Speaker 1: We can get involved with a lot of different people
Speaker 1: if we wanted to. On the Michigan Sports Network, Bill
Speaker 1: Simon's and a friend of ours in the afternoon feels
Speaker 1: the exact same way. We like relationships with good people
Speaker 1: who are michiganers, Michigan based companies, but people that you're
Speaker 1: friends with, I mean they're partners. These people are exactly it.
Speaker 1: When you go out and you meet Mark and you
Speaker 1: meet Sam and you meet the people that are associated
Speaker 1: with Ferris Coffee, they're just good people and it's a
Speaker 1: great product.
Speaker 2: It really is.
Speaker 1: Rubes has gone through how many three cups? Three cups
Speaker 1: of coffee. Sam has been brewing like nobody's business, and
Speaker 1: he is the master brewer.
Speaker 2: Can I call you the master brewer?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, yeah, I appreciate it. Are you Here's what
Speaker 2: I want to know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Because you take great pride in making and having
Speaker 1: your craft and making your coffee. You go all over
Speaker 1: the world to make sure you get the right beams.
Speaker 1: This is not hey, we're just throwing anything in the
Speaker 1: pot and we're stirring it up. You're making sure it's
Speaker 1: the best of the best. When people say I just
Speaker 1: want a cup of coffee. Are you a coffee snob
Speaker 1: or do you try to change people's minds much like
Speaker 1: people who have wineries.
Speaker 4: Right, that's a great question.
Speaker 3: So coffee is very personal and everybody has their own
Speaker 3: ritual in the morning. Right, And so we say that
Speaker 3: we're coffee geeks, not snobs.
Speaker 4: But there is.
Speaker 3: Objectively better coffee than other coffees out there, and that's
Speaker 3: what we try to focus on. So at Ferris we
Speaker 3: source objectively some of the best coffee in the world.
Speaker 3: Coffee is scored on one hundred point scale. We only
Speaker 3: source coffee that scores eighty and up on that scale,
Speaker 3: which represents about the top ten percent of coffee in
Speaker 3: the world. So it's objectively a better product. And it's
Speaker 3: and coffee's of some of all its parts too. So
Speaker 3: it has to be grown well, it has to be
Speaker 3: roasted well, it has to be brewed well. And if
Speaker 3: any one of those parts goes wrong, you're not going
Speaker 3: to have a great experience. That being said, we never
Speaker 3: judge anybody's personal preferences, and we say drink whatever you want,
Speaker 3: drink what you like.
Speaker 4: But I think that you know, if we lined up.
Speaker 3: Our coffee versus other other coffees out there or you're
Speaker 3: whatever you typically drink in the morning.
Speaker 4: I think we could improve the experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so your taste, budgs can be different, right, Well,
Speaker 1: everybody's a different product. When when you'll see talk to
Speaker 1: people about, for example, wine and I don't drink wine,
Speaker 1: but my wife does, and they'll sip it real quick.
Speaker 2: And then they'll say, oh, that's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, coffee, is there a certain way to drink it?
Speaker 1: And is there a certain type of aroma and the
Speaker 1: whole experience that you think people need to experience.
Speaker 3: It's a great questions. It's very akin to wine. So
Speaker 3: it's a good analogy. And I say, we always say
Speaker 3: drink whatever you like, but we always like prefer to
Speaker 3: try coffee black first, okay, And we go through a
Speaker 3: certain evaluation process every time we evaluate coffee, similar to wine.
Speaker 3: We evaluate the aroma, the aftertaste, and the acidity of
Speaker 3: the body of the coffee, and you hit the nail
Speaker 3: on the head. Everybody tastes differently, and so we say,
Speaker 3: you know, it's not necessarily about you don't have to
Speaker 3: be a great easter in general to.
Speaker 4: Pick up these notes in coffee.
