Dan from First Fruits - Running a Business

First Fruit Coffee Roasters are located in Gold Coast, QLD.

In this episode, we talk about how Dan began his love for coffee and his move to specialty coffee.

We chat about keeping your store financially focused, how to interact with staff, why collaborating with other roasters is important and how important it is to recognise the farmers.

We are drinking the very delicious Costa Rican Aquiares Estate espresso. After airing this episode we sold out, nevertheless there's the link if you would like to see the description.

Thanks for joining and we appreciate any feedback or criticism so we can continue to improve and deliver content that matters to you, because it all starts with a coffee.

Transcript

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to our first episode of Interviewing Coffee Roasters on site. This podcast was filmed on site and there will be some background noises, dishes clicking, and people talking in the background, just like you would experience in a busy café. During the segment, you will hear some bells on some takeaway key points that we'll briefly highlight at the end of the segment. 

Now, please let me introduce you to Dan from First Fruit Specialty Coffee, located here in the Gold Coast. Let's listen to what he has to say to those who are looking at starting a café. All the while we're sipping on some of delicious coffee from Costa Rica.

Thank you, Dan. Take it away.

Dan my bro. How long you been in the industry now? Ah, 10 years. 10 years since I left the military. Whoa. Um, doing run a first race the whole time and um, opened, uh, three, four cafes under our banner. One in Tokyo. Yep. Uh, and then we've helped so much of other places open up around the Gold Coast in Brisbane.

This is beautiful. 'cause that means you've got a lot of experience. Mm-hmm. Now, out of that experience, what can you give. Like a simple advice to newcomers that are wanting to start their own café. What would you suggest? Uh, what can you say? 

The, the basic business business principle is you, you've gotta solve a problem.

Yeah. That's delicious. Hey, this is Costa Rica. This is Costa Rica. Oh my goodness. Beautiful Aquiares Estate, right? Um, uh, you've gotta solve a problem like there's, which is, which is difficult in a café sense because, What, what is the problem that you're trying to solve? And so realistically it's, it's difficult to enter into the industry, but it's good in a way because Australians understand cafes.

You can put a café basically anywhere, and it won't be a foreign concept. People will know. People will just rock up in order to increase the amount of people that rock up. That's a very difficult thing to do. You have to do that through a bunch of different strategies. Um, and it's very difficult to track.

So if we do online marketing and those kind of things, it's very difficult to track how people are responding to ads because they don't come in and tell you that they've seen the ad. Um, and so I think if you're going into the industry, you really need to be different in a way that is isn't gonna cost you money to do and you need to somehow solve a problem.

For us, we're a coffee roastery, which is also us being different and helping us solve a problem where, We are able to do coffee like this and have coffee like this on the bar and have coffee that we can do and roast and, and make exciting and generate excitement through, which is how we're different.

Also, how we're solving a problem is we, our focus for our wholesale customers is really to help them be more profitable through the million different mistakes that they're probably making that I've made, that I'm still making and I don't yet know. And so it's a big, it's a big kind of learning process of understanding how to make it work.

Um, and then you just gotta watch it like a hawk. Like we often hear about these gigantic businesses that all of a sudden report like millions of dollars in losses, and you go, how can they do that? Um, it's so easy to do where you will have a couple of weeks where it's all of a sudden it's quiet and you're not looking at the data as much as it should be.

And you go, hold on a minute. I'm down 20% and my staffing's still the same, which means my staffing percentage has jumped. And I haven't kept track of it. And so you really need to be looking at those numbers and analysing it. So we, we, after each month, we closed the month previously and we sit down with some of the senior people in our team and we talk about what, what, what percentages of costs were associated to these things.

Are they okay to be there? How do we decrease them if we can? And, and trying to you, you've gotta treat it like an actual business even though it is something that, you know, we got into. 'cause we love it, like it's coffee. It's exciting. But if you just run and do passion and, and just run off into the bush, like you, you dunno where you're going.

You know what you're doing. You need to have the back, the backend really sorted. Um, and I learned that the hard way. We, we had had a small store, we had an investment to open this thing, and then we opened another store after that. And so then all of a sudden I had three separate stores that were all losing money rather than one that was losing money.

And I had to scramble to kind of catch up where some of the cafes that we've supplied to are opening chains. And I said, look, like we, we need to just sort out the first one, get it right, and then replicate the model when it's profitable. 

When it's profitable. That's right. Interesting. 'cause I've known you for a little while then.

Mm-hmm. And I remember what you said to me when Covid hit, is that you sat down with your chef, mm-hmm. Started breaking down all the cost analysis on making a simple product like a burger. Mm. And you realise, whoa. Everything's gone up and that's when I think you made a massive change as well. 

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah. And started making that. 'cause we, we were very, um, I find like we were very, we've learnt the hard way to not be slow to act on things. Like we, we didn't change our coffee prices for the first four years. So we were running, we were running the same price that we did back in, we started in 2015 as what we were doing coming into covid.

