We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kerry Mayfield. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kerry below.

Kerry, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

While growing up, I thought my parents were mean and never understood what I was going through. My parents taught me perseverance and commitment. They owned a small oilfield service company from when I was 7-15. I was able to work with my father on site, during summers and weekends. I got to see lots of really cool things happen in the oil patch. One weekend, we were scheduled for a camping trip to Padre Island National Sea Shore. These trips were typically 3-5 days in length. I awoke in the morning around 3, to find my parents unloading the truck prepping for a last minute call to go to work, after all had been “cleared”. I was devastated! I loved being at the national sea shore! It was isolated, the fishing was great and we got to be free. I had to help with that job, which felt like a twisted knife in the heart…not only was the camping trip canceled, but I had to be in the event that canceled the trip. Fast forward 30+ years….I see the need to be committed to my customers. Without my customers, my business is not. My continued customers know that I am there to support their businesses.

In addition, my parents taught me to 1.) iron a shirt and 2.) properly fold a fitted sheet. Both operations have details that must be paid attention to otherwise, the objective might be accomplished, but the final product will not be what you intend or want. Without paying attention to the details in what is important, a lower quality product may be generated. When done enough, the lower quality may become the norm.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Kerry Mayfield, PhD. I hold a Master of Science and PhD in plant breeding, and worked in several public and private crop improvement programs working in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and corn (Zea mays) for 25 years. While traveling around the world, observing sorghum and corn plots, I experienced exceptional coffee almost everywhere I went. The scientist side of me came out after experiencing a phenomenal cup of Ethiopian Harrar coffee. I looked at this as an opportunity for a new challenge. After purchasing my first coffee roaster, learning to roast and supplying friends with very small amounts of freshly roasted coffees, my wife and I decided to start a small coffee roasting business, Tierras Planas Roasters, LLC (TPR). After 5 1/2 years, we currently supply around 25 wholesale customers. In addition, to freshly roasted coffees, we are a distributor for Barista Twenty-Two Sauces and Syrups, a small tea line, and distributors for several coffee brewing equipment manufacturers (Wilbur-Curtis, Rancillio and Astra, Grinders, etc). As we started to build TPR, we started asking what products our target customer might need for their businesses. We are adding home coffee brewing and craft drink classes as well as barista training in 2024. During our second year in business, we entered three coffees into a roasters competition, winning Bronze medals with all coffees in 3 different divisions. Winning the medals, brought reality to the quality of product I was producing.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Tierras Planas Roasters, LLC is sort of a pivot in and of itself. As I was entering my 20+ years of wear and tear on my body working in and pollinating crops to make improvements, my wife and I started talking about what is “next”. We weren’t sure what the “next” is or was. Along came this opportunity to pivot around and go from research & development to R&D, sales, marketing, etc. This pivot proved to be a lot bigger challenge than I had expected. My academic training taught me to look at things in lots of different angles. I learned quickly that I can look at things, but with out action looking is just that looking and not learning. I had to change who I associated with, learn people skills I had never had to learn before, and balance many more iterations of a product than I had in the past. Learning people skills I had never had to use in the past was a steep slope, which has leveled some, but still learning.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Not having been brought up in sales, I feel I am an old sales soul at heart. I definitely like to have direct (voice) communication with my customers. I like to hear their voices. I like to see their faces. Both faces and voices tell a story. A story that can be lost in digital communications. Despite my yearn to hear a voice, some customers prefer digital communications. I feel emotion is difficult to read in digital communications and much can be lost. I feel keeping in contact via voice has helped brand loyalty. I try to do a follow up with my wholesale customers every Monday for a preview of the week for production. This helps keep product fresh and enables a great rotation. For my retail customers who order online, we write a note thanking them for their purchase coupled with a seasonal greeting. Of course, marketing 101 says maintain contact with your customer. This is also accomplished by regularly scheduled emails. I receive plenty of emails each day….I love when a hand written note is included in an order I have received.

Contact Info:

• Website: tierrasplanasroasters.com
• Instagram: tierrasplanasroasters
• Facebook: Tierras Planas Roasters
• Linkedin: tierrasplanasroasters
• Twitter: TPRoasters
• Youtube: Tierras Planas Roasters
• Other: TikTok: DrKerryCoffeeGuru TPR Coffee + Tea