June 22, 2026

Jim Varney, co-founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters

Jim Varney, co-founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters
iHeartRadio podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconPandora podcast player iconYoutube Music podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player iconAudacy podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player iconTuneIn podcast player iconCastamatic podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconFountain podcast player iconGoodpods podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconPlayerFM podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconPodimo podcast player iconPodurama podcast player iconPodverse podcast player iconPodyssey podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
iHeartRadio podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconPandora podcast player iconYoutube Music podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player iconAudacy podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player iconTuneIn podcast player iconCastamatic podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconFountain podcast player iconGoodpods podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconPlayerFM podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconPodimo podcast player iconPodurama podcast player iconPodverse podcast player iconPodyssey podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

Jim and Deanna Varney founded Wavelength Coffee Roasters in 2025 after his careers in engineering and design, and hers in education, and library science.

Jim leads sourcing and roasting, while Deanna oversees operations. Partnering with innovative growers, they focus on bringing out the best in every bean.

Wavelength uses all-electric, solar-powered air roasting for a clean, smooth flavor and packages coffee in reusable, recyclable steel containers to reduce waste and preserve freshness.

Winning Business Radio is broadcast live Mondays at 4PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Winning Business Radio is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Winning Business Radio Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/winning-business-radio--3075598/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.359
The topics and opinions express in the following show are

2
00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:04.000
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not

3
00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.960
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

4
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.199
make no recommendations or endorsements radio show, programs, services, or

5
00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.080
products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability

6
00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:15.759
explicitor implied shall be extended to W four CY Radio

7
00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.559
or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

8
00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:20.839
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

9
00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.280
W FOURCY Radio.

10
00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.399
Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are

11
00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:36.759
condemned to repeat it. Kevin helen n believes that certainly

12
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:41.280
applies to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at

13
00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:45.600
W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com

14
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.960
and now your host, Kevin Helena.

15
00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.119
Thanks everybody for joining in today. I'm Kevin Hallanan and

16
00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.600
welcome back to Winning Business TV and Radio on W

17
00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:03.560
four cy dot com. We are streaming live on talkfortv

18
00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:06.280
dot com. That's the number four, and of course we're

19
00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:10.079
also on Facebook live at Winning Business Radio, and we

20
00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:12.840
are available in podcasts after the live show on whatever

21
00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:17.439
platform you like to get your content from, including YouTube iHeartRadio, Spotify,

22
00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.640
Apple Again. The list goes on the mission of winning

23
00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:23.920
business radio and TV. As regular viewers and listeners know,

24
00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.599
is to offer insights and at advice excuse me, to

25
00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:31.439
help people avoid the mistakes of others, to learn best practices.

26
00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:33.680
Those are the how tos, the what tos, the what

27
00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:36.760
not tos, to be challenged and hopefully to be inspired

28
00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:41.719
by the successes of others. Who are those others. They're consultants, coaches, advisors, authors,

29
00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:46.519
founders and owners, entrepreneurs, people with some expertise. But you know,

30
00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:50.640
every virtual excuse me, Virtually every successful person I've had

31
00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:52.599
a chance to talk to is ad some form of

32
00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:55.239
failure or set back in their lives and careers. I

33
00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:56.599
say it every week. While we all have to get

34
00:01:56.599 --> 00:01:58.359
our knee skinned once in a while, I'm driven to

35
00:01:58.439 --> 00:02:01.640
keep those scrapes from needing major surgery. Let's endeavor to

36
00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.280
learn from history so we don't repeat it. I've spent

37
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:07.159
the better part of my career equipping businesses to grow

38
00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:10.520
from solopreneurs to small and medium sized companies all the

39
00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:12.280
way up to the fortune fifty, and I've seen some

40
00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.159
of those companies win and to varying degrees. I've seen

41
00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:18.599
some of them fail. I have the opportunity to rub

42
00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.800
elbows with some of the highest performing people around, and

43
00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:24.599
quite frankly, with some who should have found other positions.

44
00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.319
In my own businesses, I've had a lot of success,

45
00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.039
but some failures too, and I like to think I've

46
00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.599
learned a lot from those experiences. So sure you'll hear

47
00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:34.159
from me, but again, mostly you're going to hear from guests.

48
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:34.639
Today.

49
00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.159
My guest is Jim Varney, co found co founder, excuse me,

50
00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:42.000
of Wavelength Coffee Roasters. Here's his bio. He didn't set

51
00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.280
out to become a coffee roaster. Jim spent the first

52
00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:48.080
two plus decades of his career in industrial design and engineering,

53
00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:52.319
helping build products in the biotech, life sciences, consumer goods,

54
00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:55.680
and commercial space that included working on coffee equipment. But

55
00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:58.080
after selling his firm, he was ready for something more

56
00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:02.280
hands on and more directly canted to his everyday life. Coffee,

57
00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:04.800
a longtime interest dating back to his college days working

58
00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:09.199
in a cafe, became the next chapter. With Wavelength Coffee Roasters.

59
00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:12.800
Jim brings a designer's mindset to a century's old craft,

60
00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:17.360
questioning long standing practices and embracing new technology, including all

61
00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:21.759
electric air roasting systems that deliver a cleaner, smoother cup.

62
00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:25.759
He leads sourcing and roasting efforts, working closely with innovative

63
00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:28.039
growers and focusing on bringing out the best in every

64
00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:33.039
bean while rethinking what a modern sustainable coffee company would

65
00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:36.280
look like. Jim is married to Deanna, his co founder.

66
00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:39.560
She came to Wavelength Coffee Roasters from a career in education,

67
00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.879
but her role in the business quickly became indispensable. With

68
00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.360
the background in library science and a national natural ability

69
00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:50.280
to connect with people, she helps translate Wavelengths mission into

70
00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.680
something's customer Oh I can't talk something customers can see,

71
00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:56.960
taste and understand. She manages the day to day operations

72
00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:00.719
while also serving as the brand's storyteller, whether that's building

73
00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:05.280
relationships with local retailers, welcoming visitors into the roastry, or

74
00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:09.240
guiding customers through tastings and events. Known for her warmth

75
00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:13.080
and ease in conversation, Deanna has helped shape Wavelength into

76
00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:18.160
more than a coffee coffee company. It's a place where community, curiosity,

77
00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.839
and a shared love of coffee come together. Wavelength Coffee

78
00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:25.680
Roasters a Massachusetts based specialty coffee company launched in twenty

79
00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:28.360
twenty five, was built with a clear mission to create

80
00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:32.279
a better cup of coffee, real more sustainable approach to sourcing, roasting,

81
00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:37.079
and packaging. Drawing on Jim's background in industrial design and engineering,

82
00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.800
they bring a fresh, technology driven perspective to a traditionally

83
00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:44.120
analog industry. At the core of the company's philosophy is

84
00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.560
a three pronged commitment to sustainability. The company sources beans

85
00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:51.120
from forward thinking farmers across the world who are advancing

86
00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:56.639
innovative growing practices. They roast using all electric solar powered

87
00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:59.199
air roasting technology. As you heard, that's an alternative to

88
00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:03.160
conventional fo fuel based methods and it produces a clean,

89
00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:08.600
smooth flavor profile without bitterness. Finally, wavelength packages. It's coffee

90
00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:12.000
and fully recyclable. Listen, I got a can here, I'll

91
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.199
show you in a bit, and fully recyclable, reusable steel

92
00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:19.199
containers that preserve freshness while reducing waste. The result is

93
00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:24.000
an ultra smooth, thoughtfully coffee, thoughtfully crafted coffee design for

94
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.519
both quality and environmental impact. Jim holds a bachelor's in

95
00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.800
industrial design from Syracuse. Deanna has a BA in psychology

96
00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:33.959
and a Master of Library and Information Science. Jim, Welcome

97
00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.639
to Winning Business TV and Radio. Thanks for being here.

98
00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:38.959
Thank you for having me get a little.

99
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:40.160
Tongue tied there. But there's a lot to.

100
00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.120
Say, I know, big intro.

101
00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:45.680
Yeah, yeah, well I expanded it a little bit, but

102
00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:47.560
you know, I took from a couple of different sources,

103
00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.079
but I thought it would be helpful first because she

104
00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:50.800
couldn't be here.

105
00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:52.000
Tell us a bit about Deanna.

106
00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:56.199
Oh well, boy, what can I say? Like you you

107
00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:58.680
mentioned we've been married for now over twenty years. We

108
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.800
actually have our first anniversary this week coming on.

109
00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:05.600
So yeah, like a big one.

110
00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:08.800
But yeah, we had never you know, worked before, but

111
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.040
we got to this place, uh in our lives where

112
00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:14.839
you know, I had kind of transitioned out of my

113
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:21.839
previous job. She was working in uh in the Subbury,

114
00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:26.199
Massachusetts school system actually for for a real for real little.

