18 years ago, in July, I walked away from the Corporate world for good. That is when Vienna Coffee Company, LLC became a serious idea. Still, what we did in the wholesale (roasting) side of the business was well within my comfort zone because it was a manufacturing job. It was using a big piece of thermal processing equipment like I had worked on for 27 years. The roaster was just a small version of the kilns and furnaces that I had worked on for my whole career in chemical incineration. Manufacturing coffee, even specialty coffee, requires skills that I already a good head-start on.

Retail coffee service, operating an actual Coffee House is a whole other thing…