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NWA Founders is a voice for Founders, Owners, and Builders driving growth in Northwest Arkansas, and is hosted by Cameron Clark and Nick Beyer.
'NWA Founders' is a voice for Founders, Owners, and Builders driving growth in Northwest Arkansas, and is hosted by Cameron Clark and Nick Beyer.
To recommend a guest or ask questions, reach out at nwafounders@gmail.com and follow us on YouTube and LinkedIn for video content.
Andrea Allen: [00:00:00] There's a lot of pieces of coffee that are still secretive. Coffee's a global industry. Most coffee is produced in, you know, other parts of the world and then consumed in different parts of the world. And so, especially when we were first getting involved in coffee, John would call people and ask, try to ask questions, importers, things like that.
And it's just like very little sharing of information. After a couple of years of doing that, he was like, I don't understand any of this. Like there should not be secrecy in this. And so he's like, you know, I'm just gonna start publishing all of this data. Those importers we were working with essentially blacklisted us.
But what started happening is we actually started getting phone calls from producers because we were just naming everyone in the supply chain. There's a number of roasters that are doing it partially, but we're still the only roaster that has full transparency in real time listed live on our website,
Cameron Clark: like
Andrea Allen: in the US or just in the world.
Cameron Clark: Good [00:01:00] morning. We are here on the NWA Founders Podcast, um, where we interview founders, builders and owners who are driving the growth here in northwest Arkansas. Um, got myself, Cameron Clark and then Nick Byer this morning. An incredible, awesome guest. Andrea Allen. Good morning, Andrea.
Andrea Allen: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
I'm really excited.
Cameron Clark: No, thanks for, thanks for being here. Um, so before we kind of dive into everything, why don't you give the 32nd overview of what Onyx Coffee is? That's why we're here. Uh, we're here because you and John started Onyx. We're actually sitting in your creative studio, that's what you call it, correct?
Yeah.
Cameron Clark: Um, uh, yeah. Here in downtown Rogers, uh, which is an awesome space. If you're not like watching over video, it's really cool. Um, yeah, give a little overview of Onyx. It's not just a coffee shop. There's different arms of the businesses and all that. If you can give a Yeah, for sure.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Cameron Clark: Full of you.
Andrea Allen: It's hard to give 30 seconds, but I'll do my very best.[00:02:00]
Yeah, no. Onyx is a set of cafes and a roastery located and based out of northwest Arkansas, and we source roast and ship coffee all over the US and all over the world.
Cameron Clark: Wow. Give us your story. Where are you from? Springdale, correct?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, from Springdale. Yeah, so I was born in Springdale at Springdale Memorial Hospital.
Oh. I started drinking coffee with my dad when I was five. I. My dad's my hero. I wanna be just like him. Mm-hmm. So it made sense for me to drink coffee and, um, yeah. So I mean, I grew up, went to school at Shiloh in Springdale, and then I went to the university and studied creative writing. I have a master's degree in creative writing.
Oh, wow.
Andrea Allen: Um, I wish I had an MBA that would like actually help me out a lot, but, uh, maybe someday, maybe I'll go back. But, um, yeah, I mean, I am super local. I've never, I like did a stint in Fayetteville. I was gonna school, but I live a half mile from where I grew up. Uh, now. Wow. And so been here my whole [00:03:00] life.
Um, John, who's my business partner and also my husband, uh, moved here when he was in junior high and graduated from Springdale High School, the last, very last class of single high school Springdale. Wow. That dates us a little bit, but, um, yeah, I mean, we started dating in high school and I. I got into coffee, um, working in coffee because when I got my driver's license when I was 16, I started going to, um, the Barnes and Noble Cafe in Fayetteville.
'cause I thought it was really, uh, cool to go there. And I just really got interested in coffee culture and especially the thing that happens where a lot of coffee, seat coffee shop seating is communal. And so, um, you know, there'd be this thing where there's like a mechanic and a lawyer and a poet, like sitting at a table.
It sounds like a joke, you know, like those three walk into a bar. But no, they all walk into a shop, walk a coffee shop, and they sit down and they talk about, you know, politics, religion. [00:04:00] You know, what they're doing this weekend. All the things that we're, you know, not really supposed to ask each other anymore.
And I fell in love with that concept of space where lots of folks belonged. Like there wasn't a, you know, a social class system going on in a coffee shop. And, um, so I wanted to start working in coffee. And so I got a job in coffee.
Cameron Clark: Thanks.
Nick Beyer: Barnes and Noble.
Andrea Allen: Yeah, thank you. Barnes and Noble. Was it a
Nick Beyer: Starbucks back then, or it was just a little cafe?
It
Andrea Allen: was Barnes and Noble Cafe Okay. To start with. But yeah, I don't know. At some point it became a Starbucks and I also was going to ACEs a lot too, which is, you know, long time favorite, so. Yeah. Yeah.
Cameron Clark: And so was John interested in coffee back then too? Or was it. Were you kind of the, the first one that pushed that or,
Andrea Allen: yeah.
John was not interested in coffee, so I'm glad he is not here 'cause I can say what I want about him and he'll, he'll, he won't be able to like, stop me. But no, um, yeah, John was a musician, so he was playing in a band [00:05:00] and like touring quite a bit as much as he could. And so he wasn't really into coffee, but, um, like at some point I worked through, I wor I started working in coffee at 18 and I worked in a shop like all the way through graduate school.
And at some point I became a manager and he and I were dating and basically, um, one of my coworkers who worked full-time was trying to go to Florida and she like never had vacation and there was like one shift she couldn't get covered and there was no one in the entire company that could or would cover it.
And so I just like approached my boss and I was like, Hey, my, my boyfriend knows how to work a cash register and I'll like train him. So my coworker can go on vacation, and they were like, sure. So I just trained him how to work the cash register and then he kinda just started filling in at the shop, and that's kind of how he got started.
Cameron Clark: Oh, wow.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Cameron Clark: So talk about how you got started. So 18 was the first? Mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: First,
Cameron Clark: uh, was it, were you barista then?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, I trying to be, I was going to the U of A and I was like, I need a job just for, you know, [00:06:00] money. And I was bored. I mean, actually a couple nights ago I was talking to John. I was like, remember when we used to be bored?
I don't, no, I was bored and I needed something else to do. And so I just basically like went to that shop over and over and over and over until they hired me. Like, uh, now, uh, in the position, I'm in business now, I'm like, wow, I must have been. Either a superstar candidate or so annoying that they just had to say yes.
But, um, yeah, they just like gave me a blank piece of paper and were like, Hey, write down why we should hire you. So I, I went home and typed a five page essay and turned that in. And then I called the shop every single day for, for months and until they finally hired me. So, and this was in Ars Segas, or So Segas?
Yeah. Okay.
Nick Beyer: And where was it at?
Andrea Allen: It was, uh, the one that used to be on crossover admission. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So I remember
Cameron Clark: that. Yeah.
Andrea Allen: Here I am. I'm ready to go.
Cameron Clark: That's a, that's amazing.
Andrea Allen: I mean, it's, I, [00:07:00] unfortunately, I'm like that if I get like, uh, hooked on something, I'm kind of like really, uh, tenacious about it, so,
Cameron Clark: and I've heard you're extremely competitive.
Andrea Allen: Yes, I am. Absolutely. Yeah. So it's like play card games with me only at your own risk. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah.
Cameron Clark: It's dangerous.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. It's
Cameron Clark: so, yeah. So talk, so you started at ar Sega when you're 18. What? What year is that?
Andrea Allen: Oh my gosh. Do I have to say
Cameron Clark: you don't ha I mean it's,
Andrea Allen: no, yeah, it's 2002. 2002. Okay. Mm-hmm.
Cameron Clark: And, uh, you stay in coffee.
I mean, until today, like there, yeah. You haven't done anything.
Andrea Allen: No. Else.
Cameron Clark: This has been very, I've done nothing else. Direct focused. Yeah.
Andrea Allen: No, I mean, I like would work seasonal jobs, so Yeah. You know, I worked at like clothing stores and I did like, you know, worked events and did some serving and you know, some things like that.
Like at, like, I'd work at the shop, like over Christmas break, I'd work every day at the shop in the morning and then mm-hmm. Work like, you know, just like side hustle jobs at night to like, just make extra money and stuff like [00:08:00] that. Yeah. So, um, but yeah, I mean, I was mostly going to school and then, um, you know, I, when I graduated from the U of A, I was trying to go to get my MFA and I just didn't get into any of the schools that I had applied to.
And so I, that which was not my plan. Like, I think my original plan was that I wanted to be a writer.
Yeah. And
Andrea Allen: so I was like, well, I'm gonna have a gap year. So I just, you know, in my way approached the CEGA and I was like, Hey, I don't have anything to do and I would love to just like run this shop I'm working at and like I could just do it for a year and got lots of ideas.
And so I basically just forced my way into being the manager of that location. Um, and so I ran that for that year while I was applying for graduate schools. And then during that year I also like ended up running one of their other shops, um, just because I was like, Hey, I, I can run this shop on, you know, 25 hours, I can work another 25 hours at this other shop.
I can [00:09:00] run both shops and, you know, so I was kind of just like learning my way in business. And then I got into graduate school, um, here at the University of Arkansas. Okay. Um, and so there was like a two year time span where I was managing a couple of cafes. And I was in graduate school and I was also a TA at, and so I taught like comp one, comp two, resume build, building, uh, essay writing, stuff like that.
