Tell us a little about yourself. Why Sumner? Why coffee? Why are you in Sumner roasting coffee?
When I was younger I was a professional bicycle stunt performer and although I had worked my way to the top, eventually becoming a freestyle pro, that industry was still growing and it just wasn’t an occupation I could do forever. When that
wrapped up I was either going to open a specialty bike shop or get into the coffee business. I had family members suggesting the idea and I was noticing the industry just starting to really grow and its potential to me was exciting. So, I borrowed some money from Howard Heyer (my step-father) and started up Dillanos (named after my son Dillon) as an espresso cart in front of the Sunshine Mart in Bonney Lake, which belonged to Howard. Within a couple of quick years my brother Chris Heyer became a partner and we had evolved into multiple retail locations and also began the biggest thing for our company’s future; roasting coffee for ourselves and to sell wholesale to other espresso bar retailers.Although our roots were in Bonney Lake, we strategically chose Sumner as our home because of its ideal location for servicing our customers regionally. Its uniquely between Seattle and Tacoma and makes customer interaction, assistance and participation much easier. We are very proud of our staff and roasting faciltity and encourage all of our customers to visit anytime.
Talk a bit about your original vision for the company and how does that compares to where it is now?
When the company first started we were focused on building a wholesale presence for our brand locally and were looking to gain more participation in the industry as a whole through trade shows like Coffee Fest. The overall vision and real roots of how we work and live both then and now though are all in our company mission statement; Help People, Make Friends and Have Fun! Sounds simple but these words have guided our growth and made the right impressions and have surrounded us with great employees and customers for all of these years. It’s something we truly live by.
What made the difference?
Two main things have really gone into what we feel made the big difference; customer assistance and company culture. The biggest difference we make for our customers is how we treat, support and assist them in their own growth and success. We differentiate ourselves intentionally, we want our business building help and assistance to be and stay as a real and tangible benefit for everyone we help.
Our company culture is paramount to us and something we carefully nurture and protect. We have even written and published a book called Brewing a Creative Culture that is mandatory reading for all new employees. It was actually written by members of our staff representing all levels and departments from the company and each chapter explains in their words why we do what we do.
How has the company evolved into its various branches and why structure the company that way?
For diversification we have expanded into commercial real estate, retail coffee ventures and several other business interests. But, even at Dillanos we have gone through many organizational changes in our company structure and have worked very hard and finding the best people with the strongest skills that can represent both the company culture and specific skills needed for their job. From the top down. We are all still active in the company growth and development and have found ourselves in company roles that best represent our strongest individual skill sets. Howard is our Chairman of the Board, Chris acts as President and has a strong focus and influence on the operations and company systems and I act as CEO and tend to focus more on the company vision, growth, marketing and sales. Keith Hayward is our Executive Vice President; he oversees all overall aspects of the company by working with our four company directors who each represent a specific part of the company. Rand Hill is our CFO, Jeff Woods our Director of Sales, Mark Ireland our Director of Operations and Phil Beattie our Director of Coffee.
How has the company's annual revenue and sales changed during the years since it was founded?
We have been very fortunate to have such a great balance of strengths between Howard, Chris and myself to manage change and growth and finances especially in the early years. We have always worked hard to keep the company and revenues strong and constantly growing. In the beginning our growth was around 100% for many years and although those numbers and percentages can’t really be sustained as you get bigger and bigger, we still typically grow around 15-25% each year.
How has the recession affected your operations and the industry in general?
The recession has made and impact on our business there is no doubt. Our customer same store sales have dropped anywhere between 5-15% as a reflection of consumer spending dipping down as people try to balance what they find as discretional spending. These numbers are already going back up, even in these tougher times specialty coffee is an affordable luxury that people like to treat themselves to. We have had to make up these dips by gaining new customers, it turns out there are a lot of businesses out there that haven’t had the type of help that was needed; it’s a good and welcome fit for us. Operationally we have made many adjustments to our business because of the economy but the changes have to do more with changing what we offer to our customers and building new programs to help them keep their businesses strong and viable as things improve. We want to help them in every way we can so we care share in their individual success.
What lessons have you learned during the downturn in the general economy?
1) Keeping morale in the company is a high priority so our employees and staff feel supported and safe.
2) Our customers depend on our participation and assistance to help keep their businesses growing. Our assistance and growth programs for store operations, employee training, branding and marketing have become a key ingredient. Showing real value has kept our customers more confident and loyal.
What did you learn during your career that you wish you’d known in the beginning?
Wow, that is a tough question, we have always been pretty good at knowing when someone else in the family or company could handle something better or be more suitable for a certain task, we all have our strengths and talents. I wish I would have known how absolutely important it was to show the benefits of a strong partnership with our customers. There was no template for us to follow, this is a young industry and although we do specialize in helping our customers realizing the level of interaction that could really be would have been great. We know now that it’s all about relationships and a real partnership with each customer that brings success.
What is the most surprising thing you have learned in your career?
I always knew what big potential the coffee industry had, but to look back now at its massive growth and evolution it is amazing. You can’t be afraid of growth, you need to be open to change whenever possible participate at the highest levels you can so that you may have your own influence in the growth as well. The need for flexibility and creativity are huge and they will lead you to success, while rigidity and traditionalism can easily lead to collapse. Flexibility means approaching each new challenge and each new evolution of our company without putting our decisions under the burden of strict traditional management and business tactics. I am excited to have such great and supportive partners with Howard and Chris and to be part of such a young and constantly developing company and industry.
If you had it to do over, what would you do differently?
Looking back, the one thing that really could have benefited us better was starting off immediately with having actual and current budget meetings to help us guide our spending and balance throughout our growth. But in retrospect, the lessons we have learned from our mistakes have laid the foundation for all of our successes.
What does the future of coffee and coffee roasting hold? Are there still opportunities in the marketplace or is the industry saturated?
The industry is still growing strong and is far from being saturated. There are many opportunities for people to do something really big in the industry, the cost
of entry and level of participation in individual growth does need a lot of focus as competition is pretty strong. Differentiation and quality will be key. What you will see is a lot more consolidation between brands, especially nationally. A stronger focus on high end quality coffee or third wave movement, businesses will become more connected to the community and social interaction. We all think that you will also see a big push and growth through the newer trends of marketing, advertisement and connection by social networking tools. Exciting stuff. What else should South Sound businesses know about you and your company?
We have had some great successes and its been amazing watching our company develop into what it is now. All this excitement, growth and success is a direct result of the employees and family I get to work with daily. It’s every single step in the process of helping our customers that makes you successful. If you truly care for your employees, they will make every step matter. Then we all share in the success.
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