#i have a lot of feels about kc employees but that’s another post
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Entry Twenty - Saturday, January 28 2023
It has officially been the longest I’ve gone between the posts, over a year at this point. A decent amount has changed since December 2021 when I last updated this thing. I finally actually moved to KC since my time in Manhattan came to an end and I started a new job a few weeks ago. I’m still definitely depressed, but being in somewhere with plenty to do and tons of friends has made me probably the happiest I’ve been in a long time. Having a more regular schedule has also helped, since I don’t have to drive four hours round trip to another city for work now that I actually live here. I live by myself now which is a huge plus. I loved my old roommates but living alone is much more ideal for just how I am as a person. I play magic basically every week in person at this point which is fucking awesome, this game is so much fun and so many cool people play it. I was skimming the post before this and talked a lot about just starting my first actual corporate level job so I’ll touch on that again. First thing’s first, working from home is infinitely better than being in office. Being able to just fuck around when I have down time is a huge plus for me, along with just being able to get out of bed later than normal, etc. If you get a job that requires you to work in office more than like one day a week after an initial training period look for other options unless you really like being in office for some reason. Also onto the big news of me starting a new job. It seems like I didn’t really go into specifics about what exactly my job was in the previous post, so I’ll continue that trend here. I left my old job for a myriad of reasons, being things like pay, benefits, number of days per week in office, etc. I liked most of my coworkers and the handful of you that I was/am actual friends with know who you are and are the reason I stayed as long as I did. The breaking point for me was when I got to my end of year review and earned a very high rating and was told I basically do everything above average, especially for only being in industry for a year, and they gave be a forty-one cent an hour raise from $20.50 to $20.91. I asked my supervisor if there was any way to get more because of my performance (for reference people who got at or below average got the same percentage increase as I did), and they basically spent an hour talking in circles about company policy, there’s nothing they can do, blah blah blah. So I immediately updated my LinkedIn and started looking for new jobs. Low and behold, there’s a company in the same industry half that is half the drive time from my apartment to my old job, has better benefits, offered me $55k/year starting (about $27/hour), and also I was going to get to learn how to do things I had been wanting to learn about for a pretty significant portion of my time at the old job. The only downside was saying goodbye to some of my customers and a handful of coworkers who I do still miss seeing on a regular basis. From what I’ve been told though, some of the people I did say goodbye to were able to get a pretty good raise because another one of the more competent employees left about the same time I did, so it’s not all bad I guess. I truly am probably the happiest on a day to day basis that I’ve been in a long time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have bad days. Today started out pretty good, I went thrifting with a friend I haven’t hung out with in months and got some good stuff. We also got some solid Chinese food (the crab rangoon was solid and the general tso’s was ok but still good). I got home and wanted to take a nap since I didn’t get much sleep last night but that just didn’t happen and I think that’s why I feel as shitty as I do right now. Being tired and the coming down from spending most of a Friday evening with a lot of friends and then immediately getting up and going to hang out with another friend the following morning can hit pretty hard. I’m hoping to sleep like a damn rock tonight but I know that’s not going to happen since I don’t every get good sleep, but hey who knows. Either way, I’m going to try and go to bed now so it’s ya boi, AW, signing off.
P.S. it seems like I’ve been pretty hit or miss with using the tags, so I’m going to just stop using them entirely. It’s a lot of work and I just don’t feel like it lol.
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Women and Nonbinary People in Information Security
I’ve got great news for you! My interview series continues.
Last week, I spoke with Nicola Whiting, cyber hygiene specialist, and Titania Chief Strategy Officer.
This time, I had the privilege of speaking with defensive security expert Liz Bell. We talked about the 90s internet, blue teaming, sexism and transphobia in tech as well as what pen testing can teach you about defensive security.
Kim Crawley: Please tell me a bit about yourself and what you do.