115
00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:27.720
Kids, and had been doing that for several years.

116
00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:33.000
And you know, teacher's boy, they they really are indispensable, uh,

117
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.360
and they do amazing work. But it's tough, even with

118
00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:39.399
the little ones. Uh, It's it's a lot. So yeah,

119
00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:42.839
she had been doing that for a while and when

120
00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.360
we kind of were at the position, you know, where

121
00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.040
we were in We're like, well, let's you know, what

122
00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.079
are we ready for? Let's do something different? And she

123
00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:52.600
was really up up for it. She's been that way

124
00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:57.000
her whole life. It's funny, you know, she's kind of

125
00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.560
the more adventurous one. I'm a little bit more of

126
00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.399
the you know, sort of not falling too far, like

127
00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:04.319
not straying too far.

128
00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:06.759
I mean, I'm born and bred New Englander.

129
00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:11.639
She grew up in Michigan and then went to briefly

130
00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:13.920
went to school in Michigan, then she went to California,

131
00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:18.920
and then she spent a year teaching English in Korea

132
00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.639
without knowing any Korean, just dove into it. So she's

133
00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:25.959
like at different times in her life, she's always been

134
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.199
ready for that challenge. And you know, I actually kind

135
00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:31.959
of I find that inspiring a lot of ways. She

136
00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:34.800
you knows, as a couple, like she you know, kind

137
00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:36.639
of pulls me in different directions, you know, as you

138
00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:38.759
do like and she I pull her in different directions.

139
00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.560
But this was one where I wasn't sure she'd be

140
00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:44.439
ready to jump into this thing because we've never been

141
00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:45.120
co workers.

142
00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:45.480
You know.

143
00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.399
It's a challenge there, right, but she was ready for

144
00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:52.399
whatever we were going to do next. And so she

145
00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.000
definitely brings she brings a lot to the table, like

146
00:07:56.040 --> 00:07:59.240
you kind of mentioned in the intro there, you know

147
00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:02.879
she is she's the person where, you know, if you're

148
00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.279
at a cocktail party, like, I could talk forever in

149
00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:07.399
this format, but bring me to a cocktail party where

150
00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:07.680
I have.

151
00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:10.120
To make small talk and I'm I'm like frozen.

152
00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:14.879
But she just is just comfortable in just getting out

153
00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.959
there and talking to people, and she just makes other

154
00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:21.199
people comfortable in that way. And it's like, but that

155
00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:24.040
is a huge what an amazing asset just from a

156
00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.920
business standpoint to have somebody like that who is helping

157
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.240
us to make contacts, making everyone feel comfortable, feeling part

158
00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:31.879
of the whole team.

159
00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:35.039
And yeah, just absolutely, I couldn't imagine.

160
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:36.799
Maybe we've only been doing this for over a year

161
00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:39.200
now in total months our door has been open, but.

162
00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.039
It's been it's been great experience, and she brings so

163
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.080
much to the table to this company. I couldn't imagine

164
00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:45.919
doing it any other way.

165
00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.639
So I got to ask, how did you two meet?

166
00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:50.320
Oh boy, we met at a wedding.

167
00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:55.879
Actually it sounds a little story book, but and I

168
00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.679
think our versions are slightly different if you were asked

169
00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:00.360
the two of us exactly.

170
00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:04.519
But we have that same Yeah, I have that same experience.

171
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:07.120
Go ahead, Yeah, yeah, So we were We were actually

172
00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:10.559
at a wedding mutual friend of ours, a young woman

173
00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:13.799
I went to high school with that actually Deanna went

174
00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.799
to graduate school with. So we kind of met each

175
00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.960
other from different times and were connected through different times

176
00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:21.000
periods in our lives.

177
00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:22.480
But the wedding was.

178
00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:27.840
In was in Portland, Maine, and so the uh, this

179
00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:31.279
mutual connection of ours was very smart, and she at

180
00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.600
the reception made a table that was all of her

181
00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:36.320
single friends from high school and all of her single

182
00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:40.000
friends from library school and kind of put them all together,

183
00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:43.519
and you know, it was a great match. We all

184
00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.000
ended up getting along super well together. We you know,

185
00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:50.200
all hung out later on that year, and eventually Deanna

186
00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:53.480
and I, you know, uh, I think we it was

187
00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:56.080
kind of destined almost to kind of happen. I feel

188
00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.879
like I felt in the media connection for her. It

189
00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:02.039
probably took a little longer, but but we eventually did

190
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:05.000
start dating later on that year, and yeah, boy had

191
00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:05.679
rest is history.

192
00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:08.639
They say that's funny. That's I love those stories.

193
00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:09.559
All right.

194
00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.279
What were your early interests? And and then the follow

195
00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:13.960
up is I'll get to give you that one too.

196
00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:16.720
Why did you choose Syracuse and industrial design?

197
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:17.840
Yeah?

198
00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:22.279
I I was one of those kids who I definitely

199
00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:23.960
knew what I liked to do.

200
00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:28.279
You know, I always loved art. That was a big

201
00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.159
part of my childhood.

202
00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.679
I would, you know, write and illustrate like my own

203
00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:38.039
comic books, you know, when as a little kid, and

204
00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.799
I was always also tinkering with things and building little

205
00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:46.679
machines and little toys for myself. And in high school,

206
00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:50.759
I was involved in a program that at the time

207
00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:54.080
was called the Odyssey of the Mind. I think it

208
00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:57.039
might be called something different now, but that it was

209
00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:00.360
basically this, uh this program is kind of international believe in,

210
00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.639
but it was definitely big in the US that would

211
00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.519
present student groups with a challenge and they had a

212
00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:09.399
bunch of different kinds of challenges and you had basically

213
00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:11.039
a whole year to work on it with a team.

214
00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:13.600
And then there were these present these basically competitions that

215
00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:14.320
would take place.

216
00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:16.639
Is it called DECA do you think now?

217
00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:18.320
D I think I think that's what it might be.

218
00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:22.080
I think it is, yeah, but it's basically like they

219
00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:23.519
have and they have a wide range of them to

220
00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.600
appeal to, you know, kids with all different kinds of interests.

221
00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:29.759
They've got some that are more like, you know, for

222
00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.559
theater and that sort of thing. And with the one

223
00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:35.440
I the ones I graduated are gravitated towards were always

224
00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.759
the ones where you had to build something like there

225
00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:40.120
was one that was all building different paper airplanes to

226
00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:42.399
solve different problems, and then there was another.

227
00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:45.519
One that competition's on right now, I think, right, yeah.

228
00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:48.200
And there was another one that was like you had

229
00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:51.200
to move like a bunch of tennis balls like ten feet,

230
00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:52.480
we using different mechanisms.

231
00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.120
So it was like that sort of engineering stem kind

232
00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:57.480
of basic thing.

233
00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:01.279
I loved that too, And so all throughout high school

234
00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:01.720
I kind of.

235
00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.279
Had these two you can say, competing whatever.

236
00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:06.039
But I was like really into art, and I took

237
00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.440
all the art classes I could and basically more or

238
00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:12.080
less camped out in my art teachers like room during

239
00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:13.679
off time and.

240
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:15.120
Also these engineering things.

241
00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:18.639
And when I was ready to go to school, you know,

242
00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:23.559
my senior year or whatever, I figured I was going

243
00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.440
to basically go into illustration I was like, well, you know,

244
00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:27.600
this is kind of natural.

245
00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:30.240
I'll just go into that. And a friend of mine,

246
00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:31.720
I have three sisters.

247
00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:33.919
I have an older sister and then two younger sisters,

248
00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:40.159
and my older sister, a friend of hers was coming

249
00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.600
back from break from school because she was you know,

250
00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:45.120
they were now college age, and he was going to

251
00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:50.360
Syracuse University. And he actually came and actually spoke in

252
00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:53.080
the high school like art class basically, hey, you know,

253
00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:56.759
I'm studying industrial design at Syracuse University and kind of

254
00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:59.679
talked about what it was, and I was like, wait,

255
00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:02.840
there's a thing where you can take engineering and you

256
00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:04.200
can take art, and you can kind of put those

257
00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.080
things together and you can make a you can go

258
00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:08.240
to school for that. And I was like, I'm sold.

259
00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.840
Like I knew immediately that's what I want to do.

260
00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.600
I did look at a bunch of other schools, and

261
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.320
you know, applied to a bunch of different places, but Syracuse

262
00:13:17.399 --> 00:13:19.799
just felt like the right place at the right time,

263
00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.039
and of course I had a you know, an older

264
00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:23.200
connection there.

265
00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:25.600
So yeah, that's how I ended up going there.

266
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:26.360
Love it.

267
00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:31.879
You started as a freelancer right out of college in design.

