JON KINNARD - Garnachas

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. I'm your host, Coleen Witz, and today we have a very special guest, entrepreneur founder of Coffee del Mundo.

Did I say it right? Coffee de del Mundo.

John Kinnard's in the building and this is all the way in South LA. So we have a black owned coffee business, so this is very unique. I don't actually drink coffee, but today I'm gonna drink coffee. I'm gonna test the colebrew before i even pass him over to the dish he's about to cook us.

Let's just do a test. This is the Coco Blanco.

CaCl blanco, my favorite one blanco.

So fun fact, I actually don't drink coffee, and if I do, I usually mix it with hot chocolate and then usually I get the jitters and I start to think I'm gonna have a panic attack. It's weird. I don't know why I react to coffee like that, so let's test it. And I'm not a coffee fan, so if I make a certain face, it's because I'm genuinely not a coffee fan. So it doesn't mean you should be taking my advice on coffee. You should not take my advice on coffee at all. This hot chocolate, yes,

Well, this is a white chocolate coffee that's.

All enjoy Yes, and I'm only gonna drink it a little bit because we don't even.

Be bouncing off the walls.

I can mess with this, Okay.

It has a little bit of a coffee taste. It definitely has a coffee taste, which is good for coffee drinkers.

Right, absolutely, I ain't on front.

I could probably kill this whole thing. I could probably drink this thing. But will I get the jitters?

You will? This is like two servings in one and for you that may be like three servings.

So that means what is coffee made of? Caffeine? Right?

Caffeine content? Yeah, cold brew is three times stronger than espresso, so a third of that is like one cup of coffee.

Okay, you need to have. This is delicious.

I ain't gonna run. This is actually delicious. I would drink this whole thing and probably end up in the hospital.

Right, yeah, sensitive, babe, I'm not gonna lie. This is so easy to drink.

It's made with oat milk, white chocolate and coconut condensed milk with our Nicarockuan cold brew.

This is actually this is really I'm a low key surprised how delicious this is.

And it's plant based hundred percent, so it's good for you now and later.

Yeah, this is so you should probably take this from me because how much can I drink without getting the jitters?

Uh, you know, probably to like right there, okay, yeah, probably, Like.

Guys, I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably gonna drink this. And then the other flavor is it's.

Our Cafe o the Oia, a traditional flavor in the Latino community, made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and dar Mexican colbrew.

And you make this from scratch right yeah?

All at the shop?

Wow? Okay? And where's your shop located.

On seventy four fourteen South Vermont Avenue.

Okay.

And when I was on the call with you, I don't know if you notice, and it's very discriminatory, but I had.

To ask how old are you?

I'm thirty three, thirty three?

I was like, you're thirty three? What did I say?

Oh?

I got to have you on the show, so young black Latino man, cute ladies. I had to say. I had to say it to help you all out.

And you own your own coffee business and it's award winning.

It's award winning, the only award winning shop in the city.

Yes, and what is your broke dish?

Oh, that's a good one. So my broke dish is a spin on a traditional plate called the granaches and I've been eating that since I was little because most families make it because it's just so easy, it's so cheap, it's so affordable and versatile. So that's my dish of the day.

Yeah. So this dish, I want to say costs. I think it was like maybe under ten dollars, but I mean the corn tortillas, there's so many, so I would guess you can get at least.

Ah, yeah, a lot out of it.

So this is definitely a cheap dish, really affordables.

Why don't you walk us through the ingredients?

Yeah? Sure. So it's made with a corn tortilla and that's the benefit, like you said, is that comes in a pack, so you can make this dish the whole week. And what you do is you fry it in the oil for a little bit to let it get crispy, like a tostada, and then we have some traditional black beans that will be spreading on it, kind of like a Mexican pizza, and then your choice of topping. So I like to add avocado. I'm dairy free, so we got some vegan cheese along with some dice tomato cilantro.

And then you made sure to make a note that the beans had to be what was it refried or mash mashed, And so just in case y'all go out there and buy a can of beans, you may buy the wrong ones. That's probably what I would do, so just make sure you look for refried or mash.

All right, go ahead, feed me all right?

All right, So what we're gonna do is we're gonna start off making sure our oil is hot. We turned it down a little bit, and then we'll get our beans warmed. So I like to put a little bit of coconut oil. But you know we're not in Belize today, so we're gonna have to make de and warm up our beans here.

So you put the coconut oil before.

You before it. Yeah, and it gives it a little more flavor because this dish comes from Belize and that's what my mom is and so the coconut oil is a really signature taste in a Belizian dish.

I like coconut flavoring. And like when I make a Stoopies and rice, oh yeah, Like do you use coconut milk in your rice?

I use coconut as many times. Look, I put it in the coffee. I try to put as much coconut everywhere. There's coconut milk in it, coconut condensed milk.

I thought there was oat milk and oat milk.

So the coconut condensed milk gives it that creamy texture that you experience like it, and then the oat milk just gives it that you know, additional lowers that pH and gives it that creamy texture too.

I'm not gonna lie, like I could see me easily drinking this whole thing, but I'm just scared about how like jittery I would get.

