We recently connected with Good Roast and have shared our conversation below.
Good Roast, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
My wife and I locked eyes at a coffee shop in Orlando, it was love at first sip. Eventually we wedded and we decided to live abroad in Asia, where we reconnected with a family in Vietnam who, as fate would have it, were in the coffee business. We travel through Asia and, specifically, Vietnam to try all types of coffee you can think of. What we found was that Vietnamese coffee is very underrated and also the taste is so much better in Vietnam than in the US. The question then became ‘how can we bring this delicious Vietnamese coffee to the US?’. We put on our culinary-hat and went to work. We developed and tasted many selections to ensure the main ingredient, coffee, not only provide the smooth, bold, nutty, and slightly sweet taste but also it should meet the demand for the US consumer. We took the culinary vision and also wore the business operation lens to ensure that what we were coming up with will hit home, as it should. Enter: Aggresso Beans—a labor of love, caffeine, and sheer determination with roasters and coffee geniuses on our team! We started small, selling our perfectly roasted beans online and at local markets in Orlando. The mission? Rescue people from that questionable “yellow can” they’d been using to make Vietnamese coffee over 3 decades long. (You know the one.) With every bag we sold, our dream grew bigger—and so did our savings. By the second in business, we were fortunate enough to find our now brick-and-mortar cafe on Curry Fold and Dean. What started as a two-item menu is now a bustling hotspot with over 20 items, but Aggresso Beans and Vietnamese Coffee remains our best seller. Our customers, many of whom followed us from market to market in those early days, now have a home base where they can grab their beans, hang out, and connect with others.
Good, 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?
We both graduated high school in central Florida. Go West Orange Warriors and Edgewater Eagles! Very prideful kids and still this day keep in touch with our former teachers and faculty. Growing up, our parents were really into the Vietnamese community. We went to all of the events and got to meet other kids along the way. We were very involved in the community events. We are community based people so it’s natural that we create a place to connect people.
Coffee is our love language since day one (when we first locked eyes) and we make sure we don’t forget about our ‘why’. We name our business GOOD ROAST because it’s more than great coffee. We call this our passion project because whatever this is, it should foster good relationships, good connections, and opportunities. Orlando is our home and we strive to cultivate a space where we all can come together to celebrate the first Florida cold front, coffee-prep for hurricane season, and get local artists out to showcase their art and music. The GOOD will always come before ROAST, even though we put many hours into perfecting that cup of Vietnamese coffee to ensure that a sip can transport you to Vietnam. It’s cliche but it’s-our-home-away-from-home.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
One of the key pillars in our business is ‘take care of our people’. There is a quote in Vietnam that is loosely translated as “you must take care of your family before you take care of the community.” What this quote means is that you start with the core and work your way out. We start with bettering ourselves, properly train our staff, and finally we can serve our customers and community. It is not just a business requirement, it is our core value.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
My wife (my partner in life) is my only resource. Her heart is gold and she influences me to always be a better version of myself every single day. She is the “GOOD” in Good Roast.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.Good-Roast.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodroast.at.koolbear/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DUnKcG45T/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/good-roast-at-kool-bear-orlando-3
