Voices of Annapolis
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Voices of Annapolis
Greg Coster-The Big Bean
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Oh man, this is a feel good episode right here. Get to know the people behind The Big Bean and then take a trip to one of there 3, almost 4, locations! The vibe is everything you would want it to be.
Our socials are
FB @TheBigBeanMD
Insta @bigbeancoffeehouse
Severna Park
558 Baltimore Annapolis blvd
Severna Park,Md 21146
Annapolis
888 Bestgate Rd
Annapolis,Md 21401
Millersville
231 Najoles Rd
Millersville, Md 21108
Harbor Lights to Main Street Nights where the bay runs deep and the city shines bright. These are the voices, these are their stories. Voices of Annapolis dive in. And welcome back to Voices of Annapolis.
SPEAKER_02This is Kelly Bell from the Bell House Catering, and we have Gretchen Moran from the Culinary Square. Kelly! Hi, Gretchen. It was so fun today. We got to tell our listeners where we went before we introduced our guest. Yes, yes. It was so fun going over to the lighthouse shelter. We did, yep. And seeing the kitchen that we're gonna we're gonna adopt a breakfast. We are gonna talk. And so the more we talk to Chip, who's the head chef over there, weren't you just getting more and more excited about all the like yummy stuff we could do? The more we talked to him. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So like talk a little bit, t tell everybody a little bit about like you know how he told us about the people.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. He just the the fact that you have people who are super grateful and like and he was saying the thing that made me very like was like, oh my god, was when he said they don't sometimes they take uh uh more than they think that they need because they don't know when the next time they're gonna eat. And I'm like, oh, it's a little world.
SPEAKER_02For sure. And I was really struck when he said that they don't want to be seen. I was like, well, I'm gonna love and see the crap out of them. Which is probably gonna freak them out. Like, oh my god. What's this lady with the breakfast doing hugging me?
SPEAKER_01Coming over and wiping my face mouth, you know, make sure are you eating well? Did you get enough fruit? I can't. How about some orange juice? You need to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02I don't want to take them all home with me. I I am a I am definitely far too big-hearted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was uh it's it definitely I was like, don't don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh, so we have to introduce our guest because again, I've known him for five minutes, but already like his heart is so big, you can't help but see.
SPEAKER_01Well, the story that you just told me is He's like, tell it. I know he I know that also brought a tear to my eye.
SPEAKER_05It depends who you talk to, just so you know.
SPEAKER_01According to AI. According to AI.
SPEAKER_05Listen, if AI thinks I'm good, then I'm good.
SPEAKER_02So the voice you're hearing, folks, is um Greg Coster of the Big Bean Coffee House here in Annapolis. And if you are anyone who doesn't like a coffee house, then you're not human. So, Greg, it's so nice to have you.
SPEAKER_05Nice, thank you guys. Thanks for having me. This is really fun.
SPEAKER_02I loved when we reached out to you. You were like, talk? Yes.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I I you know, I'm like everybody else, I'm you know, busy and I'm responding to emails with one-word answers. Yes, sounds good. And then I was kind of like, just so you know, I talk more in person, you know, because I was like, they're not gonna want me. I mean, one word answers.
SPEAKER_01We can pull it out of you.
SPEAKER_05We can pull it out of you, that's for sure. Well, before we started, I brought you guys gifts. Sorry, it's not booze, but oh no, it's okay.
SPEAKER_02Coffee?
SPEAKER_05But it's coffee.
SPEAKER_02That there you can't like booze, coffee. The scales are not tipping for me. They're even.
SPEAKER_05It's even, yes. Oh, it's all junk so. What's cool about this coffee I brought you guys is is like a lot of stuff that scratches us where we itch at the big bean. Um, it's got a story behind it. You know, when when there's a story behind things, it just makes it so much better, right?
SPEAKER_02So much better.
SPEAKER_05So I brought you guys today one of our espresso blends. It's called Tom's Trailblazer Blend. It's an espresso roasted by our partner roasters, who are Chesapeake Coffee Roasters in Crofton. Little um promo for them. They do a great job. Um, we basically rebrand the blends that you know they roast and also the single origins, and then um, you know, we find a coffee that matches a good local name and and a story, and we we bring it to the you know to the store. So this is called Tom's Trailblazer Blend. So Tom Carricker was called a trailblazer, he would ride the BA bicycle trail up and down until he was 85 years old. He would ride it every day. He would stop at the Big Bean, he'd water our flowers, and he'd just kind of keep an eye on things on the BA trail, like like an 80-something year old riding security guy on the trail, and nobody messed with him. And he would wear a yellow vest, and he was just a staple of the community. And Christy, my business partner and wife, um, had and I had become friends with him, and when we were going to buy the original Big Bean in Saverna Park, which um which was in 2019, we had to sign an NDA, and he passed away one day before we could tell him. We could tell him that Christy and I had bought the big bean and we were and we were carrying the legacy on, and it was so sad, and we and we decided the first thing we did was we're gonna name a coffee after him. And this is and so this is it. This is Tom's Trailblazer blend. You can buy it at any big bean. Um, we have three locations. There's three beans. So um Annapolis, Millersville, and Smyrna Park, and a fourth bean coming to Bethany Beach this summer. Wow! So it's lots of fun. Um, and the proceeds of all the pounds we sell goes to Bike Anarundal County for all the cycling programs, you know, all the from Tom's specifically. From Tom's, yeah, goes to every year we donate that. Every year um Bike Anarundal County does an annual hundred-mile ride called the Century Ride, and they collect money and they they literally collect it and they give it to who needs it, which is super cool. They don't have a like an exact, you know, one charity or another, they give it to who needs it, and we love that within the county, yeah. Um, so we you know sponsor help sponsor that ride, and all the proceeds go toward those programs all year. So um did Tom have family that kind of does it. Did he did have he did have family, and they they sub they've supported the program. Um, we've actually dedicated our patio and Saberna Park to him as well, and the family came out for the dedication. You know, that's just what scratches me where I am, right?
SPEAKER_03That's what's all about him.
SPEAKER_01See why I love him.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so such a great story. Thank you. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01So let's get into another great story. Yeah. Because again, according to AI, you are such the romantic. Um explain us a little bit how um why is the big bean your thing? Oh, this is super cool.
SPEAKER_05This is super cool. So, um I don't know how far back we want to go, but I'm I'm a Connecticut guy, born and raised in Connecticut. Um, and uh when I was 25, I got the the itch. After after six and a half years of college, I said, I got I gotta do something with my life, man. I gotta this is going to college wasn't good. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I was really trying for the eight-year plan, but it was it was it was being a doctor.
SPEAKER_05Hey, listen, to to get that, I tried to get a 2.9. I ended with a 2.89, but I was trying to take just one more class to get a 2.9 GPA. Anyway, I graduated from college in Connecticut and I joined the U.S. Coast Guard um and they moved me to Maryland. Long story short, there is I I fell in love with Maryland, 9-11 happened, I never looked back. I just um I love this state, I love living here. This is I always said I was a born in Connecticut, but I was always meant to be in Maryland.
SPEAKER_01So um, I don't believe Connecticut is real. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think it is only in the Hallmark movies.
SPEAKER_00That's right. It's not.
SPEAKER_04It's it's a basketball team at this point. Connecticut is nothing but a woman's basketball team at this point. It's just a just a big court, you know.