268
00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:32.799
What made you do that?

269
00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.840
Uh, necessity of the right.

270
00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:42.960
So the nice thing about industrial design, at least at

271
00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:45.159
the time that I was graduating, which was the late

272
00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.879
nineties or so when I was coming out, is there's

273
00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:52.480
always sort of been these these two traditional hubs for

274
00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.159
innovation and design where it seemed like all the most

275
00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:59.080
of the businesses that were doing design back back then

276
00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.120
were located. The Boston area was was one big hub.

277
00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:04.879
So a natural benefit to kind of come from the

278
00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:08.320
northeast and then the Bay.

279
00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:11.759
Area in San Francisco, you know, that whole area. Naturally,

280
00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:12.440
it's kind.

281
00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:14.039
Of where the two areas where there's so much, at

282
00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:17.559
least back then, where the concentrations of innovation were really

283
00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:20.639
happening and so therefore new product development, that's where the

284
00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:25.759
companies were. So I got out of school and briefly

285
00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:29.120
was moved back home, but basically I wanted to I

286
00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:30.639
wanted to move to Boston as soon as I could

287
00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:34.519
because that was where that's where the business are, you know, businesses,

288
00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:39.679
and I was just looking for every opportunity to kind

289
00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.720
of just hustle, you know, just do the thing. I

290
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:44.240
really wanted to get into the industry, but it's it's

291
00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:45.720
a really competitive industry.

292
00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.399
There's you know, it's not the biggest.

293
00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.799
You know, it's probably on par with maybe architecture in

294
00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.720
terms of, you know, the number of firms and the

295
00:14:55.799 --> 00:14:59.120
amount of you know, open positions, which you know would

296
00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.080
the amount of students come out of school every year.

297
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:03.799
There's just a lot of competition to get into. And

298
00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:07.720
so I was just interviewing with as many people as

299
00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:10.399
I could, going to all you know, sending resumes out

300
00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:13.080
to every single one on every single person on the list,

301
00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:19.279
talking to you know, basically giving portfolio overview reviews with

302
00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:23.919
professionals in Boston that i'd gotten to now. And I

303
00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:27.360
got my first gig at a small, really small consultancy

304
00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:31.600
in She's was at Melrose or someplace like that in Massachusetts, right,

305
00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:35.240
and just was happy to get in as as soon

306
00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:36.799
as you can get in, and it's so much easier

307
00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:37.399
to kind of.

308
00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:40.240
Work your way there. But yeah, I worked my way.

309
00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:43.759
I consulted for a few different firms, and the story

310
00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:45.720
of actually how I got my first full.

311
00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:47.399
Time position was kind of amusing.

312
00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:50.799
And I, like I mentioned, I was interviewing with a

313
00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:53.360
bunch of different places, and I talked with this one

314
00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:57.159
very respected person in the community, and she was like,

315
00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.360
you know, your portfolio is great. I think you should

316
00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:03.360
really talk to these guys at this company called Product Insight.

317
00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:05.879
She's like, I know them really well. They're great guys,

318
00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:09.000
but you know, but they're going to be really tough.

319
00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.279
And she kind of gave me this warning basically saying like,

320
00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:14.080
I think you'd be a good fit, but it's going

321
00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:14.879
to be really tough.

322
00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.799
I was like, oh, okay, so I did.

323
00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:19.639
I reached out and they gave me an interview and

324
00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:22.679
I came in and the founders played like good cop,

325
00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:29.039
bad cop with me, and the good cop ended up

326
00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:31.039
being a guy who was just a couple of years later.

327
00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:32.519
He actually ended up leaving the firm to kind of

328
00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:36.240
pursue his own passion, which was in doing something else.

329
00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:39.840
But the guy who gave me the hardest time ended

330
00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:44.279
up being my business partner later on, because they did

331
00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:47.279
give me an initial job that was freelancing, and I

332
00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:48.840
did that for about a year before I went on

333
00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:51.799
full time. But man, I walked away from that first

334
00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.559
interview thinking that I bombed. You know that I there's

335
00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.399
no way that these guys call me, you know, that's

336
00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.120
there's no way. But he and I, you know, connected

337
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.279
so well over the years and got to know each

338
00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:05.720
other so well that we eventually became business partners.

339
00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:06.359
So it's funny.

340
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.400
Well, you must have handled that diversity pretty well.

341
00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.240
I don't know. I was just a kid, but boy

342
00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:12.920
it it felt tough at the time.

343
00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.000
All Right, we're going to take our first commercial break

344
00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:15.400
right here.

345
00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:18.160
We'll be back in just about sixty seconds with Jim Varney,

346
00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:20.640
co founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters.

347
00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:29.160
You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on

348
00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:33.519
W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com.

349
00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.200
Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up

350
00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:38.640
right here on Winning Business Radio.

351
00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:45.400
Best in Wealth Management is family owned for two generations.

352
00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:48.960
They take pride in thoughtful financial planning and wealth management

353
00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.200
with a family feel for your closely held family business.

354
00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.240
Best in Wealth Management focuses on deep planning, integrating your

355
00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:59.440
business planning with personal taylill help put your money to

356
00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:03.480
work your mind at ease. Go to Bestinwealthmanagement dot com

357
00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.160
for more information. Advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network,

358
00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:11.920
a registered investment advisor. Join the best Family and let

359
00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:16.279
our family advise your family. That's Bestwealthmanagement dot com for

360
00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:18.200
your complementary initial consultation.

361
00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:24.440
Have you ever dreamt of being on the radio, Well,

362
00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:27.000
now is your chance. Be a radio show guest on

363
00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:30.079
the number one ranked internet radio station and promote you

364
00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:33.720
and your business for free. Yes, you heard it, free

365
00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.559
business advertising right here on W four cy dot com.

366
00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.480
Call five six one five zero six four zero three

367
00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:43.759
one now to get booked on one of our shows.

368
00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:48.279
That's five six one five zero six four zero three one.

369
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.319
Get your free advertising now.

370
00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.720
And now back to winning Business Radio with Kevin Helenman,

371
00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:01.759
presenting exciting topics and experts guests with one goal in

372
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:05.319
mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again

373
00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:06.680
is Kevin Helenett.

374
00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:15.680
We are back with Jim Varney.

375
00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:18.359
So Jim tell us a little bit more about product

376
00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:22.640
insight and how I mean it was twenty seven years

377
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:24.359
ago you started and then it was a twenty five

378
00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:28.319
year career. How you made it from freelancer to co

379
00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:29.400
owner and the exit.

380
00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.720
Yeah.

381
00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:34.000
So when I started out Sea, I mentioned before I

382
00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.240
was I was freelancing there for about a year and

383
00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:41.240
I think I just really really knew I wanted to

384
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.000
work in this industry and just tried to find every

385
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.160
opportunity I could, even while I was freelancing, to make

386
00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:52.680
my mark. And I think in that process, I mean,

387
00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:55.319
the design industry, it's a creative industry, but it's very

388
00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.519
much about craft as well. Like it's about you know,

389
00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:01.759
making sure that you are honing your skills and that

390
00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:04.119
you're able to you know, communicate very clearly.

391
00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:06.319
So you know, as a green you know, fresh out

392
00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.680
of school kid, I had a lot, a lot to learn,

393
00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.119
but I also kind of learned what I was really

394
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:15.599
good at and and really leaned into that. And what

395
00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:17.079
what my strength happened to be.

396
00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:22.000
Was was all the cont we called ideation or like conceptualization.

397
00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:25.079
So it's like when you start a project, like I

398
00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:30.160
think my first project was concepts for like power strips,

399
00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:32.160
you know, like the little plug in things like just

400
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.640
you know, and that's it basically like give me, you know,

401
00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:39.079
as many sketches on ideas for power strips as you can,

402
00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:42.720
and I just I think I did, like I don't know,

403
00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:44.799
one hundred pages or something like that, you know, in

404
00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:48.240
a week, just as many as I possibly could these thumbnails.

405
00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:52.079
And I think that made a real impact. And so

406
00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.759
just the ability to kind of just go like kind

407
00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:59.039
of riff on ideas was something that I always loved

408
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:00.839
and it was something that came natural to me, and

409
00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:04.680
I just became sort of my my real focus as

410
00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:09.039
a designer, and you kind of make yourself indispensable at

411
00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:09.599
any job.

412
00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:12.720
So I when an opportunity came, when it was a

413
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:15.759
year of freelancing there, they brought me on full time

414
00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:19.319
and worked my way up as like in the staff

415
00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.319
staff designer position and then you know, over several years,

416
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:27.079
getting to a senior position and and eventually because of

417
00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:31.200
the relationship that I had developed with the ownership with

418
00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:35.440
Brian with bad Cop, yeah, I learned he wasn't yeah,

419
00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:36.960
you know, it was a little bit of an act,

420
00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:41.519
but also like he was, he was a real perfectionist

421
00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:43.359
in a lot of ways. And I think that I

422
00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:48.440
owe a lot of my success in being being pushed,

423
00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:52.640
really being driven to be better and to always try

424
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:54.799
to improve in everything I do.

