Published: September 06, 2008 04:00 am         

Shop Talk

Shop Talk is a weekly column featuring locally owned and operated businesses. This week, we talk to Rod Torrence of Stagecoach Coffee in Cooperstown.

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How long have you lived in the area?

My wife, Robin, grew up here. When we were first looking at opening up this business, we were living here, but I was working down on Madison Avenue in the advertising business.

How did you get started in this line of work?

When we were considering doing this, I traveled to Seattle and saw what was going on there. Starbucks was a phenomenon there, but not elsewhere at the time. So I saw what was going on there, and we had been to Europe and experienced good espresso over there.

This is a family business _ my wife's sons work here with us.

We opened this store right when Starbucks was starting to grow. It was an odd concept to people _ they had never heard of a latte, and they didn't really understand why they should come to this place just to get a cup of coffee. They were already getting their coffee somewhere else. So it was a very slow process. It was just a matter of people getting exposed to it. They'd be a little mystified at first, they didn't know what everything on the menu meant, but it gradually built up as people became more aware of what we were doing.

Starbucks always brags that they can make 20,000 different products from the options they offer, and of course, you could say the same about us. Fifteen years ago, people questioned why we were offering only one product, but what they eventually realize is that that one product _ coffee _ is really these 20,000 different variations that you can create.

Tell me about your business:

We have a (coffee) roaster off site _ we used to have it in the store, but believe it or not, people complained about the coffee smell. So we roast coffee fresh once a week, and our goal is to go through all that coffee in that week so that it's always fresh.

A well-run roaster can compete very effectively against Starbucks because you can offer a fresh product. We have another store in Albany, in an old Art Deco building, and a few years ago, a Starbucks opened up right nearby. Everyone was saying that it was going to be the end of us, but it actually increased our business. Starbucks is very good at creating a market for the product, and then that market gravitated toward us because we were offering a fresh product.

It's very important to us that we control all aspects of the product as far as quality and the process. That was behind the whole idea from the start. We actually got the roaster before we even had a building. There was about an eight-month waiting list for a roaster, and it was a very expensive proposition. Then we bought this building, which is actually the second-oldest building in Cooperstown, and we gutted it. We created the coffee shop here with an outside terrace. The location has really been a big part of our success _ for our Albany location as well. We're on Stagecoach Lane, so we named it after the location.

We also offer what Starbucks likes to refer to as a "third place" _ our stores are places where people become our friends, and come together in a very sociable experience. We offer free wireless in both our stores, and I can think of nowhere else where you can go and spend just a couple of bucks and have such a pleasurable experience. We get people from all ages _ elderly people who come in and spend time, as well as kids stopping in for a hot chocolate before school. It's a very interesting group dynamic.

Where do you see this business in five years?

I think our business has grown from the day we opened, so despite the fact that a lot of people have elevated their taste in coffee, there's still a huge market to develop. And products change, it's a rapidly changing market. We have to stay abreast of those changes.

What have you learned from your work?

The learning experience has been fairly simple _ it's understanding what you're selling. It's a complicated market, but we were going after only a small sliver of it. We were offering people a product that they didn't necessarily know they wanted, but what we offer them is an affordable luxury.

What is the most challenging part of what you do?

Finding new products as they come along without diffusing our image. We introduced panini sandwiches about 12 years ago. We thought they were a natural, wholesome product that we could offer fresh. Now you see paninis everywhere.

What sets you apart from your competitors?

With us, having total control over the freshness and the quality of our product is paramount. That was the fundamental decision we made. The other thing we focused on, before even opening our doors, was creating a visual look for our concept. With our logo, we have an identity that we think captures the concept of what we're all about. The look of our store and our package is as distinctive as our product. Because of that, people assume that we're a chain, but we're not _ well, we're a two-store chain, if you want to look at it that way.

What advice would you give to someone trying to enter your field of work?

We've had a few people ask us for advice, some of whom have tried to open places locally. It's a highly complex business that seems simple _ make a cup of coffee and give it to your customer _ but it's very difficult. There's so many aspects to this business. The roasting process alone is one thing _ the people that made our roaster, Diedrich, provided training, and actually one of our first employees had worked at a coffee bar out West, so he brought that experience to us.

If you're trying to sell a product, you also need a strong visual package. That's a whole different aspect of it, which can not only be very costly, but also very difficult.

And as far as training goes, there's a lot to learn. Any of our employees could tell you that. It's those 20,000 possible combinations again. You have to keep all those things in your mind, and also tend to the interpersonal aspect of it, your customers. Your customers value it so much when you remember their names and what they like to order. It's almost akin to the old-fashioned bartender who knows all his customers.

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To suggest a business for Shop Talk, contact Emily F. Popek at 432-1000, ext. 255, or epopek@thedailystar.com.