Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
0:00:00 - (Colin Johnson): Happy New Year. We're in January. It's 2025. Ladies and gentlemen, time is flying. I remember when it was 2000, we were worried that all the computers were going to shut down on 1999, but they didn't. And people were still making coffee back then, and they're still doing it today. And so I am excited to introduce you guys to my good friends Gary Ellis and Tyler Mackey. What are you guys doing here?
0:00:30 - (Colin Johnson): Do you all have a coffee shop? Do you, like, sell coffee? Do you drink it? Do you smoke it? Do you roast it?
0:00:37 - (Tyler Mackey): Do you.
0:00:37 - (Colin Johnson): What do y'all do with the coffee? And why are you here to promote it? Because I. You. You got me some questions, but I don't know if we're gonna follow these.
0:00:44 - (Gary Ellis): Well, I guess I could be counted as a returning guest.
0:00:47 - (Colin Johnson): You are.
0:00:47 - (Gary Ellis): Last year or 20, 23. I don't know. Last year was kind of a blur.
0:00:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yep. You're a repeat guest. Or redo one of the.
0:00:54 - (Gary Ellis): Redo. Yeah, probably. Redo is more accurate. So four years now, I've been roasting coffee. Started on the front porch with a little stainless steel box that sat over a propane burner and heated some coffee beans up and just kind of grew from there. And the cop shut you down on that deal? No, I don't think so.
0:01:13 - (Colin Johnson): No.
0:01:14 - (Gary Ellis): But my house does permanently. At least a section of it smell like roasted coffee.
0:01:18 - (Colin Johnson): So every time we drive, we roll down the windows, like, just take it in. So good.
0:01:23 - (Tyler Mackey): Gary's working.
0:01:24 - (Gary Ellis): So have for years tossed around the idea of being an entrepreneur. Didn't really know what to do. There's a lot of things I'm good at, but a lot of those things I don't want to do to make money. So tinkering on cars, for instance, I love doing that. I love working with my hands. It's mindless work for me. That kind of relaxes me, but it's not something that I really wanted to spend, you know, 10 hours a day in a dealership or whatever, wrenching on a car.
0:01:51 - (Gary Ellis): So I just thinking over just kind of skills and giftings that God has given me and decided that I noticed that hospitality was something I really enjoyed. And I love serving people. Me and my wife bought our home. We. When we got married, we lived in a little tiny apartment that was actually on the backside of the hill where Tyler lives over next to the elementary school.
0:02:13 - (Colin Johnson): So why you moved, man?
0:02:14 - (Gary Ellis): That's why we moved. So it was 600 square foot. We had one guest over. Parking lot was taken up and that was it like. And it was one of those apartments, you know, if somebody passed wind or burped, you really didn't want to be in the same room at that point it would just ruin your night.
0:02:29 - (Colin Johnson): Karen had a nice rocking chair outside.
0:02:32 - (Gary Ellis): We bought a house that had a nice.
0:02:33 - (Tyler Mackey): Think of those questions now.
0:02:36 - (Gary Ellis): We bought a house that had a great backyard and a decent living room and some space where we could have guests day and, and I just found myself over the years I love to just serving people well when they come into our home. And part of that was everybody loves coffee, you know. And growing up part of my greatest memories of my dad and granddad were on like fishing or hunting and we just end up sitting around a campfire or something and that just seemed to be where memories were always made. It just seems to be a really good social dream.
0:03:08 - (Gary Ellis): You know, going over my grandparents house, my grandmother always have a pot of coffee on. We'd sit at the table and you know, share conversations and, and so I just, I realized that like two of my favorite things were coming through coffee. So people come over our house. I'd make a really good pot of coffee or steam them some milk, make a latte and bring it to them. And always my, my number one concern was do you like that drink?
0:03:33 - (Gary Ellis): Is it good? What can I do to make you feel at home, you know, that kind of thing. And so the next escalation in coffee for me was roasting it. So I was like okay, I'm learning. I've learned how to make drinks now and pretty good at it. What does it take to roast. Roast a bean? And so spent some money on the tax return in 2021 and we're well early 2021 and bought just this little stainless steel kind of starter roaster.
0:04:05 - (Gary Ellis): Got a table put outside propane tank and first batch wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. It was, you know, pretty, pretty good. And I started, gave some to the neighbors and they're still kicking and alive today. So it turned out pretty good. But then I just found that, you know, the better the. It seemed like the Lord just kind of gave me a knack for it. Like I've always had kind of a knack with cars and engines and stuff like that and growing beards. Yeah, whatever I could put my hands on. I ended up pre be a pretty good kinetic learner and so just developed a. And I've always had a pretty good nose and palate for food and stuff like that. So that plays well with doing coffee and just found myself loving to roast coffee and give it to people.
0:04:49 - (Gary Ellis): And hey, what do you think of that?
0:04:51 - (Colin Johnson): But it was more than giving it to people. You. You kind of got a little business rolling that you were selling quite a bit of coffee. Moving through the old.
0:04:57 - (Gary Ellis): It grew and the Lord's been good to us and through connections and my previous employment at Summit Leadership and meeting a lot of people in the community there and owe a lot to them for helping me grow, all that kind of stuff. So. Yes.
0:05:10 - (Colin Johnson): And then what Summits? Summit Leadership is a local ministry here in town, but connecting the right people with the right resources.
0:05:17 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, they're people who have the same mission to make a greater impact. Yeah.
0:05:21 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah.
0:05:21 - (Colin Johnson): That's that where you found Tyler?
0:05:23 - (Gary Ellis): No, actually, me and Tyler briefly met in 2011 somewhere around there. Is that the big Emmaus Walk, which is like a spiritual retreat over a weekend? Tyler Walk, Tyler very fittingly with the entertainment for that weekend. So. But then, you know, we were, I guess, kind of adjacent to each other, running around a lot of the same circles and stuff.
0:05:46 - (Tyler Mackey): That's probably true.
0:05:47 - (Gary Ellis): And then C12, a place that he is employed and works for, which he could tell you more about that. Met at Summit. So we kind of reconnected there, talking about silly stuff, cars and animals and farming and political stuff. Political stuff, that kind of thing. Spiritual stuff, which is probably the most important out of all those subjects for sure. And so, yeah, and then the opportunity came about for open doors. He called me, he's like, hey, you're a doofus. Why are you not jumping on this?
0:06:15 - (Gary Ellis): And can I be a paraphrasing? So paraphrasing. Of course, he was a little bit more rude about it, but yeah, a little. So I said, yeah, I think that'd be great. And. And the great thing is, is it just. Both our families have kind of come together in this adventure and have a lot of the same ideas about Johnson City and coffee and making a space that. Just where we can love on people and serve people and have a culture of excellence and.
0:06:41 - (Gary Ellis): And really just honoring the Lord and being a good steward with it.
0:06:43 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:06:44 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:06:44 - (Tyler Mackey): I think that's probably been the coolest thing for me. Through this is Karen, Gary's wife, and. And Jessica. When we all first sat together to talk about this and this opportunity, we all had a lot of alignment on what we really wanted to see. For me, I took a. A launch program through our church one time probably 10 years ago. And one of the things that came out is, is that I have a calling and enjoy creating places for community to be, to, you know, to be fostered and things of that nature.
0:07:24 - (Tyler Mackey): And, and so kind of in the back of that, I always thought it'd be cool to, you know, own a coffee shop at times. Actually for a long time I wanted just to be a barista. I thought that would just be, that would be a job.
0:07:34 - (Colin Johnson): I thought about that.
