I was recently asked a series of questions from a local food beat writer about our business. The writer clearly had thought a lot about our business and the industry in general and seemed to hone in on just the right questions to help anyone from coffee professional to regular customer understand our business and the industry in general a little better. So, here they are:
Q: How does the ROWSTER approach to roasting coffee differ from the typical American chains?
A: First we roast very light. In fact, our darkest roast is lighter than a lot of the national brands lightest roasts. A light roast allows the bean which is really a seed from a coffee cherry to express its true and highest nature. Over-roasted beans are the product of poorly grown, harvested and processed coffee cherries. We want our coffee to taste like the fruit and not like the inside of a roaster. Secondly, as our name implies, we are all about roasting. We study the subtleties and nuances of this culinary craft very carefully. It is truly an art and a science. I have personally roasted over 10,000 batches of coffee. What makes us most different is that we take a very professional approach to the roasting that expresses our desire to always improve, learn and strive toward perfection. Despite my experience roasting I feel that there is still so much to learn. The complex chemical reactions that occur in the bean as the Maillard Reaction and Pyrolysis take effect are impossible to fully understand and measure. Science can only get you so far. The art of roasting fills the gaps.
Q: When did you start roasting commercially?
A: I had been roasting in a Has Garanti 5 kilo drum roaster on my back porch since 2004 for friends and as a "hobby" that got a little out of control. But in 2008 my employer of 10 years fell prey to the economic crisis and I decided to turn my passion into a full time business.
Q: Do you view ROWSTER as a wholesale distributor first or a coffee shop first?
A: The label "Coffee Shop" is hard to shed or break away from. But we are first and foremost a roaster. If we only sold bags for home users we would be very happy. But our mission is to share the best coffee experience in the world with as many people as we can reach and that involves a small but growing number of equally passionate and supportive cafes and restaurants. Our customers are an elite group. We don't sell to just anyone. We don't look for customers. Customers come to us and if we share common values of high integrity, business ethics, professionalism and a passion to be the best then we may be able to do business. More importantly, we look for humility. Humility is required in the service industry and in sales. Humility allows one to be empathetic with the consumer and understand their needs and finally offer the right solution.
Q: I noticed when I came in that there weren't any menu boards (or at least ones that I saw), so how does a first time customer know what there is available for order?
A: We have tried several times to produce a menu that expressed what we were about but found that it actually made the experience more confusing and disjointed, so now we have eliminated them. One problem we identified right away when we built this place was that the Starbucks or fast food trained customer would come in they would bring their past experience at a "coffee shop" with them and project it onto us. Since what we are doing is focusing on the quality from seed to cup and everything in-between we are inherently different from every other option currently mass-produced for the mass-consumer mentality. So we wanted to reverse the trend and project onto the customer a totally different experience right away. By taking away the menu it creates some initial tension but our staff is trained to be very empathetic and read the verbal and non-verbal cues through just a couple of brief questions so that we can identify the customer's needs. Ultimately, we are the experts so we want the customer to stay out of the decision making process as much as possible. Its very aggressive and risky but its the only way to take charge of the customer experience and exceed their expectations.
