![]() We enjoyed that free labor for several years. My folks were retired but came to work as free labor around 2009 since we could not afford help and we had more work than just to do it all ourselves. That crushed me at the time… I have since hired him back and recently he received his watch (we give an engraved Garmin watch to those who have worked with us for ten years) he is one of our longest-tenured employees. I had to let go of an employee with special needs. One of the lowest points of my life was when times were tight from the coffee pricing crisis. So ya, there have been some bumps in the road. We survived the housing market crisis and economic downturn, the worst coffee pricing crisis in the history of coffee in one of the most competitive businesses in existence. ![]() My wife and I survived off of her student loans, and my brother’s wife Patty had a job as an interior designer, so that brought some income to the group. We all moved in too low-income housing for the first two years of starting Coda. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you? We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. We set out to start a business that offers extraordinary customer service, amazing coffee, and having a business model with an emphasis on social and environmental responsibility. It was quite possibly the worst business decision anyone could ever make with their life savings, but our parents trusted us. ![]() He offered that to us as a three-way split for the business, and we took it and ran with it. Our dad was having some heart problems and had to retire early with not much to retire on. Fast forward to 2004, I was selling door to door life insurance and Tommy was selling subprime mortgages to get by. We had always talked about opening our own coffee roaster but didn’t have the means (money) necessary to do it. As the years went by we both attempted to get out of coffee but I guess fate brought us back in. I started roasting coffee in 1996, him in 94. We grew up in the Northwest and cut our teeth in coffee at a very young age. I started Coda in July of 2005 with my brother Tommy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. Thanks for sharing your story with us Tim. Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Thwaites.
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