Episode Transcript
Marguerite Martin (Host): [00:00:00] This is Channel 2 5 3, move to
Doug Mackey (Producer): Tacoma
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: on this episode of Move to Tacoma. I, I really felt like downtown was like looking, or where people were searching for like a really nice coffee cafe that was serving like a, all a whole experience, like food, coffee, uh, atmosphere, um, just like, and there’s a lot of great businesses around Tacoma, so nothing against them, but that’s just what I felt like was like, oh, it’d be cool if we could do that.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I want to bring that to the people, right? On Pacific Avenue?
Doug Mackey (Producer): Yeah. Yeah. Channel 2 5 3 is member supported. I’m producer Doug Mackey, and I hope you’ll show your support by going to channel two five three.com/membership and join. Thank you. We are back.
Move to Tacoma Theme Song: I’m Marguerite and I want you. To move to Tacoma. Move
Doug Mackey (Producer): to Tacoma.
Doug Mackey (Producer): Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. You’ll like it. Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. Move to tacoma [00:01:00] com.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Hi, I’m Marguerite, and this is Move to Tacoma, and we’re here today with Kevin Lee from Third Space. Hello Kevin. Hey. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Yeah. I’m so glad you were able to come.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah, no, this is exciting.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: This is exciting.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Well, the reason, uh, I, I first found you, uh, like I think most people found you on Instagram. Yes. I was scrolling through and there you were explaining, um, why a cup of coffee costs like $6 and 50 cents. Mm-hmm. And you were breaking down like what goes into it. And I was like. Third space.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Wait, is there a new coffee shop? Like I haven’t heard of this coffee shop. And I was like, oh crap. I always hate it when I get like caught by surprise and I go and look. I’m like, oh no, he’s not even open. And then I go and look at your profile and you are not open yet, but you’re basically like telling the story of how to open a coffee shop, what goes into it, what are all the steps?
Marguerite Martin (Host): And I, uh, have no intention. Uh, full respect, but no intention in my life of ever opening a coffee shop behind. No. Yeah, yeah. It’s good idea. Voyeuristically. So interested. Like, I’ve always wondered how it all works and so I was hoping today that we could [00:02:00] talk about some of that stuff.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah, I would love to.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I’d love to. Thanks for having me.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Right. Well, before we get into all that, I’d love to know, um, when you moved to Tacoma and why.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So I’ve been in this, the greater Tacoma area back in. 2005. Okay. Yeah. 2005. Uh, my family, well, originally I was born in New York. Okay. In, uh, flushing, Queens area. Uh, my parents, they’re immigrants, so my parents came from Korea.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: S to New York. That was the first place they went to. And so they lived there for 25, 30 years and they were just sick of the city. We had some family who were already living out in the Seattle area and at that time, Seattle was like, like, no one knew anything about what, what was in Seattle like nobody knew, was like just this corner of the country.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: No idea what was, I never even really knew anything about Seattle. So we visited, um, our family. Like one week. And uh, it was just so green, so much nature. And, and for my parents, a big part of it was the living cost compared [00:03:00] to like New York City at the time to Seattle’s living cost was much, much cheaper than it is now.
Marguerite Martin (Host): And what year was this? That, that your family moved from New York to? Uh,
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: 2005. Okay. 2005 around there. Um, and so then they were just sick of the city life. They wanted to kind of get out and this, it was either here or la. LA seemed a little bit too, just hectic.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Let the record show people move here to get away from the city.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so we went to, we came here, we just, yeah, we moved here. And obviously at that, at my, at that age, you know, I was like middle school and so I was just following my parents.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Right.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so we came out here and, uh, been out here since then. Awesome. Yeah. So,
Marguerite Martin (Host): and what neighborhood do you live in right now?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So I live in Federal Way, but it’s like kind of the border of Northeast Tacoma. So I just take down right down the hill to into the Port of Tacoma and make my way around. That’s
Marguerite Martin (Host): a nice drive. Yeah. To come into town. No
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: traffic ever. It’s great. That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s kind of nice.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Okay, so what do you like about living over there?
Marguerite Martin (Host): I mean, I, I have sold exactly one house in Federal way in my [00:04:00] entire life. I really stayed in Tacoma. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I know there’s the, the Twin Lake Golf Club. There’s a golf course in North. More point. Um, I know about the, the Barnes and Noble, like the mall. Yeah. Like what is there in federal way? Like what do you like about it
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: there?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, you know what, there’s not much, I’ll be honest, there’s not much come to, I actually probably come to Tacoma. I actually probably spend more time in Tacoma than I do in Federal way. Um. And I’m, so, I’m glad I’m located in an area where I can get to Tacoma pretty quickly.
Right.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, but federally, you know, there’s a lot of good Korean food, I would say.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Okay. You know, I’m Korean. So you have a Korean
Marguerite Martin (Host): spa
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: there too, right there. I, yeah. I haven’t been there in a long time though. Yeah. I didn’t have a great experience there a long time. I met, well, I was really young. Okay. I didn’t follow some rules. I got in trouble. Guess you’re, I hear you really have to follow the rules in these places.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. I guess you’re not supposed to wear shorts into the jacuzzi area. And I
Marguerite Martin (Host): naked only, naked only at the great spot at the time at, I was like, I
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: think I went with some buddies. We were like in high school and we’re like, we’re just not ready for that. So we were like, oh, we gotta take all of our clothes off in [00:05:00] front of all these people right now.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And
Marguerite Martin (Host): I love that we’re getting right into it today.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. And so, no, so I haven’t gone back since then, but, uh, but there is one there. I don’t, I haven’t been there in a long time. Uh, but mostly Korean food. That’s really all there is. Where’s your
Marguerite Martin (Host): favorite place to go for Korean food? In federal way?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: In Federal way.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, that’s tough. There’s a couple of good places. Uh, I like to go to this place called, uh, it’s called Chenko, which means garage.
