Jim Varney, co-founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters

0:00 The topics and opinions express in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements radio show, programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implied shall be extended to W four CY Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Kevin helen n believes that certainly applies to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com and now your host, Kevin Helena.

0:52 Thanks everybody for joining in today. I'm Kevin Hallanan and welcome back to Winning Business TV and Radio on W four cy dot com. We are streaming live on talkfortv dot com. That's the number four, and of course we're also on Facebook live at Winning Business Radio, and we are available in podcasts after the live show on whatever platform you like to get your content from, including YouTube iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Again. The list goes on the mission of winning business radio and TV. As regular viewers and listeners know, is to offer insights and at advice excuse me, to help people avoid the mistakes of others, to learn best practices. Those are the how tos, the what tos, the what not tos, to be challenged and hopefully to be inspired by the successes of others. Who are those others. They're consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders and owners, entrepreneurs, people with some expertise. But you know, every virtual excuse me, Virtually every successful person I've had a chance to talk to is ad some form of failure or set back in their lives and careers. I say it every week. While we all have to get our knee skinned once in a while, I'm driven to keep those scrapes from needing major surgery. Let's endeavor to learn from history so we don't repeat it. I've spent the better part of my career equipping businesses to grow from solopreneurs to small and medium sized companies all the way up to the fortune fifty, and I've seen some of those companies win and to varying degrees. I've seen some of them fail. I have the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the highest performing people around, and quite frankly, with some who should have found other positions.

2:25 In my own businesses, I've had a lot of success, but some failures too, and I like to think I've learned a lot from those experiences. So sure you'll hear from me, but again, mostly you're going to hear from guests. Today. My guest is Jim Varney, co found co founder, excuse me, of Wavelength Coffee Roasters. Here's his bio. He didn't set out to become a coffee roaster. Jim spent the first two plus decades of his career in industrial design and engineering, helping build products in the biotech, life sciences, consumer goods, and commercial space that included working on coffee equipment. But after selling his firm, he was ready for something more hands on and more directly canted to his everyday life. Coffee, a longtime interest dating back to his college days working in a cafe, became the next chapter. With Wavelength Coffee Roasters.

3:09 Jim brings a designer's mindset to a century's old craft, questioning long standing practices and embracing new technology, including all electric air roasting systems that deliver a cleaner, smoother cup. He leads sourcing and roasting efforts, working closely with innovative growers and focusing on bringing out the best in every bean while rethinking what a modern sustainable coffee company would look like. Jim is married to Deanna, his co founder. She came to Wavelength Coffee Roasters from a career in education, but her role in the business quickly became indispensable. With the background in library science and a national natural ability to connect with people, she helps translate Wavelengths mission into something's customer Oh I can't talk something customers can see, taste and understand. She manages the day to day operations while also serving as the brand's storyteller, whether that's building relationships with local retailers, welcoming visitors into the roastry, or guiding customers through tastings and events. Known for her warmth and ease in conversation, Deanna has helped shape Wavelength into more than a coffee coffee company. It's a place where community, curiosity, and a shared love of coffee come together. Wavelength Coffee Roasters a Massachusetts based specialty coffee company launched in twenty twenty five, was built with a clear mission to create a better cup of coffee, real more sustainable approach to sourcing, roasting, and packaging. Drawing on Jim's background in industrial design and engineering, they bring a fresh, technology driven perspective to a traditionally

4:40 analog industry. At the core of the company's philosophy is a three pronged commitment to sustainability. The company sources beans from forward thinking farmers across the world who are advancing innovative growing practices. They roast using all electric solar powered air roasting technology. As you heard, that's an alternative to conventional fo fuel based methods and it produces a clean, smooth flavor profile without bitterness. Finally, wavelength packages. It's coffee and fully recyclable. Listen, I got a can here, I'll show you in a bit, and fully recyclable, reusable steel containers that preserve freshness while reducing waste. The result is an ultra smooth, thoughtfully coffee, thoughtfully crafted coffee design for both quality and environmental impact. Jim holds a bachelor's in industrial design from Syracuse. Deanna has a BA in psychology and a Master of Library and Information Science. Jim, Welcome to Winning Business TV and Radio. Thanks for being here.

5:36 Thank you for having me get a little. Tongue tied there. But there's a lot to. Say, I know, big intro. Yeah, yeah, well I expanded it a little bit, but you know, I took from a couple of different sources, but I thought it would be helpful first because she couldn't be here. Tell us a bit about Deanna. Oh well, boy, what can I say? Like you you mentioned we've been married for now over twenty years. We actually have our first anniversary this week coming on. So yeah, like a big one. But yeah, we had never you know, worked before, but we got to this place, uh in our lives where you know, I had kind of transitioned out of my previous job. She was working in uh in the Subbury, Massachusetts school system actually for for a real for real little.