Wow. At D of a, um, and that was like oh 7, 0 8 mm-hmm. Timeframe. And then in 2009, John and I purchased, um, two of the shops, our Sega shops from them. And that's like how we got into like, business was that way. So,
Cameron Clark: and did the world fall apart before or after you, you bought the two shops right
Andrea Allen: before? Yeah.
Yeah. So, um, the closing was like in May of oh nine. And so, yeah, it was happening during, um, like, you know, I think fall of oh eight [00:10:00] and then spring of oh nine. Yeah. Um, which made it really hard to get a loan, so. Can't
Cameron Clark: imagine. Yeah.
Andrea Allen: Um, my dad again is my hero, but he went and took out a loan and they put like, uh, their house up as the collateral for the loan.
Yeah. And, and then turned around and loan it to me and John and. We were golden. So
Cameron Clark: was, I mean,
Andrea Allen: let's go. I know. Talk about like pressure. No, I'm just kidding.
Cameron Clark: What, what were you feeling at that time? What was the, you know, for someone who's just in maybe a situation like you were back then? Mm-hmm. I mean, I know it's, it's been a minute, but like, do you remember what that was like?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, I was really excited. I was really scared. Like the first day after like, you know, it happened like end of the business day this day and the next day I like dressed up and went into the shop on Greg Street and literally for the first hour, like one person came in, which was very abnormal and like, you know, it wasn't like [00:11:00] news really, you know?
Yeah. So, but in my mind I was like, oh my gosh, everyone heard about this last night and they don't wanna come here anymore, which is a very erroneous sort of thought to be having. But, um, yeah, I was like freaking out and one of the. People working with me there, her name was Liz, her name is Liz. She was like, Hey, we're fine.
We don't need you here. Go, go do something else. So I went and like, did a supply run and picked up a bunch of milk from Sam's Club and I came back and there was like a line out the door and, and it's like, yeah, we were, everything was fine. It was just a slow morning. But yeah, it was definitely scary. Um, and, you know, I didn't know how to pay taxes or pay sales taxes or do payroll or, or really anything like that.
So I spent that first, like couple of months, like just
yeah,
Andrea Allen: calling the state and being like, Hey, it's me. Yeah. Again, just trying to file my sales tax, you know, am I doing this right? Um, right. [00:12:00] But, you know, QuickBooks plus phone calls to the state equals success, so
Nick Beyer: Yeah. Yeah. I made you figure it out.
Andrea Allen: I was, I was golden.
So it was good.
Nick Beyer: Well, my, my thoughts just going to like that had, do, have, there's a lot of people who say they believe in you. And then there's a lot of people who say they believe in you and put action behind it. Yeah. Sounds like that's what your dad did. So like yeah. How much did that mean to you in that moment?
And now when you think back to it, I mean that's,
Andrea Allen: yeah.
Nick Beyer: Can you imagine doing that for one of your kiddos? Like what, what would that feel like?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, I hope so someday.
Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: I kind of hope they both go and be dentists though, so they can work four days a week and, no, I'm just kidding. Um, no, it meant a ton.
You know, like I, we, me and John had to kind of like take a bus, you know, we had to like, take a business plan to my dad and, and his accountant and like show them that we like, knew what we were doing and, um, it meant a ton. And I think, honestly, my dad has a great legacy. Um, he has helped quite a few people start in business and so I, it was, it was [00:13:00] cool that like, we were on the receiving end of that, but it also was really nerve wracking.
'cause you know, it was like a five year commercial loan and, um, we were just, I was like, as long as we can make those payments, like. It'll, it'll be good. So I was, I was concerned about like, letting them down, but we actually paid it off early and, you know, it was, it was, I'm grateful that someone helped us get started.
'cause I think that is a big hurdle for a lot of entrepreneurs. And also they helped us get started without, without being investors. Mm-hmm. So they just loan the money to us. And so that way we didn't have to, I mean, not that we would've begrudged it, but we didn't have to like, share profits with them.
Yeah. We didn't have to show them our books. We didn't have to justify our decisions.
Mm.
Andrea Allen: Um, we weren't getting told like, no, you can't invest in this wild idea.
Yeah.
Andrea Allen: Uh, because it doesn't make business sense. Mm-hmm. And so like that really like, kind of has catapulted us into the space that we are in [00:14:00] today in, in terms of helping us get started, um, without having somebody like.
At the table. Yeah. Driving decisions.
Cameron Clark: Yeah. You're the one, you're the one making the call. Yeah. From the very beginning.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. So,
Cameron Clark: and so was that when it became Onyx?
Andrea Allen: Yeah. So we ran those shops for a couple of years, like as, as they were. And then, you know, we really started to learn more about just coffee in general.
So what we were doing at the time was running cafes. But we weren't doing any roasting. We weren't doing any sourcing. And so basically, um, John was just sort of like, Hey, there's this whole other side of the, the business that we are not involved in and that we should, we should be involved in. And also there are a lot of like really cool things happening in specialty coffee, like across the states.
'cause he was traveling a ton for music and he's like, you know, there's this whole movement happening and like we have the opportunity to actually [00:15:00] create. What we want to see in coffee here at, on here, like at our business. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, we, he bought a roaster and sort of started like a side business, which is now our like roasting and distribution arm.
But he bought a coffee roaster and started roasting coffee and started just wholesaling it like under a private label brand while we were also running the cafes. And then after like maybe a year or so of that, we were kinda like, okay, I think we're ready to like, rebrand and sort of the dream was to like, you know, I mean at Onyx was founded in 2012, so I had been working in the industry for 10 years.
So the kind of the dream was like, take all of the things that we would like to see coffee be and just create that. Wow. And that's like kind of how Onyx was, was born with that spirit.
Cameron Clark: That's, that's incredible. What the name Onyx like. Where did it come from?
Andrea Allen: It's, so, [00:16:00] Onyx is like technically a transparent stone.
And so one of the core pillars of our company is transparency. And that is sort of definitely evidenced by, you know, what you see on our retail coffee boxes and also on our website. Like you can see every coffee we have, who we bought it from, what we paid for it, how we got into the country, what we paid those people to do that what the commodity price of coffee was trading for at the time, what the fair trade, um, price at the time, what we scored it.
So we show all of that in like an open transparency model. And so, you know, that that model wasn't there yet, but I think kind of the spirit was, was there at the time.
Cameron Clark: Why, why did you do that? Where they, the transparency model? Yeah,
Andrea Allen: so I mean there's a lot of pieces of coffee that are still relatively like.
Secretive and sort of hidden through like the trading [00:17:00] markets, because coffee's a global industry. Most coffee is produced in, um, you know, other parts of the world and then consumed in different parts of the world. And so, you know, it, it's like the, you know, one of the top five traded commodities. And so like in that trading system there is all sorts of stuff that happens.
Um, and so especially when we were first getting involved in coffee, uh, roasting, we, and we were new, we, and we were not only new, but we were located in the cultural mecca of Arkansas. Um, and you know, we can kinda laugh about that now because of the growth that's going on here. But at the time it was like, you know, we couldn't even really get samples of coffee from importers.
Um, we had to pay for samples, which is actually relatively unheard of. And we were. Almost completely self-taught in coffee. And so, you know, John would call people and ask, try to ask questions, importers, things like that. Mm-hmm. And it's just like very little sharing of [00:18:00] information. Yeah. Very little sharing of like teaching of like how to roast or how to buy or what should coffee cost like there, and there's still quite a bit of that going on.
Mm-hmm. And so John just sort of started traveling to coffee producing countries and like talking to producers and talking to the importers that would, that would work with us. And so after, after a couple of years of doing that, he was like, I don't understand any of this. Like there should not be secrecy in this.
And so, wow. So he, you know, really just sort of decided that, he's like, you know, I'm just gonna start publishing all of this data. And like, one of the great things about data is that. Data's not an ethical statement, or moral judgment or an opinion. Data is just data. And so he was like, I'm just gonna start putting the data out there, and then we'll just let people decide what they think about it.
And it was actually a pretty nerve wracking moment because, I mean, this actually happened yesterday at the shop. I was explaining it to a [00:19:00] customer in the shop because it's printed on our packaging and like, okay, so you pay $10 for all of this, and then I pay 19. And I'm like, yep.
Yeah, that's
Andrea Allen: how it works.
Yeah. Like, all right, you know, but we, we were concerned that coffee, our customers, like our coffee consumers would not understand that, right? Like that, they would be like, oh, you, you only paid $4 a pound or $7 a pound for this coffee green and you're selling it to me for 20. That's not right.
Yeah.
Andrea Allen: But actually what happened was the opposite was that those importers we were working with, um, essentially blacklisted us.
So. The people that would work with us, there was only one, one importer. Royal New York is their name. We still work with them. We love them. But, uh, all the other importers, were like, we're not working with you guys anymore if you're gonna do this. 'cause it's not, it's not ethical to do this.
Nick Beyer: And just to be clear, an importer is, is the same as a producer or they're different?
Andrea Allen: No, they're different. Okay. So produce, well, they can be the same, but [00:20:00] traditionally a producer works in a coffee growing area and grows coffee. Okay. And then sells coffee to a cooperative or a local buyer who, or an importer or exporter who turn around and like, take the coffee to market. Okay. So it's a, like, it's a raw product that comes up on the green market and then is sold to buyers on the other side.
So, you know, the, the disjunction there is that it is the person that's producing the coffee, like, is only making a fraction of what is actually sold at market. And that is why there, the secrecy is there. Or was there on the importing side. Mm-hmm. Because there's an advantage to, you know, a, a buyer in nice clothes, going to a, a coffee producing farm and saying, trust me, I know the US market.