Okay.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, but it’s this really hole in the wall. It’s like in this auto mall, auto body shop, little plaza. Right on Pack Highway.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Okay.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um. It’s like very, I don’t know if they even speak English there.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: The workers. Okay. What do you
Marguerite Martin (Host): order?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, there’s this, um, pork neck soup that they, that you can order. It’s like this big pot. They put it on like a little burner. They put it on the table. It’s this big old pot with, um, like perilla leaves and pork neck bones and meat and vegetables. And they give you a bunch of side [00:06:00] dishes and rice and just, and you kind of cook it up right on the spot at the table.
Marguerite Martin (Host): All right. It’s like a hot pot in a garage on pack a.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Yeah. This is a, this is a
Marguerite Martin (Host): good recommendation. This is, this is not one I’ve worked before. Yeah, it’s very true. It tastes
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: why I like it. Is it? ’cause you know, my mom’s a great cook too, and it just tastes like your mom’s kitchen cooking. It just tastes like home cooking, so That’s awesome.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It’s really good. It’s really good.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Alright, so I’m very curious how, how did you go into the, I wanna open a coffee shop. Path in life. Like how does that even happen? I know you have a professional background in food, so like how did, how, how did that all start?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Well, it’s, I mean, it’s, it kind of happened. All of a sudden it wasn’t like a lifelong dream of like, you know, I had this, uh, fa like romanticize having my own coffee shop.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, because you know, when we first, so when my parents first moved here from, from New York, uh, at the time, their professions that they had in New York didn’t really translate to here. Got it. And so we were, you know, my [00:07:00] parents were thinking about what el what other business to do. So my mom, she, she kind of dabbled into like.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Working for John L. Scott, like real estate. Mm-hmm. A little bit. And, and my dad was kind of doing some jobs and here and there, but, um, one thing that people were saying, oh, that does well in Seattle or Washington when we first moved here was like, you should do a drive through coffee stand. Mm. Because that’s not a thing.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Like, that’s not a thing in the east coast. Yeah. Uh, maybe, I don’t know now, but like, I haven’t really seen that kind of drive through coffee culture. It’s because you have Dunkin
Marguerite Martin (Host): Donuts and you don’t need it.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Just kidding. And then it’s just like, it’s just something you, it is so new to me. Yeah. I’ve never seen drive through coffee stands.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So we, um, open when, and now it’s, uh, it’s been changed. It’s, so right now there’s the Sandbar Grill on the Port of Tacoma that’s like this. There’s a bar right next to it. There’s a little tiny coffee stand.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And it’s gone through multiple owners and companies. But back when we first moved here, we.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Got that. Awesome. My parents got that and at that time we had no [00:08:00] experience in coffee. Like my parents had no idea anything about coffee, about espresso machines, nothing. Wow. Um, they just learned from somebody. They basically took over a previous owner. They kind of taught them a little.
Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, and so we, we opened that and then um, we opened another one in Renton as well.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: ’cause that one we did was doing pretty well. And then there was another open lot in Renton. So I remember I would follow my mom ’cause she would have to make cash runs right at night. And so I remember and I had just gotten my driver’s permit, so I was like so into driving and so I would driving anyway, she was like, and now actually just not a think about it, she was just using me.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: She was like, oh, you wanna practice driving? And then I would drive with her all the way to Renton, kind of like where the Boeing airport is over there. Um, and had a little coffee stand. So we would go do cash runs. And I kind of, that was kinda my first, I guess, exposure to the. Coffee business, like we would, I would go in and stock up milk and nice, I’ll do cash runs and we would put in product and things like that.[00:09:00]
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, and then eventually those just kind of got tiring. It was like, you know, a lot of back and forth and employee turnover. It was just right. Um, ’cause the whole idea of that business was to be hands off. Like you can kind of let it run with employees. But, you know, unfortunately a lot of, you know, people steal, they take cash.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: They’re did just shady things. And so. It just wasn’t worth it. So we sold the one in Renton and we sold the one in, um, port of Tacoma area over there. And there was a spot over on 11th and Broadway in downtown Tacoma that opened up that, um, what used to be like this sandwich shop thing. And this, the owner really wanted to get out of it.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Was willing to give it to us for really, really cheap. I think it was like, I don’t even know, maybe like $20,000, maybe 15,000? I don’t know. Okay. It was really cheap. Um. And so we took that over and my parents just worked full time there. Um, they, you know, we did like [00:10:00] sandwiches, um, coffee, blended coffee drinks.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: What was it called? It was called Simply Espresso.