0:07:35 - (Tyler Mackey): Like everybody thinks that. Right. And then I was behind the counter last week and I was like, this is more of the stressful jobs I've ever. I don't know where the buttons are and the milk does the fuzzy.
0:07:45 - (Colin Johnson): The orders are lining up and people are getting angry. Maybe they're coughing. I don't know what's going on.
0:07:50 - (Tyler Mackey): The actual work of it is incredibly intense.
0:07:53 - (Colin Johnson): I just want to stand here and talk to people, hand them their cup of coffee.
0:07:57 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah. When I, when I heard about open doors being potentially available, I actually talked to Matt Overby first. I said Gary knows about this, right? He's like, yeah, yeah, he's, he's kind of on the fence with it. I said let me call him. And, and then, and then Gary did the old.
0:08:16 - (Colin Johnson): To kick him over the fence.
0:08:17 - (Tyler Mackey): Gary's like, well I'm in if you're in. And I was like, oh gosh, I.
0:08:22 - (Colin Johnson): Was just going to call you and encourage.
0:08:23 - (Tyler Mackey): I was trying to help you make an out.
0:08:25 - (Colin Johnson): Here we go. I guess we're tied in together for a while.
0:08:27 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah. And Sarah, so that, that's kind of what started the, the conversations.
0:08:32 - (Colin Johnson): And tell our listeners a little bit about Tyler Mackie because we, they can go back and listen to Gary's episode back in the day but we haven't had you on to do an episode.
0:08:41 - (Tyler Mackey): This is the first time.
0:08:42 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, this is the first time.
0:08:44 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah. 20, 20 years in insurance and financial services. Sold my agency in 2019. I worked for that company for two years. I'm a recovering insurance agent and, and if people who are insurance license are like oh, I get that there's a.
0:09:02 - (Colin Johnson): Lot of liability they room.
0:09:03 - (Tyler Mackey): It's just a lot of stuff in the business. But I do like group benefits and Medicare and retirement and then, and then since 22 I've been working for a group called C12. And so I work with Christian business owners and CEOs doing executive development. I was a member for six years and I came around the table as a chair and so that's, that's my day job and actually I spend a lot of time in coffee shops and, and lunch places. So it's actually cheaper for me to own a coffee shop than to pay for coffee out. That was one of the deciding.
0:09:39 - (Colin Johnson): Well, I was wondering why you guys decided to buy it. I mean, like, I know Mike, Marion, Sherry, they both been on here and talked about Open Doors in the past, and so they were thinking about stepping out a little bit. He's thinking about retiring a little. I don't know that that guy will ever retire. Yeah, yeah. So the opportunity came about and you guys were like, this is something we want to do.
0:10:00 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah. If, you know, I want to share a quote that from Michael, actually early on where we had talked a couple times, he said, you know, there's something sacred about a coffee shop. He's like, the conversations, the. The gathering place in the community where people come together and. And he's like, it's very fun to watch people gather here. Some are working, some are having deep conversations, some are catching up with an old friend.
0:10:29 - (Tyler Mackey): And really, I think really over the last few weeks we've seen all of that come in the door and especially over the holiday season and, and, and I think to this side of town specifically, but. But also there's a guy that came from Irwin today. George comes all the time. It's. It's having that place that people go. That's where we meet. That's where I like to go. That's the atmosphere I like to be in.
0:10:52 - (Tyler Mackey): And I think, you know, speak for Gary a little bit too. I think that's. That's what we like to see in Open Doors now, what we want to continue carrying on. And what the Marians really wanted to carry on. That was kind of my thing.
0:11:04 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, yeah. No, that's. That's exactly right. Yeah. And I think, you know, the, the. The advantage for me was that it was already established. And so I've. I've spent a lot of time, a lot of sweat equity building the Roastery, getting it up and going. And, you know, we've. I saw 60% growth last year. It was amazing.
0:11:26 - (Colin Johnson): Pretty good. It's a lot of coffee.
0:11:28 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah. The previous year we did roughly 4,000 gross in sales. Last year, 2024, we did 16, 17 close gross sales.
0:11:39 - (Colin Johnson): That's a lot of little bags of coffee.
0:11:41 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah. And coffee served a few places around town. Churches. I've got one church in particular, Another one's asked about it. Hopefully be able to help them out. Sturgill Orthodontics, they serve it. Jeremiah Cafe, who would be amazing. I don't know if you guys have had them on or not. Awesome mission. They're associated with Jeremiah School. Hire the kids for Jeremiah School. But anyways, yeah, the advantage was it's already there, the frameworks built.
0:12:10 - (Gary Ellis): But more importantly is it already had a reputation in the community as a place where people love to gather. And it's. There's so much potential. Like, we've got a patio outside that literally faces the Appalachian Mountains.
0:12:25 - (Colin Johnson): It is a beautiful, beautiful view.
0:12:26 - (Gary Ellis): You've got a work bar there inside. If it's cold outside, you can still view the mountains. So seeing that and seeing the reputation, we just want to take all of that. That all of the blood, sweat and tears and build on that and see it be around, I don't know, 50 years from now, a hundred years from now, you know, however far out we can go with it.
0:12:44 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:12:45 - (Gary Ellis): And see God being honored, seeing people's lives being impacted, seeing connections be like, we had a couple in this morning. They were there reading scripture together and they were on a little breakfast day. And it was just. Stuff like that just really warms my heart. I love seeing that kind of stuff. I, you know, and we. We serve everybody in Johnson City. It's amazing.
0:13:03 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, it is a good spot.
0:13:05 - (Gary Ellis): Everybody I know goes there Saturday morning. It's busy Saturday morning.
0:13:10 - (Colin Johnson): We don't coffee and breakfast Saturday morning. Because it's like allowing. Yes. Lined up around the block. So vision for it is just to have it for 50 years, see people coming. Are you going to like franchise this thing? Have open doors all over the country? Can investors get in now? If you're just getting the show notes?
0:13:27 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah, we're open to conversation.
0:13:29 - (Gary Ellis): Buy your starter T shirt now for three easy payments of 1999.
0:13:34 - (Colin Johnson): You want to get in early on these things, listeners.
0:13:37 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, I think, I think for. And he would kind of chime in on this too, because kind of the project you and Jess had planned originally, coffee shop is everybody now. I know they say this with open doors just being a hopping a skip from downtown, but it seems like everybody floods to downtown right to happen place. I think we kind of forget about how many people in East Tennessee live in the rural setting.
0:14:05 - (Gary Ellis): And I've always thought that a coffee shop that's maybe out of the city limits a little bit, but still close enough to the city where people could drive to. It would be kind of cool and have some green space, you know, make it where you can see the farmland or the, you know, mountains, that kind of thing, a little bit away from the noise of town. So, yeah, I mean, I would hope that down the road we could do something like that and you know, kind of create another culture.
0:14:38 - (Gary Ellis): Coffee kind of out a little bit.
0:14:39 - (Colin Johnson): For this maybe Suburbs are open barn doors.
0:14:42 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, open barn doors.
0:14:43 - (Tyler Mackey): Barn doors.
0:14:43 - (Gary Ellis): There you go. The great open door coming together.
0:14:46 - (Tyler Mackey): I'm taking notes.
0:14:47 - (Colin Johnson): This is all good stuff.
0:14:48 - (Tyler Mackey): This is all good stuff.
0:14:49 - (Colin Johnson): It'll be a good T shirt too. Right?
0:14:50 - (Gary Ellis): You say the great open doors and have.