Oh yeah, I mean we convert people all the time, non coffee drinkers into coffee because most people are not used to good coffee. They're used to burnt coffee. Good. Yeah, And this roast is super fresh at our site in South Central So literally you're not going to get a fresher cup of coldbrew coffee.

I mean, this thing is delicious.

I'm not gonna lie, but this is for someone like me because deliciousness.

I suck it down fast, then it creeps up later.

And so for those of you who are scared of frying, or maybe have never fried something, this may be your first time checking out this broke dish. A good way to test your oil is just to put a little bit of the tortilla in there, and if it bubbles up and floats immediately, then the oil is hot enough. But if not, then you want to wait, because that's really the key to a good granachis and get that good crispiness and it's not too oily and too unhealthy

How do you keep them fresh there?

It's like a tortilla chip, just in a zip lock bag on the counter.

Oh but sometimes they sell it like that.

Yeah, but it ain't nothing like the thick, the fresh. Oh and it's also more expensive, just like the beans. I wouldn't even do the can like I said, I would do a pot a week, a big old pot of black beans.

You make it yourself.

Yeah, that's how you say money. The cam beans are expected.

Wait a minute, So okay, I don't really deal with a lot of beans, So tell me how do you make it?

Oh? Okay, So like I said, oh, I haven't said it. I come from a lineage of on my mom's side, from Belieze, of restaurant owners and chefs. So with the black beans, first you got to soak the beans.

How long do you have to soak them for?

I like to do it overnight and then in the next morning I start my process to cook the beans. So then you turn it on, let it cook a little bit. Then once the beans have cooked, then you chop up some dice onion. You put up a whole aven arrow in it along with the secret ingredient, which is really hard to find around here. The only place I find it is at the Asian markets, which is called kulantro culantro. We grow it in Belize and in all the Central American countries. And see the tortilla starting

You sound like you can really cook. Oh I don't, I don't know. I don't know if i'm mining, But you sound like you really a chef in the kitchen.

And then you let that simmer once it's done. Oh my gosh, really amazing.

But you didn't add any coconut milk to your beans.

Coconut oil?

Well, oh, it's coconut oil. The beans in the pot. You use coconut oil.

Right, put a little bit of coconut oil and that just sits on the count I use coconut oil for everything, eggs.

So but when you do your tortillas, are you using coconut oil?

No? No, no, you can't fry in coconut oil because the temperature to burn is too high.

Oh my god, you sound like a chef.

You're like, legit, I love it almost in it. Go to college and went to culinary art school, Like that's that's why my business is around cooking coffee all day because I had to do something with cooking. Yeah.

Yeah, I always say that if I if I went to school again, I would love to go to culinary school.

Me too, I would love to me too. All right, So we think our first tortilla is ready, I'm gonna do this one.

We'll just put it and then how many do you usually eat to get full?

Like three, depending on how much I stack it up. So see how that started.

Then how do we know when the tortilla's done?

It's brown, golden brown, and it's do you flip it? Yep, we'll flip it eventually.

Okay, it's bubbling up. Okay, Okay, got a little cook in action. So take me back to what was going on at the time when you were making this while you were broke or struggling, or when your family was broke or struggling.

You know, when I first came out here, the only family because I graduated from grad school and packed up my car with whatever could fit and I just drove out here. And the only person that had space in our family out here was my aunt that lived in Paris, California.

Okay, first, wait, where did you graduate.

From Wake Forest in North Carolina.

Okay, so you came from North Carolina, you move out here to live with the auntie.

Yep. And my job was in La So I was driving eighty three miles.

Oh you got a job before you got a job. Yeah, And what were you doing.

I was doing this management program for this marketing company called Vantage. And so my aunt she would make a big old pot of black beans because she had her kids, you know, I was there, her sons, her daughters, and then you know, she just enjoyed cooking, so there would always be no matter when you got there, there was always a good, big old pot of black beans. And so with garnachas it really is, you know, it doesn't take much. It's just tortilla black beans and whatever toppings.

Make it and this is for that company, right yeah, for that company. Okay.

And then so shout outs to your auntie for really pouring the bean meals into you, right oh yeah, oh yeah, okay, so you're working, tell me the next step of what's going on in your life.

So then I ended up only doing that company for a year and started doing an insurance for this union company and that was another management program, and so did that for four years.

Why do you keep saying management program like it's school.

Because I'm just started at school because I felt like I needed I had just education. And so what I looked for initially for my first jobs were, you know, programs that had a pathway to promotion, and so that's what this company had. And so within those four years I ended up becoming the regional manager and seeing how much money I was making for the company, I was like, if I could make them this much money, imagine what I could go out there and do for myself.

I think it's interesting though, I've never actually heard someone say before the way you look at a job as like a learning experience, or you're not just looking at it as a check, You're looking at it for much more than that.

That's also why I did the insurance business specifically for that union company, because I mean, ultimately, the reason I moved out here is to get into government. But I'm not from here. I don't know anything. I don't know how the people think. I don't know what people need.

Your long term goal was government, And when you say government, what do you mean government?