6:26 Kids, and had been doing that for several years. And you know, teacher's boy, they they really are indispensable, uh, and they do amazing work. But it's tough, even with the little ones. Uh, It's it's a lot. So yeah, she had been doing that for a while and when we kind of were at the position, you know, where we were in We're like, well, let's you know, what are we ready for? Let's do something different? And she was really up up for it. She's been that way her whole life. It's funny, you know, she's kind of the more adventurous one. I'm a little bit more of the you know, sort of not falling too far, like not straying too far. I mean, I'm born and bred New Englander.

7:07 She grew up in Michigan and then went to briefly went to school in Michigan, then she went to California, and then she spent a year teaching English in Korea without knowing any Korean, just dove into it. So she's like at different times in her life, she's always been ready for that challenge. And you know, I actually kind of I find that inspiring a lot of ways. She you knows, as a couple, like she you know, kind of pulls me in different directions, you know, as you do like and she I pull her in different directions. But this was one where I wasn't sure she'd be ready to jump into this thing because we've never been co workers. You know. It's a challenge there, right, but she was ready for whatever we were going to do next. And so she definitely brings she brings a lot to the table, like you kind of mentioned in the intro there, you know she is she's the person where, you know, if you're at a cocktail party, like, I could talk forever in this format, but bring me to a cocktail party where I have.

8:07 To make small talk and I'm I'm like frozen. But she just is just comfortable in just getting out there and talking to people, and she just makes other people comfortable in that way. And it's like, but that is a huge what an amazing asset just from a business standpoint to have somebody like that who is helping us to make contacts, making everyone feel comfortable, feeling part of the whole team. And yeah, just absolutely, I couldn't imagine. Maybe we've only been doing this for over a year now in total months our door has been open, but. It's been it's been great experience, and she brings so much to the table to this company. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. So I got to ask, how did you two meet?

8:48 Oh boy, we met at a wedding. Actually it sounds a little story book, but and I think our versions are slightly different if you were asked the two of us exactly. But we have that same Yeah, I have that same experience. Go ahead, Yeah, yeah, So we were We were actually at a wedding mutual friend of ours, a young woman I went to high school with that actually Deanna went to graduate school with. So we kind of met each other from different times and were connected through different times periods in our lives. But the wedding was. In was in Portland, Maine, and so the uh, this mutual connection of ours was very smart, and she at the reception made a table that was all of her single friends from high school and all of her single friends from library school and kind of put them all together, and you know, it was a great match. We all ended up getting along super well together. We you know, all hung out later on that year, and eventually Deanna and I, you know, uh, I think we it was kind of destined almost to kind of happen. I feel like I felt in the media connection for her. It probably took a little longer, but but we eventually did start dating later on that year, and yeah, boy had rest is history.

10:05 They say that's funny. That's I love those stories. All right. What were your early interests? And and then the follow up is I'll get to give you that one too. Why did you choose Syracuse and industrial design? Yeah? I I was one of those kids who I definitely knew what I liked to do. You know, I always loved art. That was a big part of my childhood. I would, you know, write and illustrate like my own comic books, you know, when as a little kid, and I was always also tinkering with things and building little machines and little toys for myself. And in high school, I was involved in a program that at the time was called the Odyssey of the Mind. I think it might be called something different now, but that it was basically this, uh this program is kind of international believe in, but it was definitely big in the US that would present student groups with a challenge and they had a bunch of different kinds of challenges and you had basically a whole year to work on it with a team.

11:11 And then there were these present these basically competitions that would take place. Is it called DECA do you think now? D I think I think that's what it might be. I think it is, yeah, but it's basically like they have and they have a wide range of them to appeal to, you know, kids with all different kinds of interests. They've got some that are more like, you know, for theater and that sort of thing. And with the one I the ones I graduated are gravitated towards were always the ones where you had to build something like there was one that was all building different paper airplanes to solve different problems, and then there was another. One that competition's on right now, I think, right, yeah. And there was another one that was like you had to move like a bunch of tennis balls like ten feet, we using different mechanisms.

11:52 So it was like that sort of engineering stem kind of basic thing. I loved that too, And so all throughout high school I kind of. Had these two you can say, competing whatever. But I was like really into art, and I took all the art classes I could and basically more or less camped out in my art teachers like room during off time and. Also these engineering things. And when I was ready to go to school, you know, my senior year or whatever, I figured I was going to basically go into illustration I was like, well, you know, this is kind of natural. I'll just go into that. And a friend of mine, I have three sisters. I have an older sister and then two younger sisters, and my older sister, a friend of hers was coming back from break from school because she was you know, they were now college age, and he was going to Syracuse University. And he actually came and actually spoke in the high school like art class basically, hey, you know, I'm studying industrial design at Syracuse University and kind of talked about what it was, and I was like, wait, there's a thing where you can take engineering and you can take art, and you can kind of put those things together and you can make a you can go to school for that. And I was like, I'm sold.