Liz Bell: I work for a cybersecurity defense company that provides network monitoring and response tools for customers in the finance, government, and energy sectors. I work on the internal monitoring team, which means I help keep our own networks safe. Before that, I worked in penetration testing punctuated with some time in academia doing research on applying machine learning techniques to attacking ciphers, and before that, I was a software engineer. I’ve been interested in security since I was little, though. Being lucky enough to have grown up with the web, I just caught the tail end of the BBS era, and so I got to see security start to become something people actually took seriously. Being curious, my general instinct was to find ways to circumvent limitations. Now I get to spot people trying to do those same things.
KC: It sounds like you’ve been online since the 90s. I’ve been online since 1994. Is there anything about the 90s internet that you miss these days?
LB: There are a few things that I’m kind of nostalgic about like MSN chat rooms, hearing my phone sing the internet song to the gateway, downloading Win32 viruses from Napster and Limewire, earning badges and posting angsty poetry on Bolt.com, but I think the main thing I miss is the openness and generosity of the web back then. These days, it feels like, if you’re fortunate, you have a series of walled gardens, and if you’re not, you’re facing a never-ending stream of racist/homophobic/transphobic content and intrusive adtech.
KC: You mentioned P2P malware, which is still a problem these days. How do you think online cybersecurity challenges are different now compared to back then?
LB: I think a major difference between then and now, if not the main difference, is money. Once we started being able to shop and bank online, users became a good target for scammers, extortionists and other organized crime groups. Not to mention the environment is now extremely different; a lot of people now have a lot of their lives stored in phones, tablets, and laptops, and some of those also end up connecting to corporate or industrial networks. For organizations, this means that just defining what your network perimeter is can sometimes be impossible.
As far as national security is concerned, the public at large has become much more aware of the scale of state-level activities on communication networks, much more than when the ECHELON disclosures happened, as far as I can tell. I think that has also led to something of a change in what people’s threat model looks like.
KC: Echelon! I knew someone who worked at Lawrence Livermore back in the day, apparently on that particular project.
LB: That’s awesome! I work with a lot of former IC and .mil people who I understand have probably been involved in a lot of things that would make for extremely interesting conversations, but alas, I’m not cleared.
KC: How has your penetration testing experience helped you with your blue teamwork?
LB: It’s a big help. Understanding the different kinds of techniques and tools used by adversaries to compromise accounts, intercept traffic or steal data means I have more of an ability to spot patterns or suspicious outliers in our sensor data. Likewise, seeing how blue teams operate makes me better at doing the offensive work or, at least, doing it in a way that’s less likely to get me caught! I’m increasingly a proponent of getting the red team and blue team members to trade sides occasionally or work together to have a better understanding of how the other side operates.
KC: Has sexism ever been a challenge in your career?
LB: Honestly, I don’t know. When I first started, I hadn’t transitioned yet, and so I was perceived as an (effeminate, not assertive) man, and so presumably I benefited from that when it came to getting my career started. At a previous employer, after transitioning, I was the only female penetration tester in the office, the only woman I knew of working in a technical role, and the only out queer person, and I started getting more complaints about my performance. I ultimately ended up leaving, and it definitely became harder to find work afterward, but then again, what I was looking for was pretty specific. I’m lucky enough to have been hired by a woman and be managed by a woman, in my current role, even though the team is still largely white cisgender straight men.
KC: Well, you’re not the first transgender woman I’ve interviewed in this series. I’m happy to see more transgender people in cybersecurity.
LB: I actually applied to the place I’m working at now because a good friend of mine, who’s also trans, worked there. It was an incredible privilege to go from this extremely homogenous environment to getting to work professionally in information security with another queer trans woman.
KC: Is there anything you miss about your pen testing days?
LB: I do miss the “let’s be evil” feeling, sometimes and the interaction with external clients from all kinds of different industries. My job now has maybe a little less variety, but I get to stick with projects longer, and being an investigator definitely makes up for not getting to pretend to be a criminal anymore!
