Ashley Vasquez | Delivering Specialty Coffee with a Whimsical Spin
The owner of TBD Coffee Co. talks about how she went from working in advertising to launching her own online store.
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, TBD Coffee Co. owner Ashley Vasquez knew there would be an opportunity for her to find her own creative path and start her own business. With her parents owning a bar and her brother owning a logistics company, Vasquez knew that, eventually, she would find what her calling would be.
“I always knew, one day, I was going to do something that’s going to be my own thing, but I never knew what it was. I knew it wasn’t going to be taking over my parents’ bar – that was never in the cards for me or something I wanted to do. But it was going to be in that direction.”
It wasn’t until the 2020 pandemic when she discovered that she and her boyfriend would be running their own online coffee business, where each new flavor is different from the previous, and they all have different themes to go along with them.
“It’s meant to be reflective of our personalities. So, we’re not necessarily looking for, ‘What’s going on with other people? What are other people going to really want?’ It’s more like, ‘What are we laughing at right now? What are we talking about? What’s happening in our own lives?’ And I think that brings a sense of authenticity to it. If you see one of our bags and you laugh at it, you are likely pretty similar to us.”
TBD Coffee Co. was started by Vasquez and her boyfriend, Zachary Dripps. The two met the night before the world went into lockdown mode because of COVID. With mostly everything closed, the two came up with creative ways for other get-togethers such as hiking, bread-baking, and journaling. It was soon after they started dating that not only did they like being with each other, but they wanted to do something that would go beyond just one get-together.
“We wanted to do more of, instead of thinking of new ideas, just honing it into one idea and do something together. So, we decided, ‘Yeah, let’s funnel this into something that we can make a little bit longer term.’”
When one peruses the company’s website, they will come across, at the time of this writing, 13 different flavors that all have some unique theme attached to it. One flavor is labeled This Coffee Dated Pete Davidson, which is an organic, medium-dark roast that takes aim at the former “Saturday Night Live” star’s dating life. Another is labeled Per My Last E-mail, which is a dark, French-style roast that satirizes the scenario of having to answer the same co-worker’s question on more than one occasion.
Vasquez noted that she and her boyfriend, who does all of the artwork and videography for the company, wanted to bring more of a relatable factor to their specialty grade coffee and not just have a focus on one audience type.
“The audience is less about a one-size-fits-all demographic and more about people who enjoy quality craft coffee and humor and memes. A lot of times, when you see quality coffee operating at a higher price point, you generally get very polished, beautiful bags with beautiful artwork, but it’s generally a very solid color. Nothing against that, but there’s no additional art or whimsy to it. We marry the two where we’re still bringing you specialty grade, high-end coffee, but we’re making it whimsical. We’re making it fun.”
The beans acquired for TBD Coffee Co. come from a source that ensures they are from ethically-grown farms, Vasquez noted, and it helps with the company in building partnerships with those farms. Based in Los Angeles, California, both Vasquez and Dripps will make appearances at markets in the area. Vasquez said that there are no plans for a brick-and-mortar store, but they do hope to reach out to other consumers in other markets.
“We love to bounce around, we love to travel, we love to be out there meeting people. Instead of just posting up in this one spot and trying to get people to come to us, we are looking forward to finding people and going to them.”
At the time of the interview, Vasquez mentioned that the first market she and Dripps were going to look into was Las Vegas, Nevada, due to its close proximity.
“They have a lot of really fun, in-person events, and we love a good weekend in Vegas. It’s something we can test out before we invest too much into the market.”
But those looking into purchasing a bag of coffee from TBD Coffee Co. can still do so if they live within the United States. Vasquez noted that international shipping is not available, due to numerous barriers with customs, but they have been able to make it possible for past consumers in other countries who wanted their coffee. She also mentioned that the plan, for now, is to keep the shipping within the United States.
“It’s fun to ship around to the country but also, [we] want to be cognizant of lifting up coffee from other countries and buying it in your own country too. It gives it that shop local feel that we want to support.”