0:14:53 - (Colin Johnson): There we go now. Yeah, that is gonna look good.
0:14:56 - (Gary Ellis): All right.
0:14:56 - (Colin Johnson): So you, you bought an existing coffee shop and you're like, this is pretty cool. But we may make some changes out here maybe. I don't know.
0:15:05 - (Tyler Mackey): Well, really, besides the ownership, obviously there's, there's some need for adding capacity to seating and hopefully with things like this podcast and other news getting around of, you know, of Gary's product and really we have a stellar team. And so Jake Dorio. Jake Dorio, Corbin Cross, Frankie Craddock, you know that we, we've got some real. And Carlos in the kitchen. We, we, we have a stellar team that, that, that really generates a great product and a great atmosphere and experience. And, and as we kind of have that going on, creating opportunities for us to, to host more people.
0:15:47 - (Tyler Mackey): So we are looking at maybe expanding, increasing the footprint on the patio and, and things of that nature. You know what we would like to see. Yeah. Is being able to raise team members up to potentially roll out into a different location or to some degree. I don't know what that looks like. You get a total change in dynamic and cost and add on a lot. So that would be scaling. It would be in the future for sure.
0:16:16 - (Tyler Mackey): Right now we're cycling. What does 60 days look like?
0:16:20 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:16:20 - (Tyler Mackey): So that's. Right now we're in a 60 day window every 60 days.
0:16:25 - (Colin Johnson): Can we shorten drive through time? That would be one change I would love.
0:16:29 - (Gary Ellis): We have worked on that. So now we have a new POS system in the drive through that's really improved things.
0:16:36 - (Colin Johnson): POS do what?
0:16:37 - (Tyler Mackey): Point of service, point of sale.
0:16:39 - (Gary Ellis): I'm sorry.
0:16:41 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah.
0:16:42 - (Gary Ellis): So we have went to something that's a little more intuitive and easy for the team to use, but also the customer in the drive through.
0:16:48 - (Colin Johnson): I like it.
0:16:49 - (Gary Ellis): We, we do plan on maybe we, we have improved the website already. So you can order ahead on the website for dine in or pick up the app on the. On the app. So. OpenDoorsCoffeeHouse.Square.Site.Square. site. Yeah. So not.comOpenDoorsCoffeeHouse square site.
0:17:11 - (Colin Johnson): It'll be in the show notes. Yeah, you got that. Show notes shaking his head. He's got.
0:17:16 - (Tyler Mackey): I think what you're getting to, Colin, is you want Gary out there. Chick fil a style. Taking orders on Rome Street. Funneling folks.
0:17:24 - (Gary Ellis): I got a cute little apron number I can put on.
0:17:26 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, or like the guy up in Times Square with the guitar. What's his name?
0:17:32 - (Tyler Mackey): Cowboy.
0:17:32 - (Gary Ellis): I don't know that I want to do that.
0:17:34 - (Colin Johnson): Okay, well, you might need some extra watch here.
0:17:36 - (Gary Ellis): We'll run people off. That's probably what's going to happen.
0:17:39 - (Tyler Mackey): Choosing all of my words. Yeah, not that one.
0:17:42 - (Colin Johnson): So that's not the direction.
0:17:44 - (Gary Ellis): No, but I will say, I will say we talked about this at a team meeting this morning. The thing that I'm most concerned with is quality and excellence and excellence in delivery, hospitality, customer service, all of those things. And there is a difference between hospitality and customer service. Service is how you bring the product to the person and then hospitality is how you treat the person bringing the product.
0:18:03 - (Colin Johnson): Have you guys read Unreasonable Hospitality?
0:18:05 - (Gary Ellis): Yes, it's a great book. Yeah, it's phenomenal. And I highly recommended.
0:18:12 - (Tyler Mackey): Do they record that one?
0:18:13 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, you can probably listen to it somewhere.
0:18:14 - (Gary Ellis): It's on auditor.
0:18:15 - (Tyler Mackey): I'm a listener.
0:18:17 - (Gary Ellis): So part of that is improving our drinks because the goal is to. I would never be as foolish as to say we're the only ones doing good coffee, but I want us to be the coffee experts. I want us to become so excellent at what we do. And I'm not saying perfection, but we're aiming for excellence. Is when somebody visits Johnson City, we're the first coffee shop that pops up in the search. Like, you know, we, we, we, we have the best vanilla latte. Right? We have.
0:18:48 - (Colin Johnson): I'm drinking one right now and it's pretty bad. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah.
0:18:52 - (Gary Ellis): So, you know, and part of that, the appeal of that is having the local roasted coffee. Part of it, it's fresh. I mean most of the coffee we have in the shop now has been roasted within a week. Yeah.
0:19:02 - (Colin Johnson): Because I think a lot of people just go easy. Right? We've been to Starbucks a thousand times. Let's go Starbucks. Right? That's the big gorilla in town. But Carly and I love finding local coffee shops and I think everybody likes that.
0:19:14 - (Gary Ellis): Every time I travel, that's usually what I. Yeah, we will look first for.
0:19:17 - (Colin Johnson): A local one and then if you.
0:19:19 - (Gary Ellis): Can'T find it, we may not be. We. You know, we're never going to compete with a 7 brew drive thru. I don't expect that of our employees. I definitely don't. But what we can do is Set reasonable expectations for the relation, relationship between us and the customer and just say, even if it takes us a little longer, we want that drink to be so good that it's the only place you can get that in town.
0:19:40 - (Colin Johnson): But you're like, dang.
0:19:41 - (Gary Ellis): Yep. Like, yeah, because if you get fast and the drink's terrible, you're probably not gonna come back. But if it takes a little bit longer and you sip it and you're like, that blows my mind. I wanna go back.
0:19:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah. Um, I guess we're serving your roasted coffee there. Is that what's going on?
0:19:56 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah. So we've got a. So I have some really cool relationships with coffee farms. I've got two farms I buy direct from. One in Guatemala, one in Honduras. And then I've got a coffee co op cooperative that I work with. They're actually stationed in. They have a couple warehouses. One is in Arizona, the other one's in Texas. And they buy all of our coffees are certificate. And what that means in the coffee world is that they're fair trade, so the farmers aren't getting ripped off.
0:20:29 - (Gary Ellis): But also they're going to be a much higher quality coffee. So it's going to be, you know, handpicked coffee. We're going to come. Even if they're single origin, they're going to come through coffee farms that have created a cooperative from that region. And that's really important to me too because there's a. There's an ethical side of business that I think gets shoved aside sometimes for the pursuit of the dollar.
0:20:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:20:52 - (Gary Ellis): I don't want to be that way. Even to the point of like. The syrups we use at Open Doors are simple syrup. So the first two ingredients are purified water and cane sugar. Because I want to not enable addictive properties in our products. I want people to have good quality products that are good for their conscience and good for ours as well. So coffee products, all that kind of stuff's very important to me because I think that's just another way to love people.
0:21:21 - (Colin Johnson): Well, yeah. Cool. Well, you're the coffee guy. Talk about food, Tyler, as you drink your tapo chico, not drink coffee. You guys have tapo chico there?
0:21:30 - (Gary Ellis): We do, sir. Italian sodas.
0:21:32 - (Colin Johnson): Nice. And sodas.
0:21:34 - (Tyler Mackey): And. And probably the thing that most people think of, food wise, when they think of open doors is the Belgian waffles.
0:21:42 - (Colin Johnson): The waffle we. I used to take the boys there, we'd have waffles all the time. Yeah, there's a lot of sugar in those waffles.
