We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor Fields and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I view risk as one of the most fundamental elements needed to achieve progress, knowledge and a successful life and career. I have certainly never been a stranger to taking risks as I learned early on that the true risk in life is not taking any risks at all! Without taking risks, my growth would be limited, and my life would be much less fulfilling than it currently is! That’s not to say that I blindly take all risks and ignore the consequences or underestimate the potential downside. To most, it would seem obvious that taking a risk always ends in one of two outcomes- failure or success. It is this 50/50, black and white mentality that causes so many people to ultimately become risk-averse. What allowed me to begin taking more risks and end-up where I am today was by changing the way I approach these possible adverse outcomes. For example, when I take a risk and I fail at my ultimate goal, this is not simply a failure; but rather, it is an essential part of my personal and business growth cycle. Not achieving my initial goal allows for new opportunities and forces me to rethink the problem I am facing and ultimately become more successful. One of the largest risks I ever took was changing my career from a successful CPA to starting a mobile coffee shop! However, I think this is a great opportunity to discuss one of the biggest risks our business took recently. In February of 2020, our mobile café business was booming. We had a few fulltime new hires on the way and we had a huge 6-month gig starting up in May that would require some enormous capital expenditures. This would include major adjustments to the set-up of the café including the purchase of a more powerful espresso machine & generator. We needed to make these investments by the end of February in order to make sure we could meet our new demand come May. There was a major risk though; if we made the required investments in February to meet the demand in May, we could be left high and dry if something happened and our 6-month gig was canceled. This was definitely a concern, but we ultimately made the investments as we did not see the downside as a true loss. Rather, we would simply be speeding up our timeline for the necessary improvements to grow our business regardless of the 6-month gig. The other risk we weighed was if we had waited until early April to make the investment. If we had waited, there was a real potential we would not be able to get everything working in time for the gig in May and then we would lose not only revenue but customer confidence. With that in mind, we went forward with nearly $30,000 in capital expenses in February! As we all now know, that worst-case scenario known as COVID-19 was on its way. We made the incredibly tough decision to close the business in March in order to do our part in slowing the virus. As the virus continued to spread, it became clear that our big six-month engagement was no longer a real possibility. To most, this would seem like a pretty bad place to be in—a lot of money spent, no revenue coming in and no clear future path. However, as any business owner will tell you, it will do you even more harm to sit around and mourn the unfavorable situation you are now in. With our new found “off” time, we were able to successfully redesign, enhance, and improve the current mobile café while also installing and testing all of our new equipment. Additionally, we worked extremely hard securing emergency funding from the SBA, PPP & GoFundMe in order to stay afloat with no revenue. By early May, we were in a stable financial position and our café was ready to open even stronger and better than before. I’m incredibly proud to say that our business is back up and running as of Mid-May. Although it has been much slower compared to pre-COVID days, our business still has a future and we are now better positioned to overcome any challenges we face going forward.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are San Diego’s only true mobile third-wave café. We make exceptionally delicious drinks using only ethically sourced, sustainably grown and high-quality ingredients. We don’t make crazy or sugar-filled drinks; rather, we brew coffee according to the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) standards. This means that our menu is simple & has proper and single sizes for each traditional beverage (4oz macchiatos, 6oz cappuccinos, 8oz flat whites). From the espresso machine we use (Slayer) to the care we take in each shot pulled, every detail of our beverage creation has been meticulously tweaked over and over again until we reached perfection. Although we take coffee very seriously, we also pride ourselves on being in the people business. In fact, what really sets us apart from most mobile coffee businesses in the world is the unique, fun and inviting atmosphere we create each day around our 7’X10’ mobile café. We go above and beyond to make sure our customer’s experience is truly one of a kind and fun. We strive to make every day at Nostalgia a blast for our customers. The old wooden tables we set-up, the numerous plants we methodically place around the café, and the constant, never-ending stream of funky music guarantees that our customers will have fun. Of course, getting to where we are today was not an easy road. Building the café from the ground-up took almost a year, an exorbitant amount of work, and a lot of patience and inventiveness. Getting locations, a following and turning the business into a profitable endeavor took just as much effort. But without a doubt, the most difficult time our business has ever faced is right now. The future of the food and beverage industry is particularly uncertain due to COVID-19. Without reiterating too much of what I’ve already mentioned, we spent the majority of March, April and May closed. We worked extremely hard to secure all emergency funding available to keep us afloat during that time and eventually re-opened in mid-May. Though, I would be lying if I said business was back to or even close to pre-COVID days. Unfortunately, the pandemic brought our business to a halt as we were just going into our next stage of expansion. One of the toughest parts is admitting that it feels as if our business has been pushed back in time—specifically two years to when we were first starting out. We once again are spending hours on hours working on finding locations, being innovative and trying to get folks to safely and comfortably come back out to our café. Nevertheless, I have learned from so many challenges I have faced before that the one sure way to succeed is to not give up. My desire to thrive and enrich people’s lives through our mobile café will certainly outweigh the current challenges we face. Although the timeline is unclear, I can guarantee that Nostalgia will be thriving again and providing an awesome experience to San Diegans and visitors alike.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
I’m definitely proud to be a San Diegan so figuring out where to take my friend is pretty easy for me to come up with! Day 1—We would cover the essentials. I live in North PB, so we’ll start the morning off with a stroll to the Fig Tree Café for breakfast. I would make it mandatory for us to order the Berry Sweet French Toast and a side of Man Candy Bacon. I’m getting seriously hungry just thinking about it. We’ll then ride bikes from PB to Belmont Park, ride the rollercoaster and grab a bite to eat at Board & Brew on our way back. In the afternoon, we’ll go for a surf in PB and in the evening, we’ll make a fire on the beach while sipping San Diego’s own Cutwater Spirits Mai Tai. Day 2 –We’ll head downtown and take a tour of the USS Midway. After a stroll through Waterfront Park, we’ll head over to Balboa Park and grab lunch at the Prado overlooking the Japanese Gardens. We’ll head over to the Botanical Building and pretend we are in a tropical wonderland. Of course, a trip to Balboa Park is not complete without checking out the Model Railroad Museum, so that’ll be on the list too! As the evening approaches, we’ll make our way to the Old Globe Theatre for a performance under the stars. Day 3-4—We’ll be taking advantage of SoCal’s great wilderness. We’ll head up the Sunrise Highway and spend the night camping at Mt. Laguna. The next morning we’ll head down the mountain to the beautiful desert known as Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We’ll set-up camp, start a fire and listen to the coyote’s howling and yipping as the moon lights up the desert floor. Day 5—We’ll head to Nomad Donuts in North Park for breakfast, head to the Zoo for a few hours and then spend the afternoon driving to a few of the many local breweries. Specifically, we’ll head to Pizza Port in OB, Ballast Point in Miramar, Stone Brewing in Escondido, and Bear Roots Brewing in Vista. We’ll finish the evening in Temecula having an awesome dinner and a great bottle of wine at Leoness Cellars. That would finish up an awesome week in the San Diego area.