Speaker 3: You just have to have sensory experiences, like if you've
Speaker 3: never tasted a Kiwi four for instance before, for instance,
Speaker 3: and you have that essence in coffee or wine, you
Speaker 3: can't drop on that sensory memory and say, oh, that
Speaker 3: tastes like Kiwi.
Speaker 4: So it's really just.
Speaker 3: About associating those kind of taste sensations to memory.
Speaker 2: How do you know which beans are good enough and
Speaker 2: which aren't for you?
Speaker 4: It's a multifaceted process.
Speaker 3: So it starts with evaluating literally the farm itself where
Speaker 3: the coffee's grown, and typically higher grown coffee is better.
Speaker 4: The cherries are. A coffee is the seat of a cherry,
Speaker 4: So the coffee and all that. Yeah, yeah, so the
Speaker 4: cherries are on.
Speaker 2: The coffee bean is the seed of a cherry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it looks very much like cherries that we
Speaker 3: grow right here in Michigan.
Speaker 4: Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, never knew that. That snows the met too, that's crazy,
Speaker 2: that's mine. Yeah, yeah, I forgot. Never never knew that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you went to Hold College. Yeah, did you ever.
Speaker 1: Think this is what you'd be doing in your career
Speaker 1: while you were in Holland?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: No, And I my blessings, I worked for a coffee
Speaker 3: shop all through high school and all through college when
Speaker 3: I went to Hope, and I was a coffee enthusiast
Speaker 3: after that, you know, I saw that the like a
Speaker 3: human and social side of coffee. Yeah, it was a
Speaker 3: great coffee shop in a small town. But then I
Speaker 3: got interested in the product itself and went down the
Speaker 3: rabbit hole. And my mind is very just center brained,
Speaker 3: and so I kind of geeked out on it. But
Speaker 3: never in a million years did I think that I'd
Speaker 3: make the career.
Speaker 1: So we are our Michigan based company, Michigan Sports Network
Speaker 1: is owned by a family.
Speaker 2: I mean, Marty's the guy in charge, but it's a
Speaker 2: family atmosphere. This is a family atmosphere.
Speaker 1: This has been This has been a family owned business
Speaker 1: for one hundred years.
Speaker 2: You know, nineteen twenty four, even before nineteen twenty four.
Speaker 2: This stuff happens.
Speaker 1: Mark and his family bought it in nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: but it's been Michigan based, family owned. How important was
Speaker 1: that to you and really your staff as you guys,
Speaker 1: you know progress you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's incredibly important to me and the entire staff.
Speaker 3: And I would say that in a business this size,
Speaker 3: a family owned business where eighty eight employees right now,
Speaker 3: every decision that you make, everything is tangible, and everything
Speaker 3: is for each other.
Speaker 4: And you see the results of the decisions that you make.
Speaker 3: And so when we have when we have wins, one
Speaker 3: of our core values is we win or learn. When
Speaker 3: we have wins, we win together and when we make mistakes,
Speaker 3: we learn together. So in a company of the size
Speaker 3: and a family owned business, I think that's more more
Speaker 3: real and hits home to find a win A win
Speaker 3: and coffee is you know, we launch a product that
Speaker 3: is well received, or we we form a partnership with
Speaker 3: another Michigan company and have synergy, or you know, our
Speaker 3: product has a further reach than it had before.
Speaker 4: So a lot, a lot of wins and uh.
Speaker 3: You know, the the learning experiences are you know, we uh,
Speaker 3: we screw up in order for a customer or something
Speaker 3: like that, we aren't able to deliver on a promise
Speaker 3: that we make.
Speaker 4: We're we're a.
Speaker 3: Very product driven company, but customer focused as well, and
Speaker 3: so serving our customer is incredibly important to us. And
Speaker 3: if we're not able to do that to the extent
Speaker 3: that we think we should be able to, then that
Speaker 3: hurts and.
Speaker 4: We got to learn.
Speaker 2: You guys, are in fifty states.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're in Meyer, you're at Costco, You're at
Speaker 1: a lot of specialty shops. And people can also order
Speaker 1: it online, right, so how do they do that?