0:21:49 - (Tyler Mackey): Well, I've added some pounds since I've started here.
0:21:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, well, you gotta taste test it.
0:21:53 - (Gary Ellis): That's why I want to make sure about the food.
0:21:55 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah, he's. Could you tell.
0:21:57 - (Colin Johnson): Got a little waffle right there on your ch.
0:22:00 - (Tyler Mackey): Waffle neck. It's a thing. It's a thing.
0:22:04 - (Gary Ellis): It's not.
0:22:05 - (Colin Johnson): It's not a waffle shirt.
0:22:07 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah. I like to think that I'm, I'm the back of the house guy making sure that the, the food of a quality. And I've helped work with. Carlos is the kitchen manager and phenomenal kid. Phenomenal. And. But whether it's. It's the breakfast bowls, whether it's the BLTs and tomato soup, the farmer's toast, which is avocado taste by another name or toast by another name, or the waffles, I think it all kind of.
0:22:39 - (Tyler Mackey): That's the pinnacle. The waffles is what people think of when open doors comes to mind.
0:22:47 - (Colin Johnson): But you can come in and get bacon and eggs. Just do a regular breakfast.
0:22:52 - (Gary Ellis): Sausage biscuit is amazing. It's cheese and caramelized onions, which is.
0:22:56 - (Colin Johnson): Sounds tasty.
0:22:57 - (Gary Ellis): Nobody else kind of serves that twist. Yeah, it goes really good. Together we've got a couple of new options that involve hot honey. That's really good.
0:23:05 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah, the, the, it's. What's the famous sausage gravy and biscuit?
0:23:11 - (Gary Ellis): It's very good.
0:23:12 - (Tyler Mackey): It's very good.
0:23:13 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah. We're coming up with. Most of the waffle options are sweet. And this morning in the team meeting we had, we're. We're working on some savory waffle options. Have like bacon and egg on top with a touch of hot honey. Or we're looking at sourcing some local jam, some jellies to use. So it's a lot of things.
0:23:34 - (Colin Johnson): We've got a lot of local stuff going on. Yep. And you guys would probably. If we could grow coffee here, you'd probably be using. That's right. Irwin would be even more Irwin South.
0:23:41 - (Gary Ellis): I think that's another thing that we. Is worth mentioning is we're, we don't want Mission Drift and, and so we want to kind of bring the kitchen into a point where it complements the coffee you order. It doesn't. The, the, the. It isn't driven like a, as a restaurant, but it's. We live up to that coffee house on the sign, so we, we focus on coffee, but everything outside of coffee that we can outsource to a local business, we want to do that. So like all of our pastry or our muffins are made by a lady called Ramona Tevis. Ramona made phenomenal stuff. As quick as we order, it's out the door in two days, and it's great.
0:24:21 - (Gary Ellis): So, yeah, we. We want to. We want to help steward our business in a. In a way that can platform other people and give them a voice, too.
0:24:28 - (Tyler Mackey): Through our platform. I like that.
0:24:31 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:24:31 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, I like it.
0:24:32 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah.
0:24:33 - (Colin Johnson): Cool. Well, thank you for using local folks like Ramona. She's fantastic.
0:24:36 - (Tyler Mackey): She is fantastic.
0:24:37 - (Gary Ellis): Sweetest little lady.
0:24:38 - (Colin Johnson): She is really sweet. Well, it seems like it's been going great so far. Are you guys ready?
0:24:45 - (Tyler Mackey): Because, I mean, we're closing up December. We'll know shortly.
0:24:48 - (Colin Johnson): That's good. That's good. How long. When did you take over?
0:24:51 - (Gary Ellis): December 1st.
0:24:52 - (Colin Johnson): December 1st. So we got one month under the belt.
0:24:55 - (Gary Ellis): Yep.
0:24:55 - (Colin Johnson): I'm excited.
0:24:56 - (Gary Ellis): Well. And he's got one month, according to him.
0:24:58 - (Tyler Mackey): One month of waffles. Under the belt.
0:25:00 - (Colin Johnson): Under the belt. One more notch in the belt.
0:25:02 - (Tyler Mackey): One more notch. Well, and, you know, I don't know if we wanted to go this direction, but we. We have changed some of the decor.
0:25:13 - (Colin Johnson): Oh.
0:25:13 - (Tyler Mackey): We worked really hard yesterday painting. And we have a highland cow head in there now.
0:25:20 - (Colin Johnson): Great for pictures.
0:25:21 - (Tyler Mackey): Great for pictures.
0:25:22 - (Colin Johnson): Is that the one you had at your farm? I drove by yesterday and saw.
0:25:25 - (Tyler Mackey): I've known that.
0:25:26 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, okay.
0:25:27 - (Gary Ellis): That was one day before.
0:25:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yes, I'm sure your kids are like, daddy, why are you taking that 78 process?
0:25:33 - (Tyler Mackey): Her name is Biscuit. And.
0:25:37 - (Gary Ellis): And she want a Biscuit.
0:25:39 - (Tyler Mackey): She was. She was a local cow at one time. Leave the rest of her origin story.
0:25:44 - (Colin Johnson): You have to come to the coffee shop.
0:25:46 - (Gary Ellis): You come and ask about Biscuit.
0:25:47 - (Tyler Mackey): Ask about Biscuit.
0:25:48 - (Colin Johnson): Where did Biscuit come from? Where was. Yeah, where was Biscuit raised?
0:25:53 - (Gary Ellis): One of the owners. Watch.
0:25:55 - (Tyler Mackey): Coffee.
0:25:55 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. All right. Gary, you. You sent me some questions to ask you ahead of time. Yeah, Both. What's your favorite hysterical figure? Oh, historical. Let's go with hysterical.
0:26:06 - (Gary Ellis): Oh, hysterical. Hysterical figure. I. I'm gonna get real old school. I bet there's probably some people that won't know this. I'm a big fan of John Candy. Oh, I just about.
0:26:19 - (Colin Johnson): Plane strains and automobiles.
0:26:21 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:26:21 - (Tyler Mackey): I did not see this coming.
0:26:22 - (Colin Johnson): I didn't either.
0:26:23 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:26:23 - (Tyler Mackey): John Candy.
0:26:24 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:26:25 - (Gary Ellis): I like some jockey. Great outdoors.
0:26:27 - (Colin Johnson): Uncle Buck. So good.
0:26:28 - (Gary Ellis): I mean, he always just plays. It's hilarious.
0:26:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:26:32 - (Gary Ellis): Chevy Chase. Pretty funny, too. I'm a big fan of Chevy.
0:26:35 - (Colin Johnson): Chevy's good. Who's your favorite hysterical character?
0:26:37 - (Tyler Mackey): Well, I was actually going to name someone very. Astute but since we're all being honest.
0:26:41 - (Gary Ellis): Well, he said hysterical, and then we do historical.
0:26:44 - (Tyler Mackey): Well, and this might be actually both. But I would probably go. Dr. Seuss. Yeah. Because I think he actually started out normal. Then he went hysterical. But he's also historical. Oh, but. But my. One of. My favorite. One of my. I mean, just.
0:26:59 - (Gary Ellis): Just see that one.
0:27:00 - (Colin Johnson): I didn't either.
0:27:01 - (Gary Ellis): That was full circle.
0:27:02 - (Tyler Mackey): We. This is the most comprehensive answer that.
0:27:05 - (Colin Johnson): Is all the way around. Dr. Seuss.
0:27:07 - (Gary Ellis): Dr. Seuss.
0:27:07 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah. He.