SPEAKER_05Um so we joined the U.S. Coast Guard. Um, I was injured and retired in 2008. And thanks to the post-9-11 GI Bill, I went back and got my master's degree in criminology. And um I was actually uh I actually worked for Governor O'Malley um on his criminal justice task force. I worked for Governor Hogan on his criminal justice task force, but during that time I also taught college and I was teaching in Towson. And what I would do is I'd go teach in the morning and then I'd have evening classes. So I'd actually come all the way home from Towson, stop at Big Bean, get a coffee, and then go home, take a little nap. I'm a napper, by the way. Anytime you want to talk about naps or cats, just I'm a napper.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna make room for naps and cats.
SPEAKER_05Just put yourself right in there. So I'd go home, you know, and stop at the big bean, get a coffee, and um in 2010 I met this um lovely barista, um, who she was actually the first barista when the big bean opened its doors in Saverna Park in 2000.
SPEAKER_02So Christy was working at the Big Beans.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, she had she had left for a while, yeah. She had left for a while, and then she came back. She had left and moved to New Mexico and then she came back. And, you know, in the process of kind of you know figuring out what she was gonna do here, she went back and we met. We met at the Big Beans, uh, me as a customer, her as a barista. Um we kind of joke a little bit about the how the story went, but it was officially the first time I texted someone to ask him on a date. Because it was the first time we had a minute, was it still T9? Like, no, it was I'm I'm a late, I'm a late um technology technology. So I always have like like this is like an iPhone 4, I think. So I'm always a little behind the curve.
SPEAKER_02That's not a little, bro. He can't Android shame me.
SPEAKER_05No, I would never, I would never text shame.
SPEAKER_00So we get it together.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you know. So um, so you know, the way this story goes is I texted her, uh asked her how we had text, and she said yes, and I was like, this is ridiculous. This is so easy. Is that this is it? These kids have it so easy, you know, and that was the last time I texted somebody and asked them out. We um we got married two years later, and we always kind of joked around, like, wouldn't it be cool to own the big bean? You know, it'd be pretty neat. The place you were the first barista at, the place we met at.
SPEAKER_02And um Were you and during the time that you're dating and stuff, you're still going to the Big Bean all the time.
SPEAKER_05That's the worst part about owning the big bean. We can't hang out there for like that's the worst part is you know, we can't just sit there and hang out anymore, you know. Um, but no, that's it. We were going there, it was our coffee shop, you know. And um, and in 2018, I just I just got the beans to write a the beans to write a letter to the owner and ask if she was interested in selling it.
SPEAKER_02I mean it was so you she wasn't even looking.
SPEAKER_05I just wrote a letter. I had had you know, I had enough working in government at that point. I'd moved on to work with the state police and the bureaucracy. I was done. 28 years in criminal justice, you know, the that all that and and um do you see criminal justice when you look at Greg?
SPEAKER_02I don't, but to be honest with you, when he just said, I can see that.
SPEAKER_01I guess he says six and a half years in college and then 28 years in the world. Can you tell me what you say? Are you like what are you do you are you aging back to?
SPEAKER_05I just turned 53 Friday.
SPEAKER_02He introduced himself to me and said his age and said he was tired, and I'm like, you're a child. Yeah, you're gonna be a child. You can't be tired. You don't look like you've put in a child. You want to be a child, but you have the protective like violence. That's what I think. I but I trust you and I feel safe with you, and I don't feel like you've been jaded by all of that.
SPEAKER_05Well, thank you. I appreciate that. You know, we um, you know, I always was really proud of the way I served and you know the way I carried myself when I worked in criminal justice. I I tell a funny story about how I searched someone's car one day and they thanked me. And I'm like, who does that, right? He was like, thank you so much. And I was like, for what? He's like, well, you know, while you were searching, you were putting everything back nice and you're not tearing. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01And I said, you know, I'll never forget that because I was like first off, that guy clearly has been um deployed.
SPEAKER_05He's got history. Think about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. This is the best search I've ever had.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. And uh, you know, that's so funny.
SPEAKER_02But you have to finish the main purchase story.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so 2018, I write the letter, and literally the the owner was like, Yes. And it it turned out to be just a beautiful story because her business was starting to grow and she was ready to get out. She wanted to spend some years with her husband, she wanted to retire, they wanted to travel. And I'll never forget the day we sat at the table and signed the paperwork and her and her husband. Her husband had this huge smile on his face. And here I am saying, Um, oh man, you're just so happy now you get your wife. He's like, No, I'm happy. I don't have to go to the big bean at two in the morning and fix a clockpipe. I'm like, I'm sorry, what? You know, he's like too late. You're in the papers are signed. The papers are signed. Well, it was a beautiful thing because Ken, unfortunately, her husband passed away um three years later. So I look at it and I'm like, if we if we didn't buy the bean then, their last few years together may not have been as nice as they were. So you know, the story is even better in that sense. You know.
SPEAKER_02You are literally a Hallmark movie. No, I don't know. We have to like gut, we have to gut check the AI hallucination then, because the AI says that it used to be a good idea. Well, I this was very this was very controversial because we had a controversy about this after we read it. It said that you bought it without Christy's knowledge and then surprised her.
SPEAKER_05Well, I sent the letter without her knowledge.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_02Doug could I was like, I said if my husband bought a business without my knowledge, I'm not sure that I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_05No, that I think that was from an interviewer once wrote that. And um yeah, no, no, but I wrote the I wrote the letter because I, you know, I knew if the answer was yes, she was on the board, you know. So um, unfortunately, you know, when when people talk to us about owning a coffee shop, we get the same thing. I would love to open just a nice little coffee shop one day, and that would be wonderful. Except it doesn't work out that way. Except it doesn't work out that way. You see an opportunity, there's a need, there's a gap, there's something, and you just I know I tell people I go where the breadcrumbs are, you know. Somebody else throws the breadcrumbs down, I just follow them, you know, and uh, you know, so and that opportunity came in in 2022 when we opened the Enappo store. Yeah, and it literally, it literally it changed our life, basically, that project. I mean, it was a it was a big project.
SPEAKER_02It was the Best Gate Road store. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was a risky project, a lot of emotion involved where we were going. Um do you want to talk about it? Yes. Yeah, so um we all know 888 Best Gate, you know, the Capitol Gazette shooting. And um, you know, it was during COVID that we were we were asked to look at that space and just kind of, you know, just take a look. That's all we were asked. So um I tell everybody the story how we go to 888 Best Gate, which was you know the sign of a of a horrible crime. You know, the it was it was late March, COVID was in full rage. This was 2020. Um there's like eight of us, we've got masks on, we're standing, you know, 10 feet apart in this big open, very sad space. You know, um so you picture it's bad enough, the space is is sad, it's gutted, any any you know, memory of what was there was gone. Um but it's COVID, so there's nobody in the building. And we walk out of that building after you know the landlord was basically like, we need somebody to bring joy to this building, and you're the only people that seem to keep coming back to us that seem to want to do this, and and um and we walked out of that building, and I literally looked at Christy and I said, I I have absolutely nothing stopping me from wanting to do this, you know, and um you know I think it I think I wasn't scared away because I had been involved with victims of trauma. I knew sort of what the process was, and you know, healing uh has several steps, and some of the steps are more painful than others. And I think leaving the space vacant would have been um it would have been a win for the bad guys, I think. I think putting something in there to help sort of you know uh honor the space and give people a space to come and do whatever it is they need to do, you know, uh a peaceful space. Um, you know, we kind of look at uh our generation that knew Waco, Texas, as uh as a horrible place. Next thing you know, you know, Chip and Joanna Gaines bring Magnolia into Waco, Texas, and people are starting to think differently about you know tragedy and what what can come out of tragedy, you know, literally like flowers blooming out of tragedy. And you know, was it a an go ahead?