Marguerite Martin (Host): It was it like in the lobby of Yes. So I have been there. Yes. Its, I have been there. It’s, it’s used to be, it
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: used to be the Columbia Bank building.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And, um, it was on the bottom floor. Mm-hmm. Uh, in the. But you could enter through the sidewalk.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: But it was also like in the tech, technically the lobby area.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yes. Yes.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Yeah. So that was us. That was us. And so, um, I remember in the summer times, I would go there during, in high school, I would go in the summer to help out. Um, and know my parents worked so hard there, you know, they would, you know, and at the time it was like, for them, they were just trying to make a living, right.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So we, it was not like this curated coffee shop, right. Aesthetic vibe. It was like we were selling like. Like plu GOGI bowls and Yeah,
and
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: sandwiches and coffee and like random stuff, like fried rice I remember was a popular item there. And it was like, even though our name was simply espresso and sums like we were people, it was not so simple.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. [00:11:00] People, when people would come for fried rice, like that was like, so, you know, it was just a really random, weird spot where, um, we were, but it was like a really cool thing. ’cause that was the first exposure I had to. Downtown Tacoma then, uh, that was back in like probably 2008,
something
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: like that. Um, and like the having regulars, you know, that, that was the first experience.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I remember we would have customers who would work in the building and, and things like that. And so we, um. You know, we did that for a while. And then, and then, you know, we did a couple other family businesses and I kind of got hired the taco. I went to culinary school because I, I, I loved cooking in high school.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I discovered the Food network. Um, I remember watching just like Alton Brown and Emerald Lago, you know, all those people. And, um, watching like Iron Chef, things like that. And I loved cooking and I would cook at home and I, I hated studying. I. I wasn’t really like a big school person. Like I would get by, I would get decent grades and [00:12:00] you know, it wasn’t like I was failing classes or anything, but I just didn’t really enjoy like mathematics and science.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Right. I actually gravitated more towards like English and film study and uh, like literature and stuff like that. Um, and so I think that’s why naturally creatively cooking seemed cool. It was just like, you just make stuff with your hands and you can explore and experiment.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Where did you go to cooking school?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So, so I went to the, um, rent and Technical college, yeah. RTC. ’cause like I thought I was gonna go to like Seattle Art Institute. Um, and then I looked at the tuition price.
Marguerite Martin (Host): It’s intense. It
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: was like $30,000.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: A year. It’s hard to get the ROI
Marguerite Martin (Host): on that one. Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Granted it was like really nice facilities, but at the time my family, we didn’t have the means to.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: To spend 30,000. It’s not only that, it was like for culinary school and nothing wrong with that, but it was just, you know, my immigrant parents. Right? They’re not like. Like, they want you to like go do medical, like go do accounting, go do [00:13:00] something like safe. Safe. That’s what they want.
Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so when I told them I wanted to go to culinary school, they were like, okay, well like how much is it?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, $30,000 a year. And they’re like, maybe we look for different alternative. So they were never against it.
Yeah, they
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: weren’t like, no, you should do something else. They kind of, they supported it, but they were like. We needed more realistic.
Marguerite Martin (Host): What was the program at RTC like?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, so it was, uh, it’s a AA program there.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It’s Associates did it. So a couple years, so about a year, A little over a year and a half. Okay. So not too bad. Um, but it was a, it’s a great program there.
Marguerite Martin (Host): What do you learn?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, so you, you kind of, you start with the basics and knife skills, history of French. A lot of it is French. Uh, cooking methods. Okay.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, so you how to chop an
Marguerite Martin (Host): onion properly?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Knife skills. You do a whole class on that. Then you move into soups. You go move into stalks, you move into, uh, proteins. Then you learn about, um, uh, like grilling and broiling and brazing. So all these different cooking methods. [00:14:00] Um, it’s like its own little section.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Every quarter you have a list. Um, and then there was a, there was a student slash well, it was open to the public actually. There was like a restaurant. In the main building of the campus that basically your last two quarters you are serving your, like, like you’re working in a real restaurant.
Nice.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So you would make specials and dishes and people, real people could come in and order it and you would cook for them.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And, and it’s kind of how you would end the program.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So what’s the biggest thing you learned in school?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, the biggest thing You, you know. It’s, it’s weird now because this was before YouTube social media. Right? Right. Um, and so now it’s, I feel like you can learn a lot of it on your own now. Mm-hmm. Um, but I do think the valuable thing about culinary school is you really learn about the industry.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: You learn about what it takes to be, you know, a, a line cook, a sous chef, a head chef, [00:15:00] and what kind of, you know, you realize like little details are what separates. Restaurants from each other. Right. It’s right. ’cause every, a lot of restaurants are great. Um, but it’s those little things that separate good restaurants from great restaurants.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And it’s usually not really the, necessarily like a specific out there menu. It’s usually like how they prepare flavors.
Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Presentation. Cleanliness.
Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Customer service, it’s like little things. So you kind of learn that as well, which is more valuable because I feel like, you know, nice skills and things.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, it is nice to have a hands-on person, so I think that’s kind of a good thing. But I think you’re just learning about the industry. ’cause it’s hard to get that. It’s like, you know, my brother, he does videography and one of his things he wants to do is go to film school because, you know, you can only, there’s certain things that you can only really get into if you’re working with somebody.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I. Who’s a professional and teaches right.
Marguerite Martin (Host): You don’t have to make every mistake yourself.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Exactly. So I think that’s the value of culinary school is you [00:16:00] really save a lot of time and energy and like not making those little errors and mistakes that, ’cause you have someone there who’s teaching.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So what happened between graduating from school and now?
