Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Williams.
Hi Robert, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was introduced to the coffee industry through direct sales, working with a company called Organo Gold in 2011. I left the company in 2013, but alot of the skills i learned in sales, distribution & business building were ingrained in me at that company. I was able to work with sharp individuals and business strategist that helped grow me. Years later, the pandemic hit. The world shut down and just like everyone else, we were stuck at home. During that time in 2020, I had a strong desire to get back into coffee and I found inspiration from two black/minority owned coffee businesses. Black Gold (Dre Murray) and my favorite Cxffee Black. I would buy coffee from them online, and brew it at home in my French Press. As time went on, I felt God calling me to the coffee space in a more strategic roll, and that’s when I decided to start roasting coffee. I noticed that when it came to coffee shops, most shops in Houston sold South American, Central American, and African coffees. The locations chosen from Africa were normally Ethiopian, Burundi, Kenyan, and Tanzania. With this information, I did not want to repeat what the industry was already doing and be put in a box where I had to compete. So one day, I was at home thinking about what country in Africa would I highlight as a roaster, and I heard a loud voice (had to be God) tell me to choose the country of Rwanda to build my coffee roasting business. I then connected with Delvin Stern at Equitorial Coffee Consultants to get some Rwandan Green to start roasting. Delvin secured 3: 150g-200g sample bags to sample roast. As a married man, and father of two beautiful girls, I did not have the income to purchase a commercial roaster and I also did not want to go into astronomical debt to start my business. I tried roasting the coffee in my skillet but it took to long. So I figured to try my conventional oven at home. I burned my first batch, the second batch was decent, but my third batch was the charm. I let my wife try it (Who did NOT drink coffee) and she loved it, and that’s when I made the decision to go into business. I reached out to Delvin for 15 pounds of Rwandan green, and we soft launched on April 8th 2021. I reached out to some of my family and church members to support me, and I sold out of all of my coffee by that Saturday, April 11th, before anyone had even tried the coffee. I took the profits and purchased 50+lbs of Rwandan green from Equatorial Coffee Consultants, and 22 pounds of Guatemalan green from Amazon and we officially launched as Dad Coffee Company on May 1st. 2021. I was blessed to sell out of my coffee by October 2021. All of my orders were roasted by me, packaged and distributed by me and my wife. The first 95 orders I made were all roasted by me in my oven at home. While that was great, I was not ready for what would happen next. The gas from the roasting at home was actually causing my youngest daughter and I health problems over time. We both ended up dealing with Nocturnal asthma, very similar to Bronchitis. Her and I would cough throughout the night constantly, so my wife and I decided to shut the business down. However, God had other plans and I met some individuals who would not only help me keep my business going, but they would also become extremely pivotal to my success today. I met Bartholomew, owner of Cxffee Black. Bart was doing a pop-up at Blacksmith in Houston one morning, and was having dinner at the Rice Box in Houston with friends. I reached out to Bart and asked if I could pull-up and he said cool. That night at the rice box changed my life and my family’s life. Bart gave me the floor to share my story in front of David Buehrer, Antoine, and other coffee friends. At the time, Antoine also known as Twiz was working at Blacksmith. Twiz didn’t know I was considering to shut the business down, but He heard my story and decided to give me a HotTop coffee roaster that would give me the ability to roast outside the house instead of inside, and it catapulted my business. The HotTop machine was $1,800 dollars and I was saving up to buy it, but Twiz gave me one for free. I owe him, and the Greenway Coffee family so much. Since then, Twiz, David Buehrer (Greenway Coffee Company), David Rodriguez (Tipping Point), Boudreaux (BOOS Burgers), and the Cxffee black family have mentored and supported me in all I do, and I’m extremely thankful to God for them. The Tipping Point squad allowed me to do my first coffee shop takeover in Houston. David Buerher allowed me to have a Rwandan coffee Tasting at the Greenway Coffee Warehouse for my 40th Birthday, Bart from Cxffee Black is my brother, David Rodriguez and Boudreaux have inspired me through conversation and work ethic. David Buehrer and Antoine also trained me and gave me the barista skills to get my 1st coffee job. All of these guys have been the greatest support and influence in my coffee journey, and I will forever have love for them cats. Always. I also secured my 1st Pop-Up with Ella Russell, owner of Crumbville / Edubalicious treats, a bakery based in 3rd ward. Her kindness and trust in my brand was such a huge help to me, and she has become family to me. To fast forward, I now my have my own personal connection to ethical, vertically integrated Rwandan green coffee with/ through Umuko Coffee. I’ve been working with them for 4 years now, and all of the money I spend with them goes to help single mom’s who work on the coffee farms that they own in Rwanda. Christopher and Valentin (Brothers and Rwandan natives) have supported me with top notch Rwandan green on a consistent basis and they are one of the main reasons I have been successful over the years. They have