Future Growth and Scaling Hospitality

C and class Pod. No, Ds I got a whole fucking theme song Well She brought the theme song Energy We can do one right now. Mark el to the Cap and Cloud podcast. This is Casey And I wanted to introduce our five partt series called From Soil to Service We talk to our team at Caten Cloud to learn about the journey of a single cup of coffee, from the farm all the way to the final guest experience. We explore sourcing, roasting, quality control, tasting, talk to our wholesale partner program It's an education, learn about the hospitality and much, much more Right, y'all, this is a shorty today continue our conversation with Mark our leader of the wholesale Partner program Chris Jared and Mark continue to explore what great hospitality actually looks like in practice cafes to our wholesale partnerships. They cover the importance of cold promises over those rigid SOPs and also fooccus on creating memorable guest experiences and building authentic relationships Tune in next week as we talk to Herman head of retail for all of our cafes If you want a cafe or want to, you'll want to tune in that one So thanks for tuning in and let's get into it So I'll give you an example. We do orientation Orientation sets people up to engage with the culture from day one. They learn about our mission, our values and how we act on those things. So it's a good first step, but it is nowhere near enough. If all we did was orientation, and it never revisited any of those things on the day today They would just start slipping So, you know, you see this in high end high end service at like Michelin star restaurants. they would never open for service without going over the entire menu, the plan of the evening, and like what the metrics of success are and the ins and outs of every single dish. And they do that every night They can't ignore it. they don't ignore it. And so it's like totally, what are the systems that you can create to make sure that happens? And one of the things that we were working on And I don't think we're like executing on this to where we need to be. Like I'm proud of our team and I'm proud of what we do because we do have a great experience But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't room for improvement, for sure. So one of the things we did at our last offsite is We kind of drilled into what are some core promises for each department And how can we you keep those front of mind? So I'll read you the first two for retail because I think these hit home and really resonate with what he's talking about So number one, we are guest focused We warmly welcome people into our spaces and are attentive to their needs. We never leave a guest. unattended It's not a clubhouse, it's a party and we're the hosts. We respect the time of our guests Okay so that is that is like the spirit of a thing. It's not an SOP. It's a state of mind, you know. And that's I think the key to get in and like you're saying, Jared, keep talking about it, keep having those conversations. becausecause if you tell me, hey, I'm having people we're having people over at our house. Right. We want to put on a really awesome show and we want to make people feel rad. likeike it's going to be an evening to remember You don't have to tell me every single thing that needs to happen. I immediately understand ninety five percent of what's going on. Absolutely. Right. And I feel empowered to take action to like make everybody feel awesome when they come in. Right. And the second thing of there's four, but I'll just read the first two on the retail focus is number two We make it right We find solutions, we make it easy, we make it fun, spe special and memorable every day. Again, not an SOP. right. You can apply that. mindset any situation that might happen kid spills the drink. There's no SOP for a kid spilling the drink, but if you know those first two things, you're like, okay, cool. We're going to make the drink again, obviously at no charge and maybe bring out, I don't know, like paper and crayons or something like just what's that extra fun little thing? Here's a sticker because k gets crying. you know what I mean? Like sticker in a honey stick or something. And it's like My version of solving that problem might be a little different than your version of solving the problem, but at the core, we're going to do like the same basic things and then the extra shit. It doesn't matter that it's not exactly the same.. What matters is we're moving in that direction. So it's like J just not ignoring those things on the day to day We always have to remember that whatever the leaders talk about the most is what the people remember and think about the most Everybody who works for you is listening to what you say and do and watching what you do, I should say. And so those things one alignment' important, but two The more you talk about it the more they will recognize that it's important. The less you talk about it Eespecially if you say it's important, that's going to be your disconnect And so, you know, the goal is translation those two those two lines like Chrisis Redder. so key to an experience and an idea So then every time we have a coaching moment, in theory, you can point back to one of those two things and likely the other two and say, hey, this is where What you did is a slightly misaligned, right This is what we're trying to do. is all you need to focus on. Maybe you focused over here. And that felt important and it probably was okay, but it sacrificed the main focuses first. These things first and then fill in the blanks with everything else. And it allows for focus on the most special things. You can't do everything all the time. You cannot achieve one hundred percent perfection every single day, especially in the coffee industry, right? That's where that's why Michelin star