So it was, it was things like, oh wow, we, we need to be. Making these decisions. And the thing is that those decisions are imperative to make because you can't sell a product that's unprofitable 'cause it just means that everybody working within the business is struggling. But you make that choice, you're gonna annoy some customers, but the way that you do it is really important.

So when we raised for the first time and, and the, the next consecutive times after that, basically we had a printout, you know, a sign saying copy prices are rising. And then, uh, An item and a percentage of how much that that's increased over the last period. Just so you can see like, oh, we don't have sweet potato chips on our menu anymore because they've gone up 60%.

You know what I mean? So we can, we can show exactly so that if someone gets upset, it's like, you know, business isn't what I feel like people enter business and there's like this romanticism behind it. And they think that their only problem is gonna be finding a big enough bucket to catch all the doors that are flowing.

You know what I mean? Where like reality, it's not like that at all. There's, there's so many little things and mistakes that you're making that you need to fix and correct. Um, not in order to make money, but so that the business can, can function, uh, to its potential and effectively. And that, um, 'cause we, every, every cent we make, we actually put back into the business.

Like we're not taking it out and, and having big parties, like we're putting it back in, in order to grow because. Um, like for me as an owner, I actually absolutely love being here and I want to grow it and I want to, you know, play with really fun coffee and I want to, you know, invest it into, uh, our roasting so that we can, you know, increase our wholesale supply and we can actually pass on that stuff to others is, it's really important 'cause it's very difficult like, um, cafe ownership as you know yourself.

Like it's, it's very fine line between profit and not, and so like watching it and just, just trying to cut out decisions that aren't making sense, super important, like things that you're doing that you shouldn't be doing. So we actually, even with our chef, we go through our menu periodically and go, these items are the least selling.

Should we keep 'em? And if they hit like a keto or vegan or you know, some kind of dairy requirement, they're gonna sell less. And we'll keep 'em in there because they're very important to those people. But dishes that just shouldn't be there and they don't hit a dietary requirement, it's like, well, That shouldn't be there.

Let's remove it. Put something else in this place coming. So like, making all those decisions, I think has been really 

important. I think that's very important, what you said as well. You make those decisions after a month of closing. Mm-hmm. You sit down with your senior staff Yeah. And you all go together.

And I think that's so important for a business owner to, to interact with their, your, their staff. Mm-hmm. And they can help you making decisions as well. Mm-hmm. And give ideas. 

Well, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Like, 'cause Yeah. And that I, we're very open with their staff and even though with customers as well, like that, Like how, like the state of the business and how it looks.

Because like, like for us, we absolutely love having our staff. Like for us it is kind of a bit of a family and like we, I wanna show them what it is that's actually happening in the book sense to be like, look, this is the problem, this is why I've made these decisions. If you have a better solution, like, I'm sweet to listen to it.

Like, like I can't do everything on my, on my own. And my wife's also. You know, part of the business heavily, and she does a lot of the events at our other store. I'm like, you know, there's only two of us where there's a whole bunch of these people who are actually very invested in the success of our business.

Like they're really, you know, fantastic to have these people around us. Um, and just being like, look, this is where we're at. This is, you know, what I've done in the past, it's worked. Or this is what I've done in the past. It haven't worked. Or, here's the problem that I really can't solve. Like, let's figure out what to do so that everyone's actually mindful of what's happening within it so that we can all work together to push it forward.

And I think that's so good. That's what I think any bit, any, uh, successful business. Mm. Is the staff that helps ' em become successful. 

Well, that's right. Yeah. 'cause I'm, I'm only as effective as I can spend time doing stuff where if I'm interdependent, then I have a numerous amount of people who are around me working towards the same goal.

Like, I'm just so much more effective as a, a leader where I'm actually helping people move forward. Um, and the big thing with us as well is that, We, you know, our staff aren't gonna be with us forever. And so we're really, um, you know, especially in the café industry where like often the café industry, high turnover, it's, it's a high turnover and, and it doesn't attract a lot of career-minded hospitality employees, which is completely fine.

Like I absolutely get that, especially for us being in a uni, a uni area where people live in the area going to uni. Um, but even those people who are here for a short period of time and they're here. Sporadically during the week. Like I want that time for them to be, I want it to be valuable for them to be here because they're gonna, you know, like if someone is here and they don't want to be here, that's gonna come across in everything.

And so we really try and make sure that they're here and they're actually enjoying their time here in order to be able to better serve our customers as well as for them when they move on. Like they're gonna be better off having had worked here, which is really important 

for us. And I find like interesting you said that.

'cause I believe those that. Feel that the hospitality is just like a, a leeway to somewhere else. Mm-hmm. But there's so much opportunity in the hospitality industry, like, yeah, you got one. You can work it like behind the bar, behind the making coffees. Yeah. You can start your own, you can start wasting.

Yeah, I can. There's so much more. Absolutely. Yeah. This industry's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of pathways I think into like high level roles. Um, it is difficult to get there. I like, especially in. Um, it seems like from what I've seen, the biggest, uh, pathway into higher paying roles within a coffee industry is, um, either management of a high profile cafe or working for a roaster and selling coffee.