I can only sell this coffee for a dollar 25, so you have to sell it to me for 70 cents USD. And then they take it and they sell it for five. Hmm. Now, obviously markups [00:21:00] exist in business. Every business like operates in that, in that sort of like, you know, modality. But, you know, the, the person with the disadvantage in the supply chain is always the coffee producer.
And so, you know, the, the importers were upset with us because they were like, people don't understand the industry or the supply chain, and so if you show them this, it will, it will disrupt. And we were like, well, here we are,
Cameron Clark: we're do, we're doing it anyways.
Andrea Allen: Nailed it. Um, so for about six months it was really hard to buy coffee.
Um, but what started happening is we actually started getting phone calls from producers. So one of the great, like changes in the supply chain is that, uh, producers now have smartphones, you know, smartphone, you know, and social media, sort of like really coming onto the scene in 2010. And then we made this change in like 2014.
So producers actually have a device that has data that, you know, they're in [00:22:00] rural, you know, uh, you know, wherever they're at. And, but they can like connect, uh. Through data and look at our website.
Nick Beyer: And are they speaking English when they call you? Like, 'cause you're, they're all over different countries. Uh,
Andrea Allen: not always.
Okay. Yeah. Translators, you know, translator devices, but they started like contacting us and being like, did you actually pay $6 a pound for this? We're like, yeah. And they're like, okay. 'cause I have a similar quality coffee and my trader told me it was only worth this. This is really great
Cameron Clark: news. Oh,
Andrea Allen: um,
Cameron Clark: life changing news.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. And you know, the purpose of it really was like data, you know, I mean it, I don't wanna like virtue signal 'cause it's just like the goal was. Uh, I think actually the goal was, was disruption, but mm-hmm. Um, you know, the goal was like, Hey, we'll just put the data out there and let the data speak for itself.
But after about six months, we actually started getting [00:23:00] calls from those importers that wouldn't buy from us because the other thing that happened was was other roasters would try our coffee and they'd like, we love this. And they would see how much we paid for it, and they'd be like, oh, we can afford that.
And then they would call the importer we buy, bought it from and say, Hey, I wanna buy this coffee. So after just a little bit of time, it was sort of like, oh, this is actually free marketing, because we were just naming everyone in the supply chain. Wow. And so it has ended up being like a really cool, like, aspect of our entire company.
And, um, we're still doing it. There's, uh, so there's a number of roasters that are doing it partially, but we're still the only roaster that has full transparency in real time and all like listed live on our website.
Cameron Clark: In the, like in the US or just in the
Andrea Allen: world?
Cameron Clark: Yeah. Wow.
Andrea Allen: There's a couple other companies that'll do full transparency via like 80 page report at the end of the year.
But the reason that it's so challenging is because, [00:24:00] um, most people are proud of, of the best things that they do in, in a business and not necessarily all the things that they do. And our stance is like, we're gonna put all of it out there and we have. High standards and we pay what we believe is like what coffee is worth for all coffees.
Um, we don't buy trash coffees and try to sneak it into blends. Um, and that's kind of standard practice. No, no shade on any other roaster, but that's how our industry has been built. And so that don't do that. And so therefore we are proud to like display all of our numbers all the time and mm-hmm. You know, we're hopeful that other people will adopt it at some point.
So,
Cameron Clark: so we, we want to go into kind of y'all building the business and, and whatnot before we kind of go and dive in there. You talk about maybe your, how you and John did this together. Like what y'all both kind of tackling this everything or do you have your focus, he have his, how did that play out or how has it played out?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, we learned pretty quickly that, you know, I'm [00:25:00] like very operationally based, like, you know, functionality, details management and he's very like vision focused, um, innovative. You know, um, driving like decisions. Um, and it's, it's actually a pretty even balance. And even like back when we were, you know, just starting the business, like I personally am I.
I like, can't actually visualize things. I'm a very, like, I have to see it in person. So even like yeah, that the thought of like a new shop coming into space. Yeah. It's like I have to like have a rendering and all this sort of stuff and John can actually like physically like, or you know, like vi visualize and see how something should look, how it should feel.
Mm-hmm. What the colors are, like, all this sort of stuff. So as we started like building and growing, um, and you know, we're a relatively slow growing company. We've been Onyx for since 2012 and we have four brick and mortar locations. Like, [00:26:00] we're not exactly busting at the seams in terms of, you know, growth.
But, um, you know, he really like drove all of that sort of innovation and, and ideas. And then he also like, you know, fixed everything for a long time. Um, yeah. But we, we have really different skills and so we, we kind of stay in our lane as much as we can. So.
Nick Beyer: So, yeah. One thing we want to do is kind of walk people through the, and you've already done an amazing job of sharing like what some of those early days were, like, some of the middle part of y'all building the business together and then kind of bringing us up to speed with where we are now.
So going back 2009, y'all buy two locations? Yeah. Crossover Mission.
Andrea Allen: Yep.
Nick Beyer: And Greg?
Andrea Allen: Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Nick Beyer: And that time y'all operated under the, the old name Margas, which is what they were when y'all acquired them.
Andrea Allen: Yes. Yeah.
Nick Beyer: Okay. Yeah. And y'all did that for five-ish years.
Andrea Allen: So we, we purchased those in oh nine, and then [00:27:00] we did, so we did it for three years, and then we rebranded as Onyx in in 2012.
2012. Yeah.
Nick Beyer: And so at 2012, y'all had kind of started, had, had y'all bought the Roastery yet, or, yes. Yeah.
Andrea Allen: So the Roastery started in 2010. 10, okay. Sorry. There's a lot of like adjacent timelines going on.
Nick Beyer: No, you're great. It's, it's impressive to kind of keep 'em all. Keep 'em all straight. And so when y'all, when you were first operating those two businesses, you were just buying beans wholesale, right?
And that's, would you say that's the common way if you're starting a coffee shop or if you operate a coffee shop, you say 90% of coffee shops in the US operate by buying wholesale beans? Is that
Andrea Allen: Depends on the time. So at the time, most people were buying wholesale, like from larger roasters. Mm-hmm. And so that was like kind of the way that folks were doing business.
Then there's actually kind of been a full circle thing where in the later 20 teens, like many shops started roasting. So you saw a lot more like smaller [00:28:00] micro roasters coming around. And micro just means small roaster obviously. But you know, people that were like, oh look, roasting is. Cool. You can like, you know, technically you can have like a lower bottom line sort of, and you have your own branding and you know, all this sort of stuff.
But now it's actually kind of going back the opposite way post pandemic, um, where there's actually less people roasting and more people buying wholesale. But I mean, I would say, I mean, I don't, I don't actually know a percentage, but I would, I would say like 60% plus shops in the US right now. Buy wholesale from someone major?
Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Nick Beyer: Okay. And so y'all were kind of early, it sounds like you were a little bit early on the roastery piece, and that was something John just did some research on. He was, and was that in northwest Arkansas Uhhuh when y'all bought that?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, we just a
Nick Beyer: roastery for sale and or did he approach them?
And
Andrea Allen: we bought, we just bought a machine and leased a warehouse and hooked that puppy up. Started roasting. [00:29:00]
Nick Beyer: Here we go. And so for people who are listening who don't even know what roasting Yeah. What do you mean when you say roasting? Yeah. Can, can you explain that?
Andrea Allen: Absolutely. So coffee starts as a plant and it's, uh, there's cherry and inside the cherry is a, is a bean.
And so that bean like, um, the cherries are picked and it goes through what's called processing, which is just how does coffee go from being a cherry to being a stable green bean that can be shipped across the world and stored dry, uh. Anywhere. And so roasting is where you take that green bean and you put it in a, in a machine, and there's lots of different styles and methodologies behind this, but you put it in a machine and you heat it up over time and it roasts it and it goes from green to being brown, dark brown, black.
There's lots of, there's actually an official sort of color scale called agron. Um, but yeah, you roast it [00:30:00] and then that, and then that's what you see as like a coffee, as a coffee bean. So it, it definitely can be, it's, it's less confusing, I think, than it used to be. 'cause people, as coffee has risen in like popularity over the last like 20 years, people are more familiar with it.
But coffee is not really commercially produced in the States. So whereas like y'all are probably familiar with. Corn or cotton or rice or you know, some, you know, you've at least seen it whether you farmed it or not, but you know, the process of like how it works. Mm-hmm. Coffee, because it's produced somewhere else, it can be kind of like, oh, it's a bag on the shelf, or it's like a liquid in a cup.
But yeah, it's a agricultural worldwide greatest industry in the world.
Nick Beyer: Hmm. So we'll call it early 2010s. You're operating those two shops. John's really diving into this roastery doing research. Are y'all like playing? I mean, is that because I [00:31:00] assume roasting part of the flavor is Yeah. The actual beans that you buy and then the roast roasting process.
Is that a mm-hmm. Okay. So y'all are probably like ordering different beans and roasting things differently to try to figure out what. Yeah. Jives.
Andrea Allen: Yeah, absolutely. It's very, and there's like very little education at the time. So John did quite a bit of studying and tasting. He's a, he's a very good taster.
So there, but there, it's basically just trial and error. I mean, it's like making a recipe from scratch for, for a food item. It's like, you're like, okay, I'll just like try this. Do we like it? Do we not? Okay. And like you tweak over time. And so you're right, a lot of it is like based on origin and variety of coffee bean, and then the processing, but then also how you roast it.