SPEAKER_02Well, if you think about Annapolis and this area as a whole, it has that history, right? We've had to reshape the narrative of this town honoring everything that it was before and making sure to you know repair all of the damage we did in what it was. So Annapolis is that same message, that same story, and it's the human experience to overcome and to heal and to I love when you go into 888. That's where that's close to my house, so that's my big bean. It's my big bean. Um I love when you go in there, like even if they don't know you, you feel like they know you. It's homey, it's not like a Starbucks, it's not organized. It is there are I think there's Afghans in there. Maybe there's not, but I mean there's like there's books and blankets and and and candy and and wonderful, like gluten-free stuff, and it's just sort of this wonderful, it's like you walked into your grandma's house, or you walked into a really cozy friend's house when you go to when you go to Big Bean. So it has that feeling of a place where I can go to be safe and repair.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I have to give a lot of credit to our manager, Chris King, who's down there, and um, he has just developed these relationships. You know, we go in there, and that building is also a little complicated. There's there's you know, medical treatment stuff going on in there, cancer treatment stuff going on in there. I mean, on any given day, you know, the the the customer that comes in there could have literally had one of the worst days of their life. And like you could see them, they just they just want a cup of coffee or a little smoothie or something sweet, you know. And it's just so cool that we get to be there for that. Yeah, and um, same in Millersville. And our so we decided to replicate that concept and go in another office building in Millersville. It's the same thing. Big dermatology office.
SPEAKER_02We that one's just opened recently, right?
SPEAKER_05A year it'll be a year and a half. Okay, hard to believe. But also, you know, another it's just big dermatology office. You have people that come in there that you know just found out they may have you know been diagnosed with skin cancer, and they sit down and and and we made a little bar there. That place is cool because we have a bar. We wanted it to kind of be like cheers.
SPEAKER_02And you know, cheers for coffee, cheers for coffee, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And and you know, I've I've met a dozen customers who come there after their dermatology treatments, and they just sit there and have a coffee, and we talk, and you know, as helpful as it, you know, hopefully it's helpful for them on those days, and you know, we know what we're trying to do, and so far, you know, the community's been amazing. You know, it it's really been on uh an amazing journey for the last eight years, it'll be.
SPEAKER_02Your journey, your story from the beginning to the to where you are now is so filled with acts of service. I'm really curious where that comes from.
SPEAKER_05Well, I you know, I grew up in a city. I grew up in in a in an inner city. I grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, you know, heart of the city, very diverse. Um you know, when you grow up in a city, did you guys grow up in a city?
SPEAKER_02Not a big one.
SPEAKER_05You know, back in the eight up. Yeah, back in the eighties, when you're growing up in a city, it is that old adage of you know, the the neighborhood raises you. And you see, you see that no one can do it on their own. You see it in the cities. And we had a big Latino population, a very big Puerto Rican population, and you see these big families that everybody's just helping each other out, you know, and when I would struggle, because every kid struggles at home, right? Every kid's got a little, you know, you know, we all have our stick with our little bag packed and ready to go, right? The stick on the shoulder. And you know, so you kind of look to gravitate and connect with things, and for me, it was all about connecting to the diverse community and to just strangers. Like, I just love talking to strangers.
SPEAKER_01My mother is the same way, but we can't go anywhere. And I'm like, Did you know them? She's like, No. We're in a grocery store, we're at the line.
SPEAKER_02She doesn't know a stranger.
SPEAKER_01No, exactly. That's right. She knows all the strangers. I'm like, I it's it's I don't have that um that that I feel like it's a DNA thing.
SPEAKER_02It's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01I did not my sister can talk to anybody. I uh not me. I'm like, oh look at me.
SPEAKER_02We are actually bringing Kelly out of her shell a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Oh good. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02So, Kelly, I just keep Renaissance, man, is like running through my head. You are just such a you're such an enigma because there's so many things about your story that are sort of disconnected, but then you put it all together and it makes.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean I always tell everybody, I'm like, you know, the idea is in the middle, and then there's all this crazy weird stuff going on on the outside, and it looks like complete chaos, and then at the last second, it's like, whoa, what did that happen? You can imagine what that does to a spouse. You know, it drives why is this, how does this eventually become that? Trust me, you gotta see. You know, way past.
SPEAKER_01So, what is your favorite coffee that you make?
SPEAKER_05That's it. This is the Tom Trevel Edit. Because it's nice because you can um you can serve it as an espresso if you have like a mocha pot, or even a, or you can just you know, brew it as a as an everyday drip coffee and it's I can't stop sniffing it. I know it's so good. That's good stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_05Do you guys uh do French presses at all? Yes, yeah, French press this if you can. It'll be a little grindsy, but if you're listening out there, grinds won't kill you.
SPEAKER_01No, they won't kill you. At least settle the bottom. Just don't take that later.
SPEAKER_05I get I get one star review from grinds. I'm like, come on, guys. Like, if anything, it'll clean you out a little bit. Yeah, you're going to get hurt.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that and then the other thing I'm getting lately is is fat in the chicken salad. And I'm like, I know it's a hand-picked chicken. We literally handpick it. It's gonna happen, but yeah, that the crab's a good one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's I I I get it. I know that um, you know, with restaurants and stuff, I know we have I have a lot of people that I know that work in the restaurant, and they're like, what is this review? Like, what is that?
SPEAKER_05Can we talk about this?
SPEAKER_01Can we? Yeah, well, because we did talk about this.
SPEAKER_05We gotta do something. We gotta do something, guys. We gotta do something. The three of us. We gotta do something about the review system.
SPEAKER_01Um it's uh well, I think everybody, you know, you get behind a phone and it's just like they think it's like whatever. I'm like, and I'm a big proponent of it. If I'm not gonna say it to your face, I'm not gonna say it.
SPEAKER_04That's that's where the rubber meets the road.
SPEAKER_01You know what I mean? Now, I'm not saying I won't get frustrated with something, and if you might not want to ask my opinion if I'm frustrated with you, and you might want to come back and check in again or two. Okay, so this is a good thing.
SPEAKER_02But you're not gonna put it online.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I'm not putting it online. I'm not um I'm not putting it online. I'm also again, it's it's it's uh this is the disconnect, this is where, you know, whatever. And sometimes I'm like, maybe it was just me being shitty, you know.
SPEAKER_05Like maybe I was just being an asshole, so maybe it wasn't even this person, maybe it was me, so I just kind of have to like check myself and well we were we were honored um to be selected as the 2024 Small Business Administration, Baltimore area small business persons of the year in 2024. So out of 180,000 small businesses, we were lucky enough to get that, and we were honored at a nice ceremony, and I got to speak at the banquet, and I opened up my speech with your coffee sucks, and so do you. And that was literally a statement from a review, and of course, everybody starts laughing, like, really? Would somebody would somebody say that? I'm like, Yes, they said it. Wish I could have given you zero stars, you know. I mean, it it happens, but I think we we gotta, I think this should be a whole we should we should do a round table because we gotta start fighting back. I would start fighting back.
SPEAKER_01I've heard I have not gotten a one-star review yet. I'm I'm I'm waiting on it. I feel like I have not been indoctrinated into that group that you're in. Like I'm not special enough.
SPEAKER_04Please.