Ultimately I want to change education across the US federally, so potentially holding a seat and Senate to sit on that committee. Wow. But that's like why I moved here and wanted to start my own business, because I don't believe that. If you want to be in charge of this city's budget, but yet you independently haven't ever managed a budget like that, how can we trust you? There's no proven history like this is a lot of money

Wow, and those are big goals? Where did you get that goal from?

Seeing all the injustices growing up? I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and if you know anything about Nashville, it's mostly white black. There's not many Latinos, definitely no Bellegians. And so just going through the education system, seeing the unfairness, experiencing it, witnessing it, and then going to college for my bachelor's at the University of Tennessee where down the street that's where the KKK was founded, And they would still have rallies downtown in Knoxville while I was there.

Wow, And what year is that?

This was two thousand and ten and they were.

Still they're still having rallies still rallies.

When Obama won in two thousand and eight, they put cotton balls around the Black Cultural Center, not them specifically, but students on our campus. So it was just blatant racism just and when I was there, the most thing that struck me the most was the fact that we were only celebrating fifty years of allowing black people to attend. Wow. I said, so you're telling me you've only allowed two

Like do you feel like they built the business to be like self employed versus like building an actual organization.

At one thousand percent even to this day. I mean, my dad still has his business and it's still basically the same.

Way, like he's working for himself versus he has a team absolutely okayutely perfect, And that's actually I want to say that, like, kudos to your dad, I think scaling and delegating work in a business is very it's a very hard.

Thing to do. But kudos to him is to stay in business as long as he has.

Yeah, it is a blessing because you know, I grew up my mom came here, you know, immigrated here from Belize illegally for a better opportunity, and they were able to do that together and they're still married to this day. Blessed with that as well. But they taught me a lot of those things and we had a we were able to have all our needs taken care of growing up. And so I knew myself watching them that I knew one day I had to have my own business to get that same freedom. But I also knew that I

And then just so you know, unless you're cooking for everybody in the.

Studio, yeah, we do can be done.

He's over here cooking for a family, and that's.

What I'm used to looking. I'm gonna get eat something.

Somebody's you know, I'm trying to judge him hard because he looks a little too clean cut, guys. So one of his tortillas from here looked like it could be Crispy burn.

It's a little do you know, you just.

Put yeah, so you know, just so you know, guys, we're judging. I mean, right now, I'll see one brown tortilla.

It looked like it could be an African American tortilla.

Just saying, but all right, So so you're in l A, You're you're you're moving up in this in this organization. What's going on? What's the next step? What is your next chess move? Because you're you're definitely playing chess. I see why you are where you're at because you're not playing checkers.

You're playing chess right now. I like it. I'm very very impressed.

Thank you, thank you.

Not that my opinion.

Matters, but my opinion does matter a little bit, but yeah, no, I'm very impressed.

So continue.

So then with the insurance gig, again, I was doing very well financially, and so I was like, I can't do this no more. It's either I do something for myself. But I didn't know what it was going to because I knew it had to be around my passions and I love to cook. As you can see, I'm really enjoying this. Thank you for the opportunity. Again. I love to travel, so I've traveled to so many different countries and that's how I've learned about my first opportunity well

Now you were able to take that across.

The first of all, rewind educate us on the bullying, like I hate so certain companies do this.

But it's interesting to hear. So can you restate them?

Yeah. So basically, as you know in America, when you think of coffee, you think of.

What I think of Starbucks, Espress, so.

Lat cappuccino as Starbucks, right, And so coffee was here long before it was colonized by the Europeans, and that espresso machine was ever even invented. And so a lot of the money that in the industry when they go there, they pay them pennies on the dollar. And these folks, it takes a coffee plant four years to grow. They have to literally climb up the sides of mountains because it only grows in remote places that have a micro climate, and then they pick it by hand and have to

That's crazy.

Where's the wealth being extracted. It's all here because they pay them pennies and then they go and make all the money. So I told them, I said, well, I'll pay you more. I'll pay you what you're worth, and I'll create a stage for your story to be showcase and for people to know coffee is not a European thing. It's a Nicaraguan thing. It's an Ethiopian thing. It's a thing of the culture that has been here way before

Do you have any any video or footage of what it's like when you're like.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I got tons of footage, tons of footage, tons of I had my Apple Watch on. It was four miles down, four miles back up. I barely made it. And they're carrying one hundred back pounds of coffee.

And these guys are making they're living in.

Povertis met yep. And it's young young.

How young, sixteen fourteen?

But this is where the work is. They go where and they're migratory, so they go where where the work is, so they they don't have no rights, they don't have no benefits and so.

And then what about the education. They're not able to go to school because in.

The school they're picking coffee and you got to pay for school.

So it's and that's still going on in two thousand and trial going on.

I literally left Nicaragua in January December and same situation. But the good thing again is the farmers that I work with, you know, have a little more infrastructure and we're paying them more so that way we can help because I know my dollar helps the farmer, the land, the workers, and my consumers here.

But like the Nestli's and Starbucks, they're paying bully raates.

Yeah, yeah, they're playing bully rays and the quality is a lot lower. Yeah, it's just terrible. So now there's a lot of more emphasis on knowing where your coffee comes from. But this is a recent shift. It's still a lot of shifting that needs to occur. Yeah, for this wealth to be properly distributed to those who really deserve it.

