Guest: Brad Lepper
Company: Council Oak Supply, Sioux City, IA
Role: Founding President
Online: @counciloaksupply • www.counciloaksupply.com • @bradlepper on YouTube • counciloakacademy.com
What they drink: It depends…A pourover or a mocha at a different cafe. A triple shot 12oz latte with honey and cinnamon in the office.
How can I apologize to Brad? He was actually the first interview I did this season, back in the fall of 2024. A confluence of events, including an overwhelming amount of content coming in all at once, a calendar snafu, and then my anxiety at opening a file I had already postponed working on, led me to here, where instead of the first, Brad is the finale of Season 12. I hope he can forgive me for the delay.
Beyond their coffee equipment and wholesale distributor business, Council Oak Supply offers an academy for burgeoning cafe owners and operators. The pitch is that you can “Learn from Coffee Professionals who have been through all the stages of a coffee business.”
The classes cover finance, location scouting, products, cafe management, marketing, equipment maintenance, and coffee roasting. When I chatted with Brad, his passion for the business of coffee really stood out. Offering education through the Academy allows him and his colleagues to spread the entrepreneurship fairy dust around their community.
Which is great for specialty coffee in the Midwest. Finding a great cup of coffee in the middle of the country has never been easier. Google search “roaster” in any small to mid-size community, and you’ll stumble across established and burgeoning coffee shops and professionals who offer everything the discerning coffee drinker is looking for.
“You really need to find enjoyment in that day-to-day activity of serving people, and giving them something of value.” • Brad Lepper
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PODCAST
The building, dang. What a lovely piece of architecture. Council Oak’s photos were better than mine which is why they are shared throughout this post. The building below has a new Council Oak Supply sign above the windows.
Brad remembers tasting some Folger’s at the farm as a child, and he hated it! For many of us of a certain age the red can (or black if you were a Maxwell House family) stands out in our early coffee memories.
It was only later, as an entrepreneur that he was introduced to specialty coffee. It was a business opportunity before it was a passion. He purchased an old Burger King to turn into a laundromat. The building came with a drive thru window, and he thought it might work as a drive-thru cafe. He couldn’t find an operator. His aunt suggested he do it himself and introduced him to Nick Topf, Brad’s now-partner in Council Oak Supply. The drive-thru became Brad’s original coffee company Stone Bru. The brand was sold to local family when the decision was made to focus on Council Oak Supply.
Council Oak roasts coffee and distributes equipment as a wholesaler, in addition to operating their own tasting space in Sioux City, IA. They sell everything from the coffee to the cups and lids to the machinery, and then spend the time to teach their customers how to use them. Brad joked that if someone had a big enough truck, they could leave with an entire coffee shop in the back. They’re passionate about the coffee, and equally, if not more so, passionate about the people.
Get your coffee and everything else at Council Oak Supply. A key to a successful business relationship is finding a partner who complements, and perhaps, enhances your skills, as Brad has done with his business partner and the Head Roaster at Council Oak Supply Nick Topf.
Iowa is growing as a specialty craft coffee.
COSC primarily offers certified organic and fair trade coffees. It helps them tell the story of the coffee to their clients.
Brad is passionate about the business of coffee shops. It’s inspired him to start sharing his knowledge with a wider audience, primarily through Youtube. Some skills and character traits he finds to be essential to success in the industry; being creative, willing to learn, self-motivated, and being able to ride the wave up and down as you provide a service to others.
Book Recommendation from Brad: The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), by Seth Godin. I just picked this up at the library. Book report coming soon.
Brad is the coffee guy, NOT the archeologist.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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