Speaker 3: Go to our website Firstcoffee dot com.
Speaker 4: We got a great deal this week and I think
Speaker 4: we have free shipping.
Speaker 3: Okay, sweet, yeah, free shipping, so hop on our website
Speaker 3: we have all of our coffee products are available there.
Speaker 3: But we're also a nut roaster as well a lot
Speaker 3: of great nuts mixes, and so we say we do
Speaker 3: plant grown food and so coffee nuts are very different,
Speaker 3: but we do both of them right here in the
Speaker 3: house in ground rapids.
Speaker 1: So you'll learn something every day, folks. And here not
Speaker 1: just that, but you guys are also the official coffee.
Speaker 2: Maker of the Detroit Lions. Yes, how has that taken
Speaker 2: off for you?
Speaker 4: It's been amazing.
Speaker 3: I don't think we would have expected how successful it
Speaker 3: would have been. But you know, Lions fans are really
Speaker 3: passionate about Lions products, and this coffee represents I think
Speaker 3: you know Lions fans across the country. It's it's it's
Speaker 3: two really great coffees. It's a coffee from Brazil, coffee
Speaker 3: from Guatemala. It's it's a darker roast and holds up well.
Speaker 3: If you do enjoy coffee with cream or sugar, that's
Speaker 3: totally fine. The coffee works for that. But this this program,
Speaker 3: it's it's in Costco It's in the Myers so go
Speaker 3: go check it out. You'll see it all throughout Michigan.
Speaker 3: It's on the east side of the state in Detroit
Speaker 3: as well, so not just in the Grand Rapids area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's fantastic. How do you drink your coffee?
Speaker 4: By the way, I drink my coffee black?
Speaker 2: Ok.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll drink espress once in a while, just
Speaker 3: a shot of Espress one sip on that. But I'm
Speaker 3: I'm a black coffee drinker. I like it brewed a
Speaker 3: specific way. I brew it by hand, just like I
Speaker 3: brewed for Rob a little bit ago.
Speaker 2: So when you go into a restaurant, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: You order coffee, how judgy are you when that arrives?
Speaker 3: It's really it's really funny that you asked. I tried
Speaker 3: to say that I'm not judge you, but there is
Speaker 3: bad cobo there.
Speaker 2: So the other day I don't think you can help it. No,
Speaker 2: I'm serious, you.
Speaker 4: Can't I still order coffee.
Speaker 3: And if I go to somebody's house and they offered
Speaker 3: to brewy coffee, I'm gonna drink it.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna, you know.
Speaker 2: So you're you're not gonna say, come on.
Speaker 1: You get in the car and you and your wife
Speaker 1: are driving home and you say that was one bad,
Speaker 1: terrible couple.
Speaker 4: I have said that.
Speaker 2: Yeah of course, yeah, of course, because you know the
Speaker 2: difference the other day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I know that.
Speaker 3: Once you know the difference, Yeah, of course, you have
Speaker 3: your preferences, and it's hard to get away from that.
Speaker 4: But you know, I still drink bad coffee. We'll say that.
Speaker 2: Okay, Look, I think it's normal.
Speaker 1: I mean, when Rubs and I watch football together, he'll
Speaker 1: complain about a certain player. I'll complain about certain broadcasts.
Speaker 1: I just got done ripping on Colin Coward because of
Speaker 1: that take. He makes a hell of a lot more
Speaker 1: money than I do. But I can't help. But Judge,
Speaker 1: I don't blame you for judging coffee, especially when you're
Speaker 1: the master crafter and you make the type.
Speaker 2: Of joe that you do.
Speaker 1: So congratulations, man, it's great to be here, it's great
Speaker 1: to have you. We really enjoyed last night too. It's
Speaker 1: great that Marty pays for the dinner, but it really
Speaker 1: was enjoyable to sit down and watch and was busy
Speaker 1: with you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, thanks