It's crazy to think that you're right, I would think of coffee as more of a European thing. I wouldn't even think, I mean, but then again, I mean, I don't.

Know that much about coffee. But okay, so school me some more. So, what was the next step in your story once you went to Salvador and you heard the story. Obviously you have a lot of empathy and compassion for people. It's very clear moved you to what too.

So then I came back with the beans, right, and so I went around to different roasters. None of them looked like me, and importers, none of them looked like me.

What do you mean, what would they look like?

White people, white, all white, all white, the whole industry, even at Coffee Fest it was all white when I went the first year, and so I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute, winter the only people that can grow this thing look like me. But then you get to America and it's a white dominated industry, and I said, this don't make sense. I said, so really, how complicated is it to roast these beans? I love to cook. I'm pretty good at it, and used my dark one over here.

Before you went to Outsalvador and saw the coffee beans, you liked coffee.

I loved coffee. I needed I told you I was sixteen hours. I was made.

Coffee was your best friend. So when you went there, neated it. When you went there and saw the farms where you're like.

Oh my gosh, I was. I was in awe. But also I just love explorations. Yeah, learning, so to be able to learn. Before I went to Salvator, I didn't really I didn't know coffee was a cherry. It was a fruit.

You're gonna have to take this coffee from me because it is highly so good, isn't it?

And it's very free.

You know, I'm not even saying this to promote his business, but like, it's so good. You're gonna have to really take this from me because I will drink it all and be really sick.

Later.

You'll be all right, you just won't go to sleep. You'll get a lot of work done. Just plan some work.

Really, yeah, I won't get. I won't get if you stay up like the.

Shakes, don't drink more than half then, but.

I do get a little shaky feeling in me when I drink coffee.

Well, I get that if you drink more than half. Okay, if you drink more than half, take it for me.

All right, this coffee is really good. I'm not gonna lie.

Guys.

You're gonna have to go check it out for yourself. And I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know for sure like this you should get all right, so go on with your story. Sorry.

Yeah, So then I was like, okay, so what does it take to roasts thing? I love to cook. So then I'm a I'm a very I'm a person who loves to physically touch things and manifest thing. So I know these machines are expensive. So I started googling who sells them, and I was like, let me go see what they are. Even if I know I can't buy when they're like a buying a car, when.

You mean buying a car, they're like twenty thousand thirds.

Yeah, yeah, these things are expensive because they come from Turkey. It costs like three thousand dollars just to get it shipped. Like, these things are huge and expensive. And so I went to this one manufacturer from Turkey ended up being I mean, they ended up being from Turkey. And so talking to the guy, he had a very thick Turkish accent, and come to find out, he had just got here and he was responsible to sell these machines for the entire US.

He was like, you are the most gangster person my goodness. So he's like yeah, so then they literally did that. Yeah.

I was like, look, I can't afford it, but I know you need some help and I'm skilled at what I do and I can sell these things. So then ended up.

You know, entrepreneurs, are you paying attention?

You just got You basically said, Okay, I don't have the money, but I got this skill set and you know we could work out a deal.

Okay. I like where you had it, so okay, so then you work out the deal.

You start out to deal. The owner of the company had come to the US to visit, loved it, and he took me back. That's how I went and studied roasting because they was like, we'll pay for you to learn roasting. All I had to do is get my flight. They paid for everything else, Like I got to tour Turkey.

And you sold them on hiring you, right, and you had zero experience, but you had a sales background.

I had. That's what I did. I taught and trained people how to do sales. Yep.

And I always tell people in entrepreneurship the number one skill you have to have in entrepreneurship is sales.

That's it. And that's why I did the insurance too, because I needed to learn that skill. And I was a though salesman, especially not in these waters. You've got some deep, big old sharks up in here.

People.

It's funny because there's a stigma around salespeople. But the truth is, I tell people, one of the skills that I want to teach my daughter is essential skill is sales.

Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna have to sell. So that was one of the skills that I wanted to master. First. I read, studied, and executed those demonstrated those skills with building a sales team and selling roasters successfully for them, and that's when I learned to study in roasting in Turkey. So I got that taken care of. Then I came.

Back and how long were you doing that for?

For like a year, and so I would go to coffee fest with them and then we would help sell. And that's actually how I met my Nicaraguan farmers because they bought a machine from me when I was selling. I think we met in Portland when they came to the coffee fest, or maybe it was La one of these cities, and so That's how I ended up meeting that farmer to work with, and so fast forward, I was practiced. I got my baby roaster, earned my first little baby roaster.

And how much was it worth, I'm just curious.

Eighty five hundred and you earned?

You earned it.

Basically they let me use it as a showroom to teach people because they had a lot of interests, but the people didn't know how to use the roaster. So I was basically the kind of us showroom to help teach and train. And so I had the little baby roaster, and so I found a space that was a live workspace, so I had my studio on the back and I had my little warehouse in the front with my baby roaster. And for that year, I just practiced roasted roasted. And then I ended up leaving the insurance game.

Oh you were still an insurance were all that?