SPEAKER_01But it's but it's true. Like it's you know, and I have and and you know, I see if people, because you can't take down the review, you have to keep it up, and then of course you can respond to it. And you know, uh, you know, I love Monica from bread and butter. She said girl is a shit starter.
SPEAKER_05Oh, so yeah, well that's the thing. You know, it's a you know, you gotta be careful, obviously, but you know, but the I guess the if you if you if you start with one persona and it works, you might as well stick with it. And my big thing is I there's nobody could ever say they can't get in touch with me. My personal cell phone is all over. Does AI have it? My personal cell phone should be. Because on every review, I respond and I give my personal cell phone because if you reply to a receipt like through Square or your I can give you your money back because I can find when you go online just a bitch, I can't help you. I can't fix the problem, I can't give you a refund. I feel helpless as a business owner. I want you to I want you to either be happy or be happy that you're never coming back to the big bean, but you felt like you got you you didn't like it, but you got your money back, you tried it. Like I want everybody to to I don't want anybody to feel so dis you know you you spent you made that money. You spent your money in my shop. I take that very seriously. If you didn't like it, I want to give you your money back.
SPEAKER_01But if you just want to if you just want to yell at me, I'll just stand here and you can yell at me and you know my my sister who's like uh the VP of like a of uh place down in DC, winery down in DC, she would she would like be like, oh whoa, don't give them money back yet. Yeah, some offer them uh offer them a coffee or something when they come in the next time. See, I can prove to you, prove to them that they're you're not a one-star reviewer.
SPEAKER_05See, I I I use reverse psychology because I basically say, listen, I know my stuff is good. You know, am I it's just like it's just like no two for you? You know what I mean? I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it is. Maybe it's no tube for you. But but I don't want to, you know, I don't want somebody who just said my breakfast sandwich was soggy and crappy to offer them a soggier and crappier one, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, but I was true that also, because I know I've been to places, but I'm just like, if I don't like it, I'm definitely not going online and doing it, because it's like again, you've had a bad maybe it's a bad day. Maybe maybe, maybe the chef didn't show up that day, and you got Barb the you know, uh the dishwasher is back there. I mean, I've been there, I've done that. I've you work in restaurants, it happens, you know. You you you get you know to the point of like you know where you should be managing and yet you're slinging hash, and then you're just kind of like listen, we Saturday we had an incredible day.
SPEAKER_05Once the weather good weather is great for our shops, one nice Sunday day we had this Eric. So we served between the three between the three shops, we served over 700 people on Saturday. Wow, and we got one bad review and one receipt reply that basically said, I think I took the wrong coffee. So, in a chaotic environment, that's not too shabby. You know, obviously there are other people that left there that probably did, you know. I mean, it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's it's the world is not perfect, yeah.
SPEAKER_05We are people give the business. I'm I'm telling you folks out there, please, give the business an opportunity to make it right before you blast them. Pick up the phone and call them, ask for the manager, ask for the owner. You know, it's not like the old days. Owners are accessible now. You know, in the 80s and 90s, if I had asked for an owner, they would have been like, you know, no, you know, go pound. It's like, no, but nowadays, owners are accessible. We have to be. So give every give them a chance to make it right first. However, if they're rude off the bat, you have my permission to put us on blast. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, like if my barisa's having a bad day and they were rude, go ahead, put us on blast. I'm fine with that. We deserve it. Yeah, you know?
SPEAKER_01Well, let's let's let's let's uh let's define rude. Because I like if you know what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, coffee shop rude is good. I mean Coffee Shop Rude is pretty benign.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but it's gonna be kind of hard. I just I remember this lady, I was working at Einstein Bengals in Saverna Park. This was 20-some years ago. And this lady comes in, and it is my my my nobody showed up to work that day. I had to shut down the drive-thru. My baker is running the register, I'm baking, I'm making all the coffees, I'm doing like I have well, I'm making all the food. I have the r regulars who are there making the coffee for me because I can't, and like that because it's it, and it's a Friday, you know? And and and I'm but I'm I love chaos. You bring me chaos. I am I am on it. I love it. I'm gonna get it.
SPEAKER_05In the kitchen chaos is fun.
SPEAKER_01It is so much and this woman goes, she comes up to the counter, she's like, oh gosh. Again, super busy, line out the door. What do you do with a bagel?
SPEAKER_05What does one do?
SPEAKER_01I I know the look on my face was kind of like, are you fucking kidding me? But I was like, man, we can do whatever you want with a bagel. You want you want cream cheese, you want some turkey, we can go out in the parking lot and play catch if you want. And she goes, That is so rude. Like people are people are laughing. She and then and then I make her, she, and then it takes her like another couple minutes, and I'm like, you know, tapping my fingers like kids today. Um, and then I, you know, and then and then I made her sandwich, and then and I was like, ma'am, your sandwich is up, and I put it on there, and she didn't look at me, she didn't respond to me. I was like, ma'am, I just want to make sure you know your sandwich is there. She's like, I heard you. I was like, damn!
SPEAKER_02And then of course in this then the There was just no grease in that interaction. No, just saying.
SPEAKER_05We have a saying, Christy and I. We look at each other, we're like, they can't all be winners, you know, when a joke just flops, and the person just we literally are just like, yep, can't all be winners. Can't all be winners. And you know, you just gotta laugh it off. Gotta laugh. That's uh we spend so much time laughing. Um, we try to make our, you know, we try to make the shops a fun place to work for everybody.
SPEAKER_02Do you and Christy do any of the baristaing anymore?
SPEAKER_05Christy does, yeah. That is not my thing. Um I am, I I focus on um, I like to call it all the crap, all the stuff that's no fun. So all the bitch. No, I don't do that that as much. But the paperwork, and you know, it's just it's so much, and it's not much. You know, who wants to, who wants to who wants me sitting at a desk when they'd be out there having fun? Like Christy will literally say to me, she'll be like, don't, don't go to the shop today, because she knows if I go in there, it's just yes.
SPEAKER_01You have worked in it or you stay here.
SPEAKER_05No, she's right, you know, and uh, and I can't bring work to the shop, you know, forget that.
SPEAKER_02So I met Greg for the first time last week because we have this, we'll we'll talk about the kitchen in a in a minute, but um we have we both have this shared kitchen like frenzy, right? And so I walk in and I don't know who Greg is and he doesn't know who I am. All I do is I see this guy wander out of the back and he's grinning as big as can be, and he's looking at his employees, he goes, I have a meeting today.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, they all were like, ooh.
SPEAKER_05Are you okay, you know? They're so funny. That was a wonderful introduction. You know, a huge recognition to uh to them, you know. This poor the poor younger generation gets crapped on by you know us old folks, but they are the best. They they can multitask like nobody's business, you know. I mean, the stuff we ask them to do sometimes, and I mean they're creating recipes for us, they're doing all the graph, you know, they're doing all the drawing and making up the menus. Um, when one of them is sick, you would never believe how they rally behind each other.
SPEAKER_02When one of them is that's because of you. Yeah, I was gonna say, tell us your your tell us all of your secrets, Master, because no, truly this is not so. I have a friend who owns a hardware shop, I've got a friend who owns um another coffee shop. They're telling me they cannot hire this generation. I can't believe us. What are you doing? But I mean, I've I've I I also think initially AI made of hallucinated again, but you provide benefits for your absolutely.
SPEAKER_05All right, that right there is volus. Everybody should have health insurance. Everyone. I don't care if you work 10 hours a week, I don't care if you work.
