Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Good morning, and welcome back to another episode of just say something weekly podcast. My name is Philip Clark, and I'm the CEO executive director here at just say something. And we're happy to have you back with us. Just say something is located in Greenville, South Carolina, and we are here to help families have some of those difficult conversations as it centers around drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. And so we've been around since 1984. So we're later this fall, we'll be planning our 40th year anniversary. It's hard to believe we've been here that long. I've not been here that long, but the organization has been.
All right, back to our show.
So today I'm really, really happy and excited to have with us a supporter or a longtime supporter of just say something. Scott McMahan. He is here from Cafe west, which is located downtown on Coffee street right behind the new federal courthouse. I guess we can still call it new, but he's on Coffee street. And so, Scott, welcome.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: So tell our listeners a little bit about Cafe west, where you are, how to find you, what kind of food do you offer, and what are your hours?
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Sure. We're on 206 East Coffee street, like you said, directly across from the new federal courthouse.
We're a locally owned breakfast and lunch place. We make everything ourselves.
Our hours are currently Monday through Friday, 08:00 a.m. Until 02:30 p.m.
We'll be looking to add in more hours and, and evenings and stuff as everything has grown so well that the response has been great. So.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: So I know when I first walked into Cafe west, on the wall on the right, had a ton of artwork on it.
Where does that come from? And how do you manage that artwork with local artists?
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Well, it's all local artists. I've been going to first Fridays for years. It's a super fun event here in town, and it's sort of an extension of something we had started in our previous cafe in the old county Square building before we had to move.
So now we've just kind of morphed it into every two months, I pick two new artists. We spotlight them with a special meet and greet on the opening night. We have a small bluegrass band that plays music. It's just a lively, different kind of, rather than this stodgy, stoic.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: First, you know, those nights we just have fun. So we get a special one day beer and wine license. And then I've just asked the artist, what type of charity do you want me to donate the money to? That's how we've kind of grown it a lot of fun.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: It is a lot of fun. I went to the one you had, the most recent one that you had, and a former board member of ours, Roy Davenport, has his artwork on the wall down there. And I've seen more. I've seen Roy more in the last couple of days than I have in the last several months just because of that.
So, as Cafe west. And some people may remember you as the cafe guy at the Greenville County Library. Yes.
That's where I first came. And, y'all, their food is great. So if you're looking for a good breakfast sandwich or a great lunch, you need to go to Cafe west.
And so you went from the library to county square, and now you have Cafe west.
Other than cafe west, you have another love.
And what is that?
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Coffee.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Okay. All right, so coffee. Who doesn't drink coffee?
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Not many.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Not many.
I know. And we were talking earlier, and I said, you're like a wine sommelier with coffee. But then you're like, well, I'm a wine sommelier, too, so you know wine and you know coffee.
How did you get into the coffee roasting business?
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Pure chance.
Maybe a little naivety.
I was running a restaurant. There used to be Renee Steakhouse at the pace, the peace center.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: And the coffee man came in and said he was looking to get out. And I honestly, I did not drink coffee at the time.
A little bit. I knew it was good.
I did a quick Google search and found out it's the second largest traded commodity in the world, and.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Hmm.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: I probably could figure out how to do something with this.
So he just. He taught us the old school way of how to roast coffee. Coffee. Its site, its color, its time, its temperature. I know things have gotten well, our rooster is ancient. I mean, well, ancient by standards.
I know its gotten a lot more technical, but we still do it the old fashioned way. Yeah.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Cool. Cool. So your coffee and cafe west, and just say something. Under our power collective initiative is coming together for a coffee fundraiser.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: That you're putting out there. That you're putting together with a team to support our opioid prevention and education work.
Why? Call fee and tell us a little bit about that campaign for our listeners and how they can get involved.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Sure. I mean, well, first, I mean, just say something. Is been was important. I mean, not was. Is it important to me.
A long time ago, I remember sitting with your former director for, like 2 hours one evening after you guys closed and helping me understand what a friend of mine and his family were going through. So there's always been that appreciation for that.
So what we're doing is we're creating a website specifically designed to raise money using coffee sales for the opioid problem.