Yeah? Yeah, because that was just off time, you know, follow up easy things on the side. And so I ended up leaving the insurance game. And because I did well, I had residuals. So I let my residuals come in and then if it didn't make what I needed to take, I just go uber for a day or two and make my balance. And then the rest of the time I just focused on building the business, like the business plan, studying, roasting labs, marketing, all of those things. And are you a spicy eater?

No?

Okay, so flavor, but I gotta warn you this is it gets it can get really hot. But we're just gonna put a little tab on it because it goes good on the avocado.

He's talking about this. What do you call it?

This is our pepper sauce, the Beligian abba narrow pepper sauce.

And then it looks like a pizza almost, guys.

Yeah, kind of like a kind of like a toasta. But it's like it's like my souped up you get It's not it's more for taste. You'll be out right, You got your water, right?

Can I invite you to sit down with me and Katie to come in. We're gonna throw the commercial, okay.

And we're back and let's just sample your dish.

All right, all right, here we go before you gotta get the lime. You know it ain't nothing, got the lime. Put the lime on it, your little drizzle on there.

Whoever cut these limes, they didn't cut right, it's supposed to be chunkier.

It's okay, you just use a little more muscle. That's all.

Get it in my eyes? Okay, there we go. Lie looks like a little pizza. I'm glad you made it all pretty. Is this the brown one? You didn't give me the brown brown? I'm just trying to make fun of them, all right.

It's got the beans, the avocado, tomato, cilantro, and cheese.

Here we go.

This is technically vegan. A lot of times I don't eat, you know, like meat.

By the way, I have a question. Country Wayne was on our show. Shout out to the Country Wayne.

Okay, we'll be getting little spats off camera. But the truth is I bought baked beans. It says vegetarian on the can. Okay, it doesn't say vegan. Wouldn't it technically be vegan?

No?

Why because of the sugar.

Vegetarian just means there's no I guess meat in it, But vegan means it wasn't made with any animal products.

But is there such a thing as vegan baked beans?

Yes, yes, we're gonna cut that.

We ain't gonna share that.

Yeah, there is.

We're not gonna share that. If you find it, let me know. But Country was swearing that there's a such thing, and I was like, no, there isn't that whole foods.

It ain't at a regular grocery store, That's what he said.

Yeah, damn, I'm glad I didn't wait for that. All right, cheers. We gonna cut that clip and just send it to his DMS. All right, cheers, let's try this all right, all right here, let's click. All right, Okay, you know what, eating broke? Ain't that bad if you creative?

Look like you said. It's under ten dollars. And I'm eating this more than one day.

That was just when I'm rich or not.

I still do.

Yeah, I was knocking the way you fried these tortillas, but you did it. These are amazing. I love the way you fried them. I'm gonna fry them just like that. Mh okay yo. That is simply wonderful.

Easy too.

I'm gonna be making these at home.

M hm. And if you already got the tortillas, pribabe, what you do is warm up the bean in the market way because everything else is in the fridge, easy quick from home.

You be cooking at home, career, I throw down. You know what, I actually like the sauce too right.

It's not too hot. It's just a good EPI sauce.

It's literally perfect. Like someone could be broke with you, they could live in a hook with you and be fine.

Trust me, all my roommates loved me because they never ate so good.

They'd be like, oh, he's in the kitchen. We chilling, okay, and we're back. I annihilated mine. I'm gonna have to go back to interview mode and then I'm gonna have you cooked.

The rest of the tortillas before you leave.

They're so good, Okay, fantastic dish, ten out of ten, one of my favorites. Really DELI now back to your amazing story. One of the things I noticed about you in this whole story is you're not looking at the clock, or are you when I say the clock? Like, You're not like I have to be this successful by this date. It seems like you're taking life on as a journey, not as a destination.

Yeah. Absolutely. When I first moved out here, it wasn't the case. I was like, I want to be a millionaire ten years out of college and so just experiencing life the pandemic, and it really allowed me to understand that really, if you are just present and operating your purpose every day, then ultimately you will get to where you want to be. And so you know, to come out here to La. I believe God gave me that vision to say, hey, you need to be in La

Okay, so then after you acquire the baby Roaster, I like the name of the baby Roaster. All Right, you're in this loft workspace.

What are you doing? What's the day in the life of you?

Pretty much, I would wake up and plan out my day on what research needed to be done, because again I wanted I wasn't just building a coffee shop, which it wasn't even in that I wasn't even building a coffee shop. I was building an e commerce brand. And so being as I'd never done this before, I'm a super researcher and a deep analyzer, So I'd spend about my first three hours of the day doing research, and then the middle part of my day is when I would do the roasting, and so I would test out

So if I walked in your place, would it look like a science lab, because that's what it sounds like.

It was, And it would be many cups labeled and many bags labeled, dates with dates, the type of roast, and then it's I have scientific tools called the actron reader, which tells me the color of the roast and gives me a score so that I can roast specifically to that, and a density measurer to measure the density of.

The You're not just buying beans, and when you say roasting, you mean like when they turn into powder or.

Something that's grinding. So roasting is the coffee is actually a seat a green seed kind of like a dried white bean.

So it doesn't look like a brown bean.