425
00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.519
And so I learned from him, like on a one

426
00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:01.240
to one basis over you know years, and that's great.

427
00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:03.240
Eventually got to the point where I was able to

428
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:05.759
go through you know, raise the ranks up to a

429
00:22:05.799 --> 00:22:09.960
director of design. And then at one point I mentioned

430
00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:12.160
his original partner left the company, and so he was

431
00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:15.279
looking for someone to kind of share the burden with

432
00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:17.200
the company. And I'd been there for at that point,

433
00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:19.559
I think at least fifteen years or so, and he

434
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:23.440
offered basically for me to you know, come on board

435
00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:25.880
over the process of several years. It's sort of like

436
00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.359
a sweat equity sort of a deal, but to come

437
00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.880
on board and and share as a as a partner.

438
00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.880
And I was very gracious. I thought that was an

439
00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:36.680
amazing offer, and I chose to do that.

440
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:40.599
Yeah, so, given us, give us an idea of maybe

441
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.039
one or two other projects that you may have worked

442
00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:47.519
on that, you know, just the not the specific brand

443
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:49.359
or anything like that, but the type of items.

444
00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:50.119
Sure.

445
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:55.079
Yeah, So our particular focus at that company, I mean

446
00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:57.000
it had been pretty wide, but we had originally been

447
00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:59.279
doing a lot of say consumer goods, you know, like say,

448
00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:03.000
you know, heaters and fans and can openers and you know,

449
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.400
kitchen appliances that sort of thing. A lot of those

450
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.920
types of products, a lot of you know, for home

451
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:12.359
cooking and things. Lots of coffee makers I did over

452
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:17.400
the years. And but it's with the front actually had

453
00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.319
a very more technical angle to it, you know, as

454
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:22.640
compared to maybe some other design firms that were maybe

455
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.720
a little bit more fashion forward. We were always very

456
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:28.400
practical and the founders and the people they brought in,

457
00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.839
including myself, had that technical bend.

458
00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:33.079
So we actually did a lot of work in.

459
00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:39.000
More medical device development, biotech, life science.

460
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:41.440
We were very good. We got to be known.

461
00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:44.519
As being one of the best at creating what's called

462
00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:45.240
instrument design.

463
00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:47.799
So if you go to go to a.

464
00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:49.920
Hospital or you go to you know, doctor's office or

465
00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:52.039
something like that, the kind of devices that might be

466
00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.440
around for diagnostics or you know, ultrasounds or things like that,

467
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:58.839
those types of products are the sort of things that

468
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:02.720
we worked on over the years for different companies. So yeah,

469
00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:04.359
so one of the best one of the things that

470
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:06.359
really stood on my mind was we were we worked

471
00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:09.559
a lot on a proton therapy device for you know,

472
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.559
there was actually a local place in Massachusetts that was

473
00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:15.920
one of the premier developers of proton therapy for treating

474
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:18.799
inoperable cancers. And that's that really makes you feel good

475
00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:21.480
when you're working. Yeah, that's really making a difference in

476
00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:23.680
people's lives. So that's the kind of stuff we were doing.

477
00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.279
All right, So you guys exit or you exited, and

478
00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:32.759
then you did some fractional work leadership, engineering leadership, and

479
00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:37.000
then you decided to co found Wavelength Coffee Roasters. Now

480
00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:39.440
I want to know, was that your idea? Was it

481
00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:42.680
Diana's idea? Who came first? And what was that discussion like?

482
00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:44.680
And who said you're crazy? And who said let's go

483
00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:44.920
for it?

484
00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:47.759
Boy? I think we both said we're crazy. Yeah, So.

485
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.039
I knew I wanted to do something that was different

486
00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:54.599
than the consulting world. I loved it, but I've been

487
00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:56.119
doing it for twenty five years and I was ready

488
00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:56.880
for something different.

489
00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:01.359
But I really, you know, I had been leaning.

490
00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:05.000
Towards the sustainability, you know, side of the design world

491
00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:07.119
over the last few years that I was running the

492
00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.240
program or the running the company with some with some success,

493
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:14.559
and so it was limited. It's always challenging when you're

494
00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:17.160
a consultant and you are trying to sort of, you know,

495
00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:20.359
steer the conversation in certain ways. Ultimately, you're working for

496
00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:22.160
someone who's paying you. You know, there's only so much you

497
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:25.240
can do. And I also learned that, you know, steering

498
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:29.000
the ship. You know, companies have a certain inertia and

499
00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:31.759
so happy helping people try to change things. It's very

500
00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:34.839
hard once as of companies already set up. So I

501
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:36.880
knew I wanted to do something on my own when

502
00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.960
I left, but I really didn't know what I wanted

503
00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.200
to do. Consulting in climate tech is where I kind

504
00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.720
of thought I could go into and I did. I

505
00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:47.319
did one, you know a little bit of work in

506
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:50.400
that with a group out in Arizona, but I again

507
00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.079
I learned that it was just it was going to

508
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:55.200
be really difficult as a sort of I guess you

509
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.319
can say, I'm I'm I'm a layman's terms. I'm really

510
00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:59.079
a non technical person. You know, I don't have an

511
00:25:59.079 --> 00:26:01.920
engineering degree. Though I worked in and around the industry

512
00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:04.880
for twenty five years. There's so much I could really

513
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.200
push in that. So I wanted to do something more

514
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:11.880
hands on, and Deanna was all for it. She was like,

515
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.400
you know, hey, look you should do something. But then

516
00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:16.960
we really decided we wanted to do something together, and

517
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:19.079
that was kind of the initial idea. It was like, well,

518
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:21.799
let's you know, instead of me just going off and

519
00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:24.279
doing a consulting thing on my own, and like, why

520
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:26.079
don't we make a family business. You know, we had

521
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:29.119
a we had We've got two kids, and you know

522
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:31.240
there they were teenagers at the time. I guess they're

523
00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.160
still to teenagers, but they're on the high end of

524
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:36.640
the teenagers spectrum. Yeah, And we thought like, we're going

525
00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:38.720
to be fun to start something that even our kids

526
00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:41.000
could take a part in or we could hand off

527
00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:42.880
to them, right, like something we could have a legacy.

528
00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:45.599
And we thought that would be nice. And we didn't

529
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:47.039
really know where it would start. And I think it

530
00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:49.559
was Deanna one morning who was like, hey, what about

531
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:50.519
what about coffee?

532
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:52.559
You know, what if you were to do something in that?

533
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.960
And you know, I had been at a product insight,

534
00:26:57.039 --> 00:26:59.279
We had done some work in and around coffee, just

535
00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:01.480
you know, cause sumer stuff. We had done some commercial

536
00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:04.920
work in that industry, and I had been doing some

537
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:08.359
home roasting on my own and loved, you know, loved

538
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:11.720
specialty coffee, and you know, it was definitely into that scene.

539
00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:14.079
I had worked in a cafe years ago at Syracuse

540
00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:16.880
and so had all those kind of bits and pieces there.

541
00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:18.720
But there was it was interesting too because I just

542
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.720
didn't know a lot about a lot about how it

543
00:27:20.759 --> 00:27:21.839
was grown to the roasting side.

544
00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:24.799
So there was definitely a key there of something new

545
00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:28.720
and exciting that we could explore together. So it was interesting,

546
00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:32.640
but it wasn't a complete blind jump, and we just

547
00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:35.240
decided to start looking into it and we both fell

548
00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:35.960
down the rabbit hole.

549
00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:39.200
Basically, Well, you guys were nice enough to send to

550
00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:43.440
my house a can. This is the can was? I

551
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:47.680
was that I clicked when I was reading the bio.

552
00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:50.680
This is a Columbia transformation blend. By the way, I'm

553
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:56.440
supposed to tell you that my former barista daughter said

554
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.960
it is hold on. I wrote it down smooth, clean

555
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:03.440
and delicious, and she's got a palette for it.

556
00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:06.480
She was a Starbucks, so they know nice. I trust her.

557
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:07.519
She really liked it.

558
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:09.240
She really liked it. I really liked it as well.

559
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.279
You know, we cleaned that. She's got a whole setup.

560
00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:14.720
We cleaned out the grinder just so to be no

561
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:17.240
remnant of the previous one. Anyway, we really enjoyed it,

562
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:20.599
so well done. Tell us a bit about this, uh

563
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:21.519
can tell us?

564
00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:23.440
Yeah, you guys, I will.

565
00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:25.319
You guys are on the high high end of the

566
00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:27.119
spectrum of coffee consumers for sure.

