What was your first job?

[VanKalkerFarms]

More of an icebreaker question this time, reminiscing can be fun, so what was your first job?

Bonus, did that job have any influence on your business or personality?

[BofBArtStudio]

My first job was at an Italian Beef shack in Chicago.  Duke's Italian Beef.  It was the type of place that every weekend people would come and bring their old cars like 57 Chevys and such And they'd all be lined up in the parking lot with their hoods open to show their engines.  There was an old jukebox out there that music would be playing from. We had a lot of fun but it was a lot of work. I learned quickly how the dynamics of work happen and at a small place like that when there's only maybe 10 employees, you have to make sure that you put in your time off requests early if you want time off. And sometimes you have to stay for hours after closing to clean the grill and the pans. But we always were able to eat the soft serve ice cream that came out of the machine before we cleaned it out and we could eat some of the leftover beef with red sauce and mozzarella before we cleaned all the pans. I was 16 years old and I worked there for 2 years and it is probably the foundation for my work ethic for the rest of my life since then.   Work hard, look out for each other, do a great job, provide excellent customer service, etc.

[VanKalkerFarms]

That's awesome, what Duke's, there's a few in the area? Mokena has one but it relocated from brigeview, I think, and they are huge into cruise nights.  Working at a place like that definitely gave you a good foundation in the speed and stress of food service.  I never did but had friends that worked at Andy's and Portillos in and after high school.

[BofBArtStudio]

It is cool that you know of it!

I worked at the one that used to be in Bridgeview.  

I started there back in 1986 when I was 16. I lived 3 mi away in Burbank and used to think nothing of it that I had to walk that 3 mi to get to work. 

I definitely learned about the speed and stress of food service. 

I am always very nostalgic and proud of that experience.

[Donnie-M]

McDonald's.  Great first place to start out, structured training, food was still good.

What I realized is that if you show up to work every day and stick with something, and just smile, you can go farther than good intentions and intelligence will take you any day.

[Minion]

I first started out maybe 14, as a dishwasher to a local bar/restaurant. Mainly seasonal, for snowmobiles.  Pumped gas in the sleds, prepped french fries , did dishes etc.  I drove my little 3 wheeler (yeah the dangerous things)  about 15 miles on back roads to get there.  

Ironically enough, 4 years after that job, the same cook who was there hired me at a new restaurant he was working out.  Started with Dishes, moved up to prep cook, and then 6 years into it ended with Sous Chef.  

One day I was just tired of the deadend-ness (?) and overworking with people who didn't "work".  Tossed up them deuces and ventured out. 

At times, I do miss the daily grind of restaaurnat business, not going to lie there.  The rushes, the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when you get through some hectic times.   

All in all, It taught me how to prioritize my time throughout a day. 

[Hailey]

"Tossed up them deuces and ventured out." hahaha love this energy. I also had many early jobs/supplemental jobs in restaurant industry and feel the same - at times i really miss that rush. You feel tired (probably more due to cortisol overload than anything) and you have cash in hand from tips at the end of the day.... something about that combo can be addictive a bit. 

[Bronze_Palms]

My first job was as a event staff member for little girls spa birthday parties. It was very fun, engaging and high energy.

[JUYBoutique20]

For my first job I was a carhop at Sonic.  I loved being able to talk to everyone flirt with all the boys my age 🤣.  It definitely didn't influence me to start my business, but it did help me see my bubbly, talkative, people lover personality.

[Hailey]

My first job was the Summer before highschool - so 14 years old - and I worked as cashier at a grocery store. Haven't stopped working since and have dabbled in F&B (the most consistently other than marketing), retail, non-profit, sales (like horrible telemarketing sales... the worst), ad agency, and other random jobs. I'm a very curious person so the job bouncing makes sense - chasing new experiences and dopamine all throughout my teens and early 20's in the workforce. Landed in marketing after studying it throughout school and get my creative curiosity fix every day 😊 

[rtfulk]

My family raised tobacco in North Carolina, so as long as I can remember I’ve worked. Started out when I was about 7 or 8 my job was to pick up the leaves that fell on the ground as they were being strung.  Then when I was little older I started priming tobacco, nothing like starting at 5am in a field of wet tobacco only for the sun to come up and the tobacco dries, but you start sweating from the heat.  It was hard work but the work ethic never left me, I am thankful for it because it has driven me to make our business what it is today.  

[BrianaJo]

My first job was minimum wage, part time kitchen work at Head Start, a preschool program. Saving everything I could I bought a cell phone and a car.

After a year there I left to go work for a gas station, QuikTrip, at their distribution center. At the time they were a very promote from within company, and I worked my way up all the way to their corporate office where I worked for years and years as a 'manufacturing & distribution accounts payable analyst subject matter expert'. 

One of the last projects I worked on was improving the workflow of our department by reducing paper waste. I did a lot of end-user testing for developers. Last time I saw it my job was fully automated, but then we discovered I had a gnarly huge spinal tumor. 

Ended up in MD Anderson Houston for surgeries and after 12 years with QuikTrip was medically terminated just in time for panny lockdowns. My husband had to quit his job to help take care of me. Long story short, basically a paperwork issue, I was denied any disability. So I've had to find work in ways I can handle. 

I did remote(work from home) medical coding for a couple years. It was alright work but I wasn't fulfilled and it was emotionally draining reading the charts watching people get progressively more sick until they died. One day while Gregory was out on a walk with our boys, I sat at my desk and, paraphrasing -I asked aloud what am I supposed to be doing now since I survived the spinal tumor, and that's the day he came home telling me all about how we were opening a coffee shop. 

I run all the coffee shop stuff from home, bookkeeping and social media.

Gregory works the coffee shop in shop, roasts the beans and is the 'face' of the company. 

We both have years of experience in service, food industry, manufacturing & distribution, coffee, etc