Ever wonder how a simple passion for coffee can brew into a successful entrepreneurial journey? Join us for a lively discussion with Will Forsman, co-owner of three Cafe Steam shops and a coffee roasting business in Rochester, Minnesota. From starting as a dishwasher to being honored with the Rochester Mayor's Medal of Honor, Will's story is a rich blend of dedication, community connection, and of course, a love for coffee.
Cafe Steam
Colorway Coffee Roasters
Experience Rochester
Ever wonder how a simple passion for coffee can brew into a successful entrepreneurial journey? Join us for a lively discussion with Will Forsman, co-owner of three Cafe Steam shops and a coffee roasting business in Rochester, Minnesota. From starting as a dishwasher to being honored with the Rochester Mayor's Medal of Honor, Will's story is a rich blend of dedication, community connection, and of course, a love for coffee.
Cafe Steam
Colorway Coffee Roasters
Experience Rochester
The Growing Destinations podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Learn more about Minnesota's third largest city, which is home to Mayo Clinic and features wonderful recreational and entertainment opportunities, by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
Will Forsman:Our goal is to be a reflection of Rochester and the personality that comes with being a person who lives in Rochester, and so we do so by allowing a little bit more freedom of expression of both the company and of our employees.
Bill Von Bank:Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism and much more. I'm your host, bill Vaughn-Bank. Will Forsman is a true aficionado of coffee. He co-owns and operates three cafe steam shops in Rochester, Minnesota. Originally fueled by a passion for rock and roll, will made a decisive shift at the age of 21, embracing the world of coffee, and he hasn't looked back. He has expanded his entrepreneurial endeavors to include a coffee roasting business that not only caters to his own shops but also supports various retailers in the area. Will is an active community leader and advocate for local entrepreneurs. His outstanding contributions to the industry have earned him the prestigious Rochester Mayor's Medal of Honor.
Bill Von Bank:Join me as I delve into a conversation with Will Forsman, exploring his remarkable career, navigating challenges and seizing opportunities. Will Forzman, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast. Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here, will. You're a successful entrepreneur in Rochester Minnesota. You co-own and manage multiple coffee shops as well as a coffee roasting business, and you're a positive role model in the community. Let's learn more about you and your career journey.
Will Forsman:I appreciate the successful entrepreneur. I think it's.
Bill Von Bank:I've seen it firsthand Will.
Will Forsman:It's all a function of perspective, and we oftentimes successful entrepreneurs are, so often look at other business owners as, oh, that person is successful and the behind the scenes is all chaos for the most part. So it's good that at least the externally facing part is a positive one. But I got my start in coffee in 2013.
Will Forsman:I had started as a dishwasher at the coffee shop that exists in downtown Rochester In downtown Rochester and in the transition from the business that it existed previously to what is now today, cafe Steam took on more of a leadership role and eventually was able to transition into an ownership role and from that point on we have grown to some considerably. To me it is still our little coffee shop. We just have multiple locations and the coffee roasting component, which provides support through roasted coffee not only for our locations but on a regional basis as well to grocery stores and other coffee shops, and that exists under the name Colorway Coffee Roasters through the sister company.
Bill Von Bank:Cafe Steam Dialing back even before the beginning of coffee.
Will Forsman:What?
Bill Von Bank:was your career aspiration then.
Will Forsman:You know, I think, as any 19 or 20 year old, I had zero career aspirations whatsoever, and my parents can attest to this.
Will Forsman:I think it was a huge part of my developmental years and determining what it was that I'm going to be doing with the rest of my life.
Will Forsman:Because, looking back to when I was younger, I was a terrible student.
Will Forsman:I was hell in the classroom because I couldn't focus on anything and I always wanted to do or I thought I knew better than the teachers that were teaching the class which is pretty common for boys that were my age at the time and so went to college, did that route, decided college wasn't for me and it was not only a waste of my time but my parents' money and left in the pursuit of the arts and thought that being in a band was going to be the solution to all of my problems.
Will Forsman:So decided to explore that and being a musician and as many musicians find it wasn't as financially sustainable as I wanted it to be so got a job as a dishwasher at a coffee shop and from there just developed An absolute obsession for coffee and the community that surrounds it. The people that come with it are often very active in their own personal communities and artists themselves and beyond, and I thought that was just so fascinating and the fact that you could make a living hanging out with your friends and doing cool things was really attractive to me.
Bill Von Bank:Your three cafe steam coffee shops are all located in downtown Rochester, but all three have distinct personalities and traffic flow. Share with us the evolution from one to three coffee shops in just a few short years.
