Café Spotlight: Jon & Cheryl of Jbird Supply Coffee Roasters
/We recently sat down for a quick chat with the owners of JBird Supply Coffee Roasters, the new espresso bar, here in the Café at Studio IX. Jon & Cheryl had some great things to share about how they got here & where they’re headed. We couldn’t be happier to have them with us.
Studio IX:
Ok, so let’s jump right in.
Jon: What you got, Greg?
Studio IX:
First things first, tell us who you are, what it is you do, how it all got started.
Jon:
Okay. Well my name's Jon. I am one of the owners of JBird Supply Coffee Roasters. The company started selling in the summer of 2018. It was an idea that I had, based on previous work history and my love of coffee.. Cheryl and I had been talking about finding a way to make the family unit into a business. How can we progress as a family and spend more time together. So that started our roasting business. Been doing it for about two years now.
Cheryl:
My name's Cheryl. I'm the bird.
Studio IX:
Cheryl the bird?
Cheryl:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Studio IX:
So let’s talk a bit about what drives you. What are you guys passionate about?
Cheryl:
I'm really passionate about connection, and a sense of community, about not taking anything for granted. And so I feel like anything that I'm doing, I'm going to put everything I have into it and use it as a bridge, in a way, to connect with other people. Whether it's the person in front of me, or in this case with the coffee, the farmers that are growing the beans. Even to the graphic designer on the other end of the computer. I don't know, I just feel like we're all in this together and we've all got shit to do, so we might as well drink good coffee and try to take care of each other in the process.
Studio IX:
Well said.
Jon:
I'm passionate about starting something on your own and having independence in your life. I've worked for a lot of corporate jobs. I've worked for a lot of small business owners, and I think it's important to have some kind of control over what you do in your day. Coffee is a great way for me to develop our own system, our own way of being. I feel like coffee kind of has a lot of pretension to it these days, and there's ways to go about it where you don't have to have that stigma attached to it. Production, independence, artistic expression — these are the things that drive me.
And like Cheryl said, the coffee growers, they're the ones that do all the work. We just get paid to have fun with it. It’s really important for us to convey that there is this whole other side to it. Where it comes from and the people it affects. It's important that others learn about that process.
Studio IX:
In the short time that I've gotten to know you both, it’s very clear that you’re extremely personable, community driven people. There’s a kind of old-world hospitality about you, that’s rare anymore. Taking a real interest in people. Getting to know your customer base, developing those relationships. — I'd love to hear a bit more about what that means to you.
Jon:
Yeah. I think we're kind of in-betweeners, generationally. Being born in the early eighties and we're not super techie people. We're not like the millennials that are obsessed with being seen or videoed or recapped or whatever it is. You know? And it's kind of like a coffee house, or a fucking punk thing, or whatever it is. It's all about communicating with people and spending time together. So for us to come in here and have a space where you're not just seeing the same faces every day, which you could do at any coffee shop, but people are actually doing their creative work here. You really want to connect with them and you get ideas from them, you get energy from them, and you can give that back, too.
Jon:
And I think on a day to day basis, that's just who we are. You know? It's like, if we're out in the world, we're going to open a door for somebody, say thank you, make eye contact, and just be personable. Life's short. You don't have to be a dick every day. You can open up a little bit and find a way to make somebody happy.
Cheryl:
I think for me, I grew up in a bar. Multiple bars. My family, my parents, I'm an only child and they were very young and they drank a lot. If you spend hours and hours in a bar, you learn the art of shooting the shit and grow an appreciation for honest conversation.
It’s important that we slow down and just talk to one another. Who knows what's going to come out, who knows what you're going to come up with. Who knows what you have in common. I think coffee bars can have that same rejuvenating kind of effect that as maybe a bar can. Although that's not very rejuvenating (laughter), — but it's a place where you can feel like your family in a way.
Studio IX:
Can you guys share a memorable moment with us, — a turning point? Anything that stands out.