restaurants are that there are people. in small teams who come to make the best of the best of the best. So you can expect that from the beginning. and you can expect very, very high levels, especially coffee But I don't think unless you have one cafe and that's all you do that you're going to be able to expect. perfection on every level. You need to be able to break down the clarity as best you can I think how we move. The spirit of the thing too takes you away from like the Michelin iss like a good example Because it paints like this like crazy picture, but there areium There are other examples where you're not operating at that high of a level, but it still isn't a spirit of the thing. feeling feels right. Yeah. like like one of the things that and whether you think this is corny or not, it is like we used to talk about or I used to tell the story like in orientation back in the day, I was always talkking about that fish market at Pik's placeace in Seattle where it's like they have a stick And their stick is Someone will pick up a whole fish that weighs like thirty pounds, throw it across the market and the other guy will catch it in the paper and chop it up and wp it. Yeah. and the whole thing's a show. And that's a different kind of excise an old Michelin star thing. And it's not about their their promise isn't about being perfect or operating at the highest level, their promise is about having fun and being entertained.ight. You're going to go there and you're going to be entertained And like all of this connects with something that you talked about earlier, Mark, which is like, you know, I'm reading the promises for our wholesale and there's one One sentence in our partner program line that says We take the time to discover our partnner' true needs and desires. And that's again, that's the spirit of the thing. It's not an SOP. and like you said earlier, its differenterent partners need different things. And if we have just a strict playbook, like this is the playbook, this is all we can do you from being able to serve our partners at our highest level because the service is very personal, you know and customizable. So 's levels. Absolutely. And that's the fun part of it is figuring those things out. By the way, I really likek the way you say stick. You really mailed it. No, but that is the most fun part of the job. L and that's where you need to yourself, you know, to be able to just think creatively about like what you can do because it still has to make sense for us as a business. and does need to be If it's a one off thing, it's okay, but if it's something that might be repeatable, we need to know how we're going to do that and what it looks like. So it's always that comombo of creativity and understanding our those goals that we have, that intention, but with our mission, our values and how we operate to put it all together into a package that actually works for everybody, you know, because you can't be doing something that's shooting to yourself in the foot either. That's not that doesn't serve anybody in a good way. Right. What do you think is With that, so it's like different different partners have different needs And then there's some that are just What am I trying to ask? Like how do you figure out who might be a good partner for us or who might be a better partner for someone else Yeah, totally. I mean That's a good question I think a lot of it comes down to just the conversations that you have earlier on and like why people were seeking us out in general. And that's also kind of a tough question because we're really fortunate where we're mostly inbound I have a network that I connect with and will reach out to people to try to to discover opportunities. But to this day, we are still very fortunate to have people coming to us. And for the most part, it's because of a referral where someone was just like, Hey, these guys take care of you, these guys care about these things. Product is amazing. They will get you in the right spot with a coffee program So A lot of the legwork has been done for us because it's through this network and all these avenues of people that have hands on experience with us. But in evaluating businesses and people, like it comes down to intention, I think. like are they being intentional about what experience they want to offer Yes, it's okay that that experience is different than our experience, you know, notot everyone's going to be doing it the exact way we do it. and that's okay. But as long as they're putting that care into their coffee service into their hospitality, into how they're displaying our products and they're thinking about it We feel pretty good about working with people in the most part. you know, and we're fortunate' the quality of like eds we get and people that reach out to us are generally in that zone, you know and are thinking about these things. So it's not a simple thing of like Yay or nay based off of a blind reach out, but just because that's not how we've been structured and kind of what are Network and referrals have led who our network and referral have led to us in so many ways. Cool. So then a different version of the same question. When people are coming to us and start working with us, what are What is the thing that keeps them here. What promise are we delivering on over and over again makes them feel like, yeah, this is where I want to be Uh ye, I mean, the things that I have found to be most impactful are Partially reachability, you know, arere people able to respond to touch of us? are lightightning fast with our response time too, you know, There is nothing worse than when something goes wrong and you reach out and it takes you know, two to three days to hear back from someone. So in general, if you hit us up, we're going to get back to you within twenty four hours, business days, you