Will Forsman:We opened our first cafe steam location in 2015 and from there, opened up our location inside of what was formerly known as the Hilton Double Tree in 2018. The following year opened a location inside of the One Discovery Square building, as you mentioned. Each one has a very different personality. For those who have been at what we call our main location just because it is open the most throughout the day it is open from 6.30 to 10 o'clock at night and more days per week it has a very distinct personality. It's in a building that's almost 170 years old and something that would be impossible to replicate in any other space.
Will Forsman:So you then ask yourself well, what is it that you're doing with these spaces? And not only because of the proximity of these spaces that need to distinguish themselves from each other. You need to accommodate for the need that comes with the building that it's in One Discovery Square. It is the cornerstone of the Destination Medical Center initiative and a huge biomedical research facility and very science oriented. It maybe wouldn't make the most sense to accommodate that space with the same vibe of the main location, which is in that 170 year old brick building. It's very eclectic, kind of rough on the edges, lived in. It doesn't work for a nice new building.
Will Forsman:So working with the building to design something that flows as a contiguous part of the space while also reflecting the personality of the coffee shop, was super important. Our Skyway location same deal. It needed to have the flow to accommodate at the time the hotel traffic that was several hundred people per day moving in and out, so it needed to be very high volume. So we wanted to make it something that was Inviting to sit in and but also says you that you can grab something quick and and make it a Convenience while you were visiting Rochester. Now that's transitioned to from a hotel to the student life living center and dormitories for the University of Minnesota Rochester, which has been a huge benefit to us three coffee shops about a mile Within a mile radius.
Bill Von Bank:Oh yeah, I, it's fascinating. I mean, did you everything? Can we really pull this off?
Will Forsman:Yes and no. So it was very clear to us that there are three different economies that exist in Rochester. There are there's a subway economy, or at least downtown Rochester subway economy street level and then Skyway the sky, all of which are Very different depending on who is a part of them. The street level is definitely for people who are fellow retailers, they are Mayo Clinic employees, they are college students and then visitors. Visitors are a huge part of the street level business because they're looking to get out of the the more sterile environment that exists within Mayo and the subway and Skyway.
Will Forsman:Conversely, the Skyway location is for those that are On break or have a very short amount of time, where they are trying to get to and from and the Civic Center being associated In proximity, we see a lot of event attendees. So that's an entirely different economy. And then our one discovery location, even though it's a block away, is almost entirely research folks that are from Hilton, the Guggenheim. So the buildings that are nearby, the downtown economy and population that Exists for a foot traffic associated with a coffee shop at least, is very high. So we know that even just a percentage of each part of it would be able to sustain those coffee shops. But even still, on paper you know three coffee shops all within a block of each other seems kind of crazy. But now, with the understanding that they serve very different clientele, it it makes a little bit more sense with multiple coffee shops.
Bill Von Bank:How do you stay competitive in a crowded market and what strategies do you employ to differentiate Cafe steam from competitors?
Will Forsman:coffee is an oversaturated market. There's no, there's no misinterpretation of what is available for people in the world of coffee. You now have, you know, a coffee shop in every corner it feels like, and Rochester is no different than any other community Starbucks, caribou, the major chains and franchises that can pump out really high volume and be consistent between their locations. Whether you're in St Louis or you're in Philadelphia or Minneapolis, you're gonna get the same product wherever you go. And that's kind of what's really attractive to people, because as they're traveling to Rochester or visiting, they know that they can find a consistent product that they were able to find at home.
Will Forsman:Our goal is to be a reflection of Rochester and the personality that comes with being a Person who lives in in Rochester, and so we do so by allowing a little bit more freedom of expression of both the company and of our employees.
Will Forsman:So we, you know it's a much more relaxed environment for people, and that can come in many ways, whether it's dress code or whether it's, you know, the how corporate it feels and that is, you know, allows us to represent and give that fingerprint from our, our company that we hope to people gain from from visiting, and Coffee quality is also a huge part of it.
Will Forsman:So the franchises and the chains and you know we are not necessarily competitors with, you know our other independent coffee shops that are in town we work closely with with all of them and our friendly level with all of them, and so we encourage other local coffee shops to open because it gives Rochester a greater point of expression and collaboration within the business community. The coffee quality is a big part of it. So we opened Colorway Coffee Roasters as a compliment to it, because that allowed us a little bit more control over our supply and determination of where our coffee beans are coming from, how they're being roasted and then the way in which they're being prepared, so that we're able to offer the highest quality coffee and experience that we possibly can, in addition to working with local vendors like Kappers, big Red Barn, a local dairy farm, and other various local partners, to again be that that reflection of our community.
Bill Von Bank:You've traveled to places like Ethiopia to meet coffee growers. How has this global perspective influenced your approach to coffee business?
Will Forsman:It's definitely grounded my my understanding of coffee At a base level.
