 nineteen sixty five, Boyers was sold nationwide at large grocery stores. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.320 It was by far the most expensive acquisition Luna had made, 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.720 and it brought a whole new set of challenges. When 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:31.880 you went out and did these acquisitions, how did you 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:35.000 you were still small? These were big bets for the company. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:36.880 How did you finance that? How did you have the 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:38.480 guts to go for that? I mean, that's a pretty 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:39.240 daring thing to. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.760 Do being in corporate. I think showed me being able 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.000 to bet with a big wallet is huge. And so 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.320 the angel investors that started with us seventeen years ago 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:49.920 are still with our company now. 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.800 Ben hold on, I'm sorry, I need to cut in here. 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.240 I'm not even a coffee drinker, but I feel like 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.640 a little fullmall because I you should. 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:00.600 Be, because their coffee is really good. Our friend Doug, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.240 he knows what to do with a coffee being it's delicious. 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.440 Well, clearly they have something figured out. So I'm gonna 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.120 have to get on the coffee train, even though I 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:09.600 haven't been on it up to this point. 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.160 Come on, it's a good ride. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.080 Okay. So you know already what my favorite part of 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:15.600 this story. 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:16.760 Is, No, I don't. What is it? 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.040 The acquisition spiece? You know? I love that stuff. There's 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.360 so many ways to be in business, and you don't 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.720 have to always start from scratch and look at what 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:25.440 it's done for them. 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:27.520 Yeah, but that comes with its own set of risks too, right, 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.160 I mean it's not always that straightforward. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.600 It's not, but you got to find the way that 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:32.600 works for you, right. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.120 Well, I mean they were able to do it without 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:35.720 taking on a ton of debt. When you have to 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:36.959 take on a ton of debt to do it, I've 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.360 seen that go badly as well. The most important thing 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.839 in any acquisition is buying the right company for the 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:42.679 right reaching truth. 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:44.520 Okay, so what happens next? 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.120 Well, with the reverse acquisition of Boyers, Luna Coffee wasn't 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.480 only in the local grocery aisle anymore. They were now 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.200 being sold in all fifty states, and with the deal 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.720 came a new factory that was three times bigger than 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:56.640 the one they had before. 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.880 So to paint the pictures of the nineteen twenty seven 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.120 schoolhouse really really cool, old schoolhouse that was converted to 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.440 the roastery for the Boyer's family in nineteen sixty five. 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.680 We acquired the roastery and the land when we bought 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:09.920 Boyers in twenty fifteen. 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.400 Okay, it's quite literally the School of Coffee. This cool 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.280 red brick schoolhouse even had a small retail space and 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.600 coffee shop in front. By early twenty twenty, they were 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:23.720 on track for their biggest year yet, and then COVID hit. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.320 Being a food manufacturer, we were deemed an essential business 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.960 that couldn't shut down right right. At the same time, 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.840 we were really trying to learn fast what does it 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:37.520 mean to be COVID compliant Because there wasn't a ton 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.800 of guidance out there for companies like ours. We were 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.040 trying to figure out, what is this six foot rule? 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.160 What does this like wash your hands every sixty seconds? 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:45.040 What are we doing here? 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.720 And just two weeks after that, I was. 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.640 Sitting in my office and someone jumps up and goes, hey, 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.680 there's an alarm going off in the closet, and I'm like, 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.920 what do you mean an alarm going off in the closet. 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.439 Went to the closet and it said heat censor. I'm like, 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.160 what the what the heck is that? So I get 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.679 up immediately and run to the back, and then one 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.040 person in the corner goes it smells like campfire. About 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.040 that time, the ceiling melted, opened up and all the 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.080 trusses above us were on fire. 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.040 Oh my god, that must have been terrifying. 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.280 It was, so we immediately went into fire protocol, called 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.240 nine to one one evacuated the building. No one got hurt, 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.000 and I stayed back with a garden hose trying to 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.760 fight the fire. Within an hour, it was a complete loss, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.600 the six thousand square feet of corporate offices, the award 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.040 winning four thousand square foot coffee shop, and then the 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:36.960 manufacturing plant. We weren't left with a paper clip. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.600 That must have just been devastating. 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.880 It was really weird to stand across the street of 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:44.000 your business and watch it burn. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.959 Oh it was. It was actually pretty terrible. I mean, 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:54.320 just gut wrenching watching everything burn so fast. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.839 Their factory it was gone, leaving nothing but a large 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.360 pile of ash, moldering coffee beans, and melted steel. 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.280 It was definitely like, how is this really happening? The 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.079 parking lot across the street is full of all of 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.080 our employees and everyone's crying upset. We're like, okay, so 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.520 just come back to work tomorrow. We'll figure this out. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:15.880 Just give us a minute. 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.640 Jason and Doug had a big decision to make, and 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:19.760 they had to make it quickly. 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.320 You can't just like say, hey, I can't get it done. 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.120 You can say I can't get it done, but if 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.440 you do, then you kind of lose your shelf space. 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.400 But the challenge we had at the same time is 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.920 there was pandemic buying going on. So do you remember 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.520 when you couldn't find toilet paper? Coffee was one of 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.080 those things as well. As soon as we put it 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:36.680 on the shelf, they'd ripped back off and put it. 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.840 Back terrified they wouldn't get caffeine in the morning, that 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.559 that was going to be a tragedy, real problem, as 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.920 bad as the toilet paper. But just a day later 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.079 they knew exactly what they had to do. 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.760 We kind of looked at each other within twenty four 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:51.760 hours and said, there's not really a choice but the 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.600 rebuild and move on, Like we've got to go forward, 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.240 there's no back. So we kind of very quickly said 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.560 we're going to rebuild and now we've got to figure 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:00.439 out what that means. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.200 I feel like the mindset was survive. 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:03.880 So they got back to work. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:11.120 Everybody woke up and totally pitched in. Our employees all 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.160 stood up and came back to work. We didn't lose 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.000 one employee, honest to God. 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.640 Luckily for them, they had taken a page out of 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.679 the liquor industry and had been stockpiling bagged coffee at 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.040 a different facility. They had a four week supply that 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.600 would buy them sometime while they figured out how to 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.880 make more. Doug and his team were scrambling. They had 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.400 to find another factory to rent that could handle roasting 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.840 over five tons of coffee beans every day. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:35.640 We had to eat some humble pie right because we 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.320 went to one of our friendly competitors and said, do 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.920 you use your facility as a second shift at night? 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.520 And they said no. So imagine a chef that lost 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.200 a restaurant that went to their competitor and said, do 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:48.480 you use your restaurant overnight? 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:48.640 No? 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.280 Can I rent it from you and bring in all 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.000 the stuff I need to do my stuff, do it 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.720 all night long with my raw materials of my people, 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.000 clean up and exit before your shift starts every day. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.120 Could we do that for the next year together? And 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.080 we found a partner and that's what we did. 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.560 So we were kind of in a position where we 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.880 had everybody rooting for the underdog. I think that whether 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.640 it was our customers, whether it was our employees, whether 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.920 it was our vendors, I think everybody was like, Yeah, 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.240 whatever we need to do, let's get this done. 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.680 Fortunately, they'd planned for the worst and they'd established a 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.800 disaster plan with a manufacturing partner a few years before, 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.920 and just two weeks after the fire, Doug and Jason 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.000 were back at at roasting coffee. But the problem there 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.800 was still the matter of packaging it. They no longer 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.079 had machines to label all these packages, so they literally 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:43.199 had to do it by hand. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.280 Millions and millions and pounds of coffee. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.679 Okay, so they have this devastating fire. Almost everything they 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.680 own goes up in smoke, except for what they've stashed 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.800 at this other facility. And I really can't believe this, 0:13:55.880 --> 0:14:00.200 but their competitor allows them to use their equipment at right, 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.280 they had to bag three million pounds of coffee by hand, 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:04.920 But you can't do that. 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.440 Forever, absolutely not. It was completely unsustainable. Doug and Jason 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:10.240 really had to find Luna a new home, and they 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.120 had to find one that would scale with the business. 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.200 We had to completely get ourselves out of the core 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.520 business and start rebuilding. We need to pick ourselves up 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.720 and go work strategically on where the company is going 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:21.280 to go next. 