Like you can, it's like a, it's, it's like a piece of bread. Like you can toast it and tastes great, or you can burn it and it tastes like burnt carbon, you know? So it's the same in roasting? Yeah.
Nick Beyer: I, I haven't seen it done. I mean, I've seen y'all's [00:32:00] machines in hq, but I haven't like, been part of that process.
So it's. It's interesting hearing you talk about it. Yeah.
Cameron Clark: And and how many employees were we talking kind of at the beginning? You got two shops. What are you managing organization wise?
Andrea Allen: Probably like 25.
Cameron Clark: Okay.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: Yeah. As you, as you kind of think through those early days, like were there any big mistakes that taking this Yeah, tons.
Yeah. Yeah.
Andrea Allen: I mean, you know, when I say we were self-taught, like that's, that's pretty legitimate. I mean, we had our experience, but then especially when we started Onyx, like we were, you know, trying to figure out digital stuff. So obviously, you know, there's like social media, there's websites, there's apps, there's all the sort of stuff.
So we did all sorts of things online that like, some worked, some didn't. Um, you know, we, we purchased pieces of equipment that we thought we needed and, and then we didn't, or we didn't know how to work 'em and they just like. I mean, we actually have a couple of them [00:33:00] around still. And every once in a while we'll be like, remember that thing we can't sell and can't use?
Um, and then in the coffee buying space, I mean it's like, especially because we were committed to what, like paying producers directly. So like when we, even back then when we would contract a coffee, like we would wire money to a foreign bank account and then just like cross our fingers that it would come.
Mm-hmm. And that's the risk of buying that way. Hmm. Um, and so we would, we would receive coffees that we were like, this is not what we bought. Um, sometimes we wouldn't receive the, I mean there was like a lot of like kind of costly errors there. And then, you know, even just navigating the business without help, help.
I mean we definitely had support of people in the community, but like we didn't have extra funding. I mean there was definitely a moment early in the days of Onyx that I looked at our bank account and I was like, so. We're not gonna meet payroll or rent. [00:34:00] Mm. And so me and John just went into the shops every day and we're like, who wants off?
And people were like, all of us. And so we worked separate shops, just us for like four or five days in a row at the end of like a payroll period and like open to close, which at the time was six 30 to 11:00 PM Just 'cause it was like, I don't know, we didn't know what else to do. Mm-hmm. And we, um, are, you know, sometimes businesses need to take loans, but we're like committed to being cash basis.
So we like didn't have like a line of credit or anything. And so we were just like, okay, we made some mistakes, we made some spending mistakes, um, and now we've gotta figure out how to make it right. So, you know, there a lot of that in the earlier days for sure.
Cameron Clark: Hmm.
Andrea Allen: And some now, but you know, honestly we're not always on point.
So.
Cameron Clark: Well I do love the element of like, Hey, we're just gonna go figure it out. Like, I think that that's. The message, uh, culturally right now is like, oh, what do I need to do to go be Andrea Allen or where, you know, do or go, [00:35:00] go do this or that. It's like, yeah, ask questions, go figure it out. Mm-hmm. Call, sweat, call the Secretary of State and figure out what you need to go do to do, do this and figure, like just go, go, go.
And, and, uh, I'm excited for everyone to hear more of it. Just when you hear the word excellence, like onyx coffee goes like right with it, and it's costly. Even those little decisions early on, it's like being excellent is it's not, I. Trying to necessarily only be profitable. Yeah. It's like, it could be the opposite
Nick Beyer: sometimes.
So you've got a couple locations having some success there. Roastery growing. Is there some kind of, at least financial, is it, is it growing? Are y'all starting to sell wholesale at this point or?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, so we also had a really hard time getting into wholesale and that that was like our goal was to have our onyx cafes and then do wholesale.
Mm-hmm. In 2015 we opened our downtown Bentonville location and you know, we're trying to grow, grow our wholesale business. [00:36:00] And again, like it's, you know, it has been challenging in the past to be from this area and try to be on like the national scene in terms of just, I would cold call cafes all over the country and have great conversations with people and then I'd be like, amazing, I'm gonna send you some samples, like, what's your address?
And I. They're like giving me their address. And then they'd be like, wait, where are you guys located at? Like Arkansas. And they're like, oh, you know what? We're good. We thought y'all were met in LA or Seattle, but it's okay. And I'm like, no, the samples are free. And they're like, no, it's okay. We're good.
Wow.
Like,
Andrea Allen: see ya. Wow. So it was like really, you know, hard. I mean, we definitely were like selling coffee around here and like, definitely doing sort of like a door to door business, kind of like knocking on doors and just being like, Hey, like we've got this coffee kind of stuff. And um, so that's actually when I, uh, started getting into being a competitive barista.
Mm-hmm. So in, I think 2012 or 13 John saw the [00:37:00] US Coffee Championships happening. Mm-hmm. Just like on a live stream. And he was kind of like, Hey, you should take a look at this. Like, you know, we should probably do this. And I, to be frank, I wasn't not super interested in it, just 'cause I, um. I am relatively confident, so I was like, I don't need to go to this thing and like prove that I know how to make drinks.
Like obviously like I've been a barista since for 13 years. I don't need to do that, you know? And uh, he was like, well, you know, as, as good partners do, he is like, it's not about you. It's like we, we need to grow our business and we need to figure out a way to like show that we are doing something excellent to use your word and also our word and like show that we are doing a good job and that we are bringing something new to the table.
And like, you know, you already know that that's really hard to do. And if we could go to this thing and if you could do well. Then the, you know, the [00:38:00] industry watches those things. Yeah. And he is like, then that would at least get our brand out there and our name would get published in coffee publications.
And then when you call someone, they would know who we are. And I was like, mm-hmm. Oh yeah, that makes sense.
Cameron Clark: And it's happened and we,
Andrea Allen: yeah.
Cameron Clark: Probably should have dove in on that in the very beginning, but like 2020 US, US Champion, right?
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Cameron Clark: And then 22, 20
Andrea Allen: 21 World, 2021 World Runner up. World Runner up.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
Just incredible. Like thanks out of
Nick Beyer: Arkansas.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. Right outta Arkansas. Yeah,
Nick Beyer: we love that.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. No, that's
Nick Beyer: a great though, like some forethought went into like, Hey, there's actually a strategy behind why we're gonna do this. And
Andrea Allen: Yeah. And,
Nick Beyer: but it also required a ton of work from you. So,
Andrea Allen: yeah, it was a lot of work.
I mean, the competition circuit is really competitive. I mean, especially in the time where I was competing, like you've got, we had all of the like really big coffee companies. Putting a ton of like, support behind their competitors. And, you know, we also were like [00:39:00] new to the space, so just trying to learn things and like, you know, I, I don't think coffee, coffee, the coffee community is way less exclusive than it used to be.
But the first couple of competitions I went to, like, no one would even like talk to me. I mean, I'm, I'm pretty like cold introduce like, you know, savvy. And it was like, people were just kinda like, okay, you know, I'm like, no, I'm just, I'm just trying to say hi, learn your name, you know? Uh, so yeah. So it was really interesting.
Um, but also I'm grateful for that whole experience that I had in that realm. And, um, you know, I also think that a lot of what my, both myself and other competitors that I sort of came up with were, were actually trying to do, um, in that competition space was to talk about, like, I. What was great about coffee and also what needed to change.
Hmm.
Andrea Allen: Um, and there's been a ton of change in the industry in the last decade and like, I think a lot of that is [00:40:00] driven by, you know, people that, in the coffee industry that wanna like, plug in and contribute and, and like wanna see things grow and, and mm-hmm. It's been a cool experience. So,
Nick Beyer: so at what point before we move on to like, 'cause kind of what you're talking about is really starting to build that Onyx brand.
Yeah.
Nick Beyer: And so you had the two shops, did y'all, y'all sold those at some point and then opened a shop in Springdale or?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, so, so we, we had the two shops. Uh, we opened one in Springdale and then we opened the one in, in Bentonville and sometime in between there we sold one of the ones in Fayetteville. And you know, some of it is just like trying to figure out like, where does our model work?
And you know, I think that we, um. We are really hopeful to be like in the core of the communities in, in our, in northwest Arkansas. And so, um, you know, downtowns are really special to us. And so, you know, like as I think our brand grew and we started to formulate like what we [00:41:00] wanna be in the long run, like we don't wanna have like, you know, 25 shops.
Like we wanna have like a smaller amount of really special shops. And so, so there were definitely moments where we were like, Hey, this business is good and this shop is awesome and this community is great, but like, when we think about like our capacity and our focus, like we may not see ourselves here forever.
And so kind of making decisions to, you know, to sell some of those places or to rebrand them or, you know, whatever it might be. And so, so yeah, I mean we've definitely, um. Changed over time, for sure.
Nick Beyer: Hmm.
Andrea Allen: So,
Nick Beyer: so taking some of that success, rolling it into Bentonville and Ben, I mean, 2015, that's still, that's still pretty early.
Yeah. In Benton v's. Lifecycle. And that, that shop is very nice. So
Andrea Allen: thanks. Were we
Nick Beyer: just rolling some success in into that?
Andrea Allen: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, you know, we got that opportunity, which is incredible. Like the, that building is the, one of the Walton family buildings and you know, we just happened to [00:42:00] like, meet people that were representatives of the building and then John, uh, as he does, he spent two years like convincing them, negotiating, asking for things like, you know, trying to get us in there.