know, we're not on call all weekend every weekend. That being said, if you shoot me a text, I probably will respond. probablyably shouldn't put that in the world, but it's the truth. But it's more desires. Yes T text them to. what it is. I think being I playing your weekend. offer offer like fast and simple solutions for people, I think is like one of the most impactful things you can do. I also think being in general This is one of those other things that we didn't speak to, but a good hang, you know. I like spending time with people. I like coffee being an aspect of it. good hang. And Eddie is on the same page. you know, we really do enjoy what we do and having that joy be a part of it and having fun with what we do is huge because it's authenticity that can't be faked, you know? I'm not just putting on the show. No that's so real. Don't get me wrong Im tired and I have to drive. You even your shows up.ve I drove up to San Francisco three times over the past five over the past like week and a half, basically. you know, which is an hour and a half drive for us Each direction I'm tired when I'm waking up. I'm tired when I'm going there But then I get there and I get to do my job and I love it and I'm good with it. Yeah, you know, Like that's what sits right. So Again, like there's things that are more exhausting, but if you know that you're doing work that you enjoy Now it flows through from there. A huge part of creating compelling experiences is by pairing excellent coffee with excellent culture, training, service, and systems. And that's what we help people do in our wholesale partner program. So we work with everyone from single location, independent shops to large scale business dining operations. and the one thing all our partners have in common is that the experience they create for their guests is paramount We work with people who want to bring joy to other people and use coffee as their conduit to do that. From in person training to access to recipes, service, barflow, and techniques that make creating high quality beverages as simple as possible, We love to share what makes our retail stores sing so that you can have that same level of impact with your guests. If you want to serve Cat and Cloud, there's a link in the description to our wholesale form or you can go to catincloud dot com slash wholesale isn't if that answers your quest Well, there's so much. No h. It really does. I mean, I mean being a good hang At least for you, feels like it's an extension of who you are and where you came from where you're not if I close my eyes and I'm just like, picture a sales guy. You know, I don't think of you. You're not you're not a sales guy U If I got you a Bluetooth and you got you chewing some gum, you might. Yeah, right. It's like you made a choice to be a part of the coffee industry because you love, like you said earlier, like you love the energy of the cafe, you love the product, you love the people that it put you in contact with. This is something that you were doing It's not a business opportunity for you, you know, you know what? I'm a guy that's a smooth talker and I can talk people into doing things they don't want to do This is what I'm doing. It's like you like being in those spaces. and I like O coffee and I like the services that we offer. you know, I can't I can't stand on things that I don't believe in. Yeah. You know, that's the other big thing. like I can't see myself in that traditional sales role for that reason. No, I can't just like, doesn't matter how big the bag is if I'm like, this is bullshit, it is bullshit and I'm not going to sell it. No, It's like there's no there's not a version of that that happens. So So what do you think of the slap chop J Perfect for dicing slicing Dang or how about the tony littleittle gazelle Yay or nay from the bullshit sales department. An anotherother possible brand collab that we are waiting for., This slapoping a little dis.er. You gotta just replace your whirly bllade grinder with a slaphop. the same thing. Endless. The fellow fellow V two grinders sold out, so I might just go ahead get the slap. Get the slap shop. yeah. Yeah Yeah. the O Opus two is sold out everywhere. Go fellow. Gotta get a slash sh. I know, shout out to Nick dude he's crushing it. That's awesome. Good for you and your Opus D so psyched. except for I want one and I can't buy one speak to onene big thing, especially this year that has been a good reminder and a good J like thing to always keep in mind is the having fun aspect of it. abbsolutely. I think if you're having fun with what you're doing It's so much easier because the challenges don't feel as much like you know potholes, but just things that you're going to navigate around. You know, It's like it's yeah, it's like, it's nice it's nice road that you're, you know driving down and you know, hitting the hitting the apex of the turn perfect perfectly instead of just like getting bumped along and, you know Hving a soreass. I mean I wanted to mention that too. I genuinely think that Helping people to remember to have fun through the processes of reallyally powerful skill and it's necessary. The more serious everybody takes everything the more challenging, I think it actually becomes Yeah. I specifically need to shout out Eddie, who I started working with just over a year ago and reminding me of that, you know, because I have been in this role like the same role andry with different evolutions, you know, a few different title evolutions. Yeah, but ultimately things twenty nineteen and, you know, it's amazing how like that can have an impact on you and remind you of the core of what's fun when revisiting it. So keeping things fresh. Yeah. Well, helping others to see that too, I think is absolutely valuable as well. I mean, when you're opening your new company, there's a lot of energy, but