KC: I have spoken to Defensive Security Handbook authors Ian Brotherston and Amanda Berlin, who believe that defensive security is underrated in our field. Do you agree?
LB: I think that offensive security gets a lot of the glamor, but penetration testing is really only a small piece of what keeps users safe. Blue team folks definitely don’t get nearly enough credit or support; offensive security people need to only find one problem, but defensive security practitioners can’t make a single mistake.
KC: Do you think a lot of organizations overlook defensive security?
LB: In my experience, a lot of organizations tend to maybe focus on the wrong things: or rather, they optimize for meeting regulatory requirements. Rules say they need a firewall and quarterly penetration tests, so they buy a firewall and contract the tests out. Security should be baked in everywhere; into the software development lifecycle, the monitoring and maintenance of the corporate network, training of new employees and continuous training of your existing staff and even how the organization interacts with suppliers. The line between ‘defensive information security’ and ‘physical security’ gets fuzzy, and I don’t know if many organizations prioritize either at sufficiently many levels of the stack.
KC: I’ve learned a lot from you. Do you have anything else you’d like to add before we go, Liz?
LB: I think it might be worth mentioning that machine learning is increasingly something people are exploring in both the defensive and offensive information security space, and in order to both defend against robot hackers and defeat Skynet, or build either, it helps to have that blended blue and red team exposure. Otherwise, thank you so much for your work here boosting not-male voices!
Technical Dr. Inc.'s insight:
Contact Details :
[email protected] or 877-910-0004
www.technicaldr.com
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Plowboys Barbecue
Ben:
The night we went to Plowboys we had a plan. And, if I can pat myself on the back a bit, everything went according to that plan. On Friday after work, we were going to meet at my apartment and enjoy a handful of craft beers while we designed and ordered business cards for the blog. Yes… business cards. (How we’re going to turn this thing into a “business” is something we can figure out down the road, right?). From there, we’d head out to Plowboys -- a short drive from my apartment -- and from Plowboys we’d hit the town (i.e. our favorite Westport watering hole).
Leo arrived to my place after work, greeted Gracie, we designed and ordered business cards (which turned out well!), guzzled a couple beers, walked Gracie, and just like that we were set to embark on yet another barbecue feast.
Plowboys is not a little roadside shack. It doesn’t have the feel of a backyard barbecue. Instead, Plowboys is smack in the middle of the Power and Light District in downtown Kansas City on the first floor of an office building. In that sense, Plowboys is an atypical barbecue joint. But while it may be atypical, it highlights something I’ve written several times on this barbecue journey: Kansas City barbecue comes in all different shapes, sizes, locations, buildings and atmospheres. It would be foolish to dismiss Plowboys just because it has a clean cut, modern look to it.
Inside, Plowboys has a clean and efficient feel to it -- the type of place I imagine moves tons of meat over a busy lunch hour. It’s counter service, and it’s the kind where you watch your order be assembled in front of you -- always a plus for me.
As Leo ordered, I noticed Plowboys rather large trophy cabinet; Plowboys appears to compete regularly in barbecue competitions, and certainly takes home the hardware. And later, while we were eating, I spotted a wall of ribbons and awards Plowboys had won. We haven’t yet dipped our toes into the competition barbecue scene, but I can only assume there’s no way Plowboys is producing mediocre barbecue with such an extensive competition track record.
I ordered burnt ends and sausage -- two meats I’m starting to realize are likely my favorite picks at barbecue joints. For my sides, I settled on baked beans (they call them “pit beans,” here) and, at the urging of the woman behind the counter, cheesy potatoes.
My order came neatly presented on a square tray -- the burnt ends and sausage orderly packed on top of a slice of Texas toast, the sides in individual bowls on the side. The presentation falls in line with Plowboys’ neat and clean aesthetic; this isn’t he huge pile of meat and sides on top of a styrofoam plate you’ll get elsewhere.
