Notes:
to attract - to arouse or compel the interest, admiration, or attention of
a customer - one that buys goods or services
a founder - one who establishes something or formulates the basis for something
background - a person's experience, training, and education
obsessed with - consumed, driven about belief, desire
to take the plunge – to make an important decision after some hesitation
sufficiently - being as much as is needed
burned out - worn out or exhausted, especially as a result of long-term stress
ignorant - lacking education or knowledge
bliss - extreme happiness; ecstasy
a priority – the state of being first in time, place and importance
a coffee bean - the seed of the coffee plant
to roast – to cook by exposing directly to heat
to waste – to spoil
alternate - serving or used in place of another; substitute
to ride a wave – to have a run of good luck
frugal – not wasteful or lavish
a batch roaster - apparatus that roasts a given quantity (a batch) of coffee at a time
a roastery - a business or enterprise where green coffee beans are roasted
to keep up - persevere, carry on, prolong
at a decent hour – not too late
Coffee Maker Focuses on Freshness to Attract Customers
My name is James Freeman. I’m the owner and founder of BlueBottleCoffee company.
I have no background in coffee or business.
I was super obsessed with coffee when I was a clarinet player and I just took the plunge. I was sufficiently burned out and ignorant, I think, in order to not realize I didn’t have enough money or enough experience not to do it. So, ignorance is bliss sometimes.
We place a huge priority on freshness. We like to get our coffee beans out the door into our customer’s hands within 48 hours of roasting, so customers know that everything they’re getting is really at its peak.
It requires a lot of careful managers, ordering carefully, but we found we hardly waste any coffee at all.
I feel like I was living in an alternate universe during the recession.
And every time I would look at our shops, they were busier and busier, we were selling more and more coffee.
I feel very lucky. I feel like it’s been this great wave that we’ve been riding.
All I knew financially was my home checking account.
I didn’t spend money I didn’t have. I started super cheap, I was really frugal through the whole process.
When I started, I was in a 186 square feet, roasting coffee on a seven-pound batch roaster.
And now we’ve got six cafes on two coasts, two roasteries, over a hundreds wholesale accounts.
Our biggest challenge is definitely keeping up. Now we’re here in this beautiful building in Oakland, it’s really been helpful.
We have two vintage roasters, and finally we can go home at a decent hour.
You can’t run a company of a hundred employees the same way you ran it with twenty employees, so you have to build in a lot more mechanisms for communication.
So like a long-distance romance, you have to work a lot harder. You have to call up, ‘Hey, honey, how’s it going?’
I don’t think it pays to think about competition too much.
If you think about what your goals are, in terms of your product and the success of your product, people will find you, I really believe.
to attract - to arouse or compel the interest, admiration, or attention of
a customer - one that buys goods or services
a founder - one who establishes something or formulates the basis for something
background - a person's experience, training, and education
obsessed with - consumed, driven about belief, desire
to take the plunge – to make an important decision after some hesitation
sufficiently - being as much as is needed
burned out - worn out or exhausted, especially as a result of long-term stress
ignorant - lacking education or knowledge
bliss - extreme happiness; ecstasy
a priority – the state of being first in time, place and importance
a coffee bean - the seed of the coffee plant
to roast – to cook by exposing directly to heat
to waste – to spoil
alternate - serving or used in place of another; substitute
to ride a wave – to have a run of good luck
frugal – not wasteful or lavish
a batch roaster - apparatus that roasts a given quantity (a batch) of coffee at a time
a roastery - a business or enterprise where green coffee beans are roasted
to keep up - persevere, carry on, prolong
at a decent hour – not too late
Transcript:
Coffee Maker Focuses on Freshness to Attract Customers
My name is James Freeman. I’m the owner and founder of BlueBottleCoffee company.
I have no background in coffee or business.
I was super obsessed with coffee when I was a clarinet player and I just took the plunge. I was sufficiently burned out and ignorant, I think, in order to not realize I didn’t have enough money or enough experience not to do it. So, ignorance is bliss sometimes.
We place a huge priority on freshness. We like to get our coffee beans out the door into our customer’s hands within 48 hours of roasting, so customers know that everything they’re getting is really at its peak.
It requires a lot of careful managers, ordering carefully, but we found we hardly waste any coffee at all.
I feel like I was living in an alternate universe during the recession.
And every time I would look at our shops, they were busier and busier, we were selling more and more coffee.
I feel very lucky. I feel like it’s been this great wave that we’ve been riding.
All I knew financially was my home checking account.
I didn’t spend money I didn’t have. I started super cheap, I was really frugal through the whole process.
When I started, I was in a 186 square feet, roasting coffee on a seven-pound batch roaster.
And now we’ve got six cafes on two coasts, two roasteries, over a hundreds wholesale accounts.
Our biggest challenge is definitely keeping up. Now we’re here in this beautiful building in Oakland, it’s really been helpful.
We have two vintage roasters, and finally we can go home at a decent hour.
You can’t run a company of a hundred employees the same way you ran it with twenty employees, so you have to build in a lot more mechanisms for communication.
So like a long-distance romance, you have to work a lot harder. You have to call up, ‘Hey, honey, how’s it going?’
I don’t think it pays to think about competition too much.
If you think about what your goals are, in terms of your product and the success of your product, people will find you, I really believe.
Questions:
James Freeman is
the owner of Blue Bottle Coffee company
the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee company
both, the owner and founder of Blue Bottle Coffee company
John Freeman was very interested in coffee, and just took the plunge, which means he:
made an important decision
borrowed the money for his company
won a lottery
What is Freeman's primary focus in the coffee business?
low prices
freshness of coffee
advertising
How long is it before the coffee beans reach customers?
within 88 hours
within 28 hours
within 48 hours
Does the wave Freeman feels the company has been riding mean:
a run of good luck
buying coffee beans in bulk
selling Blue Bottle Coffee right on the beach
When James Freeman started his company, he:
spend money lavishly
borrowed heavily
spend money thriftily
How many cafes on two coasts does Blue Bottle Coffee company have?
sixteen
six
sixty
The biggest problem for the company is:
high staff turnover
high taxes
maintaining the current level
Now that the company has grown, what is needed to keep up?
more managers
more tools to network within the company
more delivery trucks
James Freeman is
the owner of Blue Bottle Coffee company
the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee company
both, the owner and founder of Blue Bottle Coffee company
John Freeman was very interested in coffee, and just took the plunge, which means he:
made an important decision
borrowed the money for his company
won a lottery
What is Freeman's primary focus in the coffee business?
low prices
freshness of coffee
advertising
How long is it before the coffee beans reach customers?
within 88 hours
within 28 hours
within 48 hours
Does the wave Freeman feels the company has been riding mean:
a run of good luck
buying coffee beans in bulk
selling Blue Bottle Coffee right on the beach
When James Freeman started his company, he:
spend money lavishly
borrowed heavily
spend money thriftily
How many cafes on two coasts does Blue Bottle Coffee company have?
sixteen
six
sixty
The biggest problem for the company is:
high staff turnover
high taxes
maintaining the current level
Now that the company has grown, what is needed to keep up?
more managers
more tools to network within the company
more delivery trucks