Like those two things, like especially roasting, like as an example, we put out, we, our sales, uh, team members have a structure where they're actually able to earn a percentage of what's. They sell. So basically they're creating their own little business for themselves, and that'll continue as long as they're within the business.

Yeah. Like, so they're, they're building their own thing as well as building our thing. And we're all working together to move forward, which is super exciting. Like, 

and, um, I think that's so important as well, because when you see people, when they, they start seeing potentialities of what they can do, I think that's amazing as well.

Like, and I think the next step as well could be like, run your own show. You know, you work in the industry for a while. Yeah. You have your own ideas. Mm-hmm. Like you said, like. Run your own show, then you can hit, then you start getting all this stuff from everybody else. Mm-hmm. No, absolutely. Yeah. And the industry's open.

I love the coffee industry because everybody helps each other. It's not like Absolutely. Oh, it's only me. Yes. Yeah. Everybody tries to help because it's such a, it's hard. Absolutely. And everybody wants everybody to to, to do that.

Yeah. Like even other roasters on the Gold Coast in Brisbane, like technically in one sense we should be in competition, but in another sense we're like, we're not where like I've got friends, you know, who own, um, In, uh, cafe and roastery in like creek Extraction.

Um, and if any of our customers are in the area, Alex, Alex, and I'm like, go there. Like, you don't need to drive 40 minutes to come here. Like they do fantastic coffee. That's the point. Like, go there. You know what I mean? Like it just makes sense. Yeah. Like, 'cause it's also like coffee is also a journey, but it's also, it's, there's also a time factor involved, like the close, if you're close to something, There's stuff in the area, which is fantastic.

Like, that's, that's absolutely where you should go. 

Yeah, man, that's beautiful. And, and I think that's why I love my website as well that I'm doing because there's so many roasts. There's so many, and the industry's so beautiful. Everybody's supportive of each other. Mm. That I want everybody to try all the roasts that we have in Australia. Absolutely. Whether, whether it works or not. That's a different, 

It's cool. It's cool though. Like marketplaces I think is a, is a, it's a really good, it's a cool thing. I think it's exciting because, Like, it, it, it is like, you know, our customers come in and, and purchase our main blend regularly, but for, for the people that like to jump around and try different things, you can't often just do that by coming into one place.

Like you want to be able to choose from multiple different people. I. Um, even for myself, like I I, I like, I've seen you cover a couple of different yes I've seen you in Maylard. Oh, 

absolutely. I've seen you. Yeah. Because they're doing cool things and I wanna taste it, you know what I mean? Like, and if, if I only in, in wine there's a similar thing where if you, if the wine maker only drinks their own product, they get what's called a cellar palette and they don't actually know what anyone else is doing and they kind of move on this journey where it's just them.

And they have no idea where the market is, what the trends are, what's popular, what's happening. They're just kind of railroaded into their own thing, where I actually really wanna be able to taste other people's coffee and see what people are doing. That's exciting. And, and like, go, you know, and encouragement.

If they do something that's exceptional, I'll be like, that was really good. You know? Yeah. Like, that's cool. Um, and like, encourage them to be able to, you know, move forward in coffee and get excited and, 'cause I think that excitement is one, it, it helps us all to. Get excited and work better progress.

'cause we love where we are. Yes. Uh, as well as get the, the customers are excited about being able to try this. Aquiares Estate Costa Rica that comes from a farm. Unreal. You know? Yeah. This is not real. There's, there's 2000 people living on this farm, you know what I mean? Like, it's, it's super cool. Like, it's interesting and like, it's the oldest and largest coffee farm in Costa Rica, you know, like, and, and that, that has a story, which is why we have all these photos of, and pictures of, um, farmers on here because, um, I wanna showcase what they're doing, which, you know, these farmers may have been.

On that farm for generations where I've had the, I've had a bag for a couple of months and I've spent 15 minutes roasting it like I want to, I wanna roast it in a way that's super light and you can taste what they've done to it because they've spent a lot more time with it caring about it than I have.

So I wanna show what their story, not our thing, 

man. And you're doing such a good job. Alright. Thank you for this. I really appreciate this. 

Thank you so much, Dan, for your valuable insights on helping others getting into the coffee industry. Some key takeaway points we get from Dan are;

Solve a problem. Be different. Learn from your mistakes. Analyse your data regularly. When you're profitable, then replicate your model. Don't be slow to act and be quick to fix and correct mistakes because there is a fine line between profit and loss. Cut out decisions that aren't making sense. Be \open and transparent with staff and customers and be open to solutions, with your staff make their time valuable when they're with you. Allow them to enjoy their time with you so they can better serve your customers.

With competitors, enjoy it when others are doing cool things. Don't get a cellars palette. Encourage others when they're doing something new because excitement helps everyone to work better, and it's important to showcase what the farmers are doing with the coffee beans.

We hope you enjoyed this podcast and we hope you join us for the next one. My name is Tommy and I'm gonna brew another Costa Rican Coffee shot.