Before I dug in, I took the time to each of Plowboys’ four sauces: original, sweet, hot, and extra hot. Leo and I decided that each sauce seemed to build on the other. The original is on the thin side and extra tangy, the sweet a bit thicker, the hot a bit hotter (duh), and for my money the extra hot was the best sauce of the four. It wasn’t overpowering spicy in any sense. Rather, it was just as much sweet as it was spicy, and certainly one of my favorite sauces I’ve tried so far. The combination of sweet and spicy, all with tang of the original sauce was a perfect complement for the meat.
And let’s get to those meats. The burnt ends were the star. I think what makes a truly perfect burnt end is that mixture of extra smokey char and extra tender fat put together into one bite. Plowboys’ burnt ends nailed this mixture: each perfectly portioned burnt end had a full edge of char along with a healthy serving of fat. There’s a real attention to detail at Plowboys, and it showed through on their burnt ends, which were by far the best thing I ate all week.
The sausage was a classic-style sausage, with a finely ground filling bursting with flavor. Like any good sausage, it doesn’t need any barbecue sauce, but I found it paired exceptionally well with Plowboys’ extra hot sauce.
The “pit beans” were not on the thick side, but still packed with chunks of meat. And the cheesy potatoes were a wise choice; I’m glad I followed the employee’s advice. Cheesy potatoes are something I wouldn’t mind seeing at more barbecue joints. I mean… you have your cheese, you have your potatoes… what’s the hold up? It’s an ideal side for a barbecue feast. In any event, Plowboys nailed them.
As we wrapped up our meal, Leo and I had the same conversation I feel like we have every week: “I’m surprised by how good this place is.” Plowboys is almost hidden in plain sight. It’s in one of the busiest parts of the city, but because it’s not a typical roadside shack, it’s easy to overlook it. But I’m telling you now: don’t make that mistake. Plowboys must not be slept on.
From Plowboys, our plan continued on with great success. We drank well into the night (ok, until about 11:00, I think), successfully sated with a layer of exceptional barbecue lining our stomachs.
Leo:
Get the pulled pork!
I think my favorite time to eat barbeque is after a long day at work. And don’t Fridays just tend to drag on with all of the anticipation for the weekend? This Friday was no exception and I also had evening barbeque to look forward to, so this Friday went particularly slow. But, as all things, work came to an end and I headed over to Ben’s apartment.
We had been talking about designing business cards for a hot minute. We had gotten to the point where we had several posts on the blog and we felt that it would be a good time to start being a bit more proactive in letting people know what we were doing. And it is always super fun to design business cards!
A shout out to Office Depot because it has a ton of business card options and you can get fifty business cards for $10. It took us about an hour, but we both now have business cards, making Two Guys Try BBQ an official thing (but you already knew that!). So, if you see us, ask us for a business card, they are super snazzy. With the residual excitement from designing business cards and the upcoming expectation of great barbeque, we headed to downtown Kansas City to try out Plowboys.
I didn’t know what to expect from a barbeque restaurant in downtown Kansas City. I expected new and shiny, but is that really good for a barbeque restaurant? I mean how can you build up years of flavor in a smoker if you are a new and shiny barbeque restaurant? Also, downtown tends to be much more expensive than the rest of the city, so I was a little worried about how much this was going to cost me. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about!
I don’t like parking. I am an absolute horrendous parallel parker (I had about 10 feet to parallel park my little Kia Rio (her name is Isabella) at Ben’s apartment and I was all up on the curb). And downtown parking garages tend to be a tad expensive, especially on Friday night. There was a parking garage next to Plowboys that was reasonably priced for the weekend ($4 if we were out within an hour). But the first four floors were all reserved for other businesses! I’ll admit, the parking spot I ended up taking on the fifth floor was reserved as well, but I was over looking for a spot and it was about 7pm on a weekend; I didn’t think anyone would mind.
