When you think about where specialty coffee belongs, a bank probably isn't the first place that comes to mind. But what if the best coffee in your city happened to be served inside a Capital One branch?
That's the audacious vision of Verve Coffee, the Santa Cruz-based coffee roaster that was started in 2007 and now has over a dozen cafe locations across California and Japan. Harris Nash, the company's Senior Wholesale Manager, has spent the last two years helping Verve Coffee take over the more than 50 Capital One Cafe locations across 18 states, converting customers from Peet's to specialty coffee in places like Herald Square in New York and shopping malls in Kansas.
Harris brings a unique perspective to this challenge. He's worked nearly every role in the coffee industry—from barista to importer to getting stuck on a Chinese coffee farm during COVID lockdowns. But this Capital One project has pushed him out of his comfort zone even further with training 600 baristas to represent Verve's brand in locations they don't directly control, creating systems to maintain quality across a massive geographic footprint, and proving that specialty coffee can thrive in unexpected places.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Why Capital One switched to serve Verve Coffee from Peet's across 50+ locations
- The challenge of training 600 baristas to represent Verve's brand in locations they don't directly control
- Why customer redirects became crucial for converting Peet's customers to specialty coffee drinkers
- How Verve developed granular training systems and learning management platforms to maintain quality at scale
- Why Verve partnered with local coffee trainers in each market to facilitate the transition
- How the partnership enabled Verve to support more coffee producers than ever before
- The technology and operational systems needed to manage coffee quality across 18 states
- Why Harris believes specialty coffee's future lies in making high-quality coffee more approachable
- How Verve created the exclusive Daybreaker Blend with a give-back component for Capital One Cafes
CHAPTERS
- 00:00 Introduction to the Capital One Cafe Project
- 03:11 Harris Nash's Journey in Specialty Coffee
- 05:48 Transitioning from Peet's to Verve Coffee
- 08:58 The Role of Training in Specialty Coffee
- 12:09 Challenges of Brand Transition and Customer Experience
- 15:10 Staff Training and Overcoming Resistance
- 18:02 Infrastructure and Support for New Locations
- 20:53 Maintaining Brand Standards and Quality Control
- 24:03 Collaboration with Capital One and Operational Challenges
27:06 Integrating Verve's Identity into Capital One Cafes - 34:12 Building a Brand Identity
- 39:13 Collaborative Marketing Strategies
- 46:06 Innovating Specialty Coffee
- 51:50 Future of Partnerships and Products
- 56:36 Experiences in China and Coffee Origins
WHERE TO FIND HARRIS NASH
MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE
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