We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Logan Buas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Logan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
There have been many moments have changed the trajectory of my life. The first one that stood out to me that really skyrocketed my career was in my first few months of making kombucha in my home. I recieved an out cry from my local community to make and sell my kombucha to the public. At the time I had 10 gallons brewing in my dining room cabinet for personal consumption only and some extra to be able to give to friends. I would bring it in glass jars to yoga class and give them to friends. Those friends shared it with their friends and all of a sudden I had texts after texts asking how they could purchase. At the time it was never my intention to make it into my livelihood but there was clearly a market and I felt it would be idiotic not to seize it. So I got mason jars from Walmart and printed Avery style labels from my computer. I hand wrote ingredients. I can’t explain just how crazy the growing pains scaling up this business became. I went from screwing on lids to heat sealing them. I went from 10 gallons to 80 gallons to needing to rent a kitchen to needing to open a cafe. The rest is history and I am still so grateful for every one of my first customers because I wouldn’t be 11 years in business if it weren’t for their supportive push.
Logan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Real Raw Organics is a local, all-natural health food company. We specialize in raw, living kombucha, in a variety of flavors. We started the company to bring a fresh kombucha option to our community and we hope to soon be able to bring our other products to our customers as well.
In 2009 I went away to school in Jacksonville, Florida. Healthy living is promoted in this area so well and every store has organic, gluten free, no GMO options. This is where I was first introduced to kombucha and found out how great it made me feel. After years of reaping its amazing benefits in a town where it was on tap in grocery stores and carried by the bottle at gas stations then I moved home to Ocean City where we only have one small organic grocery store. As many of our locals know, there aren’t many natural grocery stores in the area so my search for fresh kombucha was pointless. I didn’t realize how much I missed it in my daily life until the winter of 2013 when I moved to Maui for a few months. The island is very forward thinking when it comes to healthy living options and I got to drink fresh, local kombucha all the time.
When I decided to move back to Maryland, I didn’t want to lose it again so I figured with some practice I could make it myself. With the help of some friends who had made it before, I began experimenting with different teas and flavors. Blueberry Ginger was my first flavor that I truly loved and wanted to share with my friends and loved ones. I brought some to give to my yoga teacher as a gift and she ended up giving it out through her classes that day. There was an immediate demand for more kombucha and she insisted I bottle some up to sell. After that, the word was out; I was contacted by each of my current retailers demanding our kombucha. Some amazing local businesses have helped to get us where we are today by sharing their knowledge, experiences and their kitchens. My Nature and Local Mojo are two of our continuous advocates. I am so blessed to live in a town where everyone has pushed and supported me to continue through the rough beginnings of opening any small business. Today we are working on expanding our territory and are so grateful to say we opened our kombucha brewery and cafe.
Ocean City’s clean eating, locally grown, all natural mindset is finally developing. We just hope to continue to play a major role in that growth. Our promise to you is that we will always use only all organic, all natural ingredients and we will continue to source locally as much as possible.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I have found that managing employees is by far the most difficult part of being a business owner. The hiring process is always daunting and once they are hired, you want to keep morale high well also not being seen as too soft or too much like a friend. I tried to incentivize their work. Set sales goals and if they break them they are rewarded. We also always do an employee party every year where we give out awards to every person and every award is unique to that individual. I tried to connect with my employees on a personal level while also not letting them completely into my personal life. I think a good employer to employee relationship requires a lot of trust and support. I try and Facilitate this by show my employees, but I will do the same work they will. Everyone of them have seen me do their job because they know I’m not scared to get my hands dirty and that makes them respect me and makes me appreciate them
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
During the spring of COVID-19 we had to close our doors and we weren’t allowed to sell any premade food. The space was too small to have any employees work with me and everybody was too scared. We were bleeding money. With everyone being scared to go into the grocery stores and this before the time of grocery delivery in our area, I set up a grocery pick up situation and Wood wake up at 6 AM to wait for the produce truck to get delivered and then sort through all of the boxes separating everyone’s grocery orders and charging the wholesale cost 30% just to keep our head above water
Contact Info:
- Website: Realraworganics.Com
- Instagram: Realraworganics
- Facebook: Realraworganics
Image Credits
Alex Ashman