We went down to ground level and crossed over to Plowboys, which wasn’t too busy. As we walked in, the restaurant was shiny and new, but the smell was aged and flavorful! We walked up to the counter (you get to watch them make your food) and decided what to order. I went with the Royal Crown Combo because I’m fancy like that: four ribs, pork, brisket, and two sides (beans and cheesy potatoes). The woman plating our food did such a wonderful job cutting up our food and organizing it on the tray (the OCD part of me, really enjoyed that organization!). And for all that food, it turned out to not be too terribly expensive; both Ben and I got out of there for under $20.
The first thing that I’ve taken to doing now if I don’t get fries, is to dip the bread that invariably comes with the meal in the sauces to see which one(s) I like the best. Plowboys has four different sauces: KC Crossroads, Sweet 180, Spicy, and En Fuego Spicy. Ben and I talked and it seems like Plowboys made KC Crossroads first (it is vinegary and less sweet) and then they made the Sweet 180 that was a sweet version of the KC Crossroads. Then, the Spicy (a spicy version of the KC Crossroads) and En Fuego Spicy, which was a spicy version of the Sweet 180. I liked them all, but my favorite were the KC Crossroads and the Spicy. Ben liked the sweeter sauces.
So, I put a generous helping of KC Crossroads and the Spicy sauce on my tray and began to eat. The ribs and the brisket were of excellent quality and I highly recommend them. But the pulled pork…that was my jam. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it is the best pulled pork that I have ever had. Unlike a lot of “pulled” meats that I’ve had before, it was still very moist. It also had a ton of taste: kind of a saltiness mixed with a smokiness. Because it was so moist, it was good with or without sauce, but I thought the KC Crossroads and the Spicy sauces really complimented the pulled pork well.
I gave Ben some of the pulled pork and he agreed with my assessment of its greatness. He let me have a burnt end and it was flavor packed. Both the burnt end I tried and the ribs had a nice crust over tender meat that just absorbed the smoke and the flavor from the smoker. This is starting to be a common theme among the great barbeque that we’ve had and it makes sense why burnt ends have become such a sensation in Kansas City.
As we finished a truly delightful meal, we admired all of the ribbons that Plowboys had one in various barbeque competitions. With such great barbeque, I could understand why! So, if you are in downtown Kansas City for business or pleasure, I highly recommend stopping by Plowboys. In fact, you should figure out a reason to go downtown so that you can eat at Plowboys! One quick word of caution: Plowboys does have some odd hours, so I’d double-check before you head out to make sure that it will be open when you get there.
Another fantastic barbeque experience in Kansas City! I hope that you are hungry and I hope that you are encouraged to get out there and try some new barbeque!!!
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Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
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Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
from FEED 9 MARKETING http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
0 notes
Text
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
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Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love?
Cold Beer, Strollers, and Craft Draft Hipsters – What’s not to love? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Today I’m thrilled to share the story of my long-time friend and Kansas Citian John Couture who is the founder of the Bier Station, as a part of the “Amex Welcomed” program with @americanexpress, which is showcasing the people behind our favorite local businesses that welcome Amex. Did you know that over 8,000 more places in the Kansas City area started accepting American Express® Cards in 2016?
I first met John when he was a high school student working at a local video rental store. (Remember those?)
A few years later, John and his business partner, Dan Kiefer, created Bier Station, one of the most successful neighborhood beer bar and store concepts in the nation. Bier Station routinely makes top 100 lists and best of state lists from sites like Thrillist.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Before Couture could realize his entrepreneurial dream, he had to get a local and state ordinance changed for his concept of a combined neighborhood bar and retail bottle shop.
To make his concept viable in KC, Couture hired an area law firm to help lobby the City Council to change tavern licensing. He also had to secure written consent from a majority of the property owners within a certain radius of the business – a door-to-door errand at best.
In this interview, Couture shares a bit of what he’s learned and gained along the path of building a wildly successful small, local business.
