Katie: This is The BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. It's guest time on the show, and I'm very pleased to have as my guest J.R. Cohen who is the managing partner of Coffee Groundz and Jonathan Zadick, Coffee Groundz owner and founder. Guys, welcome to the BusinessMakers Show.

J.R.: Thank you.

Katie: So, I am a 4-cup-of-coffee kind of girl, so I'm real excited to learn more about Coffee Groundz. Jonathan, what is this Coffee Groundz place all about?

J.R.: First, let me just say thank you very much for all 4 cups of coffee every day. We need more customers like you.

Katie: My pleasure.

J.R.: Well, myself and one of my closest friends, Pritish Jawan, we decided that Starbucks had the reign in Houston, and we thought that we'd bring a little bit of European flavor coffee shop to Houston, and that's what we did.

Katie: Nice. Viva la revolution. I love it. Shake it up.

J.R.: There you go.

Katie: So you decide to start this business, and what happened?

J.R.: I think most people thought we were crazy. We didn't realize we were crazy until after we jumped into it.

John: It was one of those ideas that, you know, just starts brewing, and it wasn't an overnight thing. It actually takes a long time and a lot of planning to try to get an idea where we wanted to be before we opened up, and it's actually consistently moving in the direction that it is today thanks to J.R. here. He's taken us to a whole new level.

Katie: Excellent. So now, J.R., you are the managing partner of Coffee Groundz, so what the heck does that mean? Are you the barista, or are you the guy that's running up and making sure everyone's caffeinated, or what's that mean?

J.R.: Yes, yes, and yes. I'm like the super barista. I'll jump behind the bar, I'll mingle, I'll talk to the vendors. I do a little bit of everything right now.

Katie: Excellent, excellent. So how did you get roped into this well percolated, no pun intended, idea of this Coffee Groundz?

J.R.: Uhm, when I got out of military school, I went to work for Starbucks, and I was at Starbucks for about 2-1/2 years.

Katie: Mmmm, the man I see.

J.R.: You know, that was back when Starbucks was green, you bled the color green, you were all about it, and it was a great time to work for the 'bucks.

Katie: So, now tell me, going back to the big Coffee Groundz idea. What is it that makes you so different from the 'bucks, as you say J.R.? What is it that will attract all sorts of customers. Because, I mean, you've really got a wide variety of people that are coming in. Why?

J.R.: Thanks to Jonathan and Pritish and everyone else involved in creating Coffee Groundz, it's a concept that I firmly believe in. Offering a full bar, wine, liquor, great unbelievable local roasted coffee, all that tied into one place. I was like, that's exactly what I want to do. When I went to talk to Jonathan in his office, within 2 minutes, we're just like, okay, perfect. So I started with them, and it just took off. I love the concept, so. If you're really happy in what you do, you're going to excel.

Katie: Absolutely, well it sounds like you guys are. So I mean, beyond just having a variety of beverages, I mean, is there a different feel, or you know, what's the culture like at Coffee Groundz?

J.R.: Well, we're very tech-friendly at Coffee Groundz.

Katie: Really?

J.R.: Yes, ma'am, we are.

Katie: So, coffee nerds and geeks.

J.R.: Besides having electrical outlets throughout the inside and the patio as well for everybody to use for their laptops--

Katie: Very nice.

J.R.: And free WiFi--

Katie: Very nice.

J.R.: Uhm, there's a little thing called Twitter. Pritish actually turned me on to Twitter. He's like, here, try this, I'll be your first follower. Immediately at the end of the day, I was in Jonathan's office and I said, "Okay, so Pritish wants me to do Twitter."

Katie: So, now, are you on Twitter as yourself, or what is it that you're doing on Twitter?

J.R.: I represent the Coffee Groundz. Our sign on Twitter is @CoffeeGroundz together. I just speak for the company, but it's slowly turned into, you know, making friends. It's like, I'm talking with customers, but most of them have become my friends. That's what Twitter is about because I like to call them Twitterites. They help me, I help them. I try to keep it local because a lot of the people I deal with locally, they help me with charities and they promote my business. In turn, I promote them, whether they be an artist or something they have that I can help achieve a goal or market.

Katie: Excellent. You're not just talking about drinks and some munchies and hanging out at a local cafe, I mean, you're almost changing the world here.

J.R.: I hope so. We really are trying to.

Katie: That is really very exciting. So, tell me other things that happen through Twitter. I mean, you're making all these relationships online and you're bringing people into your physical shop, but what are the other goals that you have using Twitter as a communication medium?

J.R.: One quick story about Twitter, how it's really changed for us, and how we really started growing. This guy, Maslow Bier, on Twitter. I was reading the feed one day while I was working on some paperwork, and it said, hey, Coffee Groundz, can I get a breakfast wrap, I'm running late. And I open replied, I said sure. And I gave him the list of ingredients on Twitter, and everybody was reading this, and I wasn't really paying attention to that part, but I was like, oh quick, I better get this order together so he actually gets it on time.

Katie: Holy cow. So he made an order on Twitter.

J.R.: Yeah, we got the order ready, and I said okay, it will be in the drive through when you're done. So, the whole moment that I was in when that happened, it was so amazing because it was just like, wow, I'm taking a Twitter order, okay, that's really cool. So he went, he came in the drive through, his wrap was ready, his cup of coffee was ready, and he was on his way. It saved his time, and everything was good.

Katie: Seriously? Customer for life, yeah.

J.R.: It was, it was great. And then, that's when Twitter in my face exploded. Everything was Coffee Groundz, Coffee Groundz. I can't believe what I just saw. Our first order to go.

Katie: So, what I really love about this story is just seeing how you can bring the online world, these relationships you have, and connect it to just real world situations whether it's breakfast burritos or friendships. That's wonderful. We'll be back with more with Coffee Groundz after this. You are listening to The BusinessMakers Show, here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.