SPEAKER_02So that's another conversation because Kelly and I desperately want to provide benefits for our people. So you know what you'll tell us. You know what I'm doing?
SPEAKER_05What I'm doing is I I live in an 1,100 square foot house in Arnold. That's what I'm doing. Yeah. This business is not my cash cow. This business is to help elevate everybody associated with it. We literally, you know, we we we we we put the money back in the street.
SPEAKER_01You put it all a movie made after you. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_05No, but you mean you put it all back into it. Put it all back into them, you know? Yeah, you know, we put it all back into them. And and and and I've always when did you start benefits? From day one. Um really? Yeah, from day one, who whoever needs it, yeah, we provide it. We provide it. Um, yeah. I mean, it's not it really is not that much money.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it the average, I think the average Well, and you realize that it changes the game for families.
SPEAKER_05I but yeah, I believe it. I get it. Well, and it gives it gives these kids, you know, okay, so there you go. We have kids come in who are unfortunately stuck they're in their early 20s, tiny failure to launch, tiny, listen, this world is confusing.
SPEAKER_01There's nothing that there's no house, affordable housing. That's right.
SPEAKER_05And you know, they may not have the best situation at home, but they're not 26, so they stay on their parents' health insurance.
SPEAKER_02We give them an opportunity to have a which they just keeps them stuck for another five years.
SPEAKER_05So they get a little independence, you know. I mean, so and we've watched that formula, we've watched what it's done. It's it's it's done incredible things, and so many some of them choose to go back to school because of it. Yeah, you know, some of them choose another career because of it. Some of them come to us and say, I'm never leaving because of it, you know. Um, I I don't think we do anything more than what we always wanted as employees. Just to go to a job, have fun. There's no reason why you can't make every job fun.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's you you I want to go back to where you were mentioning how they create the menus and they do this and they do that. I mean, that right there, I I love to encourage the rest of the team. I'm like, bring me some ideas. Like one of the people that I follow that my my my she's my I want to be her when I grow up. She was a like a mathematics, the physician sort of thing that came out of Harvard, so I'll never be like her, but but she owns um like a whole bunch of bakeries in Boston and a Chinese restaurant, and she one of the things that I remember reading about her one time is that she gives like her management, you know, like a disciple every month to go out to eat so they can bring back you know ideas and all that kind of stuff. And I think by giving them you you're giving them um creative yes, and you're giving making them a part of the business and you're making it their own and not just yours. Yeah. Which I think is a big one of the things having had many different career paths, I always came back to them like, you're you're not do you not want my input? Like, do you not notice my hard work? Or and then you know, and it's like you get pushed off and pushed off, and I'm like, well, then fuck it, I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02People are not people aren't built to be factory workers. We're still trained to be factory workers, but our our little souls want agency. And we just want to know that there might be something really cool that we can contribute, and we want that to be welcome. Yeah, and that's a look, I've worked software a lot of years, and there are so many companies that get it wrong. So I don't want you to like say this is I mean, I think you're very, I think you're very humble, but what you're doing isn't necessarily seen like in mass at the at the business level that you're operating at. So our business has constantly cried, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_05That's interesting. See, that's new to me. That's that's new to me. That's interesting because like I said, I can still consider myself pretty novice at business, you know, seven and a half, seven years.
SPEAKER_02I think it might be your what you call novice mentality that says you never considered not giving them benefits, right? That's right. You didn't look at what other novices and say, oh, well, they said it's too expensive. I guess I can't do that for myself. Exactly. I think that's important. Sometimes it's good to be the guy who doesn't know everything, right? That's a good point.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I'm also, you know, I don't I don't want to say this in like the arrogant way, but I'm also the kind of person that's like, when you tell me I've already researched and it can't be done, even if I have to research it just to show you it can be done, you want to not do it, I still want to do it. I'm not trying to prove you wrong. I'm not trying to be that kind of, I'm not trying to be a dick, you know, like hey, I could show you, I could do it.
SPEAKER_01I'm just trying to show you that with a little bit the person who's telling you it can't be done, or you coming back going, no, actually we can.
SPEAKER_05And you know, and I really think you know, small business owners, and I'm you know maybe this isn't a good forum for that, maybe I shouldn't say it, but like I said, this business is not a piggy bank. This is this business is well, think about you know, growing up, you know, I I'm so happy. I was I grew up in the 70s and 80s in a city, you know, I I like the age of it. I did the analog world, now the digital world, right? The mom and pop, you think they lived in 10,000 square feet on the water, the mom and pop that owned a corner store. Why does every business owner think that they're not successful if they're not making tons of money? Or they're not profiting tons of money. You know, we like to just take it and put it back into the opportunity. Well, you're the way I look at it.
SPEAKER_01You are also in the food business, and we, if you get into the food business, you are not there to make that's right, you're not there to make that kind of money. Like obviously, you have your restaurant groups that come together and then they can they can do all that kind of stuff. But like if a small mom and pop business, you're or you know, you're kind of you're doing it for the love of it, you're not doing it for the money. I've never done it worked a job where I'm like, I need this, I'm doing this for the money. I was a teacher for Christ's sake.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like that's me too. I've never made a lot of money. Never made a lot of money. And you know what? And you know, um, it doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother me. I'm I'm like, I'm I'm so happy with, you know, sometimes, you know, if if you look at a proposal and you're like, ah, the money just isn't there, but the opportunity is there. Do you not do it because the money isn't there? So that's scary, you know. We we don't want that. So that kind of is why we talked about this kitchen concept that you and I have. Are so enamored with. Enamored with.
SPEAKER_02So can we talk about what you've done in Subvertified? Because Greg, truly, we were we were meant to meet you and I.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so you said you saw my Greg saw my I did a direct mail flyer when we were doing the survey last year.
SPEAKER_05It's still on my desk. I'm still gonna do the survey, I promise. Even though it was due last summer.
SPEAKER_02Basically, last yeah, on the to-do list. It's it's always always we're always collecting data. So last summer we wanted, we needed, in in order for the economic development folks to take us seriously, we needed to ask the the county, which seemed like kind of a dumb question, but we were like, so do you guys need more kitchen space? If you're a small business person who's working in a farmer's market or a food truck rally or just trying to get your business off the ground, do you need more kitchen space? And it was a resounding yes. But Greg saw my flyer then, and um somewhere, I'm hoping somehow that flyer was like part of what you went and did because you're actually the one of the first shared kitchens in the Anorondo County.
SPEAKER_05Let's you know, again, we without talking about we have to talk about the big picture, why, you know. Um so in 2019, when we bought the first big bean, um, we we we slowly wanted to bring in more local stuff, and we were being approached by these local home bakers that were making this incredible stuff, especially uh we really wanted more vegan, gluten-free, and and it's it's tough to find that stuff that's tough to find an edible, edible, yeah. So the best ones are the ones that are made in smaller batches, but a lot of those are home businesses, and we cannot sell food made at cottage industry businesses. So in 2019, I was like, you know, there's got to be a place for people who cannot afford the overhead and build out of a 300,000, or well, I say 300, that's without a hood, you know, a $300,000 commercial kitchen when they're just trying to get off the ground selling vegan cookies. So I said, wouldn't it be nice if you know we could create one and cottage bakers could come in and rent out time and it would be all certified, and they could then sell wholesale and then elevate their business and the whole thing starts over again. So um, so we were using a company called Lisa's Cake Pops. Um I know, I can't believe she stopped. I know we sold the pants off her cake pops. I mean, we we sold $4,000 a year. Wow. I mean, yes. So she was working out of a small kitchen behind the bowling alley in Saverna Park, and one day I walked in and she's like, I think it's time to retire. And um in retrospect, I should have probably bought Lisa's cake pops only because of the way the permitting works. But I said to her, What are you doing with the space? She's like, you know, I I don't know, we were gonna sell the equipment and hope to get out of the lease. So I just assumed the lease, I bought the equipment. Um and then, you know, the challenges started with permitting and that sort of thing. And and a lot of it, a lot of it, it a lot of the permitting situations are just obnoxious. No, I cannot listen. I love my friends at the inner health department. Juliana, shout out, Megan, shout out, all you guys are amazing. They do so much work. They are severely understaffed. Yeah, they're at the mercy of the program. that they've been given to run this. There there there isn't there isn't a fast track system.