Will Forsman:It's a tourist experience.
Will Forsman:You know, I think a lot of coffee roasters go to have this kind of pilgrimage of sorts and then they get to come back and spin a story about how they're working with coffee farmers to improve the quality.
Will Forsman:The reality is, you're not there to tell a farmer how to do their job, and you know I wouldn't tell a farmer in our community how to do their job, let alone somewhere in another part of the world working with an agricultural product that I have no limited understanding of.
Will Forsman:That said, it gives you a greater understanding of how difficult it is to produce something as simple as coffee, the resource restrictions that many of these countries go through to be able to get it from point A to point B, and then how limited that margin is.
Will Forsman:So one of the things that it encourages us to do is pay a higher dollar per pound amount for the coffee that we are purchasing to make sure that the economy around it is more sustainable for them and be able to continue serving a really high quality product. In addition to it. It makes me realize how we can kind of take coffee too seriously and or at least assume that an individual has so much influence over the quality of coffee that they'll be able to change it to make it, you know, better or worse. The reality is, in a lot of these more resource restricted regions, we're foisting upon farmers and producers these expectations that are unrealistic to meet the standard of quality that we're hoping to get, and so it Gives me a more managed expectation to what we can reasonably Expect of of coffee producing regions to be able to provide for ourselves.
Bill Von Bank:So colorway is your coffee roasting business and you have obviously service your own shops. Tell us where else you can find it.
Will Forsman:Oh, a number of the high V's Are. And then one of our biggest partners is the people's food co-op here in Rochester. We also have relationships with the Berkman, which is the hotel that the hotel component of the Berkman apartments over on West 2nd Street near the same areas hospital. We have some and I'm and I know I'm gonna be forgetting other other clients and we have a coffee shop out of Winona, ridgelands coffee shop and and they do a fantastic job there Other restaurants the blue duck kitchen, mero all in downtown Rochester all in downtown Rochester, our paladar, and what we like about this is that if you go to any other larger city, there is a signature coffee roaster that Provides unique blends for each of these businesses so that they're able to distinguish themselves from each other.
Will Forsman:But it also gives that sense of ownership to a coffee roaster or to an individual. But visiting that says wow, this is a reflection of the community that is here, rather than, you know, purchasing from some big name brands like Intelligencia or a lot alone, where sure, they have that kind of the flash associated with larger coffee roasters, but it doesn't reflect the community that is, that they're with it with three cafe steam locations in a coffee Roasting business, how are you managing growth?
Will Forsman:And I tell people I need another location, like I need a hole in the head, because it it exponentially increases the number of issues that you're gonna encounter on a daily basis.
Will Forsman:The reality is, I rely so heavily on a support team that is, in the form of our baristas and our location managers, who do such an incredible job managing the day-to-day and and Working with them to be able to make sure that they're continually supported but also giving them some freedom with what is going on in their location.
Will Forsman:You can imagine you're you're in that space every single day. I am floating between each of the locations you know Every single day. But to give them a sense of ownership of those locations, I think it's really important. So whether it's determining and it can be little things like where we're, the flow of the location, where furniture is placed, amenities and such gives them a sense of you know, ownership of it and influence over to how the company actually runs, and I think that's really important. So, relying very heavily on on that that support team, and then also my partners in in cafes team Tracy and Hunter Downs and Kaya Garcia and Nathan staff so they are also a huge part of the support that this company needs to be able to sustain itself.
Bill Von Bank:Entrepreneurial journeys often involve setbacks. Can you share a setback you encountered and the valuable lessons you learned from it?
Will Forsman:Well, it's a little. You know it may be the the one, the example that every entrepreneur uses or every business owner uses over the last few days, but cove, it was a huge impact. One specific part of that is we actually had a fourth location inside of thesis beer project and the concept was super cool opened as a coffee shop in the morning, transition to a brewery and tap room in the evening, while remaining a brewery throughout the day, and that concept was really fun. It hit at perhaps the most Inopportunistic time because it was about three months before cove it started, and so we were able to open, get a few weeks and months under us before having to shut down, and by that point we had to really take a hard look at the opening capacity of a brewery during cove. It was Significantly limited, I mean there while other businesses were able to do to-go stuff.
Will Forsman:Very few businesses were Breweries and we're able to do the to-go stuff. So we, kind of it, made the tough decision to cut our losses and consolidate resources and and push it to other locations so that we were able to support it there. But the silver lining being, I think if we were to have maintained that location, I don't know that we would have ever moved into the coffee roasting arm of our company, and because we would have been so focused on the four locations and spread so thin, personally, that my endeavors would have been completely different. As much as I've always wanted to roast coffee, I think that would have been a later project than it is now and I'm so glad that we started roasting when we did and frankly, I wanted to should have started roasting for our earlier because of how much it expands your capacity.
