Once again, the fine folks at WCRI radio invited me back to speak with Mike Maino on the Company Break program.
A great episode where we discuss the start of Dave's Coffee and some new projects we've been working on since we last spoke.
Thanks for listening! Got comments, questions or ideas for future episodes? Text or call us at (401) 584-0999 and let us know! We'd love to hear from you!
Once again, the fine folks at WCRI radio invited me back to speak with Mike Maino on the Company Break program.
A great episode where we discuss the start of Dave's Coffee and some new projects we've been working on since we last spoke.
Thanks for listening! Got comments, questions or ideas for future episodes? Text or call us at (401) 584-0999 and let us know! We'd love to hear from you!
Whistle while you work. Put on that dream. Start right to whistle down and down. Just hum Mary to Welcome to Company Break a program dedicated to the companies and organizations in our local area, giving them a chance to talk about what services they can provide for you. Our W C R I listeners. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Company Break. I'm Mike Mayow. Very pleased to be sitting once again with the owner of Dave's Coffee, and that's Dave Lanning is here. Welcome back, Dave. Thank you, Mike. It's great to be back. Nice to have you again. We had the privilege of having you with us last spring. Um, I think right about, just about the same time of year, maybe a. Later in the year, but, uh, here we are once again and catching up on Dave's coffee, which is becoming something of a, of a name in Rhode Island. Uh, I say becoming because it seems like every time I go somewhere I hear about it again and, uh, it's, uh, you know, 10 years ago, not so much, but now pretty active. How long has Dave's coffee been? So we've been around officially for 12 years. Okay. Um, we started roasting about 10 years ago, our own coffee. So that's really when it took off as, as a, as a brand itself. Right. And located in two locations or, or kind of three. Right. So we have our original location, which is, um, on Route one in Charles. In an old 1740s farmhouse. Um, that was our first location. And also where we have our other business, Galapagos Boutique, um, both housed in that same location. And then we have a spot that we opened just about seven years ago in Providence on the east side, and that's at 3 41 South Main. Um, and then our roastery where we do all of our coffee roasting and production and things like that, is in Narragansett. Okay. And for those of you that are real providence of fishing and autos, he is not really on the east side. He's really on South Main Street. For those of us that live on the East side, we consider that. The Valley or you also call it Fox Point, right? There you go. Yeah. Uh, but, uh, some landmarks you're down there where the, uh, very popular, uh, farmer's market is, uh, in that area. Right. And, uh, there's other places not too far from the seafood restaurant Hemingway, right? Correct. Right. Not, not general areas. So people. Approximately where you are. And, um, it's, it's one of those locations where every time I drive by there, which I do frequently, it seems like there's almost a line out the door. Yeah. It's, it's a great location. I mean, obviously we draw a lot from the universities being a, a block from Brown and RSD is there and, and all the student population plus that, that strip of, uh, south Main, there's a lot of offices with the all the attorneys Sure. And things like that. So it stays busy for. Yeah, it's a, it's a great location. So check that out. And the original, uh, you mentioned, as in, as in conjunction with another one of your businesses, and just explain what that is so people, that's not what we're about today, but at least let's, let's touch on it and tell everybody what it's about. Sure. So that's actually our, was our first business, Galapagos boutique, and we opened 20, this will be 27 years this July that we've, we've been there. And, um, at an amazing store. My wife, uh, curates all of the clothing, does the merchandising, the selling, like everything. And we have a small men's section of really special clothing. And then we also have, uh, primarily women's clothing. And it's two, two floors, two full floors of amazing merchandise. Now, did that, uh, when that started since it was before Dave's coffee, was Dave's coffee a spinoff or was that something you always wanted to. So Dave's coffee originally began as, um, just a counter where we served coffee in Galapagos Boutique. Hmm. So it wasn't, uh, an espresso bar. It wasn't, it was just a, a few AirPods of coffee from a local roaster that we used to buy from in Galapagos Boutique. And then things just kind of evolved into Dave's coffee from. That's gotta be an interesting transition. So you're buying coffee like just about the rest of the entire world does, and all of a sudden one day you decide we should do this ourselves. Right? I mean that, that's kinda like when I'm driving a car, I show in a car dealership. Well, I've, I mean, coffee has always held a special spot in my heart, you know, it's like I've always loved coffee and, you know, being a Rhode Island, it's kind of part of our heritage. So, yeah. Okay. Well that's cool. And, uh, things have grown from the original. Uh, let's have some coffee