Alumni Brew Up Success in Coffee Industry: Naysayer Coffee

克里斯Vecera ' 11, MA ’14, was driving home from work one day in Orange County when he felt it was time to go all in on his 和 his wife Beth’s ’13 dream of starting a coffee roasting company. 在数周内, the Veceras left their jobs to move to Napa 和 start Naysayer Coffee, 一家咖啡烘焙工坊.

“这是我们一直在谈论的事情，”贝丝说. “我们2009年在康科迪亚相识，一直都很喜欢咖啡. 我们在咖啡馆里里外外工作.”

贝丝和她来自罗克林的双胞胎妹妹, 萨克拉门托附近, 跟着他们的兄弟去了康科迪亚, 贝丝学习的地方 神学. “我爱我的。 哲学 和 人类学 classes,” she says, recalling Professor Jack Schultz’s 人类学 of religion class specifically. “Dr. Schultz loved what he did so much, 和 I think about that all the time. He was so passionate about teaching 和 discussing the idea of culture 和 人类学 和 religion.”

In 2009, Chris traveled with former 欧文康考迪亚大学 professor Adam Lee on what became the prototype trip for the 环球学期® 程序. Chris 和 other Concordia students taught English in Kenya, Ug和a, Rw和a, 和 Tanzania. 当他回来的时候，他遇到了贝丝，一个大一新生 喊! 敬拜 服务. 这种关系不断发展，包括他们一起打球 极限飞盘 在一个即兴的俱乐部队里.

那时，咖啡已经出现在人们的视野中了. 克里斯本科时在皮特餐厅工作, then took a job at Bodhi Leaf Coffee where he learned to roast beans after he 和 Beth were married.

“It was always an idea, maybe even the ideal for us when we first got married,” Beth says. “‘One day we’ll have our own coffee company, 和 it’ll be awesome.’他会说，‘我们就这么做吧. Let’s leave our two full-time jobs 和 start something insane, something for which we have passion.’”

But the dream lingered in the background as they started a family in SoCal. 贝丝在圣. Paul’s Lutheran, 和 Chris taught New Testament at Orange Lutheran High School. 他还获得了硕士学位 神学 from Concordia 和 served as youth director at their church.

梦想实现的那一天终于到来了. 贝丝怀上了他们的第二个孩子, 维塞拉一家想要离纳帕的家人近一点, 克里斯长大的地方. 他们收拾行装, 移动, 并开始认真地开展业务, extensively researching everything from roasting equipment to the local 和 national marketplace.

纳帕的核心是一个农业小镇, which is pretty cool because locals support local business,克里斯说. “在过去的三年里，我们感受到了这种爱.”

The hardest part early on, they say, was coming up with a catchy, one-word name. They finally settled on Naysayer, a nod to the “naysayer in your head that doubts the dream.” “Sometimes a negative br和 becomes the most memorable,” says Chris. “很难忘记我们的名字.”

They 移动 the company into a production roastery in November 2018 和 launched their wholesale business in early 2019 after Chris perfected his technique on a Loring 15-kilogram roaster.

“Quality 和 consistency are important in the specialty coffee business,” he says.

“If something is 10 or 15 seconds off here or there, it’s ruined, basically.”

就在他们加速的时候, state 和 local governments shut down businesses in response to the Covid outbreak, Naysayer看起来就像它的名字一样. 由于批发账户关闭，生意陷入停滞.

咖啡是一个全球性的社区. 这是一个非常美丽的东西.

Quickly, the Veceras pivoted to retail 和 home deliveries to make money.

“这是一个巨大的转变，”贝丝说. 他们把本地烘焙的咖啡豆卖给市场, 熟食店, 还有镇上的杂货店, 和 sold bottled lattes online 和 delivered them to people’s front doors. 结果是在零售业取得了意想不到的早期成功. As stores re-opened, the Veceras then built an espresso cart which brought in more income.

这个梦经受住了猛烈的逆风, today the Veceras are opening their first brick-和-mortar shop in a mall in south Napa. 克里斯的烤肉继续卖给餐馆, 酒庄, 和 grocery stores up 和 down the Napa valley 和 to online subscribers throughout the nation.

Naysayer offers nine roasts 和 produces 600 lbs of coffee beans per week.

“我们肯定在成长，”克里斯说. “The wholesale is back, 和 we’re almost done building our own shop. 我们喜欢成为一家社区咖啡店的想法.贝丝补充说:“在纳帕，你可以吸引很多游客。.

克里斯说，咖啡“连接了整个世界. One of my favorite quotes about coffee is that it’s the most global thing you do every day.” 

It also brings people together socially 和 spiritually, he observes.

“Coffee connects people in a low-stress, approachable way,” he says. “I like hanging out 和 talking with people in a non-Christianese, real-life sort of way. 喝咖啡是开始谈话的好方法.”

He especially enjoys sourcing 和 sampling high-quality coffee beans, 和 Naysayer highlights the farmers who grow the coffee beans 和 tells their stories.

“It’s their product that we’re taking 和 passing along,克里斯说. “咖啡是一个全球性的社区, 来自农民, 危地马拉的一家加工厂, 危地马拉的一个卡车司机, 船司机, 码头工人, 美国卡车司机, 美国的仓库——在我收到之前. 我们都在一起. 这是一个非常美丽的东西.”

Chris says coffee roasting 和 teaching give him the same sense of satisfaction because both involve connecting with people in a meaningful way.

“I used to do that through teaching the New Testament, 和 now I do it through coffee,” he says.

他和Beth引用了Dr. Rod Rosenbladt as a formative influence on them at Concordia. “That man was basically my gr和pa,克里斯说 with a laugh. “I’ve never met someone so cranky 和 loving at the same time.”

“He’s changed a lot of lives, 和 ours would be on that list,” says Beth. “The way the man looks at the gospel 和 talks about Jesus.”

克里斯还引用了 C.J. 阿姆斯特朗, 他的希腊教授, 以及前教授科瑞·马斯, 他教历史神学, who both “had this way of welcoming you into this conversation even though they were clearly more experienced 和 knowledgeable. 社区的对话引导了我的生活方式. 这绝对是我在康科迪亚学到的.”

韦塞拉夫妇有两个孩子，一个5岁，一个3岁. John’s Lutheran Church in Napa, the church Chris grew up in.

“The only thing I ever wanted to be was a mom,” Beth says. “I loved working at the church 和 the coffee shop, but I’m a mom now. 这就是我找到快乐的地方.”

For Chris, “Starting a business is kind of crazy, but I love what we’re doing.到目前为止，唱反调的人都错了.