And he finally. Did it. He's very good at that. He is really super talented in every way. I'm a big fan, obviously, but yeah, so, you know, we opened that shop and like, yeah, it was earlier on in the kind of Bentonville, what is now currently a huge thriving, growing busing at the sea community, but they were all ready for coffee up there.
Mm-hmm. Um, and that shop has been incredible and it was just a very cool experience. Um, it's also John's first shop to design from the ground up, so mm-hmm. Everything else was, it's kind of like already partially existing or existing. And so it's actually very interesting to go, to go through the locations that he has built and see like, in order and sort of see the design growth, um
[00:43:00] mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: So Bentonville and then our headquarters in Rogers and the Momentary Cafe, and then the restaurant in Johnson Hill, fellow well met, and then just a couple more coming that are gonna be spectacular, so. Mm-hmm.
Nick Beyer: It's amazing. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that that Onyx in Bentonville has kind of become like just this picture of Bentonville.
Like when I, when I talk to people who travel in,
Cameron Clark: yeah.
Nick Beyer: They all stop at that Onyx.
Cameron Clark: That's cool. Well, and it's just like I am, you know, part of the poster childs for northwest Arkansas in cycling and I really like it. And that's all the racers. Every week, Tuesday nights they start, they started at downtown Bentonville and Onyx.
That's cool. And it's like, I mean, it's a huge, it's a huge ride. And um, last time I did it, uh, it was like, you know, someone from Connecticut, someone from Oregon, it's like they're just coming here to ride. And it's like, that's the spot, that spot they start. Uh, which is fun.
Andrea Allen: That's cool.
Cameron Clark: Was Greg
Nick Beyer: first.
Before, before, uh, the [00:44:00] Springdale
Andrea Allen: location was the first sonics. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And yeah, you know, I wanna like give a shout out to like all of my various like baristas and teams at the Bentonville location over the years. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, like, you know, I, I, I'm the one getting to sit here today, but like, your great experiences that you've had there, like, they don't happen without like a whole bunch of people being really committed to Yeah.
To like the vision of like providing incredible world class coffee.
Mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: Um, with kindness and excellence and like, you know, my, my team, current team, past teams, like, they are really talented and, and I'm super grateful for them. So,
Cameron Clark: yeah. So when did you feel along the way? When was it like, okay, I think we've got a real brand now there's real growth and we're, we're, our business is moving.
Andrea Allen: I don't, I mean, I still feel like I'm trying to figure it out. So I, you know, obviously we're in a way different place than we were in the two, the 20 teens. And [00:45:00] I, you know, I've, I've kind of like, uh, dogged on Arkansas a little bit in this conversation, but I also wanna say that like, it was really formative for us to be in a market where there were not very high expectations or like of what coffee should be.
And I say high, but there wasn't like the specific idea.
Mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: When you're, when you're a coffee brand in LA or Portland or Manhattan, like, there's a very specific sort of competition that happens and you're very formed by like the, the like movement of whatever's going on in that coffee community. And so for us to be here was kind of like.
There's no rules. Mm-hmm. Like there's no expectations. There's, you know, there definitely was, there's like a, you know, hospitality restaurant and, you know, coffee shop community here, but there was no like, pressure to be or not to be something. Yeah. Which like, actually has been an incredible space for us to be in.
And, and also to say, I mean, cost of doing business in, in northwest [00:46:00] Arkansas, especially like in the past has been incredible. Like, we've got, I've had numerous folks visit us from coffee from all over the country, and they're like, how are you, how do you have this size facility? Or how, how are you able to afford scheduling this many people on the shift?
Or like, how can you buy this coffee? Or whatever. And it's like, well, you know, when you're in, when you're paying. We pay for one of our spaces for a 500 square foot, like teeny tiny shop in Manhattan. Like, it just, it's just not the same. And so, even though it, it like, I think started as a, as like a hurdle, uh, to kind of like, get out there and prove ourselves, it actually has been an incredible space to sort of propel us into like whatever kind of momentum we have as a brand right now.
But I'll say, I think that like, when I kind of started to feel like maybe the brand had legs beyond what I had thought it [00:47:00] could, was probably like towards the tail. Like, you know, 2021, I'll say that. Mm-hmm. So, you know, the pandemic was a pretty formative time for, for everybody including us. So pre pandemic, we were like cafes.
We had four cafes and mm-hmm. Um, a wholesale business. And so, you know, when everything kind of like shut down, that's like pretty much cafes across the country. You know, like 40% of our cafes we were selling to close permanently. Um, and so it was like a real moment of kind of being like, all right, like, alright, like what are we gonna, what are we gonna do?
Yeah. I will say I, you know, although I, none of us had ever really experienced that before. It kind of felt like the early days in terms of being like, you know, okay, like all this that we have planned on, I'm gonna like kind of turn and hustle and so, yeah. You know, I think that I'm grateful that John has a lot of like forethought and vision because we had been working on a [00:48:00] rebrand and a new website for like a year and a half and it had taken forever and we were supposed to release it in April of 2020.
Wow. And we had all the packaging and everything here, and when it, so when the pandemic happened, we just were like scrambling trying to figure everything out. And, and then as that kind of summer of 2020 wore on, and just like so many things going on we're like, it's just not the right time to be like, Hey, check out this new brand, you know?
Yeah. But, um, you know, by, by luck or accident or fate, we started running out of our old packaging. And so like, John was like, we're gonna have to pull the trigger in the fall. Like, because it's just like, it's time. Mm-hmm. And so it was crazy because like, you know, we, there was not a ton going on for folks, and especially in coffee.
And, and then all of a sudden we're just kind of like, you know, Hey, check this cool stuff out. And it was exactly the right time for the beginning of the [00:49:00] rise of like, the home, the home, what I'll call the home expert because
Yeah.
Andrea Allen: Coffee has shifted drastically in terms of like where people are enjoying coffee and how, just like comprehensively in, in the us.
And so, you know, that, that before that we didn't even really like have an e-commerce or a digital presence really at all. Um, and so we kinda launched that thing into the air in 2020 and um, I call it the apocalypse. John calls it like, I don't know something else, but like, you know, we, we weren't really ready for the like positive reception and like, just the amount of orders frankly, that we got throughout that holiday season.
And, um, so it was, it was super challenging, but I think like as we kind of got into 2021 and that started, started not to just sustain, but to continue to grow. I was kind of like, wow, this is like a whole nother, I mean, at the time our cafes were still closed to walk up window and I was like, this is a whole thing that like I'd never [00:50:00] even had ever thought of because to me.
Coffee had always been this sort of like, I'm making you a drink. Like I know your name. I saw you last week. Like, you know, uh Yeah. Kind of thing. And so for coffee to become like, Hey, I'm on the other side of the country. I'm on the other side of the world and I wanna ask you how you're brewing. It was just like sort of mind blowing for me.
Nick Beyer: So you're kind of reading and doing research on y'all. It felt like the business was growing and you were having a lot of success in this area, but it feels like 2020. I read a talk business politics article, and it was like 2020 to 2021. Your business doubled. Yeah, roughly. And I think it was at 11 million in revenue back then.
Yeah. And so, um. Now you're really that brand and that's also kind of pairs up really well with the timing of you winning.
Andrea Allen: Yes.
Nick Beyer: National and global competitions. Absolutely. And so what's crazy is it's 2024. Like that wasn't, that wasn't that long ago. It wasn't.
Andrea Allen: No. Yeah.
Nick Beyer: And so I, I think what's [00:51:00] always inspiring about doing these is we're sitting here and it's like, that was just four years ago.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. It's crazy. I mean, you know, I think, I think that when you're trying to start a business, you're trying to run a business, it's like there's a lot of hard work that goes into it. There's a lot of planning and there's a lot of thought. But it also has to, I think, be the right time. You gotta be in the right place.
I mean, you know, in my coffee career, competitive career, like I placed second three times and I placed fifth one time. Um. Like, you know, I had like made the finals like more than any competitor ever, you know, so I don't know, something like that. And, and, and that was like in that 2016 to 2020 or 2015 to 2020 kind of timeframe.
And I remember even back then being like, I just don't, you know, I don't understand like why I can't quite get there, you know? And like I would, you know, [00:52:00] one year I missed it by like, like two points or something. Like, it was like the closest one ever. And like, you know, I just remember feeling like, I don't understand, like I know I have, I know we have everything we need to like, get this thing done and like I can work really hard and it just is like, it's gotta be the right place, the right time.
And then when it finally, it happened on, I won on February 23rd, 2020, um, which is like right before everything is also John's birthday. Oh. So it's not sweet. It was good. No. Um, but then, you know, I. What we, our company got so much like interviews and featured on stuff, like all through that 20, 20 year. And then, like, they didn't even have one in 2021, like they skipped the season.
So I ended up being like the champion for two year. I mean, you know, it's just like, things were like, now when I look back I'm like, wow. Like I could not, I could never have planned that and nor would I have chosen that had I had the option on the front end, but like how grateful I felt to have [00:53:00] like, been through all those earlier experiences and then to like have that boost during a time that was so crazy.
And, you know, just, it just ev I don't know. I'm, there's a lot I think that I can look at and I'm like, yeah, we totally built that. And then there's a lot that I'm like, I'm not totally sure how that happened, but I'm like, glad to be here for the ride here. We're here we're, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's good. So
Nick Beyer: at, at that time too, I mean.