to, uh, having some other products and, uh, you have some, something you told me before we went on the air. It's very exciting to me. Uh, tell us about the, the. Method that might be coming in for a cup of coffee. Yeah, so we're working on a single serve brew method, but um, it's almost like if you could envision, uh, ground coffee in a tea bag and it's a single serve, one cup, uh, way to make coffee. And kind of the challenge with that is always like the freshness aspect. So once you grind coffee, The clock starts ticking on freshness and taste and flavor and things like that. Um, so this method uses it's triple nitrogen flushed, so oxygen obvious, you have to say that again. Triple what? Nitrogen flushed. Okay. So when you, when you grind coffee and. and put it in a little sache and in a bag, if there's oxygen in there, it starts to deteriorate the taste and flavor of the coffee almost immediately. Hmm. So what what you do is if you inject nitrogen, flush out all of the oxygen, it preserves that freshness of the coffee. Okay. because I haven't heard those two trims together. Flush and coffee. Yeah. Okay. So, so it's a, it's a method of keeping it fresh. Keeping it fresh. That's always been the big challenge, you know, with the single serve, uh, method as far as like, unless you're using a pod or capsule of something, and those are all also flush with nitrogen. Nitrogen is a, you know, order list. Gas that just gets rid of oxygen, so, mm-hmm. So that's what helps. So the, the unmentionable, uh, round about silver dollar size cover, uh, plastic module, right? Right. There you go. Um, is something that hopefully you could replace someday. Yeah, it, it, you know, in this method of, of, it's called Immersion Brewing. You know, we, when you take the ground coffee, you put it in, in hot water, right? And, um, it's, you know, the, the packaging for that we're using is, um, all biodegradable. We're using a soy-based ink to, to print on it. So it, it's really a great alternative. And the convenience of it is, is also the big thing for the customer. And that's the draw for, for single serve in general, is that people want something that's easy. Instant, pretty much, and, and doesn't have a big cleanup involved with it. So this is a great, um, alternative. And, and you know, also thinking people on the go, people that, that don't have electricity, if they're out camping, they're in their, you know, wherever. Um, it's just gonna, I think it's gonna be a really, really exciting new product. So the opportunity, as I see it, without spending a whole lot of time thinking about this, is the number one. Is illuminating those plastic modules that accumulate by the millions daily and go into landfills or whatever, wherever they end up. Right? Excuse me. And, um, this is an opportunity to relieve that, uh, that problem. And the other thing is, you know, down the road you actually. You know, most kitchens and most offices have a microwave and they can heat water. Right? Right. So instead of having a couple hundred dollars machine that handles those pods, you can now eliminate that couple hundred dollars machine. Exactly. And have exactly heated water. Right, and, and, and immersion of the, of the new, uh, new product. Right. It's also smaller, I would think too, right? It is smaller. You don't need all of the equipment. And, um, really quick example that, that came up just this past week. My wife and I were in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday for a, a trade show. And the hotel we at, uh, I'm an early riser, so I woke up at five 30 and, um, I ca I wanted to get some coffee. I'm in a city, I don't know where to go. I called room service. They weren't open yet until seven. I know the problem so if there were, yeah, if there was like something in the room, aside from from the current, you know, options that would deliver a really good cup of coffee and really good flavor and easy. that would be perfect. Yeah. Well, it's, uh, it sounds exciting. Now, is this a, a dream at this point or is this getting close to reality? It's getting very close to reality. And if all goes as planned, um, we're thinking late spring, early summer that we could release this product. Really? Yeah. So months away, nine years away. Right. Right. Yes. And. What would be the normal competition, if you would say, uh, other than the plastic module, are there other things similar to that out there? There there aren't, there, there are like, um, kind of clumsy, you know, broom methods like pour over and things like that. That Right. A lot of hotels have those, uh, right pockets with the, with that never seem to fit Exactly, exactly. So there isn't anything as. And um, also, you know, the quality of the flavor of the cup of coffee is, is something that, that you can't compare to. Okay. And, uh, hopefully this will be not only available at retail locations, but purchasable online. Absolutely. Online and also at, uh, you know, we have quite a few wholesale partners that we work with that, you know, grocers and, and hotels and restaurants and things like. So that's something that, uh, to look forward to and new, yes, a new resolution of how to get rid of those plastic pods without mentioning the evil name that Houston. Now it's, uh, let's see, we have Walmart. Before that we had a store called Kmart. I'm giving you hint. Without