 

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our Shoutout without a doubt goes to everyone at Intuit. For the last two years, we have spent many days on Intuits Corporate Campus slinging shots and hanging out with the employees as if we were part of their company. Rain or shine, they always came out on their breaks and got coffee from us. We have built so many friendships with the Intuit folks and they feel like true colleagues to us. Over the years, we relied on them for fun banter throughout the day and they relied on us for a great vibe and delicious coffee. The toughest part of COVID-19 was closing and no longer being able to see our Intuit regulars. A few weeks into the pandemic we had yet to receive any federal funding or support. Our financial situation was not looking good as we were just a few days away from missing a couple very large payments that could ruin our business permanently. On April 1st, Shane Atha, an amazing Intuit Manager, reached out to me and told us about Intuit doing matching donations for their employees on GoFundMe (GFM). I was hesitant to create a GoFundMe at first, but after speaking with Shane, it appeared it was our best opportunity to raise money and meet our obligations. Although we knew the Intuit folks would definitely support us, we could not have anticipated their overwhelming support! With the help of Shane and Lauren Armenta (a fellow Intuit employee) they got the word out to their colleagues and the support came rolling in! Within just a few hours of our GFM going live, the people of Intuit had donated over $4,000! When all said and done, our GFM raised nearly $7000! That was enough to meet our current obligations and hang-on until our federal funding came through in early May. We haven’t had a chance to thank everyone in person yet, so I want to thank everyone at Intuit for their support, encouragement and good vibes over the last few months. A massive reason we are still around today is thanks to you guys. Cheers!

Website: www.nostalgiabrew.com
Instagram: @nostalgiabrew
Yelp: Nostalgia Coffee Roasters