It sounds like this e-comm piece is totally taking off. And so who's, yeah. I know you talked about your gifts and how you're wired, John's gifts, how he's wired.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: Are you stepping into that executional operational role of like, are y'all third party shipping stuff? Like how, how is all that coming together at that time?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, so I mean, we were doing, we do all of it here, so we ship everything. We, we manufacture everything here and ship it out from Rogers. So, um, [00:54:00] yeah, I mean at definitely at the time, I mean, again, I like, we have a great team, so I don't ever wanna like, take, you know, credit for things that I, that I didn't do.
But, you know, we were already shipping wholesale and so like, it was a pretty seamless sort of like move into like doing the e-comm piece. And so operationally I kind of like have overseen and driven parts of it and like, you know, contributed to other parts of that operationally. Um, but really like, you know, the creative.
Vision. If you see anything that's like beautiful or nice or you know, you're like, wow, I love the way that looks and feels like John drives all of that. Um, we, we have a creative team now. I mean, I know we're obviously sitting in a creative studio, which is really cool, but, you know, um, and they spend a bunch of time just kind of like thinking about how can we continue to like, innovate and push the envelope on what is what, like what is coffee?
Like who is our coffee consumer? Who knows about coffee? Um, [00:55:00] like what is digital hospitality? What would it feel like to have a cafe style experience, but online? Um, what, what would it be like if your mom knew the name of a coffee producer in El Salvador and was asking you about that? Like, that, those are the kinds of the questions we're asking now is like, not, not just for the brand itself, but like how could specialty coffee actually go into being it's next phase of like, it's not just like.
This niche of folks that are enjoying it. It's not just the cycling community, it's not just baristas, it's not just like tech people, but like what if it beca continued to become more and more widespread and more and more, you know, like readily available, recognizable, and like, what, what would that look like?
Nick Beyer: I just think that's super inspirational. 'cause there there's, there's, there's a quote and it says we spend a lot of time working, but we don't spend a lot of time thinking. Yeah. And it's like, however y'all have done it, you've cleared a way [00:56:00] for your team to actually think and not just accomplish work, but think Okay, five years.
What does this look like? And that's very different, right? You have big brands, big coffee brands all over the US who are like, how do we eke out 5% growth? And you're like, I don't really care about that. I care about where this is at in five years. Yeah. And so it's disruptive was the word we you used earlier.
Yeah. And like, I think you're continuing on that path of being disruptive, which is
Andrea Allen: Yeah, thanks.
Nick Beyer: Which is amazing.
Andrea Allen: I also wanna like give a shout out again to Northwest Arkansas for being a great, a great place. I mean, you know, we talked a little bit about the oh 8, 0 9 recession and like, you know, this, this place is a place that like, not only is Costa doing business, like relatively like moderate, but, but also like, uh, for better or for worse, thrives in downtimes.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, I'm grateful to be in a place that people are moving to and not moving out of in, in these seasons. And so, you know, I, um. [00:57:00] I think that, you know, you can thank lots of like, uh, you know, bigger companies, obviously in the area for, for kind of paving the way for Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas to be a place that that business can continue to thrive.
And so, you know, um, that's definitely been a plus for us. I mean, one of the questions I get asked now, instead of being like, oh, you're from Arkansas, that's weird. They're like, how did you choose Arkansas knowing that it would be blank? And I'm like, well, fortunately, like my dad was born in northwest Arkansas, so whatever his, you know, yeah.
Parents moved, their parents came from Memphis. Like, I don't know how that happened, but, you know, it's like, well, uh, it's not, it's not necessarily that we got out a map and we're like, cool, we're, we've got like, you know, a PE firm behind us and we're gonna pick the most advantageous spot for coffee for the next 25 years, and we're gonna pick that.
It was more just like. Yeah, this is where we live, this is where we work and we wanna [00:58:00] like plug in and create the communities that we both wanna be a part of, but like communities that help help everyone in the area thrive. And so, you know, it's, it's, a lot of it is fortuitous and, you know, I didn't, we didn't choose, we didn't necessarily choose this place, but we're glad that, that we got put here.
So.
Nick Beyer: Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. So kind of, we'll, we'll get into where the business is at currently, but you've got four, I'm counting the momentary, so five amazing locations. Yeah. Here in northwest Arkansas where people who maybe haven't been into them, I think, I think we'd love to hear you talk about quickly, like as you think through each one of those locations, what do they mean to you when you walk into them?
Like what is different about, because they're all very different. Yeah. And all really amazing. So like, I think it'd be really fun if you kind of walked us through. Whether it's y'all vi y'all's vision when you walk in those places, or what, what you think of when you walk into the, each of
Andrea Allen: those spots? For sure.
I mean, I'll say that they're, they're all sort of built to [00:59:00] engage the community that they're in, both in like design and in hospitality. So they're all completely different designs and like from a business standpoint, um, that's actually not a great idea. I'll just put that out there because, you know, uh, sometimes people are like, oh, I bet you share staff in the north locations versus the south.
And I'm like, Nope. Because the stores are completely different. There's different equipment. I mean, we share a lot of similar equipment, but the workflows are different, the designs are different. And all of that is made to sort of, you know, engage, engage people on a level that is, is broader than like, you're coming in to like, get a cup of coffee and run to work, so.
Mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: You know, they're created for people to enjoy what they look like. I mean, everything about our brand is like. It is about visuals representing the quality behind it. So yeah. You know, like you can have a great cup of coffee in a completely blank to go cup, or you can have like a pour over in a nice, like plate set up with a [01:00:00] little like soda water on the side and it just feels different, right?
And so our spaces are made for people to like come in and have business meetings, people to come in and like read a book, you know, look at their phone, whatever they're doing, have a conversation with a friend and like also be like inspiring in terms of like, the way it looks and feels in the cafe.
Mm-hmm. Um, and I think the way it feels is also connected to hospitality and that that's like one of my big roles in, in our entire company is driving like this sort of spirit of like meeting people where they are, um, and serving them. Mm-hmm. Um, like they are equal and valuable human beings. And so that's like really a core part of, of what we do.
Um, and so I think, you know, in. I've talked to some about Bentonville, but our headquarters is like built to be this like, almost like cool makers space. So there's us, there's the provider's bakery, there's Heirloom and Pinky Swear. Mm-hmm. Uh, there's Yoyos and all of those businesses were sort [01:01:00] of, we all sort of like the Yoyos, Rafael Rios and then Jason Paul and, uh, Danielle Ribo.
Like we all sort of like got together in the 20 teens and we're like, what would it look like if we all sort of were in the same space?
Hmm.
Andrea Allen: We're all like very specifically curated makers of things. Uh, we're all independently owned, or at least we were at the time. Um, we are still independently owned, but like, you know, it's like there, what would it be like if we were all in the same space?
Like people that are actually working in the industry, working to create things that like. Delight and inspire. And so that's kind of how that space was, was, uh, built. That thing was a beast. I mean, it took us like four years just to get our space built out in there. Um. The momentary is designed to be this like cool little jewel and everything is like built with glass and there's like specific pieces of automation and specific pieces of like a barista making something by hand.
[01:02:00] And, and that one is supposed to be like a nod to like mechanics versus, you know, hospitality, hands-on service. Um, and especially in the space of like the broader momentary art and uh, performing arts facility has been a really cool experience. Um, and then we've got the Hill Fellow well Met Restaurant, um, which is actually built in the footprint of the house I grew up in.
So that's No way. Yeah, so that's how we ended up in that space. And um, you know, they started building that building I think in 2017 or 2018. And, um, we actually, John and I live on the back part of what was my, formerly my dad's old farm, which he bought in like 1982. When it was completely rural and he sold it in oh two.
I mean, it's been a long time. But, um, you know, they tore the house down and started building that building and, um, I was like, oh, they're gonna want a cafe there. And like, that's not part of our core plan. Like, that's not [01:03:00] part of, you know, like, but I can't, you know, it was sort of this like, I, we, I felt like I couldn't let somebody else go in there.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so, um, but that space we built out during the pandemic and it just sort of took on a life of its own. And that's how it ended up being its own brand. Is it just like, turned into something else. But if anyone listening has never been there, it is like as stunningly built space. That's amazing.
And John like really knocked it out of the park on that one. It's
Cameron Clark: immaculate. Yep.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Cameron Clark: It's, it's immaculate.
Nick Beyer: Every,
Cameron Clark: every
Nick Beyer: detail it, every detail.
Cameron Clark: Which, I mean, you can argue, argue that about any of y'all spaces, but like. Bringing someone in who, from out of town mm-hmm. To show them that space. Yeah. I'm sure you've had so much joy of it.
I've had a lot of joy personally. Yeah. Just seeing people's faces light up. Yeah. When they walk
Nick Beyer: in the patio's. Amazing. The little wine bar on the east side. I mean the Yeah. The flip screen thing, it makes you feel like you're in a different big city. I don't, yeah. I'm not a big city person. Yeah. But I imagine that's, that's kind of what it's like in my 2-year-old.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: I mean, when, when she [01:04:00] walks in she just wants to look at it. Yeah. So
Andrea Allen: there's like these cool, like visual and like, you know, sensory sound smell experiences that we're always thinking about when we, when we are building our spaces. Because like, I think, you know, as humans we're definitely built to appreciate like a, like intentional design and a thoughtful design.
And, and we also want our spaces to, to be. To have all of those things, but also to be welcoming just on their own. And that's kind of like where our staff comes in, in that hospitality piece. 'cause we, we don't wanna ever to feel like a barrier to entry if like, oh, this is too nice to go in there. But like, you know, it's a real, like, it's a real work to kind of like get all of those things to come together.