saying that name. All right. Well, we want to talk about some other things that are happening at Dave's coffee and, uh, one of the other exciting things is that you do have a, a third facility, which, uh, is now getting closer to, uh, producing coffee syrup in-house. Right? Right. So we, we, you know, we've always roasted our coffee in there against, in package and all these things. But, um, we've, we've used a co-packer for the bottling of our coffee syrup, just because of the equipment that's involved and, and things like that. Um, so we've been working the past, well, it's gonna be six or eight months now to bring the entire, uh, production of the coffee syrup in-house. So we do everything from, you know, we bring the green beans in, roast them, cold brew them, and then make the syrup and bottle them. So we're on our. Step in that we, we got all of our equipment in and um, we have our inspections at the end of this month. And then we should be doing everything for our coffee syrup under one roof and air against it. Excellent. Well, I'm gonna find out why that's important. After we take a short break here, we'll find out more about Dave's coffee and talking with Dave Lenning, the owner. Uh, are you also the. I am, I wanna make titles. So co-founder, co-founder, uh, act. Yes. With my wife. We, we co-founded both businesses, so yes. All so co-founder, president, and owner. You got it. And other things. Yes. Pretty much everything. All right. We'll be back after this. Dave's coffee is a subject of today's company break. I'm Mike May know. Very pleased to be sitting with Dave Lanning, the owner of President, co-founder, and all around good guy of Dave's coffee. Uh, you know, sometimes businesses that like Dave's coffee, there is no Dave. Right, right. In your case, is it, is it you or is it from someone else named Dave? It's actually a combination. I have a. He's Dave Jr. And when we were thinking of what to name our company, um, my wife came up with the idea and said, let's call it Dave's coffee. And it was a combination of my son and myself. There you go. Yeah. Right. I mean, you know, people always go to Greg's restaurant. Wanna know where Greg is? Yeah. You got it? Yep. Okay. So we're, we were talking just before the break about, um, the syrup and um, bring. In house And you mentioned something that intrigues me. You said green beans? Yes. Uh, so is that not the kind of, that come in the cans that you have for dinner? Right, right. So, yeah. It's funny, a lot of people, you know, they assume coffee is in its roasted form. That's how it is. And you know, coffee is actually the seed of a cherry of a plant. And when, when it's raw, when it's, you know, it's harvested, it's the pulp and the cher is peeled off and the seed is exposed, it's dried and it's, it's actually a pale green color. So, you know, that's how we buy our coffee and that you call it green coffee. Do you have to get it from. Juan Valdez. Juan Valdez. No. So, so does your coffee come from a specific area or is it, is it, you know, seasonal? Like for example in the olive oil business, depending on the time of year, you buy it from different places. Does that happen with coffee? Exactly. You hit the nail on the head right there. It's, it's, it is seasonal, so there are different. Growing times and harvest times throughout the the world. And, um, we kind of buy in conjunction with that. So when, when coffees are harvested and dried and ready to be shipped, that's when we introduce new coffees to our lineup. Anything from, uh, this area? Has coffee ever grown in the United States aside? Not in the continental US, but, you know, Hawaii grows the Kona Coffee. Okay. Um, but primarily our coffees all come from Central America, south America, in Indonesia, those areas, and that's due to the hot climate, I would guess The hot climate in, in, you know, the, it takes a long time to establish coffee as a crop. So, um, it's five years from the time of. Plant is planted before they can, can harvest from it. Wow. And so those areas all have established growing, uh, plantations and farms. All right. Well, I sidetracked a little bit. We were talking about syrup and bringing that all in house, and that's, uh, something that you're in the process of doing, right? Correct. And so Dave's coffee syrup. Is gonna be just another product you can buy from the Dave's group. Right, right, right. So we've had our syrup for, you know, for, for quite a while and always used a co packer to help us with, with the final stage of the process, which is the actual, like, uh, boiling of the syrup, and then it, it goes into our, our glass bottles and get to packaged and, and labeled and everything. So for people that aren't familiar with co-pack or essentially what, it's your recipe if you will. Right. And they just, Let's put put the pieces together for you. Exactly. It's basically like we're, we're using their equipment and their personnel to do the final stages of our production, but that's gonna come in house now. It is. We've been working for, we've talked about this forever and been working on it really diligently for the past six months. Um, you know, there's a lot of equipment involved. There's different licensing, you know, from the, from the state where, Um, we're a food producer right now, but now we have to get a bottling license because