Bill Von Bank:What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Will Forsman:Don't do it.
Will Forsman:Stick with the nine to five, I would say it takes such a personality and the individual that is.
Will Forsman:It really takes somebody who is crazy and is willing to live almost like a monk for their business, because now your entire life revolves around it. Be a business owner before you get married. I can't tell you how many difficult things I've seen because couples decide to open businesses together. That becomes a huge strain on the relationship and so forth. But on a positive note, you've never been able to have that level of self-determination like you would, as being an entrepreneur and a business owner you don't really have a boss, which can be difficult for some because a lot of people need structure. But if you have that level of self-determination and that vision and ability to go through the ideation phase, the execution phase and the implementation phase of any project, you will find success, so long as you're willing to dedicate the time and the effort to it, because a lot of it isn't about being smart, it's just being willing to pull the long hours and work for the business that you care so much about In 2021,.
Bill Von Bank:Rochester Mayor Kim Norton awarded you with the Mayor's Medal of Honor for Excellence in Industry. What does this recognition mean to you and how does it reflect on your contributions to the community?
Will Forsman:It came as an incredible surprise and I was a bit taken back because if you look at the list as it comes out each year, many of the names that appear on that list are people who have been in our community for decades.
Will Forsman:I have been operating this business for nine years or eight years by the time I was recognized through that award, and it makes me there's two sides of the coin of like, wow, I feel as though I'm not worthy of this, considering there are so many other people who, for decades, have made greater contributions than I've been able to. And on the other side, I'm so happy to be recognized because, yes, it is a lot of work doing these things and so very few business owners, and I'm more thankful for the capacity that the Mayor's Medal of Honor awards folks, because there's so many people who go unrecognized in any other community that do put a lot of work into it, and to be able to be a part of that list of individuals who've made an impact and are able to be recognized for it is very fulfilling for me.
Bill Von Bank:What's next for you in your business?
Will Forsman:I admittedly take things on a day by day basis. I think the two biggest projects that we have going on right now are we are expanding our rosary to going from a thousand square feet to 3000 square feet and that move comes in the next few months and the hope is that it increases our capacity. We want to be able to offer classes, we want to be able to have a training facility for staff and then increase the overall bandwidth for that organization. Our one discovery square is gonna be moving into the two discovery square building, increased seating, increased facilities and things that are going to help support that series of buildings or what may come of it and the people that work within it and live around that area. So those are, I guess are the two biggest things on the horizon. But in terms of the vision of the company, I have no idea.
Will Forsman:It is, admittedly, we've had an incredible run. We're coming up on 10 years of being open and it's so funny after you're running your business and after the few years that we've had. Business on the left view closes, the business on the right view closes. Business behind you closes, the business in front of you closes. It's not a reflection of Rochester's, because I believe Rochester's a very healthy, environmental and business, but of the nature of being a small business owner, so many of them fail before they're even able to find success. In the fact that we've been able to find success leaves open ground in front of us and kind of a mystery of what is to come. So we keep doing our thing, finding people who love good coffee and be able to connect with them over it, provide a space for folks to gather and communicate and engage in discourse and what have you, and continue to just support our little edge of the world.
Bill Von Bank:So you think about Rochester and its resiliency and the recent news by Mayo Clinic of a $5 billion investment to transform healthcare over the next half dozen years. Tell us how that might impact your business, and does that excite you? Give us your perspective.
Will Forsman:It is a double-edged sword because and I've said this before that getting from point A to point B, the point B is so exciting because now you're going to increase the number of people that are here, you will have, naturally, an increase in the number of staff and people that are downtown and the need to support them.
Will Forsman:But the burden of the changes to infrastructure and the arterial connection that is provided by Second Street specifically so that area of town will be placed upon the shoulders of business owners and those that are part of the economy of downtown. So if it can be communicated early on and fortunately the relationship between business owners and the city of Rochester is improving over time because of that communication and the understanding that the city's best interest is to support those businesses in that edomorphous, I'm more optimistic than I think I would have been five years ago about it. I'm incredibly thankful that Mayo Clinic is continuing to dedicate itself to downtown and continuing to rededicate itself to Rochester, because I think the rumor mill goes crazy when Mayo is expanding campuses in Scottsdale and in Florida. Let's know they're continuing to do so in Rochester, which is our home and their home is really motivating and makes people want to stay here.
Bill Von Bank:Will Forzman, it's been great to talk about coffee the culture community your success. I appreciate your time on the Growing Destinations podcast. Thank you so much. Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, minnesota, and its growing arts and culture scene, its international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting experienceratchestrmncom.