After spending a decade in the advertising industry, Vasquez was able to leave her job within one year of starting TBD Coffee Co. to continue running the business full time as her sole income. With her family history of entrepreneurship and having worked in her parents’ bar, Vasquez noted that there was a lot she was able to learn and apply to her own business to be successful in pursuing it full time. Outside of the behind-the-scenes business aspects, the biggest thing Vasquez noted is to ensure the customer is satisfied.
“I was raised to always believe that, you owe it to your customers to serve quality, have integrity, and to do it with a smile. If this is a business you want to be in, you are there to interact in a positive way and bring positivity to these peoples’ days. Show appreciation, show gratitude, and always understand that these are the people that are making your living.”
On the other side of that, Vasquez was also taught to treat employees well, too, she added.
“It’s the people within the company that my father and brother have always taught me to really take care of who’s working with you. Overpay your people, operate with integrity, operate in a mindset of, ‘How can we all win?’ Not just ‘How can I win and step on other people to get there?’”
When it comes to those who want to also be entrepreneurs, Vasquez noted that people shouldn’t be afraid to seek out the advice of those already in their network.
“So many people think that they’re bothering someone if they give them a call and pick their brain. But, I mean, look within, look at your own self when your friends call you and ask you for advice. Are you angry about it, or are you having a fun conversation? I think you’ll find that most people are pretty excited to have that conversation and share their expertise in whatever field that is.”
And it’s not just people who are already in the industry with which people want to pursue, Vasquez added, but also people that have experience in other fields such as digital marketing and entrepreneurship that will help in making your business successful.
“I probably talked to 50 different people my first two weeks of launching the company and it just gave me such a full picture. You don’t know what you don’t know. Being able to hear from your peers and get new advice, you don’t have to take every piece of advice, but open your mind and, at least, be willing to listen to it and at least go out there and try to get it.”
One of the things that holds people back from pursuing their own business is being able to break out of their comfort zone. Vasquez noted that, for her, it helped that her boyfriend has always been supportive and has helped with running the business.
“It felt like, with the two of us, we can push forward and just figure anything out. So, whether it’s a partner or a colleague or a friend or a family member, just having someone that you can bounce ideas off and just be really vulnerable with and throw some things at the wall that might be really bad and not work out or might be really creative and have some legs to it. Having that sound board can give you the confidence that you need to break out. So that helped me a ton.”
Vasquez added that, having Dripps be not just her business partner but also her life partner, has also strengthened their relationship.
“I think it brings more joy to both of our days throughout the day. It creates a special flow throughout our lives and it teaches communication skills in a way that you don’t always have to learn. It’s easy to fall into a trap of, ‘This is how I speak at work and with my colleagues and in a professional setting, and this is how I speak at home, and this is how I speak with my friends.’ I personally don’t enjoy living like that. I like to be my whole self all the time.”
It can be a challenge to speak the way you want to throughout the day, Vasquez added, but what she has learned is to look past the situation and look more into how she wants to communicate with people.
“That creates a communication style that’s really enjoyable, and then it’s like, I’m speaking to you not only as someone I deeply respect as a person, but also that I deeply respect in a professional setting. That, I think, is so creative and can output incredible work, but also, I know he makes a mean omelet. It creates this enjoyable, holistic self throughout the day.”
When walking away from her full-time advertising job to run TBD Coffee Co. full time, Vasquez mentioned it was “scary” to do so in the beginning. But it was also something she was passionate about, and she had to do a lot of self-reflection to determine if this was going to be her full-time job.
“There’s certainly risk involved. I would say [for others], get to a place where you feel comfortable taking that risk and confident in yourself that you can either make it work or land on your feet in some way. For me, it was looking within and seeing, ‘What is it that I really want? How do I actually want to feel every day? What do I need to get there? And if I can achieve those overarching goals for myself with this, OK, I am ready to take the risk.’”
To learn more about TBD Coffee Co., be sure to check out their official website.
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