0:27:08 - (Colin Johnson): You guys could write a Dr. Seuss book about the coffee shop.
0:27:11 - (Tyler Mackey): We really could. And, yeah, I drink it. My head is.
0:27:16 - (Colin Johnson): Now you've really sent me Fox Only Open Doors. My favorite stores. I don't know. We can figure out.
0:27:22 - (Tyler Mackey): Let's try not to rhyme with that one.
0:27:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, probably.
0:27:25 - (Tyler Mackey): Can we edit that part?
0:27:26 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's coming up. All right, here's your favorite historical figure. I mean, I'm teeing this up because you asked me.
0:27:33 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, no, that's good. You want to go first and then I'll.
0:27:36 - (Tyler Mackey): Oh, I was actually just going to double down on.
0:27:38 - (Gary Ellis): Okay, I'll double down. Okay.
0:27:39 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah, that was a. C.S. lewis.
0:27:41 - (Colin Johnson): That was good.
0:27:41 - (Gary Ellis): Okay. C.S. lewis is.
0:27:43 - (Tyler Mackey): So then Dr. Seuss about.
0:27:44 - (Gary Ellis): I've got top five in my head and no Abraham order whatsoever. But. And it's probably very cliche, but I don't care because I think it's merited. But I really. So my son's middle name is Theodore. I bet you can see where this is going. Theore Roosevelt.
0:28:00 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, I was going, like, with a Teddy.
0:28:01 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:28:02 - (Tyler Mackey): I won this one. I could have guessed this one.
0:28:04 - (Gary Ellis): It probably could have. And it's just for a number reasons, but more so than anything is just there was a time in history, and I'm sure there are men out there today that can do this, but there was a man that was just very rugged but inspired.
0:28:22 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:28:22 - (Gary Ellis): It was like, I'm going to go out and just, you know, go bear hunting and maybe possibly kill one of my bare hands, but go back home and write just a really moving speech.
0:28:32 - (Colin Johnson): And take a nap. Yeah.
0:28:35 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah.
0:28:36 - (Gary Ellis): And it just. I think there's a lot of qualities there that personally that I want to become, not just for my wife, my kids, but my friends and community. And I want to be a guy that does good, but. But also inspires people. And I think that's just, you know, not so much for the macho side. And I think we all, you know, the Rough Riders, all that kind of stuff, but it's really the inspiration and just the movie. And I would say the same thing about C.S. lewis. I just love reading guys writings that were just truly inspired and just had this way to reach people with imagination and words and talk in a way that's not, you know, every other sentence or something like that. Something that just really impacts you. And so that's. That's kind of why I appreciate him. And.
0:29:22 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I could see that. I mean, my favorite historical character is Jesus. But, you know, you're going to pull.
0:29:28 - (Gary Ellis): The Sunday school answer there.
0:29:29 - (Tyler Mackey): I thought just one of our answers.
0:29:31 - (Colin Johnson): Carly said. She said you just Jesus juked. He just. He'd be like, people just Jesus juke me. Like, say one thing and they'll point up you with Jesus something or other. So I just Jesus juked.
0:29:43 - (Gary Ellis): You did. You did.
0:29:44 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. You asked, what's your favorite coffee drink? I'm going to ask you. What is your worst cup of coffee you've ever had and where and where.
0:29:57 - (Gary Ellis): That's a good question because it drove.
0:30:00 - (Colin Johnson): You to start roasting coffee because you're like, I can do this better.
0:30:04 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah. I'll tell you, there's been some. There's been some bad ones.
0:30:08 - (Colin Johnson): That oily one, you get that you're kind of like, oh, this has been in the pot for a little. Yeah, bays kind of deal. Maybe. Maybe.
0:30:16 - (Gary Ellis): I'll be honest.
0:30:17 - (Colin Johnson): Somebody's office somewhere.
0:30:18 - (Gary Ellis): It always. It's like, I always forget that it's terrible.
0:30:22 - (Colin Johnson): But.
0:30:23 - (Gary Ellis): And I. This is going to be so stereotypical. But I cannot stand Starbucks coffee. Oh, like their Pike's Place is like, just. And you're probably going to deplatform for this. Probably because I mentioned them by name.
0:30:36 - (Colin Johnson): But I. Maybe we'll pick it up and they'll like.
0:30:38 - (Gary Ellis): But I. I have honest. I honestly can go to Weigl's gas station and get a better cup of coffee than I can.
0:30:44 - (Colin Johnson): Hey, don't be hating on the waggles because they got organic.
0:30:47 - (Gary Ellis): I mean, I think pretty decent coffee. I mean, I'm not a lie. If I'm traveling, that's where I'm stopping.
0:30:53 - (Colin Johnson): I'm feeling the old st.
0:30:54 - (Gary Ellis): I'll throw this up. And that's what I'm drinking while I'm driving. So I'm with you. Coffee. Just to put it as.
0:30:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, let's not drink and drive. So.
0:31:01 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:31:02 - (Colin Johnson): All right, Tyler, where's the worst cup of coffee you ever had?
0:31:06 - (Tyler Mackey): I'm gonna give you top three.
0:31:08 - (Colin Johnson): Just want the top one, though. Just kidding.
0:31:10 - (Tyler Mackey): Actually, I guess it would be bottom three.
0:31:12 - (Colin Johnson): The bottom three start.
0:31:13 - (Gary Ellis): Work my way down Starting away at the bottom.
0:31:15 - (Colin Johnson): All right, we're going down 50 to 37. Third worst ever.
0:31:19 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah, Duncan like they, they donut forward coffee.
0:31:23 - (Colin Johnson): Terrible. I don't like their coffee at all.
0:31:25 - (Gary Ellis): Mission speaking. Holy cow.
0:31:28 - (Colin Johnson): Just.
0:31:28 - (Tyler Mackey): I don't know what they do wrong.
0:31:29 - (Colin Johnson): Their whole slogan's Duncan. Like, I don't see any basketball in.
0:31:33 - (Gary Ellis): America runs on Duncan. I don't think so.
0:31:35 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah, I don't know what they do wrong, but they do it consistently. And then, and then, then I would, I would say that this is, this is probably going to be more of a sideline award. Like I can't believe it's this bad is Buc EE's. Buc EE's is high quality everything. And you get their coffee, you're like, man. And it's like less than me. It is. But then probably the worst. And this is a subset of your answer because I'm actually.
0:32:02 - (Tyler Mackey): I don't know. I don't know if you. But if you have the Starbucks French roast K cup. That is the worst cup of coffee that is on the market, I think. And, and I don't, I don't think they like done it wrong. I think they just like, that is not a good mix, whatever they're doing there.
0:32:24 - (Colin Johnson): Do you feel like maybe they take all their other coffee that didn't make it to the store because it got lower graded and they just throw in K cup? Yeah, well, they'll buy it in a cake.
0:32:33 - (Tyler Mackey): We'll put a purple top on this and call it French roast.
0:32:36 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it'll be fine. And they're home by then and they're not going to care about. Oh, well, I'll put enough creamer in.
0:32:44 - (Gary Ellis): I would say cake. I don't think you can get a decent cup out of a Keurig. I just ruined myself.
0:32:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it's tough. We do, we have the Keurig. We got a Cameron's, which is my son's name, organic. It's pretty good. Okay. What's your favorite coffee drink, Tyler?
0:33:04 - (Tyler Mackey): So I have, I have. I went from being a sugar coffee guy, like I was a latte guy for a long time and I have weaned myself onto black coffee, which now I enjoy.