No, that's the roasting. So once I put it into the machine and cook it, depending on if I want a light, medium or dark roast, then that's where I roast the bean.

Okay, So when you get it, the bean looks.

Like what it looks like a seed, like a I would say, like a green bean pee. Oh my gosh.

It's so funny because when you were talking about getting the the the green the coffee beans, I thought of what's that fairy tale jack? And the I was like, are they doing what?

They climbing up and they're coming down?

Yeah, the mountains because it grows on the side of mountains.

So you get them as green beans. And then you're sitting there like a science mad science is roasting in your place.

Exactly, And that's where the skill comes in, is figuring out what's the ideal temperature, what's the ideal time, what's the ideal airflow, what's the ideal drop temperature, all of those?

How long were you doing that part?

Of your business for like eight months, just studying and practicing.

And then at this point you're not making money off this, No, you're just are you searching.

It out to friends to test?

Yeah, So I started my e commerce site and then I would try to sell the coffee, but everyone would say, well, I need to know what it tastes like. I don't know with this taste like. And so I started to have tastings at my place on the weekends, and that's where people started saying, oh, you know, this is a dope experience. You should turn this into a coffee shop. And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no no, that's gonna take so much more work, so much more money.

And this is in South LA. They're saying this, Yeah.

This is in South LA. There's a food desert. There's no healthy options, there's no non you know, good coffee outside of they had seven to eleven, you know. So I was like, Okay, I think I could do this. So I moved out, did a friends and family round, raised twenty five thousand.

When you say friends and family like you went over there with a business plan and did all the presentation.

Told you, I spent eight months building this business plan, so then I.

Shared it and I did eight months doing a business plan.

Eight eight months practicing roasting and getting the research to get my business plan.

Okay, I mean your family at this point definitely believed that you were passionate about this business and it was worth investing in.

Oh yeah, yeah yeah, but they didn't have yeah yeah, yeah, yea. My parents didn't have no money to invest but friends and out exit.

So you did around and you raised the money in trade of equity.

And trade of equity. Okay, so I gave us some equity of the company and raised twenty five thousand.

Now how long What was that twenty five thousand supposed to cover? Because that doesn't sound like a lot of money.

Right, So again, because traditional coffee shops are European style, So the reason why my business model didn't cost as much is because we were non European. The largest expense is typically your espresso machine, which is like eighteen thousand dollars. We don't have that machine. We don't even serve any espresso drinks, So that took away a big chunk, and then the plumbing and the equipment needed to sustain that

So how much time did that twenty five k buy you?

Well, the unfortunate thing is literally two months after we opened, COVID hit and so I was sick. I was sick. We always kick apparently, and so I couldn't afford the place plus my studio downtown. But I was like, if one thing got to go, it's not gonna be my dream. I'll sleep.

Did you move into the store.

So I rented out my studio so at least my studio to a student, rented a RV, parked it in the back of the shop, and from there for the next three months, I slept in the RV in the back of my shop, and I showered at the gyms until eventually COVID after that three months got real bad where they like shut the whole world down, and then I was like, Okay, I need my studio back because I can't do this no more.

I need you didn't like DARV life anymore.

I was fine with it, but because I could go shower at the gyms. I go to the gym all the time. So gym right when COVID got real bad, they like.

Ye and it was like two years. Yeah, so what was your mental state? Were you depressed at all?

No, I wasn't depressed.

I was focused.

Yeah, I was focused. It happened. I believe everything happened for a reason. So it like gave me time to again continue working on my brand, the development of it.

And how are you surviving the checks from the government?

Unemployment? So I had unemployment and then that's when I also do my own life coaching and business coaching. Okay, and that's what led me to get a contract with the city to do coaching for them, and then eventually that's what I still have a contract with them now where I do business coaching.

Holy.

Yeah. So when I'm not working on my business, I'm helping you know, people in my community who can't access that education to help them build their businesses.

Wow. And that's for South La, South La.

Yeah.

Wow, you're a gangster. I use gangster as a term of endearment just so you know. Okay, So then throughout COVID, you survive COVID. Now you're doing the coaching during COVID, Yeah, virtually virtually. And then how'd you know to apply for that job?

Happened is before COVID. I went to this event, this kJ LH Awards dinner that they have and wherever location they have it, I can't remember, but the l the elevator was taking forever and people there was a line to elevator. So I ended up taking the stairs and nobody else was taking the stairs. But once I walked up to the top of the stairs, there was this guy standing there. He's like, oh, you were one of the only people that took the stairs, and he ended

Yeah, Joe is a mentor of mine. Shout out to Joe.

Shout out to Joe, Shout out to Joe. So Joe, Joe was there. He was looking dressed.

He dressed like a pimp with the attack.

He had the what do you call those cuple links and ever he dresses to the nine regal.

That's my definition of Joe. Yes, So he was like, yeah, oh, nice to meet you. I'm Joe, you know, and he said what do you do? I said, oh, I have a have a coffee business that I just opened up on her mind. He's like, oh, you need to come. I want to see what resources we have for you over here. And so I ended up going there. I brought my business plan, I brought some coffee. And then when the business coach met with me, they were like, who helped you do this? I said, I did it.

