OOH …Here’s One Thing  

 

by Jim Johnsen,
Managing Director, Johnsen, Fretty & Company

 

 

 

Black Coffee In Bed

 

Not sure about you, but I have had a hate love relationship with coffee most of my life.  I need it like a fix, but often it makes me feel like shit.  

Let me back up.  Saturday mornings.  Family breakfast at the age of 7.  My mom would let me have a little “coffee milk” so I could pretend I was just like the big guy in the family.   I then tried it without sugar once and I decided I would rather eat alpaca shit than drink it.  I swore it off to college until one night before a final someone said “have this, you’ll be able to stay away for a while and get ‘er done“.   I stayed awake for three traumatic days.  I can assure you, I didn’t get ‘er done.  Anyone ever hear of the caffeine sensitivity gene?  Turns out that is a thing- the ADORA2A gene.  

After that experience, I swore off coffee until I was 35.  Then two colliding events turned me into a coffee junkie.  1.  My newly first born decided to sleep all day and dance all night (well not dance but you know what I mean) and 2. I discovered Starbucks.  Ever go 24 hours with little sleep and then hit a venti dark, straight up, maybe with an extra shot?  That shite is magic.  

The rest is history as they say.  I now love coffee…and NEED it more than shoes.  Since my addiction is not going away anytime soon, over the years I have decided to get smarter about the product and ways of making it.  Sometimes I am in the mood for illy in a moka pot.  Although not a big fan of the cortado because milk or sugar in the coffee makes me feel like hell (as does low quality product like Folgers or Maxwell House).  I will say that after trying out all kinds of ways of making it, I can say for me the easiest, most consistent way to make a great cup of coffee is to make an americano in an aeropress (https://aeropress.com/) using 175 degree water and Kicking Horse Coffee – Organic Kick Ass Dark ground to an expresso grind (1 to 3 ratio btw).  

Okay Johnsen, where the fruitcake are you going with this one this week?  Well, other than hopefully motivating you to upgrade your coffee experience beyond the Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru (which tastes like dogshit in my humble opinion…sorry all you DD fanatics), while watching a recent video on why the entire world should start buying unroasted coffee (https://youtu.be/JaQNy0Ef4YY), I had an epiphany. 

Here it is.  While coffee might be one of the oldest “industries” in the world, with mass distribution going on for at least the last 500 years, it continues to evolve and innovate.  Even among one of the slowest growth commodities in the world, their are pockets of incredible growth.  Proctor & Gamble whiffed on Starbucks, right?  And Keurig absolutely crushed the single serve space, right?  Who knew guys that invented the Frisbee in the 1970’s would come up with a better way to brew coffee than experts who manufactured brew equipment for the past 50 years?  

That’s the wind up.  Here’s the pitch.  If it can be done in the staid, slow, boring coffee industry, why can’t it be done in the outdoor advertising business?  Branded Cities, Orange Barrel, New Tradition, Big Outdoor, WOW Media and a whole host of others, have recently proven tremendous and explosive opportunities are still there for the taking in the outdoor business. 

Challenge yourself to think about ways we can innovate like the coffee business in this Industry.  I am confident the next Starbucks or Keurig is around the corner.  

If nothing else this week, roast some of your own.

(I am awaiting my green coffee. so I can try my own roasting). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E7UMXN6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3PQQR3M24QAPJ&psc=1 

Challenge yourself to think about ways we can innovate like the coffee business in this Industry.  I am confident the next Starbucks or Keurig is around the corner.  IMHO…its never over!

Postscript: I also have a love hate relationship with SQUEEZE.  Easy on the ears and seemingly interesting.  Scratch the surface though and…

https://youtu.be/t9QZhLSKEps

Now she’s gone
And I’m back on the beat
A stain on my notebook
Says nothing to me
Now she’s gone
And I’m out with a friend
With lips full of passion
And coffee in bed

Jim Johnsen

 

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Securities transacted through StillPoint Capital Member firm FINRA/SiPC