that, that's a whole other, um, step of challenges that you have to make sure you do correctly and, and under supervision. But, um, but we're finally at a stage where we have our equipment in, we've got everything in place, and we're just about ready to go. And when this finally happens, are we talking about an add. Two employees, 10 employees, no additional employees. N we will employ off the bat will be two additional. And then as things get, get busier, um, we'll be able to scale up from that. And that's, that's one of the reasons why it was important for us to do this. Um, in-house, uh, you know, at the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of the, the co packers shut down, right? So we were basically, Out of product. And you know, as you can imagine, we not only selling it ourself, but supplying it to other accounts that we deal with, simple markets and so forth, right. So they don't wanna see empty space on their shelf. So if we don't have product to provide to them, it, it's a significant problem. Yeah. Once it goes, it's hard to get back. You got it. You got it. Yeah. So bringing it in-house is not only great for us to, you know, create additional jobs. It gives us the security to know that we will always have a supply of our product and also opens up the doors for us to expand. Like, um, when we first began our syrup, we used to do a, our original coffee syrup. we did a vanilla coffee syrup, a mocha coffee syrup, and a decaf version. Hmm. And since we, we were at the mercy of a co-packer with what they could produce for us, we could only do our original syrup. So now that we're doing everything in house, You know, the sky's the limit on what we can do. Yeah. And that, uh, that also translates to the fact about your coffee. You have different flavors of coffee at different times of year. Right, right. Different varietals of coffee. And sometimes people, when they hear the word flavors, they think of hazelnut and creme and things like that. Pumpkin. Yeah. Pumpkin. So we don't, we don't do flavored coffee, but we do different varietals of coffee, meaning they come from different parts of the world. Okay. And, uh, and that's something that, uh, is available now or when, when does that start? So we're here at the beginning of March. Uh, is that, when do they take, come into play? Yeah. So we're, um, usually quarterly we introduce new coffees. Okay. So, you know, end of March we kind of roll out. Seasonal spring, summer blends in varietals and no green coffee for St. Patrick's Day. No Okay. No green coffee, All right. All right. So we've, we've kind of touched on the fact that, um, different coffees, different time of the year. One of the things that, uh, W C R I is very fortunate is that we have a worldwide listening audience. Um, by streaming and people listening to the podcast and listening live around the world, and lots of times they, they listen because they maybe were from Rhode Island and um, or spent time here in the service or whatever. There's some kind of connection. Relatives live here and they hanker for something from Rhode Island. So can people buy your product and have a ship? Yes, we, we currently ship all over the United States into Canada. Um, so Daves coffee.com, very easy to remember. Um, we offer all of our coffees and we also offer a really nice service. It's, uh, a subscription service. And you know, the subscription term is kind of like a little negative in some people's minds cause they feel like they're locked into something. Like, oh boy, I sign up for something and Oh, I haven't got out. It's a timeshare or hold, you're right. Right. So, so I like to call it roast on demand. So what we do is, you know, people sign up for this service, they tell us how frequently they would like to get their coffee, and then when that time comes, An order is automatically generated. We roast the coffee, ship it to them, and it arrives pretty much anywhere in the US within two to three days. Mm-hmm. Okay. So it's one of the best ways to get the freshest coffee, and it's super easy to. To cancel it, to pause it, to suspend whatever you wanna do. We don't make it difficult at all. I'm going away on vacation for a month, so I don't want to come in this month. Right. Or if you just find yourself with too much coffee, you pause it for a few weeks or a month or whatever and then start it up again. And you mentioned US and Canada? Correct. Okay. And that's it. So if you're listening in Spain, tough luck. Yeah. unfortunately. Shipping of a$15 bag of coffee. Right. Um, sometimes the, the, the economics of the shipping just aren't in our favor. Okay. No, that makes sense. Yeah. So, all right. We've, uh, talked about the seasonal coffee and, uh, the fact that, uh, there's gonna be some new stuff always happening so people can go to the website, dave's coffee.com. That's pretty simple. Right? Right. so it's d a v e s, no apostrophe, obviously dave's coffee.com. And, uh, one of the things that they might see on there is something about community involvement. Is there anything that's, uh, on the site about that? It, yes, there is, is isn't about us section Rs I, and, um, you know, it's, we're fortunate to live in a small community here where we know a lot of our neighbors. Um, it's nice to be able to repurpose your, your product, um, pieces of your product in production that