567
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.640
So yeah, the can, I mean, the can was.

568
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:34.519
It came about really as a from originally from a

569
00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:39.200
point of frustration as a consumer myself as well as

570
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:44.079
somebody who knows a bit about the material science of packaging,

571
00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:48.759
coming from my previous work in that coffee almost exclusively

572
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:49.079
comes in.

573
00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:51.359
Bags, and a lot of them.

574
00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:52.839
You know, if you think you're trying to buy even

575
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:55.160
the you know, the more you know sort of eco

576
00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:58.000
conscious brands, they might say that the bag is recyclable,

577
00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:01.079
or maybe it's compostable or made of bioplastic, this sort

578
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:01.400
of thing.

579
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:03.920
But unfortunately, almost all of.

580
00:29:03.880 --> 00:29:09.319
That is basically greenwashing, and that with bags they either

581
00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:12.240
you know, really can't be recycled because of how they're made,

582
00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:17.279
or with anything that's you know, compostable or bioplastic, it

583
00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:19.400
can't be really composted or they don't want it at

584
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.039
the composting facilities, and almost everything ends up in a landfill.

585
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:23.759
And I kind of knew this just from the work

586
00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:26.119
I had done, so I always felt bad about that,

587
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.440
you know, trying to buy, trying to do the right thing,

588
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:30.400
and then you feel like, well, I'm just throwing stuff

589
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.000
in the landfill. And so when we started Wavelength, like

590
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:36.759
that packaging was a key component of like we have

591
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.160
to find a better solution for this. And really sometimes

592
00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:42.559
the old solutions are the best.

593
00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:44.480
I was just going to say old school of coffee,

594
00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:46.920
when old school coffee cans and then the can and

595
00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:49.599
those cans never went away. They had nuts and bolts

596
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.599
in them or something sort of you know grandma's stash

597
00:29:52.839 --> 00:29:53.640
or money stash.

598
00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:55.599
You know, yeah, they're always there.

599
00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:58.039
There can always have a life, you know, in something

600
00:29:58.039 --> 00:30:02.119
else later on, or and even just the material itself,

601
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:06.960
steel is you know, the most recyclable and recycled the

602
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:08.440
material that humans have ever made.

603
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:11.400
It's it's easy to sort. Yeah, there's a little thing

604
00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:12.759
on the inside, there's a little coaster.

605
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:15.920
It feels like a coulster, and there's a little uh,

606
00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:17.920
I'm not sure what that material is, but it creates

607
00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:21.279
and it creates a nice seal. Yep, that's right before

608
00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:23.079
the plastic top goes on.

609
00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:26.079
So that's the key is that the steel was something

610
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:28.920
that was just from a material standpoint, was was a

611
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.920
good solution. But actually it's better for the quality of

612
00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.559
the coffee because steel is a better barrier. It's completely

613
00:30:35.640 --> 00:30:39.279
air tight, water tight, keeps all the light out, which

614
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.359
keeps the once the beans are inside and the seal,

615
00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:43.359
it keeps them fresher for longer. So we loved that

616
00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:46.839
idea that, Okay, this is the better sort of sustainable solution,

617
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:48.240
but it's also better for quality.

618
00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:50.119
And so I think that that's.

619
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:52.400
Really important is that we didn't want to just guilt

620
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:54.519
people into coming along with us and our lia.

621
00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:57.680
Just because of now sustainability and climate or you.

622
00:30:57.640 --> 00:30:59.519
Know, it's got to be the reasons.

623
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.599
But it's going to be a good quality, right, It's

624
00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:03.920
going to make a really excellent product, And that's key.

625
00:31:05.480 --> 00:31:07.240
Where did the name wavelength? I had to ask. I

626
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.559
wasn't sure where I was going to ask that one,

627
00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:09.519
But where did that come from?

628
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:14.920
Yeah, it's so originally my original crazy idea. This was

629
00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:17.240
where the this is where the year crazy thing probably

630
00:31:17.240 --> 00:31:21.000
comes in. Was when we first thought about doing coffee.

631
00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:24.880
I wanted to do it completely standalone, all solar powered,

632
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:28.119
like make my own like shed basically with solar panels

633
00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:30.960
and inverters and batteries, and I had the whole thing

634
00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:36.039
planned out to run a roaster off of this, running

635
00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:36.359
the math.

636
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.759
I kind of quickly realized that that was going to

637
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:41.759
be impractical, not the least of which is I believe

638
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.799
in Massachusetts, all projects, all solar has to be grid connected,

639
00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:49.079
so that became kind of a little bit of like, oh, okay, that's.

640
00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:49.480
Not going to work.

641
00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:53.400
But the original thought was because you can get electric

642
00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:55.559
roasters now it's kind of a new thing that we'd

643
00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:59.279
use solar and you know, sun power basically.

644
00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:01.400
So there was the idea of wavelengths of energy.

645
00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:04.839
You know, that's how erg transmitted, you know, even though

646
00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:08.920
through electricity you know kind of have wavelengths. But then

647
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:12.880
it's also this double meeting which is sort of being

648
00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:16.440
on the same wavelength, like this alignment idea, and we

649
00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:19.480
in what we were doing, it wasn't just about the

650
00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:22.000
electrical stuff what we started with. It was quickly we

651
00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:24.720
realized so much of what's going on on the farm

652
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:27.720
level was really inspiring and fascinating, and we wanted to

653
00:32:27.720 --> 00:32:30.279
be able to share those stories with our customers. So

654
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.799
it was about this kind of building this bridge, this connection,

655
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:36.319
this platform really in our company where we could kind

656
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.319
of bring those two things together, like the growers and

657
00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:42.160
the farmers and and the consumers and the roasters really

658
00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:44.599
and kind of get everyone on the same wavelength.

659
00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:47.119
So that's kind of that's where that came from all.

660
00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:50.720
Right, there's another opportunity just based upon my next couple questions.

661
00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:53.519
Let's take a break right here again, another sixty second break.

662
00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:55.279
We'll be right back with Jim Varney.

663
00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:03.000
You were listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene

664
00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:07.680
on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com.

665
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:10.400
Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up

666
00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:12.799
right here on Winning Business Radio.

667
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.599
Best and Wealth Management is family owned for two generations.

668
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.119
They take pride in thoughtful financial planning and wealth management

669
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:26.359
with a family feel for your closely held family business.

670
00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:30.400
Best in Wealth Management focuses on deep planning. Integrating your

671
00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:33.559
business planning with personal tay will help put your money

672
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:37.079
to work and your mind at ease. Go to Bestinwealthmanagement

673
00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:40.839
dot com for more information. Advisory service is offered through

674
00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:45.160
Commonwealth Financial Network, a registered investment advisor. Join the Best

675
00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:49.759
Family and let our family advise your family. That's Bestinwealthmanagement

676
00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:52.359
dot com for your complementary initial consultation.

677
00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:57.880
The yp dot com website is your local search engine.

678
00:33:57.960 --> 00:33:59.960
If you're looking for a good restaurant, it can help

679
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:02.680
you find the right one nearby with ratings and reviews.

680
00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:05.000
Or if your car breaks down, you can use the

681
00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:07.880
YP app to find the closest repair shop, or maybe

682
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:10.239
you're just looking for something to do on a Friday night.

683
00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:12.880
While it has great local coupons for all sorts of

684
00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:15.679
things in your area, no matter what, when or where.

685
00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:18.639
If you're looking for something, YP Local Search can help

686
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:20.559
you find it. So go to yp dot com or

687
00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:23.559
download the app to search local, to fine local, and

688
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:24.280
save local.

689
00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:31.679
And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helen

690
00:34:31.719 --> 00:34:35.639
in presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal

691
00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:39.079
in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once

692
00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:40.559
again is Kevin Helen.

693
00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:51.920
We're back with Jim Varney, co founder of Wavelength Coffee Roasters,

694
00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:54.800
and I wanted to clarify You're not a cafe.

695
00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:58.119
That is correct. We are a roaster, not a gap.

696
00:34:58.440 --> 00:34:58.880
That's right.

697
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:04.559
So you vibe beans right, that's right?

698
00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:04.960
Yeah?

699
00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:08.119
So does it always hole bean?

700
00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:11.639
Well in our packaging, we prefer to do hole bean

701
00:35:12.199 --> 00:35:14.480
because it's definitely the best way to keep the coffee

702
00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:17.360
fresher for longer. But we do we do have folks,

703
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:20.480
so en they when folks come into the roaster, because

704
00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:22.559
we do actually have a showroom roastery here in Shirley.

705
00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:26.639
I'm sitting in it right now. One of our brick walls. Uh.

706
00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:28.199
The facility that we're.