Okay, okay, okay, Yeah, I had a contract with Joe before the pandemic, and then I got annihilated during the pandemic. But that's amazing, Okay, Okay, we yeah, shout out to Joke because he mentors a lot of people.

He does, he does.

Okay, So all right, so after this, so now you're doing the coaching. You make it through the pandemic, what happens next.

During the pandemic? To survive with all the COVID regulations, we had to start bottling our cold our coffee. I'd never had this in the business plan, never thought of it. But because the regulations you can serve open containers. I had to figure out, Oh, I got a bottle.

This And at the time, were you doing hot brew or hot and cold cough? Oh you were doing both, yes, but no bottling. I never thought of it, and so I had to. The regulation said you had to be.

You know, sealed container in a way that was tamper proof so the customers would know. And so oh, I guess I have to go to bottles. And that the bottles took off and it literally saved my business and today where it's now, the reason people know about it and like how we're growing.

Even everybody when I heard about you was talking about these bottles. Oh, you got to get a bottle. You got to slide the bottles into the budget. When I say that was an actual conversation and like order the hot brew.

But we got to make a way to get at least twenty five bottles twenty four bottles into that budget. I'm like, okay, okay, so we can't feed everybody these cold brew but it's a necessity.

You want to make sure the special ones get a bottle.

Yeah, and I could see why. It's highly addictive. I mean, this tastes great.

And it works too. If you've got a long day, you want a healthy energy like. This has way less calories and sugar content than a red bull like and it's natural, it's healthy. It's designed for our bodies. And that's what my shop is. It's one hundred percent plant based. Our menu literally is designed for people of color.

But are you vegan?

I am not vegan, but I'm dairy free. I can't. Yeah, so our whole menu is dairy free and our pastries are vegan.

Okay, yeah, I did see that you didn't bring any pastries. I didn't do you actually make the pastries out?

We outsource something. Okay, work, but.

Then the bottles take off, and what happens.

Then the world opens back up? We open back up, and that's how you know what really took off for us?

How did people know about the bottle coffee though?

Because you could only do deliveries during covid.

But how did you promote that you had it?

Oh? Eventually, yeah, through advertisements online, our postings on social media, social media. We started running promotions, did some good content, made a video that advertised did and then we had door dash and then we made a website just for the bottles.

Okay, yeah, and okay, okay, So then what happens next?

So then, yeah, we started getting bigger contracts. We get our first we get our first big deal, not a deal, but are one of our first big clients to La Marathon and they buy the bottles for their VIP booths for some of the runners, and so we just started getting bigger clientele universities.

Are you selling it out more wholesale rates? Because these bottles go.

For what six dollars a bottle retail, that's retail rates, but we do have wholesale rates for retail partners and then catering orders. Depending on how many bottles you get, we give discounts.

Okay. And then have you what's the farthest you shipped this product out?

We don't ship the bottles out, but as far as deliveries, the farthest we've gone that's a great question. Pretty much local. Yeah, pretty much local.

Yeah, Okay, that's pretty awesome, man. So what's the next milestone?

Man, next milestone is to move. We're part of this development over by USC, so we'll be moving to a bigger space.

Now, you moving or you're going to add another location.

We're gonna move. So where we're at now is just too small and also it's it's just not the ideal situation for how we want to continue moving forward. So in the meantime, there's this place called Baba's Vegan Cafe which is down the street from us, not too far, so we've already been in talk with them, so we'll do a partnership and a pop up so we'll still have a presence right where our customers are, and then the USC would just be a little further away for us.

Now, do you see yourself expanding franchise wise or do you see yourself just breaking mortar one store at a time?

Definitely franchise. When I built the business, I wanted it to be built in a way that I could align with many other people to one impact their communities because our menu again is a very healthy, conscious menu, but also impact people who have the same values and so with this business model, it's low overhead. We've already got the supply chain down, so it's really just you serving our recipes. Because it's no high skill. You don't need a barista.

But do you still need a baby roaster.

No, we'll do all the roasting. Oh, he'll do all the roasting. Ye. So we also roast for other coffee shops too. Really like, so we have wholesale that we roast for, but we're not expanding that line of business just because that's that's our niche is. We have these rare coffees that know one else has.

So you said you're not wholesaling, then.

We have we have wholesale. We roast for four shops right now.

Okay, are they it to sound racist, but are they European?

No, they're European style. Yeah. Every coffee shop in America besides US, is European style.

Okay, so you're the only one that's the world's first. And the thing that separates you from a European style is what.

We do not serve any European style drinks. So the European model is based on the espresso machine, so everything comes from there. Even the names of the drinks are Italian, but for us, we don't even have that machine. So you'll get a variety of single origin coffees. You'll know who's the farmer, where it comes from, the unique flavors.

Is that what the QR code is for exactly?

You scan it and it tells you all about it. So it's your boarding pass.

That's our thing, is that, and that's why it says la X two ni.

C to Nicaragua day.

You're amazing. I love that you honor the history. Absolutely, you remind our people. Yeah, you know, you really respect the culture.

That's what it's about because you know experiencing you know, my life growing up in Tennessee, and it's like I see so many elements where our stories and narratives are erased, and I want to be the one to help bring that back.