Cameron Clark: Somehow. You've done it too. It's like it's. They're all approachable.
Andrea Allen: Thanks. Um,
Cameron Clark: yeah, so maybe you've done it. I don't, I don't know. I don't know
Nick Beyer: how Andrea bring us up to like, where is Onyx today? Whether, and we just kind of talk economics o of the business, whether it's revenue or employees just, yeah.[01:05:00]
Where are y'all at scale wise? Bring us up to speed.
Andrea Allen: Yeah, so we're still in the like, you know, four OnX locations and the one restaurant that we were in, we, uh, we've been like that for about four years. And so, um, our e-commerce has continued to grow, which is great. Um, we have around 200 team members now, is awesome.
Wow.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. Um, and so we're also in the process of opening a new, a couple of new brick and mortar projects. And I say a couple, I mean, I'm kind of like freaking out 'cause it's been, it's been about four years since I opened anything. But, um, and we are not necessarily planning for them to open so close together, but the way construction goes, it's really complicated.
But, you know, in the spirit of that sort of sensory sight, sound smell moment, like, we're opening a cafe in downtown Springdale on Emma, which we're super excited about because we haven't had a cafe. In Springdale [01:06:00] since 2019. And you know, our heart is in Springdale. We've been trying to do something in downtown Springdale, honestly, since 2012.
Um, this actually our headquarters in Rogers. We were trying to do that in downtown Springdale and it just, we couldn't find the right place. And so we're really excited. Uh, that cafe is gonna open like in the next like two to three months, so it's really close. And our, um, chocolate program is gonna be based out of there.
So we do a bean de bar chocolate, uh, brand. It's called terroir. And so we roast, similar to coffee, we like source and roast cacao and then grind it and do all the meaging and all the forming. And so that, uh, that pro, that project has been existing, um, in conjunction with our like warehousing and roasting facility.
But it's gonna actually move and you'll be able to see it happening. It'll be able to smell it, and it is like. Amazing the way it smells and, and see it. And [01:07:00] that that space is like really coming together and is, is gorgeous. And I am like thrilled to sort of launch that here in a few months. So,
Cameron Clark: I mean, the timing with, I know it's been, like I say, it's been slower, but yeah.
Timeline with downtown Springdale, it's actually pretty good. Mm-hmm. Of like, of everything going on there right now.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. It's good. Yeah. Downtown Springdale has been slower to come along than the other, um, communities, which makes sense. 'cause it's, you know, it's like a working person's town for the most part.
Mm-hmm. And so it's just, it's been a little slower, but the bones down there are incredible and there's a lot of, you know, people that really believe in it. Um, myself included. Um, and there's a lot of, you know, really cool programming that's happening. And there's actually also a lot of very specific intentional planning going on in that community.
That is working to keep the folks that already live down there, down there. And I, you know, I definitely, I know that we've seen that like sort of shifting in some of the other downtowns over time, but the [01:08:00] downtown Springdale, like the city council and the downtown Springdale Alliance and some of the housing authorities, they're all pretty like committed to keeping affordable housing down there.
And they're, uh, they're really trying to make sure that they, um, are offering the communities and the, uh, cultures of folks that live down there, like programming, restaurants, housing, things like that. And it's actually a really, really cool, uh, community. So we're excited to, to join it and be part of it. So
Nick Beyer: that's exciting.
Yeah. And as someone who used to ride their bike to the OG Onyx in Springdale, let's go. I'm excited for it to be back as well. Um, thanks. So talking about the business, I think what is also just really admirable watching y'all is. I'm sure shipping coffee directly to the consumer is way less operationally complex.
You're probably managing less people.
Yeah. You're
Nick Beyer: probably making more profit from it. But [01:09:00] through the COVID, through the 20 20, 20 21, that piece of your business taking off, y'all haven't abandoned your core, which is, is truly, it sounds like what motivates you, what you're passionate about. Yeah. Is having spaces in the community where people can gather.
Yeah. And so I think that's really, really fun and sweet. And that's, that's part of what we're trying to do on this podcast is highlight business owners, founders who are making northwest Arkansas a special place to live. Um, yeah. And y'all are doing just that. Thanks. So we're really excited, um, to keep watching that and cheering it on as you think through now the business currently, whether, whether it's your, your.
Shops your cafes? Um, e-comm, wholesale, like roughly. I mean, is, is e-comm a massive piece of your business now? Like is it, is it a majority of your business over retail or, you know, the shops, cafes? Yeah. It's not the
Andrea Allen: majority, but it's definitely our revenue leader for sure. Okay. And like, you know, it's, [01:10:00] um, it's kind of the thing that's helping us do a lot of these other things.
Mm-hmm. So, like, you are correct in that. Like you can do quite a bit of that, like manufacturing fulfillment and shipping out of a smaller. Not a smaller space, but like outta one space. Mm-hmm. So there's like less overhead. There's like, you know, less, less team members and, you know, compared to revenue. But, um, you know, it, it really is the thing that's helped us be able to continue to grow brick and mortar.
Mm-hmm. Um, we're really excited. We have the, we've got a living wage certification recently, which is really cool. And the e-comm program has been able to help, like, underwrite some of our, like, programs for our teams. 'cause we're trying to continue to like raise, raise the bar of like, what does it look like to be able to, to work and, you know, continue to live in northwest Arkansas as cost of living goes up.
Mm-hmm.
Andrea Allen: Um, which is great. And so, yeah, I mean it's very interesting. I feel like we're doing, I, I'm just even like thinking about my day [01:11:00] today and it's like, I'll do stuff in the cafes and then I'll do stuff for e-commerce and then I'll do stuff for the roastery. And it's just like, it's kind of a lot going on, but I think the cafes have.
Have been the core of the brand from the very beginning, and also are the face of the brand. I mean, like when people think about Onyx, they, you know, especially in this area, they think about the Bentonville Cafe or the Momentary Cafe, and hopefully at some point the downtown Springdale Cafe. Mm-hmm. Like, they don't think about like a box in the mail.
At least I don't feel like they do. So yeah,
Nick Beyer: I don't, yeah.
Andrea Allen: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: And then talk about this bionics thing that people have seen in the airport. Oh my gosh. Seen it outside the Bentonville location at the farmer's market.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's like a, that's a fun project that we're sort of like beta testing along with the, the founders and the creators of that, that, um, machinery.
And, and you know, I think really what we wanna continue to do is innovate in the space of coffee. And so it's like we, you know, for us, innovation is [01:12:00] about. Fun. It's about like challenging, you know, not challenging, but like, you know, continuing to grow in people's minds. Like what is coffee and like, how is coffee?
How is coffee made? And so those are like fun sort of projects that, that we've a fun project we've been working on. And you know, it's also like sort of a test, like we would love to have, eventually have us have a location in the, uh, in the airport. Like, I mean, you know, it's says so much about brands that are able to like, have a little space to like represent the community that are local in, in an airport.
Mm-hmm. And so, you know, it's like we haven't been able to, to really get into the airport, but they were like, well we would take a kiosk. And we're like, oh, interesting. So, so that's kinda like how this, uh, project got started. Um, it's cool. It's also, like I say, beta test. I mean it's, uh. It's a test. [01:13:00] I always joke about it.
I'm like, anybody that thinks that a robot's gonna take the place of a barista is like, you can just come, like, visit that thing with me for one day and then it'll change your mind. But it's really cool and it makes great coffee and yeah, it's been a fun thing to be a part of. So
Cameron Clark: it's a spectacle. Like every time I'm in the airport, like it is, there's little kids around it.
Mm-hmm. Like just being like, oh my gosh.
Andrea Allen: Yeah. Like
Cameron Clark: it's, let's watch.
Andrea Allen: Um, yeah. And I think, you know, I mean that's, that's like, I think something that everything we do kind of has an element of that, like mm-hmm. Joy and surprise to it. And that, you know, that's kind of part of the fun of like creating things, is that like, you know, doing something that's like slightly unexpected.
I mean, I can't wait for y'all to see the downtown Springdale location. It's just like, got some really incredible architectural features. And then we also were able to like preserve some of the like more historic, like original architecture pieces to it as well. Like there was this, you know. Seventies carpet on the [01:14:00] floor.
And when we pulled that and the subfloor up there are these like two foot by two foot, like terraza poured tiles through the whole thing. Wow. And we're like, one, we know why they put the carpet on there 'cause that was the style, but we're like, why would anyone ever put carpet on this? So those are, there, there's this beautiful like staircase that we had to like, fight the every board and every inspection and everything to keep, you know, preserved as they were, as they were originally built.
But there's this cool like staircase in there and there's just, uh, antique bricks in there that's no longer produced. Like, there's all sorts of stuff. And then old, you know, like just kind of holding onto like what was there before. But then also a ton of really cool, like new style architectural features.
And it is, it's gonna be amazing. So,
Cameron Clark: wow. It's
Andrea Allen: exciting.
Cameron Clark: Well, kind of getting towards where we're wrapping up here talking about more of like what's next. But you know, before we fully dive in there, [01:15:00] I guess one thing I was just really wondering is we keep talking about the word excellence now. You've got 200 people, you've got, um, all of these cafes, all, all of the different arms of your business.
How do you scale excellence?
Andrea Allen: I'll let you know in a couple years.
Cameron Clark: Yeah,
Andrea Allen: no, I'm just kidding. I mean, that's actually something I ask myself every day because, you know, when we were a smaller company, I could actually interact with everybody in the company, like on a daily or weekly basis. And like there's that sort of like vision and, you know, uh, direction or inspiration or teaching or coaching or whatever that like, um, has to kind of like go from being just from me to being, to like sort of living in originating inside of the team and that that's like just a.