Marguerite Martin (Host): Like what has your general experience been?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, yeah, so I, I graduated school and, um, actually I didn’t even, actually, I didn’t even graduate. I, well, I, I graduated culinary school.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And I thought I was gonna go get a bachelor’s. Um, and then, uh, I decided to, my parents were like, well, we do need some help with the family business stuff.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um. Do you kind of, do you want to take a more ownership role in that instead of your choice? They’re like, ’cause for me, but you know, back thinking back now, I’m thinking like, man, maybe I should have finished school. But at the time I just wanna get outta school. Like I said, like I said, like I just did not like school.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And then culinary was cool, but then after culinary school I had to go to like hospitality, right? Business management, [00:17:00] doing all these pre-reqs and it was more like real just. College classes.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So instead of going that route, you just went practic. What? And just started working with parents. I, yeah. I just started working.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah. And
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: helping them and then taking more ownership role. And I did that for about six, seven years. Um, and then I kind of decided that I wanted to explore, you know, I a bigger scope of work. ’cause we, you know, at the time we, we only had like few employees. Mm-hmm. And it was a. Uh, you know, it’s a mom and pop shop.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Mm-hmm. It’s a smaller business, so Yeah. Like literally
Marguerite Martin (Host): your mom and pop. Yeah, exactly. And, and, and
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: you know, we had a couple employees, but it’s like, you know, you’re, you’re just kind of doing everything on your own. Yeah. You know, when it comes to, you know, one thing people don’t realize about these smaller mom and pop shops, they don’t have the money to, to get food deliveries.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: You know, they can’t go, they can’t work with like. Cisco, right? And, and all these other, you know, vendors who give them truckloads of deliveries, like mm-hmm. That’s, that’s all money and that’s a [00:18:00] lot. So they, they have to go out and buy the supplies themself. And a lot of times what we would do is we would work a whole shift and then afterward we would have to go to business Costco, where we would have to go to Restaurant Depot to go buy supplies.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: For the next day or the next couple days.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So it’s not, it’s, it’s a little different from mom and pops, you know, people don’t realize it’s a lot of,
Marguerite Martin (Host): so the idea for you was, I wanna go work somewhere where everything is kind of done. Yeah. And see how that kind of an operation runs.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Exactly. See, uh, how it feels to work for like a bigger company is what I want to experience and what was it
Marguerite Martin (Host): like?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, and so I, so I ended up. Applying to different places and, um, Beecher’s Beecher’s cheese, um, they called me for a managerial role at the airport. Oh
Marguerite Martin (Host): yeah, of course. We’ve all been to the, it’s the C con course, right? Yeah, the C con course, which is
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: sadly not there anymore, just a construction. But, um, yeah, so I, I, I got, um, hired there in a [00:19:00] managerial role.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, first as a, as an assistant manager. Um, but that store was a great, well, actually, I applied for one, a place called Pasta and Co. First. And I dunno if you’ve been there, it’s in Bellevue. Um, it’s like this kind of, that was their, their their, that company’s first business mm-hmm. Was pasta and Co actually, and it’s kind of like a mini Whole Foods, it’s like a deli case, um, freezer section.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Mm-hmm. Like local wines and stuff. All, all around. And I applied for that job and then they were like, well, you know what? But that was for a managerial, like a, like a head, the lead manager role. And, um, they were, we did an interview and they were like, well, you know what, like based off your experience, I know it’s not a lead manager, it’s an assistant, but we have an opening at the CTAC airport location for Beecher, um, which you didn’t apply for, but we think your skillset would be better
mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: For that. So I said. Okay. Well, I said, well, if you pay me the same as you’re gonna pay me for the, the managerial role at Pasta and Co, I’ll [00:20:00] go there. They, they agreed. Um, so I went there and, um, it was, it was, but in a weird way, it was, it worked out because that’s what I wanted, that I didn’t know it well in the
Marguerite Martin (Host): logistics at the airport, like a whole nother layer of weird logistics.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Right? Yeah, no logistics
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: like we were doing, like this was pre covid, right? So like we were doing like. 30, $32,000 in sales a day.