707
00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:32.079
In is a it's a beautiful old mill complex here

708
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:33.920
in Shirley, and so we have a lot of these

709
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:39.119
sort of traditional construction stuff around me. But we, like

710
00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:40.880
you said, we don't have a cafe per se, but

711
00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:42.840
we do have a space where people come in and

712
00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:46.360
purchase coffee beans from us and so on. Everyone comes in,

713
00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:48.400
we'll we'll cater to their needs if we need to

714
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:49.599
grind something for them as well.

715
00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:52.079
So that's but we also host a lot of events here.

716
00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:55.639
We host tastings and tours and other things uh at

717
00:35:55.639 --> 00:35:57.519
our at our roastery here because we've got a really

718
00:35:57.599 --> 00:35:58.119
nice big.

719
00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:01.719
Space, so soople in the area could rent the space

720
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:02.920
for forgiven event.

721
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:04.519
That's right.

722
00:36:04.599 --> 00:36:08.840
So we've had we've done that for local business groups. Actually,

723
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:11.719
our our Initioba Valley Chamber of Commerce has done that,

724
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:18.199
and other private businesses have actually uh set up quarterly

725
00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:20.239
meetings that they've had here and then done a little

726
00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:22.239
to more and tasting. So yeah, that's that's something that

727
00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:25.840
we actively uh promote for for people around here.

728
00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:30.280
Well, that's good to know too. Let's see, I'm going

729
00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:32.719
to get into some of the details here. What is

730
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:36.239
the impact of electric heat on coffee?

731
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:39.280
So the.

732
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.480
To take to understand that, I guess it's like, basically,

733
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:47.079
when you're looking at what a what coffee needs to

734
00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:48.880
do when it's when it's being roasted, right, is you

735
00:36:48.920 --> 00:36:52.679
need to get that pretty hot, and you need to

736
00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:57.280
heat it as evenly as possible each being, and you

737
00:36:57.360 --> 00:36:59.480
need to do it, you know, pretty quickly in a

738
00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:04.000
scale in the grand scheme of things. And so traditionally

739
00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:06.599
the way that's always been done and commercially at least

740
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:09.639
is on it's called a drum roaster. So it's a

741
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:11.559
it looks kind of like a big horizontal like a

742
00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:13.719
like a dryer, almost like a closed dryer.

743
00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:17.400
But basically the idea is it's it's a spinning stainless.

744
00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:19.239
Steel drum and you have to heat up that drum

745
00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:21.639
real hot, and that's you know, you dump the beans

746
00:37:21.639 --> 00:37:25.639
inside and they tumble around basically like a rock tumbler. That's,

747
00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:28.199
you know, traditionally the way in which that's been that's

748
00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:33.079
been accomplished. You're heating up that that drum though with

749
00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:36.440
typically with gas flames, so it's usually methane.

750
00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:39.599
Natural gas is like typically so it gets it scorching hot.

751
00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:43.079
You dump the beans in and there is airflow in there,

752
00:37:43.079 --> 00:37:45.400
of course, but it's a lot of contact with the drum.

753
00:37:45.559 --> 00:37:50.320
Now with electric roasting, you do away with all of

754
00:37:50.360 --> 00:37:53.360
the gas, so there's no gas connections at all. And

755
00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:56.559
in particular, the way that we're doing it is is

756
00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:59.920
electric air roasting. So there is it's it's kind of

757
00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:02.360
more like a giant popcorn popper.

758
00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:05.000
Than than a clothes dryer, if you will. There's a

759
00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:05.719
big there's a.

760
00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:08.199
Vertical sort of column of hot air, so there's it's

761
00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:11.440
an electric a big, big bank of electric heaters. That

762
00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:14.000
air is kind of pulled through that hot air then

763
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:16.840
pushes vertically up through all the coffee we have, and

764
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:19.360
so it sort of agitates it and almost as like

765
00:38:19.400 --> 00:38:22.199
a tornado sort of happening inside of there. But what

766
00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:26.440
that accomplishes is it's cooking the individual beans instead of

767
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:28.199
on the surface of a drum, they're sort of all

768
00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:30.960
surrounded by hot air, and so that makes the coffee

769
00:38:31.039 --> 00:38:35.840
roast very evenly, very consistent across the entire batch. And

770
00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:39.360
it also we find allows the coffee to kind of

771
00:38:39.400 --> 00:38:44.960
express its own flavor and quality without imparting any unwanted

772
00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:48.320
flavors from the drum because sometimes over years you can

773
00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:51.079
kind of get some build up of oils and flavors

774
00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:54.719
in a drum roaster. So this process that we're using

775
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:57.320
gets away from that. So it's very clean and very

776
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:58.039
precise with the.

777
00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:00.880
Flavoring from coffee to coffee.

778
00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:03.960
From coffee to coffee, it's very distinct, you know, and yeah,

779
00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:06.239
we can people are often surprised at that when we

780
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:08.239
have all of our coffees out off to taste, that

781
00:39:08.480 --> 00:39:10.760
they taste each one and they all taste very different,

782
00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:13.719
you know. It's it's not like variations on a theme,

783
00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:16.400
Like they're all as different as the origins that they

784
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:18.440
come from.

785
00:39:18.760 --> 00:39:20.320
And these are considered i don't know if you use

786
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:21.800
the term, but considered small batch.

787
00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:26.400
Yeah. Yeah, So with the size that we're doing, so

788
00:39:26.440 --> 00:39:30.639
we roast on it's a six kilogram, so that's about

789
00:39:30.679 --> 00:39:36.079
thirteen pounds total each roast. Each roast we do lasts

790
00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:39.039
about maybe about twelve minutes or so we can do

791
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:43.039
with turnaround, I can usually do about three full roasts

792
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:44.239
per hour or so.

793
00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:47.760
So even at that volume we are we're definitely a

794
00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:51.800
small batch roaster, and this is a relatively small commercial

795
00:39:51.800 --> 00:39:53.519
sized roaster that we're using.

796
00:39:53.519 --> 00:39:54.679
Because shot on the website.

797
00:39:54.760 --> 00:39:56.320
Yeah, yeah, we can upgrade from there.

798
00:39:56.320 --> 00:39:59.719
Actually, the company that makes that has some larger sizes,

799
00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:02.360
but they're a very new company. So we're actually in

800
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:06.679
a lot of ways piloting that particular technology, and we're

801
00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:09.519
we're definitely the only ones at this point as far

802
00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:11.840
as I know in New England in the Northeast that

803
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:13.679
have one of those air motion roasters.

804
00:40:13.719 --> 00:40:16.320
There are others throughout the US a few that have them,

805
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:17.480
but it's still.

806
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:24.880
Very unusual, and even the idea of roasting electric is

807
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:27.559
very unusual. So I think it's like ninety nine plus

808
00:40:27.559 --> 00:40:30.559
percent of coffee that we consume today is all roasted

809
00:40:30.599 --> 00:40:33.199
on gas, so it's like only one percent of it

810
00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:36.559
or less is electric, and then of that there's probably

811
00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:38.239
only one percent that's air roasted.

812
00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:40.480
So we're the we're in the minority, minority.

813
00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:43.320
But because it's a very new technology, it's something that

814
00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:47.360
we are again embracing because we love the quality that

815
00:40:47.400 --> 00:40:51.519
it produces, and it's extremely efficient and it allows us

816
00:40:51.559 --> 00:40:52.800
to use the renewables that we.

817
00:40:52.760 --> 00:40:54.920
Have on tap here at our facility.

818
00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:00.320
So how many different blends do you have? Roughly name

819
00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:00.960
a couple if you like.

820
00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:04.480
Yeah, so I mean you have the Transformation blend, which

821
00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:06.920
is one of our two coffees from Columbia.

822
00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:14.400
We actually have there's three different origins, which is like

823
00:41:14.440 --> 00:41:16.840
the countries wherever they come from, where we have two

824
00:41:16.840 --> 00:41:17.480
coffees each.

825
00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:21.840
So we have two from Burundi, we have two from Colombia,

826
00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:26.199
and we have two from El Salvador. And we didn't

827
00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:28.519
necessarily start out to do that, but we actually found

828
00:41:28.519 --> 00:41:31.960
that it was it was an interesting way to again

829
00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:35.079
we're looking from an educational standpoint or an exploration standpoint.

830
00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:38.719
We like, we like the educational side of the business

831
00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:39.960
and always trying to tell the stories.

832
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:42.159
You pointed out that there's a coaster that we put

833
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:43.360
on the inside of each can.

834
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:46.840
That was because we knew we didn't have enough space

835
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:48.880
on the can to tell the story we wanted.

836
00:41:50.199 --> 00:41:51.800
And so we're like, well, how do we do that?