there's also a lot of fear. and stress around making sure that it's successful. So helping people to recognize that like You can be a professional and have fun is something that I think is an art in and of itself that we do a good job of Yeah, it's really easy to like get in your own way sometimes. but if you kind of go back to the simple things Right there. The little thing Are you going to zoom in on your macro stricken camera to see the Nudab Brink's tentacles Whatever they call those things I don't know it's alerting. Yeah, They have a Srata. Things were built on the transactional nature of things and that is ass backwards, you know, on like the end result of like We sell this, you buy this go your merry way, you know, But it should all go back to like the alignment of what our not just goods are, but our services too and what we have to offer and how it supports the whole mission. you know. And that's the other thing that I think We will give A wide range of potential like partner sizes the time of day, you know? We work with like mom and pop like a shop or a cart that maybe orders ten pounds a week, you know, But and we'll take care of them and give them the same attention to deal and hospitality. We do like a much larger business that buys a lot more coffee because we know it's important and this matters to people And then there is also the downstream opportunity that maybe they grow and maybe we have this amazing relationship with them in the long run. We've seen that happen, but that's not the reason for it. It's because everyone deserves to be taken care of in that way. And that is to me, the promise of our brand is we take care of people like at the end of the day. That is like the core of it, with our product ity with our cafes and with me and Eddie just showing up and listening. you know, like active listening is the Shut the fuck up and listen to what people are saying to you. This is the number one thing you can do. It's easy That should be sorry. you you haven't youven't learned anything today. If you haven't learned anything today Clip that put it first. STFU and L. I get a shirt that says AGH on the front for a good hang and shut the fuck up and listen on the back. ten ninety of freaking power right there. The Mullet shirt So what is next for You and what is next for the program? you know, what are What kind of growth areas are you looking for personally? you know, as an individual Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I always want to be able to continue to expand My like understanding of how we can better take care of people, but also how we can better take care of like larger scale things. Like a big jump over the past two years has been stepping into more of these Business dining, tech campuses, different forms of larger scale coffee programs, and how we can evolve our services with that I'm really excited to continue to explore how we can continue to fulfill that promise, which even larger scale hospitality partnerships, you know, like we started working with some amazing hotel partners Beachy at the Rosewood and Menow Park Laajillia here in Santa Cruz, it'd be amazing to be able to expand. like what if all of a sudden Ensemble wanted to bring us into like eight of their hotels. What could we do there? you know? Or maybe Southwest Airlines is looking for a new coffee partner or Disney is looking for a new coffee partner, whoever that might be. I would love to keep exploring how we can expand our services. reinvest in this program to continue to offer that hospitality level of service. And for me, what I get out of that personally is just challenge in that growth, like being able to see those different opportunities and A gauge whether it's feasible for us to tackle and B, like how that will actually be backed by what we offer. You know, are we able to show up? Do we need to expand our team? What that looks like in the long run? You know, thoseose are the things that I think are exciting and interesting, but also something that is like no matter how much we're growing, like my priority is to make sure that when The quote unquote little guy, you know, the individual cafe, if it's maybe to order thirty to forty pounds a week, that we still take care of them in the same way. Like it's the high low, you know, we need both of those to be Well taken care of Fr A to E because again, that is the promise of the brand you know we take care of people I say that a million times until I die, but it's the truth. Facts are facts. How do you know when you need to add someone else to the program great question A Yeah, that's a good question It's so hard to gauge to be honest, because it's so hit or miss. There's weeks where the entire week I'm here in our office are doing things. and then there's weeks where four out of five days I'm driving somewhere and getting around. So I think we're getting there. I think we're getting close, but it also takes like an interesting, it's finding the right person, you know, It's almost more like the person should lead that because we need someone who People trust to being an expert on coffee, but can also represent our culture and our hospitality in a good way, you know. m I always keep my ear under the ground, you know, like kind of is the way I've been thinking about it and but I think it'll also become abundantly clear just by the growth path we've been on and you know receiving that feedback from our partners. We've been getting really positive feedback. I know people feel taken care of And my goal would be to not let that change. So as soon as there's a sense that that is starting to change that our we're not keeping up with that, which I don't think we are quite at in the meantime. That would be especially a point where it's like, cool, we need another full time person here. Yeah. I don't have any more questions. I feel like you talk really well about everything I'm thinking about Mark It's always a pleasure to have you on here, dude. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for making that podcast back at the today. We're still here. It is really really h it. You got some fun interview answers to your questions or yeah, questions in there that I sent you that are pretty funny and good They're all no, they're legit, dude. They're all on point actually. probably got hired Well Yeah, I'm talking about. I do just have to say, not to be corny, but I do really appreciate everything you guys have built and the opportunities that it hass created for me in my life to like live in this town and have this amazing job working with amazing people, you know, people that I've worked with for a long time and people like Casey that I've just worked with for a short amount of time. We continue to gravitate and like have a pull of people who see what we're doing and resonate with it. and that is, you know,'s why I'm still here and still love my job. So thank you guys. Yeah, no, it's cool It goes both ways. It's like really, really nice to know that when you're out there, like I don't ever think about it You know, I'm not wondering like, u Mark doing it right? It's just not It's not even a thing, you know? I haven't told you about that one thing option No, it'sist honestly is really fucking cool. Like when we went over the hill, like you mentioned Rodney before and it's like, you know, you've been building a relationship with Rodney for a long time. and I've met Rodney on a number of occasions. He's easy to connect with because he's actually a coffee geek and loves cafes and stuff like that. But It's cool to see that Oh like He's all about you in a way that you guys have like a super cool connection that feels to me like it goes beyond just you know Um purchaser seller thing. it's much deeper than that and that makes me Like I went to Jentech and it made me so happy because I'm just there and it feels relaxing the whole time. you know, And I've been in sales in multiple different ways across my career. If you don't build relationships like that, and it's a combination of all those things, like being good hang, being super open and honest and like trying to meet people where they're at I've gone to things that are like that and just been stressed out of my mind the whole time Because the whole time I'm not thinking about the person who I'm trying to serve, I'm thinking of How do I convert this? whichich is a totally bad place to be and like a bad premise to start from. So it's cool to know that You're putting like the mission first, the culture first, the brand first and like That means putting our guests and partners first, which is Rhad. Yeah that is the other thing that I almost con expect one of the questions, sorry I know we're kind of wrapping up. but you said like in my experience, if you're having to force it More than that That's where it honestly isn't probably the right alignment. R? Like if you're trying to like re trying so hard to thread the needle and you're not getting the same reciprocation back of interest or engagement, then to us, that probably isn't the best relationship to lean into that reason. Yeah, I've seen you do that it many times. It's like you answer questions and offer solutions and they're never the right ones for the people and they keep pushing for different things and then finally you're like,, it's probably sense for us. And that's okay, you know, And that's where it's like also like, I'm happy to see other coffee companies flourish if there is the right fit. abbsol just like that' s kind of the beauty of our industry and one thing I really love about our industry is that it is more supportive. you know. L For example, we just had someone reach out to us that's really close to like a longstanding partner. and I had absolutely no problem being like, Hey, we would love to work with you But we have like one to be respectful of our proximity. I strongly recommend our friends at Do Coffee in Sant Barbara. right? You know, Like that's like the best to me. That's like when we can like, you know know that we have people that will also take care of it. Hell yeah. Well, appreciate you, man. Thanks for being here. Appreciate you guys. thanks so much. Cheare the best I LBR. Ca and class podcast. I know, Dula got a whole fucking theme song She brought the theme song energy. We can do one right now. Mark. Mark is a guy who looks like the other guy, but he's not the other guy. He's his own man. Don't get it twisted. He's here. He won't make you cry. He'll make you smile Depending on the morning All right everyone, that's the podcast for this week If you've got something culture, coffy, or business related that's tickling your brain and you want us to shine a light on it, you can send us an email to podcast at catancloud. com. There's also a podcast page on our website. If you scroll to the bottom of that page, you can record a voice message for us with your questions or comments. But be warned We will play your beautiful voice on our podcast unless you tell us not sh. Our website is also a hub for all things Cat and Cloud, including coffee. If you're looking for somewhere to start, you don't know where that is, the answer, our flagship blend is a great go to coffee. We use it for all of our milk based espresso beverages in the cafes and we always have it on as a brewed coffee option. It's super easy to pull for all you home espresso wizards We've also got a rotating menu of single origin offerings want to get into something a little bit more wild and explore some of the different characteristics that these special coffics have to offer. Check it out catancloud. com d. We appppreciate you spending your time with us. We hope you're ha an amazing week Pase