Mm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And it was like just people there every day. Yeah. We had a staff of like 50 employees. Um, and so it was what I wanted, you know, we had a big team, lots of revenue, lots of different vendors, lots of different, you know, financial break things you had to be keeping track of.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, so we did, I did that for, for a couple years. Well. Well, I, I was there for a couple years and then Covid hit.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And the airport got just killed by Covid.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so I was furloughed for a couple months. Um, but then I got hired. I, I came back. And it was really slow for still [00:21:00] another maybe like nine months to a year.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Mm-hmm. After Covid like kind of opened back up. Um, but then we, eventually we got back to it, but we ended up opening like a bar concept next door, like a beecher’s bar. Mm-hmm. Uh, so that was kind of a new thing I learned about how to open, you know, liquor license Right. And all that stuff. And working with the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And um, and then we did that. I did that for about five years and then. Like I said, the airport had to close. Sadly, they’re doing, you know, they’re building up in the airport, right? ’cause they can’t build out, there’s no space, right? So they’re building up. And so they were like, we have to destroy this whole concourse.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So we have to close. We had no choice. And so I kind of had to choose either I’m gonna stay at Beechers for another five months and then kind of look for a job. Or they said, you know, well, we’re opening a new concept. We need someone to open this new concept at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. And at the time we also had, um, a location in the Bellevue Square [00:22:00] Mall.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So there’s a Beecher there. We’re opening a new one at over lake, just a mile away. We need a manager for both. Would you be willing to go over there
mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And, and run those stores? And so at the time, I needed a job, right? I had no other, you know, choice. I was like, yeah, I guess, I think commute.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Commute was terrible, but I knew it was gonna be terrible. Uh, well, I didn’t know it was gonna be that bad, but I knew it would be kind of bad. Um, so I worked there for about seven, eight months. Yeah. And then I couldn’t do it anymore. I was driving about three hours a day, hour and a half each way.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Right.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Terrible. Um, it’s not the
Marguerite Martin (Host): dream.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: No. Yeah. And then so I, I, uh, decided to quit ’cause I realized nothing I was getting out of it other than a paycheck. I wasn’t enjoying it. And, uh, that company, Beecher is great. It’s a great company. I loved my team, I loved my, um, bosses there, but just the job itself was just has run its course.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So how did you get from to the point of bleachers to. I wanna open a coffee shop and I wanna open a coffee shop right here in Tacoma.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So I [00:23:00] was job searching after I quit Beecher. Uh, didn’t really stick, find anything. And um, I was like, you know what? I, I was just, at that time I was, I had a lot of free time.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Mm-hmm. So I was going all these coffee shops, I was going all these restaurants, and I thought, you know what, like. Instead of me running, becoming, you know, applying for another manager position for someone else’s restaurant or a cafe, I was like, what if, what if I do it myself? Because I know, like my parents, we had that background with my family business, right.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I worked, I know the bigger scope with Beachers that I had that experience. I have culinary school experience. Right. Um, it was like, kind of felt almost, it just all of a sudden just clicked. It was like. Oh, maybe I should just do my own thing. And so, um, ’cause I just didn’t wanna, I didn’t want to work for someone else.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. And all right,
Marguerite Martin (Host): well on that note,
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: yeah,
Marguerite Martin (Host): Doug has given me the look. We gotta go to break. Okay. Um, but [00:24:00] now we gotta figure out like how a lot of people have that thought. How do you actually do it? So, okay, we’ll be right back.
Erik Hanberg Channel 253 Co-Founder: Okay. This is channel 2 5 3 co-founder Eric Hanberg. Thinking back to 2017 and the start of the first Trump administration, adult civics, happy Hour, citizen Tacoma, all of these things came in many ways to a response to what was happening at the national level.
Erik Hanberg Channel 253 Co-Founder: We wanted to focus local and we are still here. For another Trump administration. It’s happening again. It is happening again, but we’re still here. We appreciate that you are still here listening, engaging with the issues that you care about in your local community.
Doug Mackey (Producer): We renew our interest in our goal and our mission, and we hope that you’ll renew your membership as we move forward.
Doug Mackey (Producer): And if you’re not a member yet, please go to channel two five three.com/membership and join for $4 a month or $40 a year.
Erik Hanberg Channel 253 Co-Founder: We truly appreciate the support of all of you who have [00:25:00] given, and we hope to welcome more of you in the new year. That can help keep independent media alive, that is focused on Tacoma and our community.
Erik Hanberg Channel 253 Co-Founder: Thank you.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Tacoma. Okay. And we are, back when we left off, you were talking about how you were going to coffee shops in Tacoma and you were looking for a job and you were like, what if I.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Mm-hmm. Owned
Marguerite Martin (Host): the coffee shop.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. So, so I remember we had a customer at our old family business. Her name was Shannon, and she worked for property management.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so, uh, I remembered her, my, my parents remembered her and they were like, you know what? You should reach out to Shannon. Maybe she knows something. And so I said, okay. So I reached out to Shannon and said, Hey, I have this crazy idea. I think I wanna maybe. Come back to downtown Tacoma and open up my own cafe or coffee shop.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And she said, you know what, we actually have a spot in our own building. Whoa. That’s available right now. And which building was that? And it was in, uh, the Providence building. So it’s right on Pacific in between [00:26:00] ninth and 10th, this big brick building.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Okay.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Is that the one that Blitz is in? It
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: used to, yes.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yes. Blitz floor. It used to be a pita pit. Yes. And I remember the pita pit I like said you
Marguerite Martin (Host): were, you’re, you’re gonna be in the spot where the pita pit pit. Yes. Okay. The former, former Peter Pita pit location. Yeah. Yeah. So
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I knew where exactly where it was, but I didn’t know Shannon’s property management was in that building.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah.
Marguerite Martin (Host): And
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: so, um, I said, yeah, let’s just said, I, I can show you the space. We can meet. I was like, okay. So I, I, I got there and I was like, oh, this is the pita pit, or the old pita pit had no idea. And then, yeah, so we tore the space and had the potential, um, it had, you know, like a hood. It had decent seating.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It was a lot bigger than I actually was looking for. I. As far as square footage, it was like 1600 square feet. It’s
Doug Mackey (Producer): big.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, yeah. And it still had an office and a little pantry area and it had a, you know, already had a walk-in fridge and freezer and,
Marguerite Martin (Host): well, and I think a lot of people don’t understand, like when you open a coffee shop, like you can’t just pick any space and then just like, yes.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Drop a coffee machine into it. Right? Like, there’s a lot of [00:27:00] infrastructure that has to be in place. So if you find a place that’s already ready to go, that’s ideal. Right?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. And I, and I kind of learned that the hard way too. ’cause it did have the infrastructure for. Um, like a sandwich shop. Oh, but there was no plumbing for a espresso machine, for
Marguerite Martin (Host): coffee machine.