13:08 Like I knew immediately that's what I want to do. I did look at a bunch of other schools, and you know, applied to a bunch of different places, but Syracuse just felt like the right place at the right time, and of course I had a you know, an older connection there. So yeah, that's how I ended up going there. Love it. You started as a freelancer right out of college in design. What made you do that? Uh, necessity of the right. So the nice thing about industrial design, at least at the time that I was graduating, which was the late nineties or so when I was coming out, is there's always sort of been these these two traditional hubs for innovation and design where it seemed like all the most of the businesses that were doing design back back then were located. The Boston area was was one big hub.

14:02 So a natural benefit to kind of come from the northeast and then the Bay. Area in San Francisco, you know, that whole area. Naturally, it's kind. Of where the two areas where there's so much, at least back then, where the concentrations of innovation were really happening and so therefore new product development, that's where the companies were. So I got out of school and briefly was moved back home, but basically I wanted to I wanted to move to Boston as soon as I could because that was where that's where the business are, you know, businesses, and I was just looking for every opportunity to kind of just hustle, you know, just do the thing. I really wanted to get into the industry, but it's it's a really competitive industry.

14:46 There's you know, it's not the biggest. You know, it's probably on par with maybe architecture in terms of, you know, the number of firms and the amount of you know, open positions, which you know would the amount of students come out of school every year. There's just a lot of competition to get into. And so I was just interviewing with as many people as I could, going to all you know, sending resumes out to every single one on every single person on the list, talking to you know, basically giving portfolio overview reviews with professionals in Boston that i'd gotten to now. And I got my first gig at a small, really small consultancy in She's was at Melrose or someplace like that in Massachusetts, right, and just was happy to get in as as soon as you can get in, and it's so much easier to kind of.

15:37 Work your way there. But yeah, I worked my way. I consulted for a few different firms, and the story of actually how I got my first full. Time position was kind of amusing. And I, like I mentioned, I was interviewing with a bunch of different places, and I talked with this one very respected person in the community, and she was like, you know, your portfolio is great. I think you should really talk to these guys at this company called Product Insight. She's like, I know them really well. They're great guys, but you know, but they're going to be really tough. And she kind of gave me this warning basically saying like, I think you'd be a good fit, but it's going to be really tough. I was like, oh, okay, so I did.

16:17 I reached out and they gave me an interview and I came in and the founders played like good cop, bad cop with me, and the good cop ended up being a guy who was just a couple of years later. He actually ended up leaving the firm to kind of pursue his own passion, which was in doing something else. But the guy who gave me the hardest time ended up being my business partner later on, because they did give me an initial job that was freelancing, and I did that for about a year before I went on full time. But man, I walked away from that first interview thinking that I bombed. You know that I there's no way that these guys call me, you know, that's there's no way. But he and I, you know, connected so well over the years and got to know each other so well that we eventually became business partners.

17:05 So it's funny. Well, you must have handled that diversity pretty well. I don't know. I was just a kid, but boy it it felt tough at the time. All Right, we're going to take our first commercial break right here. We'll be back in just about sixty seconds with Jim Varney, co founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters. You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio. Best in Wealth Management is family owned for two generations.

17:45 They take pride in thoughtful financial planning and wealth management with a family feel for your closely held family business. Best in Wealth Management focuses on deep planning, integrating your business planning with personal taylill help put your money to work your mind at ease. Go to Bestinwealthmanagement dot com for more information. Advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, a registered investment advisor. Join the best Family and let our family advise your family. That's Bestwealthmanagement dot com for your complementary initial consultation. Have you ever dreamt of being on the radio, Well, now is your chance. Be a radio show guest on the number one ranked internet radio station and promote you and your business for free. Yes, you heard it, free business advertising right here on W four cy dot com.

18:37 Call five six one five zero six four zero three one now to get booked on one of our shows. That's five six one five zero six four zero three one. Get your free advertising now. And now back to winning Business Radio with Kevin Helenman, presenting exciting topics and experts guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helenett. We are back with Jim Varney. So Jim tell us a little bit more about product insight and how I mean it was twenty seven years ago you started and then it was a twenty five year career. How you made it from freelancer to co owner and the exit.

19:30 Yeah. So when I started out Sea, I mentioned before I was I was freelancing there for about a year and I think I just really really knew I wanted to work in this industry and just tried to find every opportunity I could, even while I was freelancing, to make my mark. And I think in that process, I mean, the design industry, it's a creative industry, but it's very much about craft as well. Like it's about you know, making sure that you are honing your skills and that you're able to you know, communicate very clearly. So you know, as a green you know, fresh out of school kid, I had a lot, a lot to learn, but I also kind of learned what I was really good at and and really leaned into that. And what what my strength happened to be.