Yeah, it's important. And how did you know how to price the drinks?

Well? One, how much it costs me? And then two just looking at the market and with our drinks they really should be about eight dollars, seven to eight dollars a bottle, but because I know in our community, they can up hold that they're at six dollars and of course they can also get a discount if they're part of our membership.

Okay, okay, Yeah, I noticed that in the black community when it comes to businesses, I noticed that the prices are a little bit higher. And I can't figure out why.

I was thinking it's because maybe they're not ordering in a bulken of capacity.

Yeah, I mean that's also the case. But you know, when I built this business and decided it was going to be in South Central, I knew I was building. I wanted to build something in my community for my community, and show my community that we can do something for us and it be profitable. So I knew that initially in order for us to become profitable and to grow, that my revenue could not just be dependent on that location. We don't even have good parking. We're right beside a hotel.

If business, do they do business with you, No, not at all.

This is one of them sketchy hotels that you has other types of customers, and so most of our business comes from the wholesale and the bottles and the catering.

Yeah, it's an honor to have you on the show, straight up, Like, it's such.

An honor to be here.

So what advice would you give to someone trying to be in your shoes.

I would say, to really seek out a relationship with God throughout my life. That's the consistent thing that's been the driving factor. People always ask me, you know, why you in South Central? What why'd you pick there? I say, you know, the short answer is God. You know, some people consider themseelves missionaries and have to go across the

Wow, I feel like every time I do an interview that is the most consistent message around on everyone on my show, Everyone That's successful. God is literally the number one ingredient on everyone's list.

And not crazy, you know, yes, it's the common denominator when you're cut from a different cloth and you're not you're doing things that are typically trailblazing, or you know, you're literally deciding I'm going to take a more difficult path every day. That's what you decide. You're deciding, I'm going to go do something that's specifically catered for me

All right?

And then my next question is what does a relationship with God look like for people that have never or don't have a relationship with God.

I would say vulnerability. A lot of times, we as human beings put up a lot of walls because we have to meet all these other human beings and we don't want to be judged, we don't want to be misinterpreted, and so we oftentimes that's how we treat God too, because we're talking about him as if he's a person. So it's just a natural response to treat him as

And then how much self doubt did you have on this journey? Like how much on like if you had to be completely real, like how much self doubt? I mean, I've met some people that say they didn't have any self doubt, but I'm curious for you, like was there self doubt?

Was there moments where you questioned?

Or shaking time all the time every day Because it's not like my life is consistent with comfort, it's consistent with change, and so I'm constantly having to face this decisions that are typically a lot bigger impact than I've had to do in the past. Now that my business is more successful, we're getting more exposure and so even you know, this past week working on this project to move and it's going to be three times of space three times, a rent three times, the employees like all

All right, guys. Uh, that wraps up our interview with John. John. How can people keep up with you?

You can you talk straight to the camera. Okay? People can follow me on Instagram Hustle to Create, that's my tag. I believe we were all born to create, so we should be hustling to create, not to consume. Uh. And also that's where you'll find if you go to Hustle to Create dot com, you can find my life coaching and business coaching as well.

Okay.

And then one last thing. I always I have this discussion with my cousin a lot, Trevor. I always say, you don't want to get too comfortable, you don't want to get fall in love with complacency. And I'm a firm believer, like you know, my company's called Famous Failure. Like I'm a firm believer that you just really got comfortable. You have to kind of almost be comfortable with failure

I would say, when I was doing the insurance game, I got real good at what I was doing. I got real comfortable with the money I was making. And really, if I didn't leave that company, I would have probably just been doing the same thing over and over. And so that was a real big moment for me where I said, I gotta get out of this. If I don't make a decision now, the trajectory of my life is not going to be how I want it to be.

Yeah.

I feel like sometimes uber some of these what do you call gig economy jobs, for some people, they can get very caught up in the complacency of that. I think it's like a gift and a curse. You know, it can save you, but then you can get comfortable and lazy in that.

Oh yeah, and absolutely, like I said, my ultimate goal I moved out here to give into government. But you can't be a broke politician So for me, I can't get comfortable until I have a position where I can effectively make change that I want to do, which is why I came here. So you know there's no option for me.

Okay, yeah, I like that.

We don't have to be homies, man, And I'm now a coffee drinker. Only this drink though, right, you know what?

Can I test this one? It sucks because I don't know this is but I'm gonna just test. This is the boat. I feel like I'm going to be spinning off the walls, but I.

Have to test it. I just want I hope this isn't Katie's. I feel bad I'm drinking your coffee.

Hold on, what flavor is this one? Okay?

My favorite one is this one.

It's cal blancocko cal blanco.

I look Puerto Rican, you know what I'm saying. But CaCO. Yeah. See, this is my favorite. So if you guys want to check out my favorite.

My favorite too, and your favorite?

See what, guy?

You know?

I mean, this one's good.

If you're like an avid coffee drinker, you probably love this.

But if you're the beginner, this is the one. All right.

Thank you for taking time out your busy schedule to come kick it with us. If you guys want to check out more content, check us out at Eating While Broke or wherever you listen to your podcast peace up. For more Eating While Broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,