The website's going to be called getcoffeeforchange.com.
You'll be able to offer or purchase a variety of different kinds of coffees, a couple of different kinds of amounts.
And what we're really excited about is having been around nonprofit people for a while now.
Continually funding is always.
Yes.
So what we've tried to do is create a way that people can continue to support.
Just say something beyond the first initial order.
So it's a sustainable revenue stream for you guys using a product everybody drinks.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: And so you're looking to take this not just in Greenville, but you want to go to statewide with this fundraising.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Well, that's what you have tasked us with, yes.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Oh, put it back on me.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: No, no. Actually, we're excited beyond just introducing our product to the, the community, beyond helping you. I mean, the challenge of it and the impact that we can have across the whole state is we're all excited for that. There's three of us involved in it. And I mean, I get up every morning, like, ready for. Okay, what's the next challenge? How can we do this? Who do I have to call? How do I push everybody forward?
So it is super exciting to us.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Awesome, awesome. Tell us, so you, you, do you pick flavors in coffee? How do you select your coffees? And how did you select the ones that you're going to use as part of this fundraiser?
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Um, well, we tried to create a. On each tier, um, something for everybody. Um, uh, more for those that, like, darker.
We have those choices. Um, we have those that, like a lighter bodied coffee. We have those choices.
Our coffee is very, well to us, it's very smooth. Like, we've never liked that acidic, bitter kind of taste. So we're, I mean, we're a little different than everybody else.
We've partnered with farms, we have good relationships with importers, and it's, we've met coffee farmers, which is fascinating experience, getting to hear their stories and the different cultures, and then how can we roast it so that we've, you know, kind of find stuff that we can do? Well.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: It's amazing. You know, I think for us average people, we don't, I don't think about coffee with the, as you were saying earlier, depends on the climate, the soil. I don't think about those things. It's just like, oh, this is good or. Yeah, no, not for me.
But I know we all have our favorite flavors. It's the flavor, right?
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Are you talking about, like, for the coffee country? Yeah. Each country has a unique climate, a unique soil, so it creates a unique flavor profile.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Okay, well, the more you learn, the more you know.
So how often do you have. We'll go back to cafe west, and then we'll go back to coffee as we take this to the. To a close.
So how often do you have events? What type of events, and, like, what time, what hours, and all that good stuff of your special events?
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Sure. Right now it's just the art nights, so it's every two months.
It's a Wednesday or Thursday. I try to work around the schedules of the artists and of the music guests.
We've had a couple other small concerts. I'm a huge music nerd, so I. More live music, the better.
And then as I've reached out to artists, we're creating more events leading up to the, the big campaign push statewide to continue to create the awareness. So we're open to doing all kinds of events. It's fun. I have fun working there.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Well, I know the most recent artist night, you had a bluegrass band there. They were really, really good.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Oh, man. Sam and Matt are fantastic. And all the guests that they bring with them are just wonderful people.
We're very thankful.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Well, Scott, I want to thank you and Michael for everything that you do to support us through Cafe west, but also through your coffee. And so it's getcoffeeforchange.com, and people can go on there and select whether they want one or two bags or multiple sample bags to see which flavor they might like the best.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: There'll be plenty of options. Yes.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Okay. All right, well, you'll be hearing more about this. You'll be seeing more about this on all of our social media.
We're connecting with some of our local social media influencers to help us promote this wonderful opportunity that Scott and his team have put together for us. And so be on the lookout or go to get coffeeforchange.com and order your coffee and help support our power collective work here in Greenville, the upstate, and then, too, across the state as we branch out to help support communities and families everywhere.
This is Phil Clark, CEO, executive director of just say something. Here in Greenville, South Carolina. You can find us online at just say somethingsc.org. You can give us a call at area code 864-467-4099 and Scott, again, thank you for being here with us today and look forward to growing this great relationship between each other, but also between our business and just say something. As an organization, we're looking forward to helping out as we close this. Is there one more thing that you would like for our listeners to know about the get coffeeforchange.com. Order it. Go to it and order.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Again, thank you, and we will see you next week. Have a great day.