0:33:17 - (Colin Johnson): I wouldn't call myself for you.
0:33:20 - (Tyler Mackey): It was, it was actually three years ago and it took me six months to like what I was doing.
0:33:25 - (Colin Johnson): It was actually three years ago. It took me three years.
0:33:28 - (Tyler Mackey): It's kind of like the beatings will continue until morale improves.
0:33:32 - (Colin Johnson): You're like, I'll drink it again. I don't like It. But I'm drinking it.
0:33:35 - (Tyler Mackey): But, but I was like, if I'm, if I'm going to drink coffee, then I have to.
0:33:39 - (Colin Johnson): It makes life so much easier. I had a black cup of coffee this morning. It's somewhat oddly.
0:33:43 - (Gary Ellis): And it was just good coffee.
0:33:45 - (Colin Johnson): So good.
0:33:46 - (Tyler Mackey): And I hesitated, I hesitated saying this, but I'm going to. And I am not a coffee snob. Like I can't tell you the intimate details of a taste of coffee or Gary will have me smell one and I'm like, that's super smelly.
0:33:58 - (Colin Johnson): That's good.
0:33:59 - (Tyler Mackey): It's got some smells to it. But I know a bad cup of coffee. But. But you asked my favorite drink. I now will treat myself with a meal which is a Spanish. Stop me if I'm wrong, which is a Spanish style of coffee. It's got honey, a little bit of cinnamon and usually oat milk or something like that in there. And, and it's just a very simple. It's got a little bit of vanilla extract. It's a very simple drink. Doesn't have a ton of the other things.
0:34:27 - (Tyler Mackey): And, and we actually, we don't have it on the menu at Open Doors yet. And we sell a lot of them. We are, oddly enough. It's, it's like, it's like the, it's like the, the drive through menu, the off the menu items. At In N Out Burger Top Secret.
0:34:42 - (Gary Ellis): We are expanding the coffee menu to kind of offer more.
0:34:46 - (Colin Johnson): It's very simple. It's got honey and like a little spices and you gotta like roast it for 13 seconds. Exactly, exactly. Whatever.
0:34:53 - (Tyler Mackey): That. This is why I don't know how to make coffee.
0:34:55 - (Colin Johnson): Right, right, right. All right, Gary, your favorite cup of coffee? Yeah.
0:34:58 - (Gary Ellis): So my favorite is not, not really like a type of coffee drink, but how you make it. I enjoy a pour over in my mind. Besides, do what.
0:35:09 - (Colin Johnson): You got a lot of time on your hands, do you?
0:35:10 - (Gary Ellis): Well, it takes about four. If you do one right. It take four minutes. It's not terrible.
0:35:14 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:35:15 - (Gary Ellis): But the reason I like it is so coffee roasters use this thing called cupping. And it's where you put coffee grounds and water and you actually let it steep for so long and then once you, once it steeps a proper amount of time, you remove the grounds and what you do is you taste, you cup the coffee as it cools to room temp and in that room temp range you get all kinds of notes and flavors and all kind. You just pick up on that in my mind, pour over, aside, aside from maybe a French press is the most unadulterated way to have coffee. It's just ground.
0:35:47 - (Gary Ellis): You expose it to the right temperature of water. You have complete control over your pour, how long a coffee extracts and it. To me it's just the best way to get the most out of a cup of coffee.
0:35:58 - (Tyler Mackey): Thank you for letting me answer first.
0:36:00 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I dozed off for a second. It just pepper. I feel very simple.
0:36:07 - (Tyler Mackey): After he.
0:36:08 - (Gary Ellis): After he answered, I'm like the Malay is very simple.
0:36:10 - (Tyler Mackey): I like coffee too.
0:36:13 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. I was going to say I like mine in a mug or a cup. You know, that's my favorite one. But. Okay.
0:36:20 - (Gary Ellis): But don't get me wrong, I make drip at the house all the time. I think they have a good quality coffee and you got a good coffee maker that's not exposing you to a bunch of cheap plastic. I think you can get a really solid cup of coffee out of drip. I just think drip is.
0:36:34 - (Colin Johnson): Are you guys going to sell a lot of coffee out of the shop, like bagged?
0:36:37 - (Gary Ellis): We're working on that. Yeah. I'm looking at having some because of the volume of sales now I'm going to have to have the bags printed normally. A hand stamp. All the bags fill it in by hand. But we're looking. Since we're going to do that. Yeah, yeah, he's.
0:36:50 - (Tyler Mackey): He's good at the back of the house.
0:36:52 - (Gary Ellis): Let him do it.
0:36:53 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Hand stamp.
0:36:54 - (Gary Ellis): So. So yeah, we're going to look to doing that. Part of the moving forward to is educating people on coffee. So. So we're going to have a house drip that we're. That's a blend that I've come up with. And then we're going to showcase a single origin coffee which is. People don't know what that is. That means it comes from particular region, sometimes even a specific farm. Yeah. Kind of like a single malt. I like coffee.
0:37:18 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:37:18 - (Gary Ellis): Single malt. Batch coffee. Batch coffee. So just to say that is. Is we will have one of those showcased every week to kind of expose people to the world of coffee and kind of tell the story of that farm, where it comes from. But then you know, if you come in, this is just for the viewer. If you come in and you order a black house coffee or you get a pour over courage, you just to taste it a couple of times without anything in it and let your brain and your palate kind of communicate a little bit.
0:37:45 - (Gary Ellis): And it's amazing if when you have real good black coffee, how much you'll actually enjoy it.
0:37:49 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it's. I Need to spend six months getting off my latte addiction because they're so good, but they're not probably the best.
0:37:57 - (Gary Ellis): Especially if you got a good barista that does the milk right. A latte is pretty solid drink to choose.
0:38:01 - (Colin Johnson): It is good. I like milk. I like dirt.
0:38:05 - (Tyler Mackey): So Gary, if you pour over takes four minutes. If you had to choose the right artist or song to play in the background while you were slowly pouring over your coffee.
0:38:17 - (Colin Johnson): Good question.
0:38:17 - (Tyler Mackey): What, what would you, what would you choose? What ambiance would you put on?
0:38:22 - (Gary Ellis): It's gonna date me, isn't it?
0:38:24 - (Tyler Mackey): I, you know, I think everything you said so far has dated you. I think you're 84 year old man who peaked in the 80s with his, with his car.
0:38:33 - (Gary Ellis): I'm gonna say yeah, I do drive 30 year old trucks so it's fine. I do change my own oil spark plugs and tires.
0:38:39 - (Tyler Mackey): I was gonna say copy out of a Stanley.
0:38:41 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:38:42 - (Gary Ellis): I do have two Stanley thermoses and one of them my grandfather gave me so there is that. I, I don't know. This is gonna probably say a lot about me, but I'm not big into mainstream music. Like I really couldn't tell you anything and, and literally the only reason I even know Beyonce put out a country album is because people hated it. So. And it went viral for the hated guy. But anyways, no, my answer is probably what I like to listen to when I drive, which is Colter While Black Sleeping on the blacktop. I think that's a really cool song. It's got a good beat to it and.
0:39:15 - (Tyler Mackey): But you do.
0:39:15 - (Colin Johnson): Cool.
0:39:16 - (Tyler Mackey): And was that a name of a song?
0:39:17 - (Gary Ellis): Culture Wall.
0:39:18 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:39:18 - (Gary Ellis): He's like, he's a Canadian but he does really good singer, songwriter, country music. If you know Tyler Childers, him and Tyler Childress have done music together.