To me, the biggest takeaway from my time with John is when he talks about what they look for in employees. In the beginning, they looked for people who were very knowledgeable about craft beer but found they could teach that knowledge. Instead, they look for people who love serving and being a part of the business. You can’t teach kindness, positivity, and can-do attitude, but turns out you can teach the meaning of IBUs. Cheers!
Questions John J: I am talking with John Couture, -founder of Bier Station. Tell us a little bit about Bier Station.
Answers John C: Bier Station is the Midwest’s first craft beer tasting bar and bottle shop. Essentially this is a concept that was started on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine a packaged beer store with coolers, blended with a regular pub that has taps and food, you get kind of an idea of what we are.
Q: What makes this place special?
A: We have won quite a few national beer awards and we have the vibe of a neighborhood pub. We attract a lot of people from around the neighborhood who push a stroller here and stop in for a sandwich and a beer with their kids. It’s a very unpretentious, almost like a European coffee shop style vibe. At the same time, we have a national reputation and attract people I would call “beer tourists.” Being a neighborhood beer bar with a national reputation is what I would say sets us apart.
Q: Would you say that that neighborhood family feel is something that was intentional from the very beginning?
A: Absolutely. When we opened the store, my kids were about two and four years old. My kids go to school right up the street and one of the dreams I had for opening my own business (once I got past the sheer terror of starting a business and working 23 hours a day) is that someday my kids could walk down after school and have a pretzel and do their homework here. I wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable coming here with their kids.
Q: What has been the hardest about growing a business?
A: Probably paperwork. Sitting next to me is a six or seven-inch stack of envelopes that I was trying to get through today. There’s so much busy work when you’re running a business that you wonder where the day went. When people ask you how you spend your time, I just say, “I’m just busy.”
Q: What’s been your secret to getting people that fit into the culture of your business?
A: When we first started out, we were really hyper-focused on making sure we had people who knew as much as possible about craft beer. I think one thing I’ve learned is that we’ve had better experiences hiring people that are just good people, that are fun to work with and take their job seriously and work hard, but are willing to learn.
Q: What’s the most fun about what you do?
A: It’s still work, for sure. You have some tough days, but, it ultimately does feel like you’re kind of hanging out with friends. We all get along really well. A lot of our staff hangs out outside of work, which always is a great indicator.
Q: How do you fight the grind of it to stay motivated and inspired?
A: You’ve got to always stay fresh. We never want to rest on our laurels. One thing we’ve done this year is another extension of what I believe in – trying to give back to the community. This year we’ve been doing a lot of fundraisers. We partner with breweries and they donate a keg and we donate the proceeds from that keg to a positive choice. We’ve raised about $70,000 for about 15 or 20 charities so far this year.
Q: Do you have any people that you would call mentors?
A: Jill Green was my business coach. I went through the Kaufman Urban Entrepreneur Program. She has opened up Outback Steakhouses in new markets. So, she knows restaurants. She really gave me the confidence to believe that we could actually make it work. She believed in us and helped me develop the business plans.
Also, John McDonald from Boulevard Brewing. He really believed in our concept. He saw how much we cared about beer and he gave us some amazing suggestions. He also donated the labor for his top draft technician, who’s one of the best people in the Midwest at that, to help us build out our tap wall. I come from a family of two Catholic high school teachers. We didn’t have unlimited means. We really had to stretch our budget to open and he saw that we needed some help and helped us out. We’ll never forget that.
Q: Where are you on the path to world domination?
A: You know it’s funny, my business partner and I have talked about opening up a second location. I think a lot of people stumble by assuming it’s easy to open up a second location if the first one is successful. Honestly, for right now I think we’re good with one. I’m supporting my family. Our staff seems happy. My business partner and I are happy. We’re not greedy. I think that we might be happy just having our piece of Kansas City for now.
“This post is sponsored by American Express, but all opinions are my own.”
http://ift.tt/2wf2rGf
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