20:17 Was was all the cont we called ideation or like conceptualization. So it's like when you start a project, like I think my first project was concepts for like power strips, you know, like the little plug in things like just you know, and that's it basically like give me, you know, as many sketches on ideas for power strips as you can, and I just I think I did, like I don't know, one hundred pages or something like that, you know, in a week, just as many as I possibly could these thumbnails. And I think that made a real impact. And so just the ability to kind of just go like kind of riff on ideas was something that I always loved and it was something that came natural to me, and I just became sort of my my real focus as a designer, and you kind of make yourself indispensable at any job.

21:09 So I when an opportunity came, when it was a year of freelancing there, they brought me on full time and worked my way up as like in the staff staff designer position and then you know, over several years, getting to a senior position and and eventually because of the relationship that I had developed with the ownership with Brian with bad Cop, yeah, I learned he wasn't yeah, you know, it was a little bit of an act, but also like he was, he was a real perfectionist in a lot of ways. And I think that I owe a lot of my success in being being pushed, really being driven to be better and to always try to improve in everything I do.

21:55 And so I learned from him, like on a one to one basis over you know years, and that's great. Eventually got to the point where I was able to go through you know, raise the ranks up to a director of design. And then at one point I mentioned his original partner left the company, and so he was looking for someone to kind of share the burden with the company. And I'd been there for at that point, I think at least fifteen years or so, and he offered basically for me to you know, come on board over the process of several years. It's sort of like a sweat equity sort of a deal, but to come on board and and share as a as a partner. And I was very gracious. I thought that was an amazing offer, and I chose to do that.

22:36 Yeah, so, given us, give us an idea of maybe one or two other projects that you may have worked on that, you know, just the not the specific brand or anything like that, but the type of items. Sure. Yeah, So our particular focus at that company, I mean it had been pretty wide, but we had originally been doing a lot of say consumer goods, you know, like say, you know, heaters and fans and can openers and you know, kitchen appliances that sort of thing. A lot of those types of products, a lot of you know, for home cooking and things. Lots of coffee makers I did over the years. And but it's with the front actually had a very more technical angle to it, you know, as compared to maybe some other design firms that were maybe a little bit more fashion forward. We were always very practical and the founders and the people they brought in, including myself, had that technical bend.

23:30 So we actually did a lot of work in. More medical device development, biotech, life science. We were very good. We got to be known. As being one of the best at creating what's called instrument design. So if you go to go to a. Hospital or you go to you know, doctor's office or something like that, the kind of devices that might be around for diagnostics or you know, ultrasounds or things like that, those types of products are the sort of things that we worked on over the years for different companies. So yeah, so one of the best one of the things that really stood on my mind was we were we worked a lot on a proton therapy device for you know, there was actually a local place in Massachusetts that was one of the premier developers of proton therapy for treating inoperable cancers. And that's that really makes you feel good when you're working. Yeah, that's really making a difference in people's lives. So that's the kind of stuff we were doing.

24:24 All right, So you guys exit or you exited, and then you did some fractional work leadership, engineering leadership, and then you decided to co found Wavelength Coffee Roasters. Now I want to know, was that your idea? Was it Diana's idea? Who came first? And what was that discussion like? And who said you're crazy? And who said let's go for it? Boy? I think we both said we're crazy. Yeah, So. I knew I wanted to do something that was different than the consulting world. I loved it, but I've been doing it for twenty five years and I was ready for something different. But I really, you know, I had been leaning. Towards the sustainability, you know, side of the design world over the last few years that I was running the program or the running the company with some with some success, and so it was limited. It's always challenging when you're a consultant and you are trying to sort of, you know, steer the conversation in certain ways. Ultimately, you're working for someone who's paying you. You know, there's only so much you can do. And I also learned that, you know, steering the ship. You know, companies have a certain inertia and so happy helping people try to change things. It's very hard once as of companies already set up. So I knew I wanted to do something on my own when I left, but I really didn't know what I wanted to do. Consulting in climate tech is where I kind of thought I could go into and I did. I did one, you know a little bit of work in that with a group out in Arizona, but I again I learned that it was just it was going to be really difficult as a sort of I guess you

25:55 can say, I'm I'm I'm a layman's terms. I'm really a non technical person. You know, I don't have an engineering degree. Though I worked in and around the industry for twenty five years. There's so much I could really push in that. So I wanted to do something more hands on, and Deanna was all for it. She was like, you know, hey, look you should do something. But then we really decided we wanted to do something together, and that was kind of the initial idea. It was like, well, let's you know, instead of me just going off and doing a consulting thing on my own, and like, why don't we make a family business. You know, we had a we had We've got two kids, and you know there they were teenagers at the time. I guess they're still to teenagers, but they're on the high end of the teenagers spectrum. Yeah, And we thought like, we're going to be fun to start something that even our kids could take a part in or we could hand off to them, right, like something we could have a legacy.