Jon:
I've been doing coffee for 15 plus years and helped open numerous cafes, ran and managed all sorts of places, and this has been an entirely new project. Once we started producing coffee and it tasted great and we got good feedback, I felt like that was a big turning point for us.
We have an eight year old son and his involvement, I just think it's going to be a really cool memory for him. Looking back on it, however long this lasts. That part of his upbringing has been in being part of this family business. Being involved with it.
Studio IX:
Yeah.
Cheryl:
I think a major turning point has been coming into Studio IX. I still had a full time job up until two weeks ago. So having the ability to go all in and really focus on things has been huge. I don't know which way we're turning... I don't know if we're turning left or right or making a U turn. I don't know where we're going, but we're going in a different way so you can call it a turning point. That's for sure.
Jon:
Yeah, it's a big change. Being here, having an everyday interaction based around the coffee, the people, the interactions, and stuff like that. This is kind of been our goal for a while, so it's nice to get this started.
Studio IX:
We're excited to have you guys.
Studio IX:
On that note, what does the future hold for you all. For JBird? Things you’re looking to?
Jon:
I mean, for me, I had two goals when I started the company: to roast coffee and make the Black Flag t-shirt. And after I did that, Cheryl's like, you can retire. So everything's a bonus these days. I look at every day as an opportunity to learn. I'm not afraid to fail, which is good. I keep telling myself that it's okay if it doesn't work and I don't want to make this into some juggernaut. No attempts to take over the world here. That's not my goal with it. It's just to be respectful with it and take care of our community, and be respectful of the environment. There's much bigger things out there than our little coffee company. We're just trying to make our little mark, get by and have a family.
Studio IX:
And you, Cheryl?
Cheryl:
I'm not very goal oriented? I just wing it?
Studio IX:
You're in the moment.
Cheryl:
Yeah, I am. And I mean in general, I don't want any more out of life then really to be able to pay my bills and enjoy my family. So as long as we can make that happen with Studio IX and continue to do whatever we want creatively with coffee, I’m good.
Studio IX
Would be so nice if more people had those values.
Jon:
I guess in America, to feel like you're on the next level, you have to have these gargantuan ideas of, if I'm not at this benchmark in this amount of time and the company's not... But I don't want to get to the point where there's shareholders involved and stuff like that and I don't want to work for anybody. That's the whole reason why I started this. We talked about companies like Stumptown a lot as a nice, mentor to look at it for specialty coffee because they did what they wanted and then they got to a point where they could sell, and the owner sold, and he didn't have to deal with all the corporate crap that came along with it. He got out at that point. So I think if it ever got to the point where something like that could happen, I would stop doing it. I would do something else.
Studio IX:
Last question. What are you guys excited about that you're serving right now, that you want everyone to know about?
Jon:
I mean, I love the hidden gems that are just like... I think this time of the year, our chai is really fun and it's not our coffee we're just planning to talk about, but for a drink in February, we have such brilliant chai called Prana, and it pairs really well with our espresso. So you could get that. And then just trying any of our coffees on pour-over or Chemex, where you really get different notes in the coffee, compared to just actual dash brew. That's always fun too.
Cheryl:
Jon says he’s going to do something with strawberries this year. It will be totally badass.
Greg:
Yeah. I love that you guys do that too. You and I were talking about it. Just that you switch gears and go with what's fresh and like... Coffee-wise, garnishes, additives, and everything like that. You can stay fresh and stay in season with anything you do really. You just have to work at it.
Cheryl:
We kind of hope to do the same thing with food here at Studio IX. Again, trying to get different food trucks in here on a rotating but consistent basis. And then trying out different pastries, seeing what people like, but it doesn't have to be the same thing every day. And that's kind of the cool thing when you're the boss. It's like, I'm sick of that and I get to stop. I can do something different. As long as people will buy it so I can pay my bills. Yeah.
Greg:
Thank you guys. So good to have you here.