校友在咖啡行业酿造成功:唱反调的咖啡

Chris Vecera ’11, MA ’14, 有一天，当他在奥兰治县下班开车回家时，他觉得是时候全力实现他和妻子贝丝2013年创办一家咖啡烘焙公司的梦想了. Within weeks, 维塞拉夫妇辞掉了工作，搬到了纳帕，开了一家Naysayer Coffee, a coffee roastery and shop.

“It was what we’ve always talked about doing,” Beth says. “我们2009年在康科迪亚相识，一直都很喜欢咖啡. We worked in and out of cafes.”

Beth and her twin sister from Rocklin, near Sacramento, followed their brothers to Concordia, where Beth studied theology. “I loved my philosophy and anthropology 她特别回忆起杰克·舒尔茨教授的宗教人类学课程. “Dr. 舒尔茨非常热爱他所做的事情，我一直在想这件事. 他非常热衷于教学和讨论文化、人类学和宗教的概念.”

In 2009, 克里斯和前康考迪亚大学欧文分校教授亚当·李一起旅行了这次旅行的原型 Around the World Semester® program. 克里斯和其他康考迪亚学生在肯尼亚、乌干达、卢旺达和坦桑尼亚教英语. When he returned, he met Beth, a freshman, at a Shout! worship service. The relationship grew, including as they played Ultimate Frisbee on an impromptu club team.

By then, coffee was already in the picture. Chris worked at Peet’s as an undergraduate, 然后在菩提叶咖啡公司找到了一份工作，在那里他和贝丝结婚后学会了烘焙咖啡豆.

“这一直是一个想法，甚至可能是我们刚结婚时的理想，”贝丝说. “总有一天我们会拥有自己的咖啡公司，那将是一件很棒的事情.’ He would be like, ’Let’s do it. 让我们放下我们的两份全职工作，开始一些疯狂的事情，一些我们有激情的事情.’”

但当他们在加州成家立业时，这个梦想却在背后挥之不去. Beth worked as a church secretary at St. 保罗的路德教会，克里斯在奥兰治路德高中教新约. He also earned his master’s degree in theology 并在他们的教堂担任青年主任.

Then came the day when the dream actualized. Beth was pregnant with their second child, and the Veceras wanted to be near family in Napa, where Chris was raised. They packed up, moved, and began building the business in earnest, 广泛研究从烘焙设备到当地和全国市场的一切.

“Napa is a small farming town at its core, 这很酷，因为当地人支持当地企业,” Chris says. “We have felt that love for the last three years.”

他们说，早期最难的部分是想出一个朗朗上口的单字名字. 他们最终选定了“唱反调”，这是对“你头脑中怀疑梦想的唱反调者”的认可.克里斯说:“有时候，负面的品牌反而会让人印象最深刻。. “It’s hard to forget our name.”

他们于2018年11月将公司搬到了一个生产烘焙工坊，并于2019年初推出了批发业务，此前克里斯在一台15公斤重的洛林烘焙机上完善了他的技术.

他说:“精品咖啡行业的质量和一致性很重要。.

“如果某个东西在这里或那里差了10或15秒，基本上就毁了.”

Just as they were revving up, 州和地方政府为应对新冠疫情而关闭了企业, and Naysayer looked like it might live up to its name. Business stalled as wholesale accounts closed.

Coffee is a global community. It’s a pretty beautiful thing.

很快，维塞拉夫妇转向零售和送货上门来赚钱.

“It was a massive shift,” says Beth. They sold their locally-roasted coffee beans to markets, delis, and grocery stores in town, 在网上销售瓶装拿铁，并把它们送到人们的家门口. The result was an unexpected early success in retail. 随着商店重新开业，维塞拉夫妇又制造了一辆浓缩咖啡车，带来了更多的收入.

With the dream having survived fierce headwinds, 今天，维塞拉夫妇在南纳帕的一个购物中心开设了他们的第一家实体店. Chris’s roasts continue to sell to restaurants, wineries, 以及纳帕谷上下的杂货店以及全国各地的在线订阅者.

Naysayer提供9次烘焙，每周生产600磅咖啡豆.

“We’re definitely growing,” says Chris. “批发又回来了，我们自己的店也快建好了. We love the idea of being a neighborhood coffee shop.” “And in Napa you can get lots of tourists,” Beth adds.

Coffee, Chris says, “connects to the whole world. 关于咖啡，我最喜欢的一句话是，它是你每天做的最全球化的事情.” 

他观察到，它还使人们在社交和精神上走到一起.

他说:“咖啡以一种低压力、平易近人的方式将人们联系在一起。. “我喜欢以一种非基督教的、现实生活中的方式和人们闲逛和交谈. Coffee is a great way to start that conversation.”

他特别喜欢采购和品尝高品质的咖啡豆, Naysayer突出了种植咖啡豆的农民，并讲述了他们的故事.

“这是他们的产品，我们正在接受和传递，”克里斯说. “Coffee is a global community, from the farmers, to a processing mill in Guatemala, a truck driver in Guatemala, a ship driver, dock workers, American truck drivers, warehouses in America—all before it even gets to me. We’re all in this together. It’s a pretty beautiful thing.”

克里斯说，烘焙咖啡和教书给了他同样的满足感，因为两者都涉及以一种有意义的方式与人建立联系.

他说:“我以前是通过教授《菲律宾十大网赌网站》来做到这一点，现在我是通过喝咖啡来做到这一点。.

He and Beth cite Dr. Rod rosenblatt对他们在康考迪亚的形成影响. “那个人基本上就是我的爷爷，”克里斯笑着说. “我从来没见过这么古怪又有爱心的人.”

贝丝说:“他改变了很多人的生活，我们的生活也在其中。. 这个人看待福音和谈论耶稣的方式.”

Chris also cites C.J. Armstrong, his Greek professor, and former professor Korey Maas, who taught historical theology, 他们都“用这种方式欢迎你加入谈话，即使他们显然更有经验和知识?. That community conversation oriented my way of living. I definitely learned that at Concordia.”

The Veceras have two kids, 5 and 3, and attend St. 约翰在纳帕的路德教会，克里斯长大的教堂.

“The only thing I ever wanted to be was a mom,” Beth says. “我喜欢在教堂和咖啡店工作，但我现在是一名母亲. That’s where I find joy.”

对克里斯来说，“创业有点疯狂，但我喜欢我们正在做的事情.” And so far, the naysayers have been wrong.