26:42 And we thought that would be nice. And we didn't really know where it would start. And I think it was Deanna one morning who was like, hey, what about what about coffee? You know, what if you were to do something in that? And you know, I had been at a product insight, We had done some work in and around coffee, just you know, cause sumer stuff. We had done some commercial work in that industry, and I had been doing some home roasting on my own and loved, you know, loved specialty coffee, and you know, it was definitely into that scene. I had worked in a cafe years ago at Syracuse and so had all those kind of bits and pieces there. But there was it was interesting too because I just didn't know a lot about a lot about how it was grown to the roasting side. So there was definitely a key there of something new and exciting that we could explore together. So it was interesting, but it wasn't a complete blind jump, and we just decided to start looking into it and we both fell down the rabbit hole.

27:36 Basically, Well, you guys were nice enough to send to my house a can. This is the can was? I was that I clicked when I was reading the bio. This is a Columbia transformation blend. By the way, I'm supposed to tell you that my former barista daughter said it is hold on. I wrote it down smooth, clean and delicious, and she's got a palette for it. She was a Starbucks, so they know nice. I trust her. She really liked it. She really liked it. I really liked it as well. You know, we cleaned that. She's got a whole setup. We cleaned out the grinder just so to be no remnant of the previous one. Anyway, we really enjoyed it, so well done. Tell us a bit about this, uh can tell us?

28:21 Yeah, you guys, I will. You guys are on the high high end of the spectrum of coffee consumers for sure. So yeah, the can, I mean, the can was. It came about really as a from originally from a point of frustration as a consumer myself as well as somebody who knows a bit about the material science of packaging, coming from my previous work in that coffee almost exclusively comes in. Bags, and a lot of them. You know, if you think you're trying to buy even the you know, the more you know sort of eco conscious brands, they might say that the bag is recyclable, or maybe it's compostable or made of bioplastic, this sort of thing.

29:02 But unfortunately, almost all of. That is basically greenwashing, and that with bags they either you know, really can't be recycled because of how they're made, or with anything that's you know, compostable or bioplastic, it can't be really composted or they don't want it at the composting facilities, and almost everything ends up in a landfill. And I kind of knew this just from the work I had done, so I always felt bad about that, you know, trying to buy, trying to do the right thing, and then you feel like, well, I'm just throwing stuff in the landfill. And so when we started Wavelength, like that packaging was a key component of like we have to find a better solution for this. And really sometimes the old solutions are the best.

29:42 I was just going to say old school of coffee, when old school coffee cans and then the can and those cans never went away. They had nuts and bolts in them or something sort of you know grandma's stash or money stash. You know, yeah, they're always there. There can always have a life, you know, in something else later on, or and even just the material itself, steel is you know, the most recyclable and recycled the material that humans have ever made. It's it's easy to sort. Yeah, there's a little thing on the inside, there's a little coaster. It feels like a coulster, and there's a little uh, I'm not sure what that material is, but it creates and it creates a nice seal. Yep, that's right before the plastic top goes on.

30:23 So that's the key is that the steel was something that was just from a material standpoint, was was a good solution. But actually it's better for the quality of the coffee because steel is a better barrier. It's completely air tight, water tight, keeps all the light out, which keeps the once the beans are inside and the seal, it keeps them fresher for longer. So we loved that idea that, Okay, this is the better sort of sustainable solution, but it's also better for quality. And so I think that that's. Really important is that we didn't want to just guilt people into coming along with us and our lia. Just because of now sustainability and climate or you. Know, it's got to be the reasons. But it's going to be a good quality, right, It's going to make a really excellent product, And that's key.

31:05 Where did the name wavelength? I had to ask. I wasn't sure where I was going to ask that one, But where did that come from? Yeah, it's so originally my original crazy idea. This was where the this is where the year crazy thing probably comes in. Was when we first thought about doing coffee. I wanted to do it completely standalone, all solar powered, like make my own like shed basically with solar panels and inverters and batteries, and I had the whole thing planned out to run a roaster off of this, running the math. I kind of quickly realized that that was going to be impractical, not the least of which is I believe in Massachusetts, all projects, all solar has to be grid connected, so that became kind of a little bit of like, oh, okay, that's.

31:48 Not going to work. But the original thought was because you can get electric roasters now it's kind of a new thing that we'd use solar and you know, sun power basically. So there was the idea of wavelengths of energy. You know, that's how erg transmitted, you know, even though through electricity you know kind of have wavelengths. But then it's also this double meeting which is sort of being on the same wavelength, like this alignment idea, and we in what we were doing, it wasn't just about the electrical stuff what we started with. It was quickly we realized so much of what's going on on the farm level was really inspiring and fascinating, and we wanted to be able to share those stories with our customers. So it was about this kind of building this bridge, this connection, this platform really in our company where we could kind of bring those two things together, like the growers and the farmers and and the consumers and the roasters really and kind of get everyone on the same wavelength.