Something I think sometimes we do pretty well in and other times need, need, uh, room for growth. But I always just like to say if you've had a great experience in our cafes, 'cause there's a leadership [01:16:00] team and a team of like coffee professionals in that cafe that have decided that it's also their core value to treat people well and to serve great coffee.
And so it doesn't happen without like the, the teams sort of, you know, coming together and like kind of buying into what we're trying to do. And so, you know, I think it's about having like managers that like really understand and like, like believe in the vision but also are adding to it. I mean it's, it's never just one singular person's vision that like gets executed in any company.
So it's like a group of people and I'll just say there's all sorts of stuff that we do that like. We're not our idea that like, and there's things that we do that I like actually thought were bad ideas, lots of things, you know, but then it's like through the work of like a collective group of people sort of, you know, contributing and like arguing [01:17:00] sometimes and like, you know, really pushing for certain kinds of things.
Like we sort of like go back and forth and we kind of end up in these sort of incremental steps forward. And so, you know, I think, I think for me, as we continue to grow, I'm just looking to continue to like, pour into our leadership teams and like then pour directly into the people on our teams that I have, you know, opportunity to, to interact with and like just keep encouraging people to, um, you know, to just like carry out the, the core pillars of the company.
And, um, you know, I always. Like to encourage my leadership teams, I'm like, Hey, everybody that came here and applied, like, it's 'cause they see what we're doing and they wanna be part of it. Mm-hmm. And so you just have to like, pick up that spirit of like, curiosity from the team and like, just help them understand like how to continue to execute, execute it, and add to it in whatever team that they're in.
Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Culture's attractive. People wanna be a part of it. And then a couple questions here. These are the two we're trying to [01:18:00] ask every, every guest on here. Number one is how do you define success?
Andrea Allen: You should have given me that question beforehand. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. It was
Cameron Clark: intentional.
Andrea Allen: Wow.
I mean, you know, I think, I think I, I think about this in several ways, but like, for me, my, like my, my real role in the company is about. Is about hospitality, both to the staff and to our, our customer base. And so for me, like success looks like being able to like, provide a place for people to work where they're like at, you know, getting at least mostly what they need in terms of like, um, pay, job fulfillment, training, encouragement, like a space to like grow and learn.
Um, and then on the customer side, I'd say it's just like success is like meeting them where they are. So whether it's someone that's like, Hey, I am, you know, I'm an expert at home. Like I have every [01:19:00] tool and I wanna know like exactly like what temperature water are you using your, in your pour over for this incredibly CIA that you just sold me?
Or whether it's a customer coming in, it's like, I've never been here before. I didn't know much about coffee, but somebody told me to come check it out. Like, success looks like connecting with those people and getting them like an experience that they feel I. Good about and that they enjoy. And so, I mean, that's kind of like for me, how I try to like define success at work.
Um, I mean, it's obviously like the success of like paying our bills, like, you know, yeah. That feels successful to be able to like, you know, pay payroll, like pay rent, um, you know, we pay for all of our coffee upfront so we don't take terms that's like, we're, we're one of the only coffee companies in the world that does that.
Um, so we take a lot of pride in that. Um, and so for me, like success also looks like making hopefully smart decisions to make, make all of those folks [01:20:00] that depend on us, like continue to, to like do well. Um, and so, yeah, sometimes it feels like a lot of pressure, but at the same time, I'm like also just grateful to be the person that gets the opportunity to be, to be doing these things.
So
Cameron Clark: it's fulfilling. Yeah. Yeah. And then Northwest Arkansas founders, that's what we want to focus on. That's, that's our goal here on the podcast. Um, what's your vision for Northwest Arkansas moving forward?
Andrea Allen: Yeah, that's a good question. Um, I mean, I think, I haven't, I haven't thought about this a ton, but I'm, I'm just hoping that the area continues to grow in a sustainable way.
Like, I would love to see more entrepreneurs and more people coming into the area. So like, we have lots of manufacturing and opportunity zones going on around this area. So I'd love to see like more cycling and, you know, electric car and whatever else, kind of manufacturing places coming into the [01:21:00] area.
'cause I think that that is like a really core pillar of successful areas is, is those sorts of. Manufacturers that are like putting out products and also offering lots of different jobs in the market. Yeah. Um, I'd love to see like more restaurants and bars and food and beverage stuff come. Mm-hmm. Um, and I, you know, I'd also like to see housing continue to like, uh, keep the affordable nature in mind.
I mean, you know, I think that there's, there's a lot of conversations going on about that right now, but, you know, as people in, in the way it's positive that people are moving here from other areas. It's like sometimes like people that are used to a certain rent or a certain like mortgage or a certain price for a house, like it kind of like pushes um, certain people to the fringes of our communities.
And so I'm, I'm hoping that like, that continues to be a, on the forefront of people's minds. And yeah, I just, I don't know, I just wanna see the area continue to grow and. I [01:22:00] recently got asked, uh, someone was like, are you a local that like, doesn't like the growth or are you local that does like the growth?
And I, I'm like, I love it. I think it's awesome and it's fun to be a part of. And, um, but yeah, I don't know. I feel like there's lots of big things to come that I can't even dream of. So.
Nick Beyer: Well, one of the things we like to close with is just reflecting on the conversation and, and kind of some big things that we learned, um, from you as a founder, from you and John and y'all's success.
And as we think through our conversation, I think creativity is not a word that is used to describe founders or entrepreneurs a very often. And I think about the space that we're in. I think about each one of your individual spaces and how you spoke to them. I think about the branding on the packaging that you buy as a consumer.
I think about how y'all shifted during COVID
and
Nick Beyer: even just the inception of the company, the white space, you, you talked about northwest Arkansas, not having anyone to really compare coffee to. It [01:23:00] feels like y'all thrive when there's room to be creative.
Yeah. And
Nick Beyer: I think that gift has really been illuminating through our conversation and just through the brand.
And so thank you for bringing that creativity to Northwest Arkansas. And, and through this conversation, the, the last couple things Cameron highlighted, tenacious, that is part of your personality, whether you were born into it, whether
Andrea Allen: or annoying, depending on who you're Yeah.
Nick Beyer: But to win competitions both here and, and globally, just the, the tenacity it takes to even get there.
Yeah. The training that it takes and even the tenacity it takes to, to keep growing the business and keep staying focused on, on the core piece of your business, which you're passionate about and, and cafes like. That takes some tenacity to say, Hey, you know, you know this E-com thing's sexy, or this, this bionics thing is sexy.
But like what I get really excited about is community gathering and cafes. So
yeah,
Nick Beyer: that's a just an awesome and admirable trait. And then the last one just [01:24:00] committed to your people multiple times throughout the conversation. It wasn't me, Andrea, it was, Hey, our team is amazing. Our creative team's amazing.
Yeah.
Nick Beyer: John is amazing at the way that he's building these spaces out. Like the team at Bentonville is amazing in the way that they've delivered experiences to people who are coming to our area for the first time. And so I think when we think about founders, like that's what we want. We want founders who are committed to people, and we talk about sustainable growth in our area and growth that.
Matters. Like that's what we, we want owners and founders who care about the people who work for them. So thanks for doing that.
Yeah. Um,
Nick Beyer: Andrea Allen, Onyx Coffee. We're just so thankful to have you on. People wanna reach out to you or learn more about Onyx, where can they do that?
Andrea Allen: So we've got our website, just onyx coffee lab.com.
We're on Instagram and other stuff. I don't know, I feel like I, after Instagram, I got lost, so I'm, yeah. You know, uh, there's a lot of other stuff I think that, you know, we're definitely on. But my email [01:25:00] address is my first name, andrea@onyxcoffeelab.com. Get hit me there too. But yeah, I'd love to connect with anybody that has ideas, thoughts, questions.
I mean, something I was just thought of when you were saying some of those really kind things. Thank you. Um, I spend a lot of. Time, like sort of pep talking myself, uh, and feeling like, Hey, don't be afraid. Like, don't be afraid to like, go into a meeting and like have a strong opinion. Don't be afraid to go into a meeting and like, listen, like don't be afraid to, you know, open a new cafe.
I mean, you know, I, I think sometimes it's easy to look at something from the outside and be like, wow, this is like completely figured out. Or like, this is something we've been getting some lately, but people are like, oh yeah, you guys are owned by the Waltons, right? And I'm like, no, like don't, like don't be afraid to self-fund.
Like, not in a reckless way, but it's kind of like, it's okay to like, have, have that sort of trepidation but still feel like you wanna like step out and [01:26:00] encourage and like step out to like, try to make something. And so we don't have it all figured out. I've said that a few times too, but like, it's. You know, it's always a work in progress and, um, just wanna encourage anybody hearing this that's thinking about founding something or, you know, stepping out into their own business.
Like, you're not ever gonna fully feel like you have figured out. So don't be scared to just jump in.
Cameron Clark: Hmm. Audrey, thanks you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure this morning. Really enjoyed it.
Andrea Allen: Me too. Thanks guys. Thanks.
Cameron Clark: Thank you for listening to this episode of NWA Founders, where we sit down with founders, owners and builders driving growth here in northwest Arkansas.
For recommendations are to connect with us, reach out at nwa, founders@gmail.com. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, then please consider leaving a rating, a review, and sending it to someone who you think would benefit from it. We'll see you in the next episode.