837
00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:54.480
How do we provide the information that's often on our

838
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:56.400
website to people who are just buying this off of

839
00:41:56.440 --> 00:41:59.440
a you know, a retail say, on a shelf, and

840
00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:02.719
that the coaster actually was a perfect fit and on

841
00:42:02.719 --> 00:42:04.800
one side it gives more tasting notes and on the

842
00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:07.039
other side, it does link it more to why is

843
00:42:07.079 --> 00:42:07.960
this coffee special?

844
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:09.840
Why are we highlighting it? Why are we you know,

845
00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:10.880
why are we promoting it?

846
00:42:11.880 --> 00:42:15.840
And we so in total, we have anywhere between say

847
00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:19.519
eight and ten coffees available at any one time. We've

848
00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:22.639
got a few that are sort of our base, you know,

849
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:24.519
there are always kind of there, and we've got a

850
00:42:24.519 --> 00:42:27.840
few that we sort of bring in in smaller amounts

851
00:42:27.880 --> 00:42:30.559
and try those out to give people again, different opportunities

852
00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:31.199
to try things.

853
00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:31.880
From all over the place.

854
00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:33.960
How do you source these beans?

855
00:42:34.639 --> 00:42:36.320
So a couple of different ways.

856
00:42:37.239 --> 00:42:41.119
We The typical way, like we also do, is with

857
00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:47.480
there's importers, you know, larger companies that basically will facilitate

858
00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:50.880
the coffee coming from where it comes. Because as most

859
00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:53.559
people probably know or maybe not, coffee can only be

860
00:42:53.559 --> 00:42:56.280
grown around the tropics of the world. So it's uh,

861
00:42:56.679 --> 00:43:00.000
you you've got countries like well, like I mentioned El Salvador,

862
00:43:00.079 --> 00:43:02.880
or like the Central American countries. The people are more

863
00:43:02.880 --> 00:43:05.840
familiar with Costa Rica, Honduras, that sort of thing. But

864
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:08.239
you've also got countries in East Africa, like you know,

865
00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:12.039
Burundi and Rwanda and Tanzania and Ethiopia, UH, and also

866
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:17.280
Southeast Asia. You know, you've got Sumatrian coffees and things

867
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:19.400
like that. So they're from all over the world. It's

868
00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:23.400
if you can imagine and like Brazil, South America, it

869
00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:26.400
would be. And it is challenging as an individual to

870
00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:29.239
to basically be able to bring that in and communicate

871
00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:30.960
in this level. So there's a lot of companies called

872
00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:34.280
importers that we work with, and we've been very careful

873
00:43:34.280 --> 00:43:37.119
about who we do work with that that helped to

874
00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:41.079
facilitate that. And but in some cases, like the sorry

875
00:43:41.159 --> 00:43:44.320
the coffees that we have from El Salvador, we actually

876
00:43:44.320 --> 00:43:45.239
buy those directly.

877
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:46.039
From the farm.

878
00:43:46.360 --> 00:43:49.000
That was a farmer that I was very impressed with

879
00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:51.159
as I was doing all my research with what they

880
00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:56.239
were doing with their their agronomy and their really progressive

881
00:43:56.280 --> 00:43:59.480
soil health and plant health initiatives that they were taking

882
00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:02.840
on themselves. I was just really impressed. And so I

883
00:44:03.039 --> 00:44:05.639
took a while, but I eventually was able to WhatsApp

884
00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:09.719
them or you know, make connections, UH, and we organized

885
00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:11.840
a sale and they would just.

886
00:44:11.880 --> 00:44:13.679
Like get a range Rover and show up.

887
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:16.159
I was thinking about it. I was like when it easier,

888
00:44:16.239 --> 00:44:19.320
I just drove down there. But but yeah, it was.

889
00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:22.679
It was definitely a challenge for sure to again not

890
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:24.800
knowing a lot about this industry to kind of go

891
00:44:24.840 --> 00:44:27.559
through it that first time. But we had to you know,

892
00:44:27.639 --> 00:44:30.760
file as a as an importer with the FDA and

893
00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:34.480
had to all kinds of licensing and permitting and even

894
00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:36.039
so the coffee once it was brought in, it was

895
00:44:36.039 --> 00:44:38.119
held in customs for like a month before we could

896
00:44:38.119 --> 00:44:38.719
actually get it.

897
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:41.199
So was that the first time or has that happened regularly?

898
00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:42.760
That was the first time.

899
00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:46.679
And it was also during the tariffs when things weren't right,

900
00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:48.119
you know, nobody was really sure.

901
00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:51.000
What was getting you know, build and whatnot, and.

902
00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:53.320
So coffee is not right as a food.

903
00:44:53.440 --> 00:44:56.400
It well it is, it was not, and then it

904
00:44:56.440 --> 00:44:59.880
was and that yeah, it got complicated. Okay, it's actually

905
00:45:00.039 --> 00:45:03.079
down to a basic level now where basically all companies

906
00:45:03.079 --> 00:45:05.239
all countries or have a base level tariff. But there

907
00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:07.440
was a time where there were certain countries that we're

908
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:08.800
going to have higher tariffs.

909
00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:10.679
And so it was it was a little bit of

910
00:45:10.719 --> 00:45:13.079
a wild West there for a little bit. But but

911
00:45:13.079 --> 00:45:15.159
we've since we still buy coffee from that farm in

912
00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:18.800
El Salvador for this next harvest, because we love, we

913
00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:20.039
love the quality, and we love.

914
00:45:19.880 --> 00:45:21.719
Working with them, so we're not we're not scared off

915
00:45:21.719 --> 00:45:22.000
by them.

916
00:45:23.079 --> 00:45:25.360
Who are your customers.

917
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:28.960
So that's something I think that if you talk about

918
00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:31.599
when you start a business, you might have a certain

919
00:45:31.639 --> 00:45:33.840
idea in mind with a lot of things right, and

920
00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:36.400
then as you go it organically kind of turns into

921
00:45:36.599 --> 00:45:40.760
you know, things change or things that evolve. And I always,

922
00:45:40.760 --> 00:45:44.519
i guess imagined that when I started this that I'd

923
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:48.760
be basically appealing to more of the I mean, you know,

924
00:45:48.840 --> 00:45:51.159
coffee snob is like, you know, people who know a

925
00:45:51.199 --> 00:45:53.400
lot about coffee or can really care about that, you know,

926
00:45:53.440 --> 00:45:56.280
the rual quality of their coffee, which I know a

927
00:45:56.280 --> 00:45:58.400
lot of people who buy our coffee are those kinds

928
00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:00.840
of people, because there's some of them out there.

929
00:46:00.840 --> 00:46:02.079
But I think an endorsement too.

930
00:46:03.239 --> 00:46:04.119
Yet what what.

931
00:46:04.039 --> 00:46:08.280
Your daughter had to say was fantastic, So because we

932
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:10.360
know we have to make a quality product that's going

933
00:46:10.400 --> 00:46:13.199
to appeal to those people too. But I think the

934
00:46:13.239 --> 00:46:17.199
interesting thing is as we have gotten out into the world,

935
00:46:17.280 --> 00:46:19.599
especially in our in our local community and done lots

936
00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:22.360
of farmers' markets and events and festivals and those sorts

937
00:46:22.360 --> 00:46:22.719
of things.

938
00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:24.960
We've always tried to be approachable.

939
00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:27.599
And again this is a lot of Deanna's uh you know,

940
00:46:28.039 --> 00:46:32.280
contribution to the company is this idea of of communication

941
00:46:32.519 --> 00:46:37.400
and instruction and and openness and being being there for

942
00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:40.559
people and not like not the judge, uh you know,

943
00:46:40.639 --> 00:46:43.280
cafe culture where you might look down on someone for

944
00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:44.800
putting for putting milk.

945
00:46:44.679 --> 00:46:46.239
You know in your coffee, No you do.

946
00:46:47.639 --> 00:46:51.079
We've learned that there is a whole slew of people

947
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:55.719
out there who are intimidated by coffee culture and and

948
00:46:55.760 --> 00:47:00.360
by specialty coffee that are otherwise very into and we'd

949
00:47:00.360 --> 00:47:04.000
be very open to having quality coffee and specialty coffee,

950
00:47:04.119 --> 00:47:06.559
but they just they just find it off putting or confusing.

951
00:47:06.920 --> 00:47:10.239
And so we have tried and evolved now our approach

952
00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:13.360
to really appeal to those people to show them that, Okay, well.

953
00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:14.159
We're going to walk you through.

954
00:47:14.159 --> 00:47:16.360
We're not gonna throw a bunch of jargon around that

955
00:47:16.400 --> 00:47:17.800
you may not know, or if we do, we're going

956
00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:18.639
to try to explain it to you.