32:44 So that's kind of that's where that came from all. Right, there's another opportunity just based upon my next couple questions. Let's take a break right here again, another sixty second break. We'll be right back with Jim Varney. You were listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio. Best and Wealth Management is family owned for two generations. They take pride in thoughtful financial planning and wealth management with a family feel for your closely held family business.

33:26 Best in Wealth Management focuses on deep planning. Integrating your business planning with personal tay will help put your money to work and your mind at ease. Go to Bestinwealthmanagement dot com for more information. Advisory service is offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, a registered investment advisor. Join the Best Family and let our family advise your family. That's Bestinwealthmanagement dot com for your complementary initial consultation. The yp dot com website is your local search engine. If you're looking for a good restaurant, it can help you find the right one nearby with ratings and reviews. Or if your car breaks down, you can use the YP app to find the closest repair shop, or maybe you're just looking for something to do on a Friday night.

34:10 While it has great local coupons for all sorts of things in your area, no matter what, when or where. If you're looking for something, YP Local Search can help you find it. So go to yp dot com or download the app to search local, to fine local, and save local. And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helen in presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helen. We're back with Jim Varney, co founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters, and I wanted to clarify You're not a cafe.

34:54 That is correct. We are a roaster, not a gap. That's right. So you vibe beans right, that's right? Yeah? So does it always hole bean? Well in our packaging, we prefer to do hole bean because it's definitely the best way to keep the coffee fresher for longer. But we do we do have folks, so en they when folks come into the roaster, because we do actually have a showroom roastery here in Shirley. I'm sitting in it right now. One of our brick walls. Uh. The facility that we're. In is a it's a beautiful old mill complex here in Shirley, and so we have a lot of these sort of traditional construction stuff around me. But we, like you said, we don't have a cafe per se, but we do have a space where people come in and purchase coffee beans from us and so on. Everyone comes in, we'll we'll cater to their needs if we need to grind something for them as well.

35:49 So that's but we also host a lot of events here. We host tastings and tours and other things uh at our at our roastery here because we've got a really nice big. Space, so soople in the area could rent the space for forgiven event. That's right. So we've had we've done that for local business groups. Actually, our our Initioba Valley Chamber of Commerce has done that, and other private businesses have actually uh set up quarterly meetings that they've had here and then done a little to more and tasting. So yeah, that's that's something that we actively uh promote for for people around here. Well, that's good to know too. Let's see, I'm going to get into some of the details here. What is the impact of electric heat on coffee?

36:37 So the. To take to understand that, I guess it's like, basically, when you're looking at what a what coffee needs to do when it's when it's being roasted, right, is you need to get that pretty hot, and you need to heat it as evenly as possible each being, and you need to do it, you know, pretty quickly in a scale in the grand scheme of things. And so traditionally the way that's always been done and commercially at least is on it's called a drum roaster. So it's a it looks kind of like a big horizontal like a like a dryer, almost like a closed dryer. But basically the idea is it's it's a spinning stainless. Steel drum and you have to heat up that drum real hot, and that's you know, you dump the beans inside and they tumble around basically like a rock tumbler. That's, you know, traditionally the way in which that's been that's been accomplished. You're heating up that that drum though with typically with gas flames, so it's usually methane.

37:36 Natural gas is like typically so it gets it scorching hot. You dump the beans in and there is airflow in there, of course, but it's a lot of contact with the drum. Now with electric roasting, you do away with all of the gas, so there's no gas connections at all. And in particular, the way that we're doing it is is electric air roasting. So there is it's it's kind of more like a giant popcorn popper. Than than a clothes dryer, if you will. There's a big there's a. Vertical sort of column of hot air, so there's it's an electric a big, big bank of electric heaters. That air is kind of pulled through that hot air then pushes vertically up through all the coffee we have, and so it sort of agitates it and almost as like a tornado sort of happening inside of there. But what that accomplishes is it's cooking the individual beans instead of on the surface of a drum, they're sort of all surrounded by hot air, and so that makes the coffee roast very evenly, very consistent across the entire batch. And it also we find allows the coffee to kind of express its own flavor and quality without imparting any unwanted flavors from the drum because sometimes over years you can kind of get some build up of oils and flavors in a drum roaster. So this process that we're using gets away from that. So it's very clean and very precise with the.

38:57 Flavoring from coffee to coffee. From coffee to coffee, it's very distinct, you know, and yeah, we can people are often surprised at that when we have all of our coffees out off to taste, that they taste each one and they all taste very different, you know. It's it's not like variations on a theme, Like they're all as different as the origins that they come from. And these are considered i don't know if you use the term, but considered small batch. Yeah. Yeah, So with the size that we're doing, so we roast on it's a six kilogram, so that's about thirteen pounds total each roast. Each roast we do lasts about maybe about twelve minutes or so we can do with turnaround, I can usually do about three full roasts per hour or so.