Marguerite Martin (Host): I didn’t even know. Espresso machines have plumbing.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah, yeah. You need a whole plumbing system. You need all these backflow valves and you need grease traps, and you need to have vent in grease traps and all these things. And I had no idea. I had no idea. Uh, you know, I just saw. Uh, three compartment sink, and I saw a walkin fridge.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: We’re good to go. I saw a hood and I was like, oh man, there’s so much potential here. Just need a caption coffee shop. I was like, we’ll just, we’ll just put that espresso, espresso machine right here. Should be fine. We’ll just plummet. You know. It should be fine. Not knowing the whole grease trap. Um, process or
Marguerite Martin (Host): you are not the first guest on this podcast to mention the, the, the, the traumas of the grease trap.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Yeah. No, and it wasn’t necessarily traumatic, but it just didn’t know. I didn’t know. And so, um, so, so I just kind of tore the [00:28:00] space being very like, simple minded. I like, oh, this looks, it might work. Perfect. So I reached out to, and, uh, Shannon said, Hey, um. I’m interested. She’s like, okay, well let me, let me set you up with the landlord and talk to him.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So I met the landlord in this space and um, his name is Adam. Super cool guy, really down to earth. Um, I was expecting to be, most landlords I’ve kind of dealt with are seen it’s mostly, they’re like suit and tie. Mm. Um, you know, uh, but very corporate. But Adam was just very down to earth. Very cool. Um, and we got to talking.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: He, we had a great conversation. And, um, you know, after a couple weeks we discuss and we kind of drafted up a letter of intent, like, Hey, so I think I’m interested, and, um. Because the, the, the entry was pretty reasonable as far as like me getting in there because I don’t have all the, you know, I’m bootstrapping everything.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Well, that’s, I guess that’s my
Marguerite Martin (Host): question because I, I, I don’t know if this is like, I, I know we could talk for hours about like all the financial details of like how to [00:29:00] start a business, but like, what’s really involved? Like how much money did you, I mean, you don’t have to tell me the number, but like mm-hmm.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Is it a lot of money that you have to have or do you go to the bank and you. Like, show ’em your credit and they’re like, oh no, we’ll give you a loan. Like how does that all work?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. So, so it depends on a lot of factors. I think. Um, you do need to, it’s good to have some savings. There’s multiple routes.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: You can have some savings and kind of. Try to nickel and dime it or you, you know, you can get investors if you have, you know, like people who are really bought into what your idea, you can do Kickstarter programs. Right. Or if you just kind of get people to fund it.
Marguerite Martin (Host): I think we see that a lot in Taiwan.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Yeah. Um, and it’s so, you know, it’s kind of, you go multiple routes you can do. For me, my personal route loan was kind of just off the table. ’cause I was, I quit my job.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Right.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I wasn’t, good point. I wasn’t working have to do that. I had no income.
Yeah. And
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: so I, you know, I had some savings that I had. Um, that it’s not a lot, but it was enough to like, I’m like, okay, if I can get it within this amount, I could probably make it work.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Mm-hmm. Kind of situation. [00:30:00] Um, so that’s kind of how it, you know, so that financially it’s really. Different for everybody. Right. It really depends on your situation.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So you’re on the road to opening the coffee shop. Yeah. You like have your vision. When does social media kind of start, when do you start telling the story online?
Marguerite Martin (Host): Like how did you know to do that?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. So the first two months we actually signed the lease back in October.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Okay.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And, um, and even that was a, was a struggle because we. Actually had a letter of intent drafted and then a week later the landlord was like, actually, I got more offers. Oh, and I need to look into them.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Multiple offers on the pita pit.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. He was like, you know, it’s not, I like your idea, but it’s just I have to do right by my right investors and I have to look into these other options. And I was like, so I thought. Okay, I’m not gonna get it.
Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Because I wasn’t giving him a ton of money. Right. Um, I actually asked for money.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. I said, I need help with the paint.
Yeah. Yeah. I need help with
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: this. I need help with repairs. Like I was actually asking him for [00:31:00] money and all these other offers were actually willing to pay him and said, we’ll take care of the repairs, we’ll take care of renovations. Right. And so I thought for, ’cause I asked him, I said, do you mind if I ask what they’re offering?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Maybe I can match. And once he told me, I was like, oh no, I can’t, nevermind, nevermind. Yeah, nevermind. I can’t match that. So I actually had thought it was not gonna happen. So I, I kind of had that set in my mind. I actually started looking at other locations right around downtown. Um, and even why I settled on downtown was because, like I said, we had been there in the past.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Right. I, I really felt like downtown was like looking, or people were searching for like a really nice coffee cafe. That was serving like all a whole experience, like food, coffee, uh, atmosphere, um, just like, and there’s a lot of great businesses around Tacoma, so nothing against them, but that’s just what I felt like, was like, oh, it’d be cool if we could do that.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I want to bring that to the people. Right. On Pacific Avenue. Yeah. Yeah. [00:32:00] So, so I was looking at other places in downtown and, um, but then about a month later, after back and forth, so, Hey, you have any updates? Can I mm-hmm. What’s going on with other offers? Mm-hmm. To my surprise, Adam was like, we’re gonna go with you.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: That’s awesome. And I asked, and I, and I think what might’ve stirred him was maybe our idea. And what I told him was, Hey, uh, there’s, let me tell, I can’t offer you all the money that people else are offering you. But I said, I’ll tell you one thing. Uh, no one is gonna work harder than me to make this space work.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: I’m gonna be there every day. I’m gonna be present, I’m gonna be hands on. Um, and so if that matters to you. That’s what I can offer. And, um, I’m thinking maybe that’s what maybe stirred him. And so, um, to my surprise, he, he gave us the opportunity. He believed in us. And so we signed the, the lease. And then, um, from there, social media was kind of an afterthought.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It was like the first two months I was just like. I’m [00:33:00] trying to figure things out.