SPEAKER_01It happens. Anything that the government has attachments to is not an easy I know, I know.
SPEAKER_05I just have to think they've been so good to us though. Like I I it's it's not them. It's it's the process.
SPEAKER_02It's the process. And here's and here's why I wanted us to talk about this because I've been approached by um other people in Anne Rendel County that have been part of the process of acquiring commercial real estate to form a coalition to talk about how is what's going right and what's not going right. And to and to not make it a bashing but to make it a make it a how do we make it a better sort of conversation. And one of the things one of my friends who owns a share kitchen over in DC does is he actually lobbies for making this process better and gives feedback to these organizations on here's what really needs to change that's going to significantly accelerate small business. And I think there's a they're there for us.
SPEAKER_01And then this goes back to we've been talking we we did a thing uh last August and talked to some people about like getting you know the more of the farm to table stuff in the area. Yeah like even that's done like the that that was like the moose lodge we can talk until our eyeballs pop out of our head but who's who's gonna be the person that takes it and it's like okay we're gonna fix that like let me take it that's the lobbying part.
SPEAKER_02So what we're doing here is well known amongst our sort of industry being able to form the relationships and actually take it to the county and the county council meetings and say this is something that this small change could accelerate you know uh the a a small business idea to to doors open by you know two and a half months and then that's where we go with it.
SPEAKER_05Well there's got to be somebody out there that knows this process like the back of their hand right I've always said this.
SPEAKER_01I know the I know the health department side I don't know the building side yeah so there's two parts if you're listening to uh to getting your health department license there's the kitchen itself and the space has to be has to be certified from a building standpoint for example walls you need to be able to you know clean them they can't be porous floors need to be a certain way but then there's the actual day-to-day health department standard so it's two separate things I know the latter I don't know the beginning but there's got to be somebody who knows both is willing to consult to new businesses who are willing to pay yep if you're out there there's a lot of you when I first started when I first started the bellhouse I it like to figure out how to get from point A to point B there's no checklist there's no checklist and like the bandwidth navigator system is no no no easy there's no I'm like are they making it not easy on purpose or does somebody just not notice because I'm like how do these people keep continuing to open up businesses and I'm like how do I even get my license like you're not alone you're not alone I'm I'm I'm meeting with someone tonight at the kitchen and she's like when can I start cooking I'm like listen cooking is the easy part yeah yeah yeah you got to bring me all your paperwork because that's one of the things we do at my kitchen and I'm not sure is we tell you we get you from zero to permitted that's one of the things that I'm offering as a free so you come in Greg I think you and I need to write a book.
SPEAKER_02Yeah but you're not gonna make any money so I would be give all my shit away but it's not about making money so there's a there's a there's no checklist there's a chicken there got chicken there's a kitchen in Hudson New Jersey called the Hudson Kitchen and um Danetta has done such an amazing job she's written the book it is how to start a small food business in Hudson New Jersey and has written that 98 page book yeah and as part of like proof positive that she's the incubator that you and I want to be she puts that out for her members.
SPEAKER_05Yeah because it would be worthless to say how to start a kitchen in New York or New Jersey because every county is different.
SPEAKER_02They're all different and honestly we could say here's how you do it in North County and here's how you do it in South County. I mean really there's room for there's room for making this easier and there's so many different ways we could do it and I think we're all incented to do that work.
SPEAKER_05We're currently working on our fourth location in Bethany Beats Delaware and um well you should see the process down there. It's literally like one of those where you go to the government building and the guy's like all right that's two windows down and when you go two windows down it's the same guy you know he just walked two down and he's like the reviewer has 90 days okay who's a reviewer you know it's and it's him too you know it's that's how it is down there. So you're right you know you're right it's different but so I tell them I'm like listen I I will I'm not gonna let you just come in here and work under my permit. You want to be a legitimate business you got to have your trader's license you got to have all of it.
SPEAKER_02And it's gonna weed out a lot of the folks who have really good ideas but just are too scared to make the leap that process is there for that reason.
SPEAKER_05And you know what I've now I've got a little bit of a jump on you because we so it took us two years. It took us two years to get to where we wanted to open the a lot of tough things happened in those two years. I disappointed a lot of people there's some people I still need to apologize to because I promised them we were going to be open and um and it it it it it it pained me to to have to take some of the licks I took but I could not get that place open while running the three coffee shops.
SPEAKER_02It was so hard so finally in August we got it open congratulations thanks yeah and and um we've already gotten um two people permitted that had no permit before and they've got their own permit and they're like though they're it's funny because they're like um what do I need to be able to sell this I'm like you don't need anything you did it you did yeah yeah you're there yeah it's it's all you now you know you just need to give me that check at the beginning of the month for the for the because you know nothing we're not the door's locked because it it really does and you know I I tell everybody it's just you know it's just about keeping the lights on and over there we we make it a re it's a really good rate um and we work with everybody my job is to help elevate them not to put them out of business you know and that's the other thing it's like you know the you know some of some places they're so sharky like $80 $90 an hour you know and it's like I don't know it depends on what your philosophy is well it's not just philosophy there is a kitchen for everyone not everyone is for your kitchen yeah and I think it's really been healthy that this share kitchen industry there's a there's a big the lady in front of this industry is a researcher and she has built the platform that most of these kitchens use she's got 3,000 kitchens in her network across the country and she holds a conference every year. You and I are going this year in Rhode Island. Rhode Island's not in the winter in Rhode Island no it's okay no it's not it's in the fall but they're there the beauty of this industry it's it's not even it's maybe a smidge more than a decade old but the beauty is there are so many different flavors of these kitchens and you can call them different things community kitchen food hub um there is one that acts like Shark Tank over in DC and there's one that is basically all about events in DC there's one up in Baltimore that is literally a rental house you pay your rent you come in you bust your butt or you're out and so it's again it's there is a kitchen for everyone not every kitchen is for you. And I am with you I think you and I are both incubators. We both and and even in an incubator you gotta have your steady anchor tenants and then you've got your new people you bring in and that's how you survive. But um I do think that there's something about having a heart for for easing people's entry after you've been drug overcut glass Kelly that you know you've done that for a lot of the people that that work for you.