39:44 So even at that volume we are we're definitely a small batch roaster, and this is a relatively small commercial sized roaster that we're using. Because shot on the website. Yeah, yeah, we can upgrade from there. Actually, the company that makes that has some larger sizes, but they're a very new company. So we're actually in a lot of ways piloting that particular technology, and we're we're definitely the only ones at this point as far as I know in New England in the Northeast that have one of those air motion roasters. There are others throughout the US a few that have them, but it's still. Very unusual, and even the idea of roasting electric is very unusual. So I think it's like ninety nine plus percent of coffee that we consume today is all roasted on gas, so it's like only one percent of it or less is electric, and then of that there's probably only one percent that's air roasted.

40:38 So we're the we're in the minority, minority. But because it's a very new technology, it's something that we are again embracing because we love the quality that it produces, and it's extremely efficient and it allows us to use the renewables that we. Have on tap here at our facility. So how many different blends do you have? Roughly name a couple if you like. Yeah, so I mean you have the Transformation blend, which is one of our two coffees from Columbia. We actually have there's three different origins, which is like the countries wherever they come from, where we have two coffees each.

41:18 So we have two from Burundi, we have two from Colombia, and we have two from El Salvador. And we didn't necessarily start out to do that, but we actually found that it was it was an interesting way to again we're looking from an educational standpoint or an exploration standpoint. We like, we like the educational side of the business and always trying to tell the stories. You pointed out that there's a coaster that we put on the inside of each can. That was because we knew we didn't have enough space on the can to tell the story we wanted. And so we're like, well, how do we do that? How do we provide the information that's often on our website to people who are just buying this off of a you know, a retail say, on a shelf, and that the coaster actually was a perfect fit and on one side it gives more tasting notes and on the other side, it does link it more to why is this coffee special?

42:08 Why are we highlighting it? Why are we you know, why are we promoting it? And we so in total, we have anywhere between say eight and ten coffees available at any one time. We've got a few that are sort of our base, you know, there are always kind of there, and we've got a few that we sort of bring in in smaller amounts and try those out to give people again, different opportunities to try things. From all over the place. How do you source these beans? So a couple of different ways. We The typical way, like we also do, is with there's importers, you know, larger companies that basically will facilitate the coffee coming from where it comes. Because as most people probably know or maybe not, coffee can only be grown around the tropics of the world. So it's uh, you you've got countries like well, like I mentioned El Salvador, or like the Central American countries. The people are more familiar with Costa Rica, Honduras, that sort of thing. But you've also got countries in East Africa, like you know, Burundi and Rwanda and Tanzania and Ethiopia, UH, and also Southeast Asia. You know, you've got Sumatrian coffees and things like that. So they're from all over the world. It's if you can imagine and like Brazil, South America, it would be. And it is challenging as an individual to to basically be able to bring that in and communicate in this level. So there's a lot of companies called importers that we work with, and we've been very careful about who we do work with that that helped to facilitate that. And but in some cases, like the sorry

43:41 the coffees that we have from El Salvador, we actually buy those directly. From the farm. That was a farmer that I was very impressed with as I was doing all my research with what they were doing with their their agronomy and their really progressive soil health and plant health initiatives that they were taking on themselves. I was just really impressed. And so I took a while, but I eventually was able to WhatsApp them or you know, make connections, UH, and we organized a sale and they would just. Like get a range Rover and show up. I was thinking about it. I was like when it easier, I just drove down there. But but yeah, it was. It was definitely a challenge for sure to again not knowing a lot about this industry to kind of go through it that first time. But we had to you know, file as a as an importer with the FDA and had to all kinds of licensing and permitting and even so the coffee once it was brought in, it was held in customs for like a month before we could actually get it.

44:38 So was that the first time or has that happened regularly? That was the first time. And it was also during the tariffs when things weren't right, you know, nobody was really sure. What was getting you know, build and whatnot, and. So coffee is not right as a food. It well it is, it was not, and then it was and that yeah, it got complicated. Okay, it's actually down to a basic level now where basically all companies all countries or have a base level tariff. But there was a time where there were certain countries that we're going to have higher tariffs. And so it was it was a little bit of a wild West there for a little bit. But but we've since we still buy coffee from that farm in El Salvador for this next harvest, because we love, we love the quality, and we love.

45:19 Working with them, so we're not we're not scared off by them. Who are your customers. So that's something I think that if you talk about when you start a business, you might have a certain idea in mind with a lot of things right, and then as you go it organically kind of turns into you know, things change or things that evolve. And I always, i guess imagined that when I started this that I'd be basically appealing to more of the I mean, you know, coffee snob is like, you know, people who know a lot about coffee or can really care about that, you know, the rual quality of their coffee, which I know a lot of people who buy our coffee are those kinds of people, because there's some of them out there.