Marguerite Martin (Host): That’s wild because you get a lot of views for a coffee shop that’s not even open yet.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. You get
Marguerite Martin (Host): a lot of traction. Well, you know, I think, and it was not on purpose.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: No, no. I, I, I thought I’m
Marguerite Martin (Host): like, oh, maybe you like have a background in marketing or something.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: No, no, no, but no background in marketing. I did social media during Covid, a little bit of like a food channel of like. TikTok of me making food at home of like step by step process of how to make dishes and things like that.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So when you made the, the first few posts about opening the coffee shop, like how did you know that it was like hitting, like, what was the first post that kind of blew up for you?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It wasn’t hitting until that video that. Um, you had mentioned, oh,
Marguerite Martin (Host): really? That was the one, yeah,
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: that was the one that went really viral. The first one. Um, where it got like, like I was right on time. Yeah. Like 400,000 views. Like, and
Marguerite Martin (Host): tell us what you explained in that video. Like what was it about that video that you think really connected with people?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Well, so the whole point of that video, what the inspiration for why I made it was. I want my customers, when I, when we eventually open, [00:34:00] I thought it would be good for them to understand, hey, like this is what goes into our coffee, like when we make it so the whole point, and I, but I wasn’t open yet. It’s like, yeah, we all know
Marguerite Martin (Host): it used to cost $3 and 50 cents for a latte, and now it costs six or seven.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Exactly. Why is that?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so my whole idea was like it would be. I think it would be easier for people to, to come into the space if they understood why we were selling the price that we were, that was inspiration. It was like for, mainly for our coffee shop.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So why, why does, why does the latte cost six 50?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Right. So it was like, you know, I was like, okay, so let me break down the milk and the coffee and the, and the packaging prices and things. And I just made it like to just give people a better idea. Um, and I think that just really blew up because I realized, oh, like all these other small businesses, um.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Also appreciated it. They wanted like, yes. Like people need to know this. Yeah. And
Marguerite Martin (Host): we wanna know ‘
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: cause they, and then, yeah. And, and a lot of customers were like, oh, we, we didn’t know. Like [00:35:00] you have to break it down to even like, you know, cup costs Yes. And milk costs, you know, they just kind of see the final price.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. And your light bill
Marguerite Martin (Host): and your commercial internet. Yeah, exactly. And so
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: that was inspiration. It was really just like, Hey, it would be kind of cool if our customers knew about this. Yeah. And then it turned into this like. Um, platform for businesses to speak their mind. Yeah. But also customers to be like, oh, we didn’t know, or, actually that makes sense, or, thank you for this, or, yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It’s just, you know, inform And the whole point of the video wasn’t to make it like, Hey, boohoo for all these things. Right. It was just like, it was just like, Hey, this is the reality. Well, and I think all of us on
Marguerite Martin (Host): the internet, we’re all a little voyeuristic, right? Mm-hmm. We all just kind of wanna be in other people’s businesses, like knowing what, what is going on, like how does that work?
Marguerite Martin (Host): And I think it’s just fascinating to watch you and explaining like as you’re opening up like, oh, this thing happened or that thing happened and this is how this works. And for anybody who’s feeling like you, like, I’d love to open a coffee shop someday, or some other kind of business to be able to watch you and learn [00:36:00] alongside you.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah. I think is really, it’s really interesting.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. And I think a lot of people just like dollar signs. Yeah, like people like to see money signs on the screen. We’re nosy seeing how much things cost. Yeah, we’re nosy. So yeah, so so that one, yeah. So that one really drew in a ton of follows and, and things like that.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so that was kind of what kickstarted a lot of. You know, our growth on that, on our social media.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Yeah. And we’re recording this at the end of February, so by the time this comes out, you will hopefully be open right now. When is it that you’re aiming to be open? Well, we’re
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: looking to open be in the beginning of March.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Okay. Um, so that’s kind of our, our goal right now.