you don't have a use for. For example, for us, with our cold brew, we do it in really large batches of 135 gallons. So we have a lot of coffee grinds that are, that to us are not usable, but we partner up with, with a company in Charlestown called Earth Care Farms. and they make an amazing compost. And, and they use a lot of the fish because of the, you know, the fishing industry in point, Judith and Nagana. Right. And then they also add coffee grinds to it and things that incorporate, um, a lot of nitrogen and, and vitamins into the soil. Um, so it's nice to be able to work with companies that can reuse your, your byproducts in a, in a good. Now I've always heard people taking coffee grounds and putting them around their garden and stuff like that. And that's something that's, uh, good to do. It's absolutely good to do. Yeah. I, I wanna make sure we're not leading some of as stray I know. So, so take those coffee grounds, don't dump'em in the trash and, and put'em right out on your own. Um, even if you have window box flowers, it doesn't make, make a difference. Mm-hmm. Right. Right. All right. So, um, one of the things that Dave's coffee also offers is some delivery of product, right? So if you're in the local area and, um, or can people pick it up with a mobile app or something like that? Yes. Pickup, we don't, we don't deliver, but we, we have a really strong following ever since the pandemic of, of mobile ordering. Mm-hmm. So it makes it really convenient for people to, to place their order, especially if you're in a hurry, you know? Some of the things like we house make breakfast sandwiches in, in our, both our locations and they take, you know, 5, 6, 7 minutes to, to make, so it's just really convenient to place your order on our app. When you leave your house, you stop in your order's, sitting, bagged up, ready to go on the counter. You grab it, you're on your way. Excellent. Yeah. And I think that's something that, that one of the good things that came out of the pandemic is just, you know, convenience and making life easier for the customer. Something like that. People learning that that's a, a good way to go. It's not a bad thing. Right. It's, it's a way to help and it's a way it helps you as a business too because you can control, you know, rather than having a line out the door like I mentioned earlier. Absolutely. Um, that you can control what needs to be done and when. Right. And it's also a good way to see, cuz we, we frequently change our menu, you. We bake everything in-house at both of our locations. Um, and so we change up things on the menu depending on different holidays coming up or, or the season. So it's a good way to to, to go on the app and you can see exactly what we have fresh baked that morning, aside from, you know, your coffee drinks in, in order from there. so you're talking like muffins and muffins, breakfast sandwiches. We do delicious scones, chocolate chip cookies. And then, like I said, we also do seasonal things. We had some really fun things for, for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Valentine's Day and times of the year that, you know, it's, you can do some really fun. Baked goods. Excellent. What are the hours that, uh, you're open? So both locations are open. 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM So if I was staying in Providence and I got up at five 30 and I wanted to get a cup of coffee, hopefully you're staying somewhere, and they'll have the Dave's coffee like ready to brew a sts. Sitting on your, on your, we'll have that stand. That will be the cat That'll be what we do. So, seven o'clock till what time? 4:00 PM. 4:00 PM So, uh, basically, uh, through lunch, are there lunch products also, not lunch products, but primarily breakfast and then a lot of, I mean, you get a breakfast sandwich for lunch. Yes. Yeah. That kind of thing. Yes. I mean, that's available all day long. It is, yeah. Okay. So that's good. So you can get a little, a little munch, a little, you know, a little something. I, I have a business tip for you, Dave. Okay. All right. Your, your South Main Street location. Yes. Chocolate chip cookies. Yep. Now, if you were open at midnight, the university would be flooding in there. Oh, midnight snack. Yes. Right. But think about. That Right. You never know. well, it's been a pleasure to have you back again. It's, uh, there's always something new happening. Uh, we could probably continue this for another hour, but we're out of time. I think we've touched on most of the things. Anything else you just wanna tell our audience? I think we talked about your community involvement and, uh, the fact that as seasonal coffee's coming up, lots of things we touched on. Yeah, I did too. I think it, we, we discussed a lot in a short amount of time and it was a lot of fun. Excellent. Well thank you for coming in Dave. And don't forget also when you're down, uh, to Galapagos, uh, the boutique that's there and uh, so you can do a little shopping. Now can they take the coffee into the shop? More than welcome. Really? Yes. So see that's something that's unusual too. Dave's coffee is welcome. Right, right. Well thanks again Dave and the rest of you will see you next time on Company Break Whistle while you. Thank you for listening to W C's presentation of Company Break. I'm Mike May know, hoping you have a great weekend.