S5:EP20
Guest: Lily Quiros, Coffee Consultant
From: San Diego, CA
Website: https://www.lilcoffeegeek.com/
There are so many directions this podcast episode with Lily Quiros could have gone. While it can be tempting to go down the rabbit hole, the one theme I kept coming back to is that Lily is not one thing.
She is a coffee consultant, a professional who can help guide new and established businesses through (and beyond) the pitfalls that they come across. She is a Mom. You can just hear the kids in the background near the end. She is a partner, and while you don’t hear it during the episode, I was witness to her and her husband navigating work and childcare duties during a break in our interview.
She is an entrepreneur, although that may not have been the original plan for her career. Consulting is a funny business to explain, but it boils down to being a guiding hand for others as they navigate their own career and business path. It means being someone others trust with their livelihood and often their hearts. My entrepreneurial efforts always start as passion projects. I have to love them because otherwise, why wouldn’t I choose to do something easier!
Since we’ve spoken, Lily has added a unique wrinkle to her business. She’s offering a subscription service. I haven’t seen this before, at least not offered in this form, but having met Lily, it makes sense that she is looking to create longer-term connections with her clients and their brands.
If you’re looking to start a coffee business, maybe this is the sign…err…button link you’ve been waiting for.
FROM THE SHOW
During the first year of the pandemic, more than four million women, including many mothers, left the workforce. The need for childcare and school closures was a big reason. However, as schools began to reopen in the past year, the return to work hasn’t been as quick of recovery, with many women remaining out of the workforce as the United States is pushing its way beyond the pandemic.
Next season on the R!WC podcast, Lily may be returning, specifically to discuss being a working mother who is also an entrepreneur. We’ll talk more in-depth about her family’s decision to have her stay home during the pandemic and how she does or doesn’t find work/life balance.Until then, check out this interview on NPR.com featuring Angela Garbes, author of LABOR: Mothering as Social Change. Click here to read the interview.
The HACCP food safety plan (“Hass-up”) that Lily was talking about early in the interview is the system a production food service business has in place to mitigate food safety risks and hazards related to chemical, physical, and biological factors.
HACCP is an acronym for “Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point.” If you’re interested in learning a lot more about the plans, I found this a fairly reasonably understandable overview. Click here to go to SafetyCulture.com.
Lily mentioned consulting on a coffee pod concept like the Nescafe Dolce Gusto machine. The Dolce Gusto is a series of automated coffee machines that take prepackaged pods to make a single cup of coffee. Similar to the Keurig machines.
NOT FROM THE SHOW
The history of coffee is truly epic. This is a bonus link to an article in Fresh Cup Magazine written by Valerie Clark about how coffee has impacted revolutions throughout history. It only scratches the surface, but it is a good primer for how coffee can impact the trajectory of the world. Click to read the article on Fresh Cup.
FROM THE ROAD
The first coffee shop I visited in Madison, WI, was Colectivo Coffee on Monroe St. Colectivo has been around a long time, but there were only a few when I moved from Madison 12 years ago. Now there are 20 dispersed through Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago. I’ll be featuring my visit here in next week’s Bean Journal column.
R!WC Industry Partners
I love that Steady State Roasting actively supports other local. They just got in a bunch of new screenprinted SSR merch, which was all printed by Sean Tully at Forward Screen Printing in Vista, CA—just down the street from the California Roasting Collective facility co-owned and operated by Steady State’s Elliot Reinecke.
The best way to get your gear is at the shop with a cup of single origin coffee. Some gear is exclusive to the store. The second best way is online…with a cup of single origin coffee.
We are only weeks—fingers-crossed—away from the opening of Ignite Coffee Company’s grand opening in Downtown Oceanside, California. I was introduced to Lily by ICC’s founder Tyler Whitehead who gave her consulting help a rousing thumbs up. Stay tuned to https://ignitecoffeecompany.com/ and @ignitecoffeecompany.
Click these R!WC Industry Partners links. Drink their coffees and whiskeys. Visit their cafes. Support local coffee shops. You won’t be disappointed.
Zumbar Coffee & Tea • First Light Coffee Whiskey • Steady State Roasting • CAFÉ LaTERRE • Mostra Coffee • Coffee Cycle • Camp Coffee Company • Ignite Coffee Company • Ascend Coffee Roasters • Marea Coffee • Cape Horn Coffee Roasters
LISTEN TO ROAST! WEST COAST ON THESE PLATFORMS
APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • ANCHOR.FM • GOOGLE PODCASTS • AMAZON MUSIC • THE COAST NEWS • TUNEIN RADIO • I HEART RADIO • POCKETCASTS • BREAKER • RADIO PUBLIC • OVERCAST • STITCHER
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Roast! - Lily Quiros AKA Lil Coffee Geek, Coffee Consultant