Today we’d like to introduce you to Rose White.
Hi Rose, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Craig and I met in Los Angeles, California in 2014. We were coaching CrossFit which allowed us to work with people and make them happy which is what we love to do, but we were both interested in starting our own business. I moved to a small town in Oregon with Craig in 2016 for a few months and he taught me all about drive-thru coffee. He had been working in the business since he was 16 and he would literally light up when he talked about it. I was amazed when I saw how many drive-thru coffee shops there were out in the pacific northwest. I’m from Pennsylvania so growing up, it was either Starbucks or Dunkin if you wanted coffee.
Craigs passion for the business was contagious and I knew starting Cali with him was exactly what I wanted to do. I had a lot to learn but I couldn’t have had a better partner. I look up to Craig in every way and I would do anything for him, he’s the love of my life.
We decided to bring the concept of drive-thru coffee to Florida because we knew there was an untapped market down here. Thankfully, our amazing families believed in our crazy idea to move across the country and start a business together. They have been nothing but supportive in every way, and it’s because of them we were able to get our first store opened.
It was hard at first getting people to understand what we were about, but eventually people started catching on and we took off. Taking the time to truly get to know our customers is what sets us apart.
We used to lay in bed and quiz one another about our customers. We would say “what’s the person’s name who drives the red Honda and drinks a medium iced Hollywood?”
We are obsessed with knowing every little detail about our customers because we are nothing without them.
Craig and I worked 17 hour days for 156 days straight before taking a break. We only had one employee for the first few weeks, and three years later, we have almost 70.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No successful business gets by without some bumps along the way. We had to teach ourselves everything, way more than just making coffee. It took over a year to get our permit to build our first location, so we would drive to the city ourselves and do whatever we could to get things moving.
During construction on Hollywood, we would help in any way we could. We even looked up on YouTube how to build our walk-in-cooler because we couldn’t find a contractor to do it.
Finding the right type of employees is also challenging but our team is incredible!!! It’s hard to find teenagers/20-somethings that are able to have genuine conversations with people nowadays because of technology and social media. But our staff is so unique and they all care about our customers so much. Cali would be nothing without them!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Cali Coffee?
Cali Coffee is hard to describe because it’s not a product, it’s an experience. We are dedicated to making the 5 minutes that customer is with us the best part of their day. We know customer’s names, their kid’s name, their dog’s names, and what they do for work.
We are there to celebrate the good times in their life (weddings, prom, birthdays, promotions), but we are also there to listen and do what we can to help when life gets hard.
Our drinks are fun and creative and the environment is not intimidating like a lot of coffee shops can sometimes be. We encourage people to customize drinks and we love to blast the music and give out lollipops and pup cups!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I graduated from USC with a degree in Kinesiology, which I of course did not end up using in the long run, but it led me to coaching for a few years which is how I met Craig. Everything happens for a reason.
Contact Info:
- Email: calicoffee@calicoffee.com
- Website: calicoffee.com
- Instagram: @calicoffeeofficial