957
00:47:18.760 --> 00:47:21.440
Here's what it means, like here's and and really just

958
00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:24.039
be like when we have our coffeees out and someone

959
00:47:24.079 --> 00:47:25.639
doesn't know where to start, we say, well, what do

960
00:47:25.679 --> 00:47:28.119
you like? What do you traditionally like, whether it's dark

961
00:47:28.199 --> 00:47:30.239
or light or in the middle or whatever you want,

962
00:47:30.559 --> 00:47:33.199
Let's figure out. Let's figure out the entry point, then

963
00:47:33.320 --> 00:47:38.000
into our layout and then then try some different things.

964
00:47:37.840 --> 00:47:40.519
You know, let's see, let's see what happens. So I

965
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:43.760
think we've learned that those people. I think there's a

966
00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:46.679
large portion of the population you might say, like in

967
00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:48.800
the New England area, because you know, Dunkin Donuts.

968
00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:50.920
It's the Dunkin Donuts folks. Who are you know?

969
00:47:51.199 --> 00:47:53.000
Dunc Donuts is great. I mean, I'm not gonna I'm

970
00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:56.440
no hater on dunk Donuts. I grew up drinking Dunkin Donuts.

971
00:47:56.960 --> 00:48:00.000
You know, hazel nut for sure was what point from

972
00:48:00.199 --> 00:48:03.280
lots of lots of milk and sugar. But I think,

973
00:48:03.519 --> 00:48:05.519
you know, you have to be open for people to

974
00:48:05.960 --> 00:48:10.119
include those people because as far as like our sustainability message,

975
00:48:10.199 --> 00:48:11.880
like it only makes sense to get as many people

976
00:48:11.920 --> 00:48:14.280
on board as we can. We're not here to push

977
00:48:14.280 --> 00:48:17.320
people away. So I think that's become more of our crowd.

978
00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:19.320
I think the people who are maybe curious but don't

979
00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:20.719
know a lot about coffee yet.

980
00:48:21.400 --> 00:48:24.280
So where in central Masks can people or maybe outside

981
00:48:24.440 --> 00:48:25.760
can people get the coffee?

982
00:48:26.239 --> 00:48:27.079
Yeah, they can send to you.

983
00:48:27.800 --> 00:48:29.239
They can come to us for sure.

984
00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:31.519
We're in We're in several markets right now over the summer,

985
00:48:31.559 --> 00:48:34.679
but they can find us. There's a few specialty markets.

986
00:48:35.079 --> 00:48:39.079
Wilson Farm in Lexington is a great place for that.

987
00:48:39.320 --> 00:48:44.559
Conquered Market in Conquered another one we are. We're also

988
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:49.639
in Revival Cafe in Kitchen, which is actually a chain

989
00:48:49.719 --> 00:48:53.039
of seven to seven locations in and around Boston and

990
00:48:53.079 --> 00:48:56.800
the surrounds. So they're also in Lexington and Alston, I believe,

991
00:48:56.840 --> 00:48:59.599
and in and around like Watertown, Summerville. They've picked up

992
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:02.360
our coffees or one of our coffees, our Coasta Rican

993
00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:06.360
actually over the summer for hot coffee as well as

994
00:49:06.559 --> 00:49:08.800
iced and so we're doing quite a lot of volume

995
00:49:08.840 --> 00:49:11.920
for them right now. And so yeah, so we're just

996
00:49:12.199 --> 00:49:13.679
like I mentioned, we've only been around for eight months,

997
00:49:13.679 --> 00:49:15.000
so we're just starting to get out there. But we're

998
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:16.840
getting more traction now, which is really exciting.

999
00:49:16.920 --> 00:49:20.480
That's fantastic. All right, we are out of time. Two

1000
00:49:20.559 --> 00:49:24.079
questions who in the listening and viewing audiences. Now this

1001
00:49:24.119 --> 00:49:26.880
is more on the commercial side. You just explained the

1002
00:49:27.519 --> 00:49:31.760
coffee drinker, But who in the listening and viewing audiences

1003
00:49:31.840 --> 00:49:33.599
should reach out to you and why.

1004
00:49:34.760 --> 00:49:38.239
We would love to hear from other businesses that would

1005
00:49:38.280 --> 00:49:40.800
be interested in coming into the space. They are interested

1006
00:49:40.840 --> 00:49:44.480
in touring a state of the art sustainable roasting company

1007
00:49:45.079 --> 00:49:47.360
and maybe even blending their own custom blend that they

1008
00:49:47.400 --> 00:49:51.920
could use at their company, but also other restaurants and

1009
00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:55.400
other companies like that who are interested in maybe matching

1010
00:49:55.440 --> 00:49:59.840
their farm to table ethos with a really excellent, locally

1011
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:01.400
hosted coffee that's sustainable.

1012
00:50:01.719 --> 00:50:02.519
I've seen that done.

1013
00:50:03.320 --> 00:50:06.880
There was a meeting we had at a mortgage company

1014
00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:11.719
and they had a branded blend and it was good.

1015
00:50:11.800 --> 00:50:13.320
I don't know where it came from. I try to

1016
00:50:13.320 --> 00:50:16.000
get more, but it was really good. All right, last question,

1017
00:50:16.199 --> 00:50:18.000
what's the best way to contact you. I know that

1018
00:50:18.559 --> 00:50:20.519
the website has been on the crawl. Just share that

1019
00:50:20.599 --> 00:50:21.119
real quickly.

1020
00:50:21.840 --> 00:50:22.119
Yeah.

1021
00:50:22.159 --> 00:50:26.039
So it is wavelength Dashcoffee dot com and it's got

1022
00:50:26.039 --> 00:50:28.000
all our contact there, but you can also reach out

1023
00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:32.320
just via email at Hello at wavelength dash cooffee dot com.

1024
00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:34.519
Perfect and there it is for the viewers, Jim, thank

1025
00:50:34.519 --> 00:50:37.519
you very much. My best to your wife. I've not met,

1026
00:50:37.840 --> 00:50:40.039
but tell her she missed a good one. Thanks for

1027
00:50:40.079 --> 00:50:42.519
being here. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much, Kevin,

1028
00:50:43.199 --> 00:50:45.519
and thank you everybody for listening and watching. This is

1029
00:50:45.519 --> 00:50:48.920
a show about business. This was a show about business

1030
00:50:48.960 --> 00:50:51.920
success as you can see, but challenges to and if

1031
00:50:51.920 --> 00:50:55.039
you've got concerns about the sales effect is effectiveness of

1032
00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:57.320
your company, whether your sales team is you, or it's

1033
00:50:57.320 --> 00:51:00.360
small or it's large, and you're in Massachusetts, you were

1034
00:51:00.400 --> 00:51:02.559
referred by one of our clients and you want to

1035
00:51:02.639 --> 00:51:05.800
learn more about implementing Sandler in your business, contact me

1036
00:51:06.039 --> 00:51:10.079
at go dot Sandler dot com, slash KJH or email

1037
00:51:10.119 --> 00:51:13.760
me at first name dot last name, Kevin dot Hallananetsandler

1038
00:51:13.800 --> 00:51:17.239
dot com. Otherwise, if you're outside of Massachusetts, visit Sandler

1039
00:51:17.280 --> 00:51:20.119
dot com to find a Sandler training center that services

1040
00:51:20.159 --> 00:51:23.360
your area. At Sandler Tranning, I say we developed sales

1041
00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:27.960
teams and individuals into high achievers and sales leaders into

1042
00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:30.480
true coaches and mentors. We're not a fit for everybody,

1043
00:51:30.519 --> 00:51:32.880
but hey, maybe we should have a conversation. Thank you

1044
00:51:32.960 --> 00:51:36.440
to one our engineer and producer for another job well done.

1045
00:51:36.440 --> 00:51:36.800
Thank you.

1046
00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:40.400
Be sure to join us next week Monday, June twenty ninth.

1047
00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:42.880
My guest will be Jeff Heather, owner and principal of

1048
00:51:42.960 --> 00:51:48.800
north Light It. Until then, this is Kevin Hallanan. You've

1049
00:51:48.800 --> 00:51:52.159
been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host, Kevin Helenan.

1050
00:51:52.599 --> 00:51:55.320
If you missed any part of this episode, the podcast

1051
00:51:55.360 --> 00:51:59.679
is available on Talk for podcasting and iHeartRadio. For more

1052
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:04.039
inform and questions, go to Winning Businessradio dot com or

1053
00:52:04.199 --> 00:52:06.760
check us out on social media. Tune in again next

1054
00:52:06.760 --> 00:52:09.079
week and every Monday at four pm Eastern Time to

1055
00:52:09.159 --> 00:52:13.079
listen live to Winning Business Radio on W four CY

1056
00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:15.679
Radio w four cy dot com.

1057
00:52:15.760 --> 00:52:19.400
Until then, let's succeed where others have failed and win

1058
00:52:19.599 --> 00:52:24.480
in business with Kevin Halenan and Winning Business Radio