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.400 We took some money from the company and then from 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.240 insurance and put that together and then said we're going 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.680 to build something that is state of the art and 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.720 for the future. We were already in a position where 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.000 we were at max capacity, so we can either just 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.640 build back exactly what we have, or we can be 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.560 entrepreneurs and reach the stars. And we built a facility 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.840 that had five times the capacity of our old facility. 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.800 And a year to the day after the fire left 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.560 them with nothing, they roasted their first batch of coffee 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.320 in their new state of the art facility. Six months 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.520 after that, it was fully operational. 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.080 Now that we have built that, it allows the company 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.240 to grow exponentially for the next five to seven years. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.320 And that's basically the new master plan is to grow 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:04.680 to a fifty million dollar company. 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:06.960 So I have to ask your brother, since he's the 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.040 one roasting the coffee, I mean, is this like a 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.560 kid in a candy store for you now that you 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:11.840 have this new facility. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.320 It absolutely is, because you know, one of the things 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.720 we had the opportunity to do is step back and say, 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:17.600 what do we really want to be able to do 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.640 and accomplish. We want high quality coffee at scale, So 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.640 being able to get everything brand new is fantastic. I mean, 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:27.320 we went from levers, switches and dials to full automation 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.360 in packaging, which is a light year evolutionary jump. 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.640 Moving into the new facility was a total game changer 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.120 for Luna Coffee up. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.520 Until this year. Twenty twenty was in fact our highest 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.680 grossing sales year. So somehow, even though we burned down, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.560 we produced more money in twenty twenty than any year previously. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.080 And with that money they were able to focus on 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:49.960 something that had always been at the heart of their plan, 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:51.160 giving back. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.320 Coffee grows around the equator, right, wrong or indifferent. There's 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.840 a lot of poverty around the equator. 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.640 And once you go to origin and you realize that 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.480 on equity, it's hard as a roaster to unrealize that. 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:05.760 And so as we began buying more coffee, we simply 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.280 began asking the elders of the farms that we buy from. 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:10.760 We're going to pay you a fair wage and we're 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:12.680 going to take but is there something that we can give? 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.280 Is there a hand up, not a handout? How can 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:15.680 we help? 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:19.880 In Peru and Colombia and Honduras, they've funded projects that 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:24.400 have provided healthcare and clean water to communities. But their proudest. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:28.520 Achievement, we've built six schools in the last five years. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:29.120 Wow. 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.240 And it's really really amazing. Thank you, I appreciate it. 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.280 I think there's something to be said about karma because 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.760 when we had our oh shit moment, people were there 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.680 to support us. But in our philanthropy and our mission, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.160 we're trying to positively change lives and that includes everyone. 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.560 We want to lift the farmers, we want to give 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.400 career paths to our employees, and throughout that supply chain, 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:52.320 it needs to be equitable. 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.720 Between their four craft coffee brands, Luna Gourmet Coffee now 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:02.800 has two significantly less flammed facilities in Denver. They employ 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.240 sixty five team members between the locations, and their coffee 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.840 can be found at Costco, Safeway, Sam's Club, Target, and Walmart, 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.719 and it's sold in all fifty states. They went from 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.919 roasting thirty pounds of coffee every year to two and 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.440 a half million, and they're not slowing down anytime soon. 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:25.840 So we're going to be ending every episode of the 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:29.840 show by asking each guest the same question. Stay tuned 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.000 till the end of the show to hear Doug and 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.680 Jason's best advice for current or aspiring small business owners. 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.520 Okay, I can't even believe I'm about to say this, 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.240 but I think I'm ready for a cup of coffee. 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:46.239 And that's not even how I do it. 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:47.960 Men, I think Doug and Jason would support that. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.560 Wow, I really can't imagine having my entire operation burned 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.280 down and then go to work the next day. Please 0:17:57.720 --> 0:17:59.720 give me a minute to process that one. 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.439 Yeah, it really is an inspiring story. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:03.680 Yeah, but you know the fact that it wasn't even 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:05.960 a question as to whether they were going to rebuild 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.280 or not. How are you standing outside watching your building 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.400 burn and you're pretty much already just immediately say, oh, well, 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:15.080 we already know what we're going to need to do. 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:17.960 Most people probably wouldn't even be able to think, let 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.720 alone decide what the next step is going to be. 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.640