0:39:26 - (Colin Johnson): I like Tyler. We'll put that, we'll put that song in the show notes too so people can get a little Culture wall introduction.
0:39:35 - (Gary Ellis): I get zero cents every time it's played.
0:39:37 - (Colin Johnson): Zero cents. But if you come and request it maybe it open doors lighting here in the shop for our pour over and.
0:39:44 - (Tyler Mackey): It'Ll work out great.
0:39:46 - (Colin Johnson): All right. You guys favorite hobby? Oh, this is going to be interesting.
0:39:51 - (Tyler Mackey): Well, I realized a couple years ago after my kids were young, I was like, I, I, I don't have a.
0:39:59 - (Colin Johnson): Hobby when you've got little ones. You don't?
0:40:02 - (Tyler Mackey): No, it's just like your hobby is.
0:40:04 - (Gary Ellis): Getting through the day and getting everyone to bed. And schedules.
0:40:07 - (Tyler Mackey): And schedules. Yeah. But a couple years ago my wife And I started fly fishing together. And we were actually, I'll tell a short story here. We were up at Estes Park, Colorado last year, fall break. And Estes park has the, the Big Thompson is in town. So like you would be here fishing and then right over there's the coffee shop and right over there's the taco shop. And the kids were playing in between and, and Jessica was just pulling them out. She was down a little further, closer to a bridge, I mean, just cleaning house.
0:40:42 - (Tyler Mackey): So this old man comes up to me, he's on the walking trail next to where I'm at and he's like catching anything. And I said, no catching anything. I said my wife's got all the luck down there. And he goes, well son, some folks would say your wife being in the creek is pretty lucky. And I was like, I'll take that old timer.
0:41:02 - (Gary Ellis): Did he have a Stanley?
0:41:04 - (Tyler Mackey): And then he took a draw from a Stanley cup while Tyler Childer started playing out of nowhere.
0:41:10 - (Colin Johnson): Then he rubbed his mustache and beard.
0:41:12 - (Tyler Mackey): And was like, and me and that old man started a coffee shop together.
0:41:19 - (Gary Ellis): Fantastic twist, but you didn't see that coming.
0:41:22 - (Colin Johnson): I don't know if you can top that. Hobby storm.
0:41:25 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, that's, that's, that's pretty good. Yeah, I like throwing horseshoes. My downfall is I enjoy all of the expensive man hobbies. Like I, I definitely enjoy a nice firearm, but I don't like to just buy them and let em sit in a case either. I like to train with them and know how to use em and it's a lot of fun. And I've got a group of friends that we go and do that together and it's phenomenal. And, and we a couple of ex military guys that we go and hang out with and man, it's just a wealth of knowledge. But my primary one honestly is I love, and I feel like there's kind of like a gospel kind of part of this.
0:42:06 - (Gary Ellis): I love just taking an old car and just getting it running, just fixing it up, sanding it, beautifying it. And my wife calls me, I over romanticize everything. But I, you know, we were driving this old truck I just, I just bought two weeks ago and we're just driving around. I was like, can you imagine like the places that this place or this thing took people? He imagine the family that rode in this and the things they saw or maybe the couple that bought it and then they had, you know, shared their first kiss in it, that kind of thing. And so when I'm looking at an old car. And I'm looking at it like it's not just an old car. To me, it's a piece of history, something that tells a story, something that deserves to be preserved, something that deserves a second chance, that kind of thing. And.
0:42:47 - (Gary Ellis): But I get a lot of satisfaction of taking something that's broken, that needs to be fixed and giving it life again. I just think that's just so much fun. And then just get to drive it and enjoy it. And. And for me, the. The way my mind relaxes to work with my hands. I mean, that's why I like making coffee. It's very satisfying work. It's instant gratification and that kind of thing. I like. It didn't top the old man with a mustache Stanley cut, but that was.
0:43:14 - (Tyler Mackey): Keep in line with your favorite cup of coffee.
0:43:17 - (Colin Johnson): Yep. Any wisdom to share with our listeners before we kind of wrap this up?
0:43:22 - (Tyler Mackey): Hmm.
0:43:24 - (Gary Ellis): I'll share one that I kind of had a thought on the way to work the other day. We. We purchased open doors in December. I had the first two weeks. My daughter was born the day before Thanksgiving. I planned two weeks of vacation from Summit when I was working there first two weeks of December. Spent probably three or four hours there every day for the first. For those two weeks vacation. Tried not to. But you don't just buy a business and let it roll on. You got to be there. You got to take care of stuff.
0:43:54 - (Gary Ellis): And then I went back to Summit and was working at Summit running the coffee roastery and open doors all day every day.
0:44:00 - (Colin Johnson): Have you met your new daughter?
0:44:01 - (Gary Ellis): Yes.
0:44:02 - (Colin Johnson): She's beautiful.
0:44:04 - (Gary Ellis): She hasn't called me dad yet because she doesn't know I'm her dad. No, it's good. But part of this is just. I learned that I just had this thought the other day and I felt a little spiritually dry for a while and need to set some better boundaries and some more time aside to be with the Lord. But it showed me that because I think everybody's been through a spiritual desert before where you just feel kind of crusty.
0:44:30 - (Gary Ellis): And I just had this thought that I felt like the Lord brought to mind. And it was thought it was very wise. And I want to pass it on to my kids is you don't know what bad things you thirst for until you go into a desert and you're thirsty and you're looking for everything to drink.
0:44:43 - (Colin Johnson): Hmm.
0:44:44 - (Gary Ellis): I was just kind of thinking about that. Like, what longings of my heart are exposed in a moment like this. Wow. And I may not be deep to anybody. But to me it was pretty impactful. I wrote it down in my journal and I was like, I need to remember that because that's good. That means you're shaped as much in the valley as you are the mountaintop. So I just thought that was something.
0:45:06 - (Colin Johnson): Any advice for somebody who's in a.
0:45:07 - (Gary Ellis): Spiritual desert right now, be encouraged that you long not to be in it.
0:45:15 - (Colin Johnson): But you know that there's a difference right now.
0:45:17 - (Gary Ellis): If you're comfortable with it and you're complacent, that's probably area for concern. But if you don't like it, that's probably a good sign.
0:45:23 - (Colin Johnson): And you probably aren't spending enough time. Yep. Wisdom.
0:45:30 - (Tyler Mackey): Yeah.
0:45:30 - (Colin Johnson): I besides don't get into insurance business.
0:45:34 - (Tyler Mackey): The coffee's definitely better than insurance. That's wise words. I, I would say, I would say wisdom that I would share and we've. Some of it's kind of come to to mind while we were sitting here while he was describing a pour over coffee, I was thinking of a, of a mutual friend of ours, Jim Godfrey, who, who knew how to be intentional with a cup of coffee. His favorite drink was a pour over, not pour over, sorry, a French press.
0:46:04 - (Tyler Mackey): He would do it at the house. He'd have you over. You'd usually drink out of some mug that probably was the most expensive coffee mug you'd ever had. And he got it from the south of France and, and it had a story behind it. But, but that wasn't the focus. It was almost. There was an intentionality to how slow the process was because it settled in into you. The whole experience that you guys were having together.
0:46:28 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah.
0:46:29 - (Tyler Mackey): And I think that's why, I think that's why coffee is, is where a lot of folks find themselves having really great conversations because you have to slow down to have it. And that's what sets a coffee house aside from other. Yes, we have a drive through, but nobody goes, you know, open doors is going to be, you know, competing with seven Brew. You know that seven Brew doesn't have the experiences we have because they don't have a place to gather.