SPEAKER_01Well because I again I go back to all of my different careers I think the only thing I wasn't was a stripper. Hey it's never too late then I'll be right there with you I'll be right there with you we can just take the lessons okay okay I can I can do that let's take it to dance around a Hobart mixer but you want to throw a mixer mixer is um so and I've gone in and it's just like when you don't when you when everything when you're trying to make everybody's job easier and that's what I always felt like don't make I'm like we're gonna make this easier I'm gonna streamline this I'm gonna feel like how we can get from point A to point B and then you you know you're met with people who are like oh no we're not gonna do that. And then they make my job harder. You know and they do things I'm like I don't understand cancel or or they don't treat you as if you are capable or that you are worthy and then you're like I like I don't want to be stuck in this position for 20 years. Like I want and even like as a teacher there's no growth as being a teacher. Like yeah you can go into administration all that kind of stuff but you know in terms of you you can be a leader inside of a school and if you're making proof positive decisions but you know things don't again people get upset with power and who's who's in power and they don't want somebody else to be take their power and I'm not a power hungry person. That's all politics and and but that's what I was up against. That's why I was finally like I need to I need to do my own thing. So and and that works out much better for my personality.
SPEAKER_05I think we're gonna see a lot more of that coming up especially with time with you there. Yeah especially as everybody starts to get tired of AI already you know um I think you're gonna see a lot more small businesses.
SPEAKER_02I think things are gonna get a little more homey my hope is that people are just done fighting with each other. Like like we will exhaust this this you know era of division. You just can't stay pissed off forever. Maybe some people can but as a culture I think what's gonna bring people back to to out of out of corporate out of government jobs into small business into community is just being exhausted fighting with in every dimension of their life. I I so I I move around a lot of different circles in Arendal County mostly because I need them to know me because we got a business coming. But I I probably met with half a dozen federal employees that are walking away from pensions that are not yet at retirement age that are saying I don't know what's next but I can't do this anymore and they're looking for connections.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I am or if we if even if they do that or we can just be like let's have the same attitude as Greg here and uh I don't know treat your employees with some respect. Let them draw the damn menu board man let them do it.
SPEAKER_05Well you know it it it government work is so interesting. I have a uh when I was in the criminal justice world I worked very closely with one of the state's attorneys in WaCamako County and he's since gone and opened his own private practice and whenever I'm in Ocean City I try to stop in and I was lucky enough to see him last time I was down there and he said Greg remember when we were in these government jobs and they were like you can't leave you have a pension he's like I did the math you know and he's like I made more my first year as a private defense attorney than my pension would have paid me in like 12 years of retirement you know he's like why he's like the government jobs are able to lull us into this sense of oh you need us we're stable you know but you know and and I'm working with somebody right now who I'm trying to get them out of a you know a government job and get into something a little more creative and there and it's still at the end of the day they keep coming back with well you know my my my profit sharing and my my this I I won't have that if I'm on my own I'm like yeah and it and it's it's I get it you know but um but yeah no I agree with you it's you're gonna see a lot more stuff the the sign on my refrigerators I don't know if you can see it one of the things it says uh it was here when I got here when I took over the kitchen it says proceed as if success is inevitable and I put it on the uh thing and I'm like well if I'm gonna do it you better you better have that yeah you gotta have that and it's almost like that you gotta just say do it you know you gotta you gotta be comfortable with being uncomfortable and you just kind of have to you have to push past the fear.
SPEAKER_01Once you push past the fear you're gonna be like what was I thinking what why was I scared?
SPEAKER_05Like you know and and I go back and think of those times like that six month period where I'm like oh my god oh my god oh my god now you know now of course I'm like let's do it what else do we got I yeah I'm that same way well and I want to offer a tidbit back based on what we were talking about you know how do you keep people and I so I'm a baseball guy baseball was my wife and I joke baseball was my first love there's no doubt about it baseball is my first and will be you know you grew up in the inner city with a bunch of Dominicans and Venezuelans and Nicaraguans I mean you're playing baseball I mean and you're playing real baseball and I just fell in love with it and when I became a manager I found a book called Management by Baseball and I was like okay this could be hokey or it could be good. It turned out to be phenomenal think about a baseball team you guys know baseball? Yeah okay bases are loaded you know the winning runs on second you know do you want your number nine batter up? No you want your number nine batter up when there's one guy on third and you want to and he's the winning run and he can bunt him in you know from third base. Yeah you want your home run hitter up when you need you know more for the big runs yeah do you treat your number nine hitter the same as you treat your home run hitter do you treat a pitcher the same way you treat a first baseman do you hold them to the exact same you know uh requirements as a player you don't you take their skill set and you maximize the skill set they have for that portion of the job you have so in other words not everybody has to be cross-trained to do everything which is the way my generation grew up because companies were trying to let people go and say hey look at you you're so much more valuable now you could do 10 jobs it doesn't work so we make sure that when someone comes in and I give my wife Christy all the credit for this someone comes in and immediately we can see where there's a lack of training or or or just a lack of ability to grasp that part of the job and she just has them focus on the part that they're really good at and then little by little just kind of you add a little of this you know what I mean and eventually they're able to do it all because you've built the confidence from them being able to do the part they they enjoy and they're good at. Yeah you know I will I will say that the trial by fire is definitely where I learned how to do a lot of stuff it's like you know I I guess I came into places they're like here you're gonna wait tables uh okay yeah I'm like yeah I've eaten at a restaurant before so I guess I can do I guess I can very that is a hard job it's a great hard job so hard though I I don't I I when people are critical of waiters and waitresses and service that is a hard job being able I was a bartender but I never came out from behind the bar because the minute I got to a table I was like uh would you bartend I I like I oh god I hate bar flies I loved it so really we just talk about this yesterday we did we totally did I loved it it does I loved it until I was done yeah and then I was done I was done with barflies when I was done but but but I loved it at the time you know I was telling somebody I'm like you could still smoke in bars when I was bartending and so we would go over with the with the lighter you know yeah yeah when they'd pull out their cigarette you'd light it for them you know nice like back in the day you know so it was a little bit of a different era but oh yeah I remember the smoking oh crazy isn't that crazy to think that it's a little actually I I was a smoker for 15 years so it's weird when you go out and actually now and I see people like come out of a store and light a cigarette I'm like that's people are still doing that like yeah no yeah it it it it sets me back when I see somebody especially if I see people smoking in their car. Yeah then I'm like that still happens yeah but I mean I used to I used to bark in at bars that you'd open the front door and it looked like the bar was on fire. There was so much smoke coming out of it.
SPEAKER_01It literally looked like the bar was on fire and I'm like how you know how did we make it I think I remember how does he not burn the building down I remember the Fridays the this is when they were trying to transition the non-smoking they would put the windows up in the restaurants like Fridays had like to separate the the bar from the non-smoking and it was like it it would literally look like they threw like in one of them smoke cans like like the door open would open to the to the restaurant double team diner in a separate room looked like that scene in Independence day where the guy comes out and you you think the aliens got him you just gotta hope some like 90 year old Greek guy is getting attacked in there because you can't see nope no those were the days those were the old days and they were also before cell phones and you know can we stop that's another topic yeah but you know I know we gotta I know we have to wrap up and get to our rapid fire but we we really just need to quickly address Greg's absolute affinity for cats.
