Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nathan Hamood, president of Dessert Oasis Coffee Roasters, located in Rochester, MN, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My company is Dessert Oasis Coffee Roasters, a craft coffee roaster and 3 location coffee shop that sources exceptional small-lot coffees, roasts them in small batches with great care, and strives to serve those coffees with great service. We also bake all of our desserts, as our name might suggest, and host lives music in the evenings. Our customers are anyone looking for an experience surrounding their coffee, whether it's catching up with a friend in one of our cafes or taking a minute to appreciate a super handcrafted coffee. When you purchase a coffee from a company like us, you're supporting a very long line of very intentional craft.

Tell us about yourself

I'm 26 years old and have been in the coffee industry for over 13 years now. My family started the business as a small coffee shop with the economy's downturn in 2009, as something we could work together at as a family and give a shot in hopes of creating something for the community. I'd work there after school and on weekends and fell in love with the craft of coffee and with the world of business and entrepreneurship in general. I'd go to my parents with these profit analysis charts and try and convince them to let me try my hand at roasting coffee as I felt we could do something much better with our coffee and really take the business somewhere.

Eventually, I talked them into letting me save up and buy this little bronco rotisserie oven converted to a drum coffee roaster, and that's how I got my start roasting. I became more and more involved in the business over the years, eventually legitimized our roasting a bit more with some more professional equipment, rebranded the business, dropped out of college to pursue the company's growth, and haven't really looked back. I'm motivated by the craft of coffee for sure, but also by what we can create as a company - the opportunities we can make for the growth of the people that work for this company along with the company's growth, and the culture we can create in our shops on both sides of the counter.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

It's hard to say what my biggest accomplishment is because honestly, I think so much about business is just about more than one person. But I'm incredibly proud of what we've been able to do as a company with our limited access to resources and how we've been able to chip away at growth in a very organic fashion, to find ways to achieve big goals as a small but growing company. Some of those goals are quality standards of coffees, awards we've won for our coffees, while some more business milestones, and some being milestones we've set for ourselves like the expansion of employee benefits like healthcare that would've been hard to imagine the possibility of offering back in our infancy as a single, low volume shop back in 2009.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

It can be hard to find balance in a lot of ways as a business owner. The hours can be long, and some days can feel sort of defeating if you're not looking at the bigger picture and the reasons you're doing what you're doing.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

I'd say, most important perhaps, you have to make sure you're really passionate about what you're doing. It's the only way you'll be able to stay the course when the going gets as tough as it may inevitably get. I also often say that progress is better than perfection. If you can't create something perfect, it's often better to start somewhere and make incremental improvements. Lastly, I think it's important to act as a responsible business leader in your actions, knowing that your actions as a business and as a brand have a ripple effect in your organization but also in your community at large.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.docr.coffee/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/natehamood/
https://www.instagram.com/dessert_oasis_coffee_roasters/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-hamood-564374113/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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