46:00 But I think an endorsement too. Yet what what. Your daughter had to say was fantastic, So because we know we have to make a quality product that's going to appeal to those people too. But I think the interesting thing is as we have gotten out into the world, especially in our in our local community and done lots of farmers' markets and events and festivals and those sorts of things. We've always tried to be approachable. And again this is a lot of Deanna's uh you know, contribution to the company is this idea of of communication and instruction and and openness and being being there for people and not like not the judge, uh you know, cafe culture where you might look down on someone for putting for putting milk.

46:44 You know in your coffee, No you do. We've learned that there is a whole slew of people out there who are intimidated by coffee culture and and by specialty coffee that are otherwise very into and we'd be very open to having quality coffee and specialty coffee, but they just they just find it off putting or confusing. And so we have tried and evolved now our approach to really appeal to those people to show them that, Okay, well. We're going to walk you through. We're not gonna throw a bunch of jargon around that you may not know, or if we do, we're going to try to explain it to you. Here's what it means, like here's and and really just be like when we have our coffeees out and someone doesn't know where to start, we say, well, what do you like? What do you traditionally like, whether it's dark or light or in the middle or whatever you want, Let's figure out. Let's figure out the entry point, then into our layout and then then try some different things.

47:37 You know, let's see, let's see what happens. So I think we've learned that those people. I think there's a large portion of the population you might say, like in the New England area, because you know, Dunkin Donuts. It's the Dunkin Donuts folks. Who are you know? Dunc Donuts is great. I mean, I'm not gonna I'm no hater on dunk Donuts. I grew up drinking Dunkin Donuts. You know, hazel nut for sure was what point from lots of lots of milk and sugar. But I think, you know, you have to be open for people to include those people because as far as like our sustainability message, like it only makes sense to get as many people on board as we can. We're not here to push people away. So I think that's become more of our crowd. I think the people who are maybe curious but don't know a lot about coffee yet.

48:21 So where in central Masks can people or maybe outside can people get the coffee? Yeah, they can send to you. They can come to us for sure. We're in We're in several markets right now over the summer, but they can find us. There's a few specialty markets. Wilson Farm in Lexington is a great place for that. Conquered Market in Conquered another one we are. We're also in Revival Cafe in Kitchen, which is actually a chain of seven to seven locations in and around Boston and the surrounds. So they're also in Lexington and Alston, I believe, and in and around like Watertown, Summerville. They've picked up our coffees or one of our coffees, our Coasta Rican actually over the summer for hot coffee as well as iced and so we're doing quite a lot of volume for them right now. And so yeah, so we're just like I mentioned, we've only been around for eight months, so we're just starting to get out there. But we're getting more traction now, which is really exciting.

49:16 That's fantastic. All right, we are out of time. Two questions who in the listening and viewing audiences. Now this is more on the commercial side. You just explained the coffee drinker, But who in the listening and viewing audiences should reach out to you and why. We would love to hear from other businesses that would be interested in coming into the space. They are interested in touring a state of the art sustainable roasting company and maybe even blending their own custom blend that they could use at their company, but also other restaurants and other companies like that who are interested in maybe matching their farm to table ethos with a really excellent, locally hosted coffee that's sustainable.

50:01 I've seen that done. There was a meeting we had at a mortgage company and they had a branded blend and it was good. I don't know where it came from. I try to get more, but it was really good. All right, last question, what's the best way to contact you. I know that the website has been on the crawl. Just share that real quickly. Yeah. So it is wavelength Dashcoffee dot com and it's got all our contact there, but you can also reach out just via email at Hello at wavelength dash cooffee dot com. Perfect and there it is for the viewers, Jim, thank you very much. My best to your wife. I've not met, but tell her she missed a good one. Thanks for being here. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much, Kevin, and thank you everybody for listening and watching. This is a show about business. This was a show about business success as you can see, but challenges to and if you've got concerns about the sales effect is effectiveness of your company, whether your sales team is you, or it's small or it's large, and you're in Massachusetts, you were referred by one of our clients and you want to learn more about implementing Sandler in your business, contact me at go dot Sandler dot com, slash KJH or email me at first name dot last name, Kevin dot Hallananetsandler dot com. Otherwise, if you're outside of Massachusetts, visit Sandler dot com to find a Sandler training center that services your area. At Sandler Tranning, I say we developed sales teams and individuals into high achievers and sales leaders into true coaches and mentors. We're not a fit for everybody, but hey, maybe we should have a conversation. Thank you

51:32 to one our engineer and producer for another job well done. Thank you. Be sure to join us next week Monday, June twenty ninth. My guest will be Jeff Heather, owner and principal of north Light It. Until then, this is Kevin Hallanan. You've been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host, Kevin Helenan. If you missed any part of this episode, the podcast is available on Talk for podcasting and iHeartRadio. For more inform and questions, go to Winning Businessradio dot com or check us out on social media. Tune in again next week and every Monday at four pm Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on W four CY Radio w four cy dot com.

52:15 Until then, let's succeed where others have failed and win in business with Kevin Halenan and Winning Business Radio