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About JDKemper Coffee
Values / Vision / Goals As I have been putting together a basic plan for the business, and as I have been talking with friends and customers, I have decided there are certain things I will definitely want JDKemper Coffee to be known for. Integrity I have seen too many people and companies that are far too willing to betray and rip people and other companies off all for the sake of money. Morality aside, it's simply foolish to ruin your reputation and ruin valuable relationships with people and other companies. I never want to steal, cheat people (or organizations), or do anything to compromise the integrity of the company or myself. It's just not worth it. Relationships I have been fortunate enough to know people in the coffee industry who have demonstrated that valuing relationships, whether with customers or the competition, is the best way to run a business. Building trust and friendship with people I buy from, sell to or otherwise work with seems to be the way to go. If people see me as being nice and reasonable when doing business, it should add to my success. Transparency I want to be "transparent" in what I do. I don't think secrecy is a good thing. I don't want to lay a trip on other businesses or say that everyone has to be transparent with everything, but personally I don't think I need to hide information from people. If I'm not doing anything wrong, why hide? "Shedding light" on any situation is a good thing, as opposed to hiding something in the darkness. How My Vision for the Company is Unique: Instead of the typical plan, where the entrepreuer's main goal is rapid growth and an exit plan, I have more of a 18th Century French peasant shop-keeper's mentality. Rapid growth and big money are not my first priority. I don't really ever want to sell out or go public. Also, I would like to avoid risks as much as possible, and stability and sustainability are very important to me. In other words, if I was in the stock market, I would go with a safe stock with steady growth, instead of the unstable, big profit (or loss) stock. I don't gamble. I have always been suspicious of "get rich quick" schemes. I don't have the dillusion that this company will quickly turn me into a multi-millionaire. I can't deny that I need to eventually make some money out of this, but I'm not just dying to get rich, I'm just trying to get by and also trying to create something good. Based on the kind of vision currently bouncing around in my brain, I'm interested in possibly making this a non-profit corporation. I don't like the typical model for a corporation, because I don't think the entrepreneur/management should have to answer to shareholders, but instead he/she should simply do what's right. I also do not agree with the concept of paying profit to shareholders on the basis of their ownership, unless they are actually part of the company. Maybe "100% employee owned" is the way to go. Everyone in the company should be well taken care of, with good pay and benefits, but if there is an excess of profit, I would always like to reinvest it, or do some good with it. My Story JDKemper Coffee is a brand new coffee company in Houston Tx, started by me, Josh Kemper. This dream was born in the 90's but has not been realized until now. As of the beginning of October I have been pushing things along a lot faster. Instead of using the income for myself, I have started investing all of it in the company, so I'm hoping it will really "snowball". I can remember when I was little my parents were always talking with friends over coffee, and I remember standing on the counter over the coffee maker as it was brewing to take in the aroma. I have been learning about coffee fanatically since I was about 13, when I got my first espresso machine, so I’ve been a coffee guy about half of my life. In the spring of 2001 my uncle Paul introduced me to coffee roasting in Santa Rosa, California. The first time I got my hands on some green coffee of my own was in Columbus, Ohio in the summer of 2001. I saw a roaster in the window of a shop and couldn't resist stopping in with my friend Chris. As the shop owner was explaining his shop and roaster, he gave me a bunch of green coffee samples to encourage me to take up roasting. In the fall of 2001 I went to Bible College in Murrieta, California. There I continued roasting from the porch of my dorm, and had another opportunity to visit my family in Santa Rosa and pick up some more knowledge from my uncle (and he gave me his French press - what a nice guy). From California, I continued on to an extension campus in Austria. The time I spent there during those three semesters became the most influential experience in my life, not because of coffee, but because I was learning about the Lord and much about life there. I did have some amazing coffee there, though. We made a couple trips to Italy, spent about a week in Rome - where the cappuccinos and espressos were worlds apart from anything I had tried in America – and I had the opportunity to go to Vienna a number of times, where coffee culture has a rich past. I didn't expect to learn much about coffee in Croatia and Serbia, but was pleasantly surprised. In Belgrade, friends taught me how to make a proper "Turkish" or "Greek" coffee. Budapest and Prague also had some nice shops, but honestly the restaurants were better. A good friend bought me an Italian stove-top espresso maker, and I had my French press on hand, so I bought many different kinds of coffees when I traveled, in addition to trying coffees at shops I carefully watched their techniques, and learned that coffee was different from place to place and that there was no one way to do it. Because my mom and brother and Michele came to visit, and my dad and aunt also came on another trip, I was able to do a great deal  of traveling with them. After returning from Europe, I continued roasting at home and working restaurants and coffee shop jobs in the meantime, to get some experience. Until 2006 I roasted occasionally on my parent's popcorn popper, which was a little too hot, so it roasted a little too fast, and eventually broke. When I got a new one, I modified it by cutting a hole in the side and adding a fan with multiple speed settings, so to an extent I was able to control the temperature, and was then able to get a good 10-15 minute roast. In 2005 I got a job at Lola Savannah in Houston and became their roaster, which was invaluable experience. In 2006 I left Lola Savannah to roast coffee at Harvest Coffee, a shop in Katy, which was also good experience. I quit working there in 2007 to focus on finishing college. I look forward to graduating at UH this semester, and then maybe I can make this business a success!
| Company History Oct 2007 - got a roaster! Nov 2007 - made a website! Dec 4, 2007 - got a business license! Dec 10, 2007 - built online shopping cart! | Customer Testimonials "Everyone loves your coffee, and I keep hearing that it is the best coffee they have ever tasted." -Julie Brown "Hey Josh! Thanks for the blend - enjoyed it! You are the man when it comes to coffee and I wish you great success!" -Joe Carmouche "Your Aunt serving at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center here in Germany gave me some of your Coffee to try the taste. It´s awseome - best coffee I ever had from an American distributor. I know what I am talking about ... I am a certified pastry chef." -Hartmut "Bob" Hausser "Josh, you have spoiled me with your great coffee! I cannot, will not drink a Starbucks again!" -my Mom "We really enjoy the coffee." -Anne Weiner |
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