supreme quality coffee and top tier business practices. Due to the broadness of my company name as “D.A.D. Coffee company” I changed the name to Padiri Coffee Company 2-3 years ago, and now we function as Padiri Coffee Lab. Padiri, (pronounced Puh- Di-ree) in the kinyarwandan toungue means “Father” like minister or pastor. I feel the Lord is a part of everything I do, and we use a Rwandan based bean for our business so it fits perfect and still has a Dad Coffee Company vibe. The idea of our company as a whole is “To use coffee as a tool to love our neighbor as ourself”, but our slogan is “Houston Culture In a Cup”. That’s how I came up with my 2 blends “Draped & Dripped” blend (Rwanda X Ethiopia) and “Double Cup” blend (Rwandan Natural X Rwandan Peaberry) – with Flavor notes of blueberry and grape soda. I was raised on the southside of Houston, Texas. South Acres to be exact, a walking distance to Sunnyside. I grew up during the Screwed Up Click era and did hooks for the D-Boys in my hood during my college years at TSU. Houston has been a part of my life, my style, my talk, my walk and playa made mentality. Doing this interview for Voyage Houston is a dream come true. I recently moved to North Carolina to embark on ministry calling and business opportunities. I work mostly now as a what I call a “coffee connector”. I am an affiliate partner with Matriarch Coffee, a Rwandan Coffee shop based in Baltimore (Which also owns Umuko Coffee). They were gracious enough to partner with me to continue our business relationship that started with Umoko Coffee and give me the ability to still promote Rwandan coffee while I transition from a more relaxed phase to finding new opportunities in the coffee space to start back roasting and sharing Rwandan coffee with the world. However, Houston is always a part of how I do coffee, forever. I love my city, my people, my H-Tine family, and my H-Tine potnas. Regardless of where I stay, or where I’m located, I’ma stay showing naked for the home team. It’s South Sil Fa Lil, for life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely wasn’t a smooth road but my business mentors and colleagues helped it flow better. God put all of these people in my life as a blessing to me and my business.
Struggles along the way…..
-The cost of shipping and distribution is always a struggle as a small business owner.
-Due to me being a sensory roaster and coming into the game self-taught I struggled with impostor syndrome, but I learned from my mentors to just continue to do me and strive forward.
-Family and business balance was a struggle at times. My wife and kids have been extremely helpful and encouraging during the transition.
-There is a lot of gatekeeping in the coffee game, it’s difficult to get into certain circles, but the support from my friends and family have helped me keep the faith and opened doors for me.
-There will always be people that copy your style when you are unique, but they won’t give you the credit. Keep Building though.
-The coffee game within itself can be really trash at times, and hurtful. Keep building though.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Padiri Coffee Company/Padiri Coffee Lab?
We Use coffee as a tool to love our neighbor as ourselves. Coffee isn’t just a business opportunity to make money, it’s deeper than that. We love building with people, and in our eyes, coffee is the best way to do it. We serve ethically sourced Rwandan coffee and we do this to glorify God in all we do by building relationships with all types of individuals through coffee. We specialize in the idea of “Houston Culture In a Cup”. That means throughout our business branding and coffee ideas, you will hear or see some Houston flavor or culture attached. What separates us, is that when it comes to Houston culture we represent it with our language, brand colors, marketing and promotion in an authentic way. We don’t play Houston or treat it like a badge to promote in certain spaces for clout, we are Houston culture in a cup for real. What else separates us, we exclusively serve Rwandan coffee. From Rwandan Natural, Washed, Honey, Peaberry, and Anaerobic, as well as the cold brew. This is done through our partnership with Matriarch Coffee. We are proud to offeer and connect others to ethically sourced coffee with a purpose. The money we spend with Umuko, and Matriarch go to help single moms provide for their families. At the moment, Matriarch Coffee is working to build a living facility for nursing mothers and those working on coffee farms in Rwanda to support them in more ways than one. They aren’t just employing single moms, but they are also giving them somewhere to stay with ideal conditions and amenitites that can help them thrive in work and be able to take care of their families at the same time. Our money goes to Rwanda, no several middle men or corporations. Our money is attached to the infrastucture of supporting African people and African businesses.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
1. Faith in Christ Jesus. 2. Real authentic friends and solid mentors. 3. My upbringing, and my family support system. I grew up without my father and my momma raised me and my brother. She taught us to work hard for everything, never forget where we came from, and never forget that God is the one who brought us to this point. 4. My H-Tine flavor. Growing up in Houston taught me how to work hard, be myself, and not be afraid to stand out or stand alone, It’s the identity of my hustle and hard work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://padiricoffeelab.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/padiricoffeelab
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PadiriCoffeeLab
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tramaynesmusic