0:46:55 - (Tyler Mackey): And, and so I would say a word of wisdom is slow down, enjoy the cup and the people you're enjoying it with. It's like that sips. Yeah, it's like that little meme, life's too short to drink bad coffee like that. Yes. But also who are you drinking it with? And spending some time with that. And so it almost forces a new rhythm. And honestly I think that's one thing that as Americans We've kind of stepped away from is this, this rhythm of life that allows you to slow down and be in the moment.
0:47:29 - (Tyler Mackey): You know, we have our phones, we have Amazon. Everything can get you something now or take you away from being present, but, but being intentional about slowing down and enjoying that experience. It will be the thing that you remember somebody by sometimes or a conversation you had that changed your life or, or how you remembered have a shared experience with somebody like Jim Godfrey.
0:47:56 - (Gary Ellis): That was the, that was actually the reason that we chose the kind of slogan for Outpost was great coffee and fond memories. Like, the coffee's great, but the memories are really fine, you know, I like.
0:48:08 - (Colin Johnson): It, I like it. How can our listeners connect with you boys online? They want to hear more stories.
0:48:15 - (Gary Ellis): Let me give you Tyler's personal number.
0:48:18 - (Tyler Mackey): And that'll just say Facebook.
0:48:20 - (Colin Johnson): That'll be the show. Yeah, that's in the show notes, too. Yeah, yeah.
0:48:24 - (Tyler Mackey): Facebook and Instagram, both of those pages are managed and up to speed. They tell a lot of the story of what's going on right now. You know, what, what we're doing around the shop, what we're featuring, and I think we do a pretty good job on there of telling, you know, just kind of giving experience in pictures and, and videos. Then we have the app that, that will be updated as seasonally as there's new drinks and things coming on again. It's an easy way if you're on the go and you want to enjoy some of the waffles and things like that, it's a great way to put place the order and pick it up as you come in and, or come by.
0:49:03 - (Tyler Mackey): Those are two of the best ways, probably. And then if you do have our cell phone numbers, you can reach out to Gary first and then me.
0:49:10 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, yeah, yeah. I put Gary's in the show.
0:49:14 - (Gary Ellis): We'll call it the chain of demand, not the chain of people popularity.
0:49:20 - (Tyler Mackey): If you have an issue with something, feel free to email us.
0:49:22 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I got it.
0:49:23 - (Gary Ellis): I like it.
0:49:24 - (Colin Johnson): I like it. Last question. What gets you guys fired up?
0:49:30 - (Gary Ellis): Well, you're fired up. Friday videos get me pretty well, we.
0:49:33 - (Colin Johnson): Have to do one tomorrow at the newly purchased open doors.
0:49:36 - (Tyler Mackey): Tomorrow is Friday.
0:49:38 - (Colin Johnson): It is.
0:49:38 - (Gary Ellis): Yeah, yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead. I'll, I'll end it.
0:49:42 - (Tyler Mackey): So you know what? I, I, I'm just gonna say hip hop barbecue radio station on Pandora.
0:49:51 - (Colin Johnson): Hip hop barbecue station.
0:49:54 - (Tyler Mackey): Yep. It's, it's all okay. I don't know if that directly answers your question, but I like it. You put it on and I guarantee you will fire.
0:50:02 - (Colin Johnson): You'll get fired up.
0:50:03 - (Tyler Mackey): And knowing you, it will definitely barbecue.
0:50:06 - (Gary Ellis): Fired up. Like, is that. Yeah.
0:50:09 - (Tyler Mackey): No. Did I get it?
0:50:10 - (Gary Ellis): No.
0:50:10 - (Colin Johnson): That's pretty good. All right. What about you, Gary?
0:50:15 - (Gary Ellis): Man, that's a tough question. Honestly.
0:50:17 - (Tyler Mackey): Pocket knives, John Wayne movies, whittling a.
0:50:21 - (Colin Johnson): Stick, 350s small block, chammies, fork, power strokes, making your own bullets, shoeing a horse, reloading. Wow.
0:50:32 - (Gary Ellis): I literally. My wife says I'm a walking. I'm cool with it. It's fine. I'm like your guy of yesteryear. It's fine.
0:50:37 - (Colin Johnson): This platoon, from about 10ft away, solid.
0:50:41 - (Gary Ellis): Bang when it hits. Yeah.
0:50:42 - (Colin Johnson): Rolling your own cigarettes. Yeah.
0:50:44 - (Gary Ellis): Rough sawn lumber to sit on wearing burlap. Oh, underwear.
0:50:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yep.
0:50:54 - (Gary Ellis): One word.
0:50:55 - (Tyler Mackey): Car.
0:50:55 - (Gary Ellis): Heart. No, no. None of your brand.
0:51:01 - (Colin Johnson): Enough of us.
0:51:01 - (Gary Ellis): Your friends.
0:51:02 - (Colin Johnson): Harassing.
0:51:03 - (Gary Ellis): Sorry.
0:51:03 - (Tyler Mackey): Sorry.
0:51:04 - (Colin Johnson): Gets you fired up.
0:51:04 - (Gary Ellis): Well, it gets me fired up. Besides, new babies, seeing people get into where they're gifted, like, I think that's kind of the thing excites me about owning this, is we get to take people. We're never really going to have a barista. I think that retires with a 401k. I mean, but we will have them for a short time because it's a very transient or transitory position. But I'm excited to see us take people and give them, like, the skills to go on to their next season.
0:51:38 - (Gary Ellis): But seeing them just grow, I think that that gets me really excited. Seeing people work together as a team, share success, that kind of thing. And I'm excited to be a part of that with them.
0:51:50 - (Colin Johnson): I like it. I like it. Well, thank you guys for coming on the podcast. Yeah, I'm glad. We've been friends for a very long time. I think Tyler and I know each other for well over 10 days or years.
0:52:02 - (Tyler Mackey): You told us our first house 15 years ago. Oh, 16 years.
0:52:06 - (Colin Johnson): 16 years ago you bought your first house. Wow. Yeah. Once you get married, have babies, it's been crazy.
0:52:12 - (Tyler Mackey): Valentine's of 09, it's a long time. I didn't do all those things. That's when we closed all the house.
0:52:18 - (Colin Johnson): That was fast. Yeah. Knocked it all out.
0:52:21 - (Gary Ellis): Met you 14 years ago when we were meeting a sojourn church over here.
0:52:25 - (Colin Johnson): Yes.
0:52:27 - (Gary Ellis): Long time ago.
0:52:28 - (Colin Johnson): Thank you for reminding me. Yeah. Right.
0:52:30 - (Gary Ellis): Right there. Right across the road.
0:52:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Well, I've enjoyed our conversation. Hopefully the listeners have to. Even though maybe Tyler and I jumped on you a little bit. Yeah. So if you're looking for a good cup of coffee, there's only one place in town, open doors, baby. Let's go. Let's go. It gets me fired up. Till next time, I'm Colin Johnson with the Colin and Carly Group and Keller Williams Realty. If you want to move here, I'll find you a spot, like down the street from Open Doors. You can walk down there like Carly and I used to, and it's just. And be a part of our awesome community.
0:52:59 - (Gary Ellis): We'll have a have a seat for you.
0:53:01 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:53:01 - (Gary Ellis): Warm cup of coffee.
0:53:02 - (Colin Johnson): Thanks for being on the podcast, guys. I'm wishing you a ton of luck. It's gonna go great. And, yeah, just don't screw it up. Happy New Year.
0:53:11 - (Gary Ellis): It just doesn't.