We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erin Nenow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Erin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
It has been my experience so far in life that you can spend time making plans, stressing about the details or the timeline, and white knuckle life all you want. No one is stopping you. But how often does our mental preparation or anxiety actually prepare you for what life will throw at you? I love the saying “bloom where you are planted” because my experience has shown me that sometimes we have to simply focus on making the most of the situations in front of us while we wait.
This might seem a little abstract so here is my story. From a young age I remember wanting to own my own business. It felt like an inward calling and the only thing I could never figure out was what I wanted to sell. Kind of a big part of it right? I struggled with learning in a classroom but excelled at working once I was old enough to have a job. At a young age I had no idea what that meant but now I know that I learn by doing. When I was 21 I got a job at the cafe that I now am the co-owner of. I worked as a barista, shift leader, manager and now, eleven years later, business owner. I got lucky because my business partners were willing to teach me about business and leadership. I would basically go into new situations blindly, fall on my face and then the owner would coach me on better methods. I learned to be a leader by doing. I learned to make business decisions by doing. When life felt like I wasn’t moving in the same direction as everyone else in college or starting families, I would pour my energy into what could be learned where I was. And I continued to dream of that day when all of that knowledge would help me to start a business of my own.
After working in coffee shops since I was seventeen, learning the ins and outs of the craft and consuming a couple of cups a day, you can pretty much figure out that I love coffee. My favorite part about it is helping people start their day and keep motivated to accomplish all the tasks in their world. It truly takes us all to keep this world of ours moving. I also love dark roast coffee which was not really being produced by craft roasters. During some quiet time with business lock downs and the pandemic I started to study coffee roasting. I found local resources and moved from home roasting with my dad to roasting on commercial equipment. I worked on a website so people all over the world could order our coffee and get it in the mail. Slowly but surely I built Ascend Coffee Roasters. The idea was born out of a passion and love for this product. I did not have an exact business plan but felt a calling to do it because I loved it. Like I said, I could never figure out what to sell before but tried to make the most of every opportunity that came my way. Today my dreams are starting to come true and I have some experience to help me on the journey.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Ascend Coffee Roasters in a craft coffee roaster based out of San Diego California. We specialize in third wave dark roast coffee. Third wave coffee is ethically sourced, single origin and aims at letting the quality of the beans shine without a bunch of sugar added. We sell single bags for home use and offer wholesale pricing for businesses. Online orders can be made from the website and shipped anywhere in the country. I also have 15 years experience in the cafe business and offer business consulting to wholesale accounts and staff training. Currently I am helping new coffee shops get started in the area offering these services.
I am also the co-owner of Old California Coffee House and Eatery in San Marcos California. The cafe is the oldest coffee house in San Marcos opening in 1990. I have been there since 2011.
Any advice for managing a team?
Managing a team is the hardest and most rewarding part of the job for me. I know so many people that outsource that part to a manager because of the challenge but I truly believe they are missing out. It is something that I never fully master and as the team changes it calls on me to cultivate new skills or break old habits. It keeps me learning and growing.
As a cafe owner by workforce is mostly college aged and a revolving door. People do not always stay for very long. My mission for my staff is that they learn something here that helps them in the future. Whether that be leadership skills, working in a fast paced environment, customer service, or simply how to be reliable to your employer. I can see how people in this line of work would lose motivation at this turn over rate so you almost have to block it out and start fresh with every new hire, hoping for the best.
My managers have both been with me for over seven years. We have grown together and learned so much. We work off a few principles when it comes to managing the team. One is that we must role model what we ask of them. It is much more challenging than you think to hold yourself accountable to all the rules and not take shortcuts after such a long time at a company. But we have to show the staff the example. Two we must be consistent everyday. the company culture starts at the top and if management is emotionally unstable, the morale will suffer. We know we have to be tough at time but we know we are fair.
The restaurant industry is based on speed and accuracy. We like to holler out our ticket times and celebrate wins through out the day. I highly recommend writing down the immediate goals of your team and thinking of ways to celebrate little accomplishments through out the day.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When learning business there is a sweet spot in everything. You want to be kind and caring towards your staff, but you have to protect yourself from being taken advantage of. You want to go the extra mile for your customer but you have to make sure you are making money to survive. You want to be fair but have to manage being tough. Learning where the sweet spot is is a dizzying experience of the pendulum swinging too far this way and then too far that way until you land some where in the middle.
This basically means that I am constantly learning and unlearning things.
My most current unlearning I have experienced has had to do with customer service. My mentor brought me up with a lot of strong lessons in protecting the company. Making sure customers refunds where truly warranted, that we were always maximizing our time on the clock, that vendors where charging correctly….etc. When I was the manager it was my main objective. However I kept my focus on only that for too long. It can make you a little defensive at times.
Through business lock downs I saw a community show up for us to keep us in business. When I start Ascend Coffee Roasters so many of our regulars bought bags of coffee beans to support me. Watching so many people help me has shifted my thinking. While it is important to protect the company, small businesses offer a service to the community that larger businesses cannot. It’s connection with the community, its supporting your neighbor, its keeping up relationships. Its true personal connection.
Now I am looking for opportunities to help out my community more. To help my neighbors and friends. To give a little more when I can. To protect the company and maintain it successfully but also be of service to people to the best of my ability.
Contact Info:
- Website: ascendroasters.com
- Instagram: @ascendroasters
- Facebook: ascendroaster
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-nenow-0b8807132/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj9H27Cu22Hm1nOdELkH–g