SPEAKER_05He's a he's a hundred percent AI hundred per no you and I talked about that and we also mentioned cats are I told you we weren't allowed to tell Kelly we talked about it because we weren't allowed to talk about anything before the but but loves oh yeah I know he's a cat guy he loves his cat I don't know what my cats do you have a couple we had two okay okay that's an acceptable number right they were okay I thought you were gonna be like 22 and they they were they were rescues but they were rescues and they were from the the lineage of a Norwegian forest cat which is this big puffy long haired sweetheart cat. Well I wanted one more and so last summer um actually it was in Annapolis on next door somebody was like kittens under my porch what do I do I'm like I want one so after like eight or nine weeks I went over to get the the one kitten and she was like it's bonded with another one and I said all right I'll take them both and I gotta tell you if you're listening to me today if anybody if you ever want to get a cat or a kitten get a bonded pair they are the best I mean we lived next when I was four and we literally do nothing it's like set them and forget them. They all play with each other they take care of each other they make you laugh oh you don't even know it's my it's my entertainment unfortunately we never had kids um so these cats are these cats are my kids but yeah I'm a I'm a I am a kid I think you have a I think you have a store full of children. Yeah we do that you love like your own it's crazy because like you have you give such dead energy like you are totally totally yeah a thousand percent yeah and you know what and I think the kids um I I get that from from you know from the younger kids yeah I get that you know I'm I'm honored you know there'll be there'll be days where uh it'll be a Saturday and we've had to start taking weekends off which I hate because I love working the weekends but you know how it is your vendors and everybody's calling you all week and you can't take a day off during the week so we start and my Saturday crew will call and they're text me like you know the high school kids and they'll be like you coming in you coming in to hang out tell some jokes and I'm like so honored you know like I'm so honored that they you know they like they look at us they they like us yeah they want I I said look at Chrissy I'm like why do they want us around we're the bosses we we never wanted the bosses around plus we're the old people around but we're fun because we're all around all of this sir because we're all in this right all right so you know what a rapid fire is no rapid fire is we're gonna shoot a question at you just don't overthink it one word answer and then we're gonna ask you another question.
SPEAKER_03Can we do a test?
SPEAKER_02We can do a test.
SPEAKER_05Alright so your test is gonna be um last time you took a nap today you kidding me we had we had a we had a we had a 5 30 a.m special order you bet I at noon I took a little sneeze and you're fresh we can do that I'm fresh all right so Kel's gonna give you one and I'm gonna give you one just like that your go to big bean order uh let's see green chili breakfast burrito and um dark roast coffee that sounds solid solid best time of day to visit visit who the big bean oh the big bean or you can I mean I was gonna say 11 o'clock because believe it or not our rush is like 9 30 to 11 so if you want to get a C I mean I'd say 11 is a good time all right very good oat milk almond milk or whole milk whole milk whole milk yes okay all right coffee snob or coffee welcoming to be honest um yeah I'm pretty snobby coffee shop and not be snobby stayed in a hotel the other night and I just I wanted to like physically show them as I was throwing the coffee out wait you didn't you you didn't use the coffee pot in the coffee machine in the in the hotel right well no just downstairs at the free buttons don't use the coffee did you see the thing that was trending with the lady who washed her underwear in the coffee pot no 100% don't use it also put your toothbrush away in a hotel room you don't want anybody to butthole it.
SPEAKER_02Okay next one serious shit like that happens all right onward one thing on your menu that's underrated
SPEAKER_05Okay, I'm trying rapid fire. Um I don't know what underrated. Uh sorry guys. Because they're all rated good.
SPEAKER_01Not according to the one-star review. Um what was that about?
SPEAKER_05I don't know. I can't think of one.
SPEAKER_02Everything's good. We can just say everything's good.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I think it's good. Or if it's not good, then it's rated not good.
SPEAKER_02Then we don't have it anymore.
SPEAKER_05It's not underrated because it's crap already.
SPEAKER_01So I can't answer that. Alright, finish this sentence. The big be the blah blah blah. Finish this sentence. The big bean is a place where dot dot dot.
SPEAKER_05We want people to come and sit and talk to us and talk to each other and not drive through and not DoorDash and not Grubhub. We want you to come get your coffee fresh and hot and sit and hang out with us.
SPEAKER_02I love that. And last one, what does Anne Rondo County mean to you in one sense?
SPEAKER_05Uh Annerondo County is my favorite place. I just I love this county. I love the people in it. I'm not, I'm not, I'm this is not shtick. Um I just the support that we got during COVID from the Anorondo Economic Development was way beyond what they had to do. You know, it's it's it's support. The resources are here. I tell everybody if you don't feel like you're getting support in Ana Ronda County, you have not looked at enough places or asked enough people. Because even though we like to whine and complain about the health departments or the support is still there. It's just a it's just a process that's difficult.
SPEAKER_00But the support is there and people are crazy.
SPEAKER_05I mean, you know, you know, I I love where I live. I had this sort of on my notes. It's like I feel bad for people who don't love where they live, you know, because it must be so frustrating. But for whatever reason, you know, you look at the stuff that matters every day, you know.
SPEAKER_01Did you say you had notes?
SPEAKER_05Oh my god, I have so many notes. I came with so many notes in case this didn't work out. I don't know why I do that. I would would you like to hear some of them? I'm glad let's hear it.
SPEAKER_01Let's break down the screen. Alright, here we go.
SPEAKER_05All right. Let's talk about this theme song.
SPEAKER_00Oh that is a fairly original.
SPEAKER_04Okay, okay. Well, this it was a no, it we don't have to talk about it.
SPEAKER_05Um and then this was the then this was the like like when we just you know completely dead and we were talking about food. You know, what's the deal with capers? Are they just little peas?
SPEAKER_00What's the Seinfeld episode?
SPEAKER_05I was like, we'll do a little Seinfeld.
SPEAKER_01Um, you've seen the big caper berries, right?
SPEAKER_05No.
SPEAKER_01You've never seen a big caper berry?
SPEAKER_05Oh, I've seen the big caper, but I don't even, I still don't know what they are, but I don't want to know what they are, so don't tell me. That's the fun part. And then of course, you know, the the good one, you know, gummies.
SPEAKER_03Oh, we didn't even get to gummies.
SPEAKER_00We'll get to that next time.
SPEAKER_03We'll get to that.
SPEAKER_02We've got to have you again. So, Greg, we're so glad that you chose Ana Rundle County because Big Bean is such an amazing um community, like uh just magnet, and that's we want more of that, and we're so grateful to have met you.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. You guys are coming on the pod. I want to come back. We I'm already seeing like you kind of need some male energy, you know. Are we allowed to say that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, of course you are. That's the other thing.
SPEAKER_05I I do I love having the staff because I get to ask them, Am I allowed to say that?
SPEAKER_02Oh, and they'll tell you.
SPEAKER_05And you know, I'm a firm believer that if you say something that's wrong, but there was no malice behind it, as long as you're correct it. But like, I asked the latest one, was our manager, one of our managers just had a baby, and I asked the other manager, I'm allowed, Am I allowed to say very pregnant? I go, I'm literally like talking about like Chloe, am I allowed to say very pregnant? Yes, Greg, you can say very pregnant.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, she's actually very pregnant. That is the only time you're allowed to use that.
SPEAKER_05But that now there's a fun thing. You have a kid on, you know, and they they tell you what you can and can't say. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02All right, we do have we gotta get Chloe on or some of the youngers too. We do, we do.
SPEAKER_01Some young people energy, yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right, I love it. Well, thank you so much, Greg. You are such a treat. And next time we need to bring the wife and uh we'll talk about the barista life for sure. Talk about the barista life, and um, yeah, and thank you all for uh tuning in to Voices of Annapolis. Where every story, every voice tells our story. Keep on uh conversation going.
SPEAKER_02No, do it again. We're cutting mad.
SPEAKER_01Do it again. All right, do it again. Okay, thank you for turning. Thank you for tuning in to Voices of Annapolis, where every voice tells our story. Keep the conversation going, Daptown. Hoorah!