Marguerite Martin (Host): And what’s the. Experience that you’re hoping to create. Like, I, I did a post about locally owned coffee shops in Tacoma last year, and I don’t even think I realized quite how many there are in downtown Tacoma. All around. Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh, this list just gets longer and longer.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Then everybody’s commenting, you forgot this one. You forgot that one, right? Yeah. Yeah. So how, how are you, what, what is the, the, the specific need you’re gonna fill with third space that that may not be? Being [00:37:00] filled right now.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. So with with our space, we just want it to be a very inclusive, inviting space.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So, um, I feel like. It’s gonna be for, you know, if you’re just the, the office worker who has a 30 minute lunch and you just want something quick, grab and go, you can come in for that. But it’s also gonna be an environment where it’s, if you want to chat with a friend over a coffee, we’ll have spaces for that.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Or if you want to just study, you know, on your laptop or work from home, technically, yeah, but work at our coffee shop. Or cafe, you know, you can do that. So it’s not specific to like, oh, for this certain type of customer, it’s just for everyone. It’s gonna be a very inviting, cozy space. So we wanted to, we didn’t want it to make it feel too fancy and minimal.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Right. You know? I think that’s kind of a trendy concept of being very minimal. And very, I feel like those
Marguerite Martin (Host): chairs are never comfortable when it’s too minimal.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. So minimal was not, we want, we wanted it to be kind of funky, a little retro with a little [00:38:00] modern twist on it. And so like our branding is kind of like that way, it’s very fun inviting, but it’s still a little modern.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, but yeah, that’s what we want. But we wanted to create a space where. You know, maybe you’re drinking coffee, but then you get hungry.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, we’re like the one stop shop. Like, you know, we don’t have to, you know, oh, okay, well they don’t, you know, let’s get coffee here, but get food here. Right. It’s like, it’s like, you know, when you’re studying or you’re working, it’s nice to.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: To be all in one place, you know? So that’s kind of what we’re doing.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So like speed round, like what, what will be available? You’re gonna have all the different like lattes and all that kind of stuff, but also pastries and food. Like what kind of food? Food. Yeah. So
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: we’re gonna have, you know, we’re making biscuits in the morning.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It’s kind of like our signature thing in the morning. My
Marguerite Martin (Host): favorite food is a biscuit.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. So we’re gonna make our biscuits in the morning fresh. Uh, we’ll sell those bites up, but we’ll also sell it, make breakfast sandwiches. Nice. Out of that with our, kind of our own twist, we’ll have some classics, you know, like a bacon, egg and cheese.
Mm-hmm.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, but we’ll have our own twists on things. And then in the mornings we’ll have mostly [00:39:00] breakfast sandwiches, biscuits, and then, um, you know, local pastries. So we’re, we’re in talks with local Tacoma Bakers and Great, um, getting their pastries and cookies. And, uh, we’re looking into, you know, gluten-free options.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, because we, you know, our menu was gonna be very, all of our. Stor, uh, you know, products and items. We’re trying to keep it not just Seattle or Washington. Mm-hmm. We’re trying to keep it to Tacoma. Yeah. That’s kind of what we’re going for too. It’s, well, our big pillar, we do
Marguerite Martin (Host): respond to that very well.
Marguerite Martin (Host): That’s a good idea. Yeah. I know our, our, one of our
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: big pillars is, is community. And, um, you know, I feel like Tacoma does a lot of cool things.
Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so. There’s a lot of passionate people, creative people in Tacoma who are just doing their thing. Um, and so instead of, you know, getting a roaster or a baker from Seattle, right, it’s like, well, can I find one around Tacoma?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Did you find one? And we did. Yeah, we did. So who’s your roaster? Um, so we’re using a, a roaster called [00:40:00] Naomi Jo.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Oh yes, of course. Run by by Kyle.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Kyle over. Yeah. There I have
Marguerite Martin (Host): kind of a famously, uh, in, in different palette. Uh, but I know that the snobby coffee snobby people like Naomi Jo, like I get that they’re the Yeah, it’s, it’s
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: very, it’s, it’s a very different experience for sure.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: It’s not for everyone. Okay. But we, like I said, we want to be inviting and inclusive. So, so we’re actually have a, a meeting lined up, so we’re gonna talk about a roast where they can make it a little bit more traditional.
Okay.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: For one of our. Offerings. And then we’ll also have kind of a funkier experimental espresso.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Very cool. Offering. Cool. Something
Marguerite Martin (Host): for everyone. Yeah.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So we’re gonna, you know, that’s kind of the cool thing about working local is that they’re small batch and we can really talk about things. Whereas, you know, sometimes you go with these bigger, more like nationwide roasters. Like you don’t have any say in what?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: No, here are options. This is what you’re gonna order.
Yeah. Um,
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: but with people like Naomi Jo, that’s the, that was the whole thing about it is like, oh wow. Like it’s cool to work with Tacoma businesses ’cause. We can [00:41:00] collaborate.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Amazing.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: So we’re gonna go with them for coffee and we’re talking with some other, uh, bakers for pastries and things, and cookies, um, and cakes.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: We’re gonna do cakes by the slice. You know, we’re gonna, that’ll be kind of a cool offering.
Very cool.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, and then for, for when we switch over to lunch, it’s gonna be mainly, you know, kind of like sandwiches and salads and part of it’s whatever we feel like making. Yeah. Um, so. You know, we’re gonna maybe some, some weeks you might walk in, we’re gonna have pasta as a special.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, and, and some weeks you might have soups. We might have random, like meatball sub. It’s not gonna be on the menu, but like for a special we’ll just make a meatball sub, you know? So just really well, we want people to feel is when you come in for food. Well, no matter what you order, you’re like, oh, it’s gonna be good.
Marguerite Martin (Host): Awesome.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. We want people to be confident in what they’re gonna get.
Marguerite Martin (Host): So what is your, what is your big wish, uh, for third Space [00:42:00] as you open up in Tacoma? Like what is your, what is your big goal?
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Um, our big, our big goal is just to be, just serve the community honestly. Mm-hmm. That’s our big goal. We want people to feel like ownership in Third Space.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: We want people to feel pride. Of, Hey, there’s this, you know, let me take you to my favorite, uh, coffee, or let me take you to this one place that makes this amazing sandwich that I love. Or, you know, when they get family or friends who visit from out of town, I. Oh, let me take you to this one place that I love going to.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: And so we want people to feel, and that’s part of why the, the background of the socials was That was the vision too. Oh, your
Marguerite Martin (Host): socials are very inviting.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. We, we want people to feel like they are a part of third space. Like it’s not just, they’re not just a customer who comes in and buys something. Like we want them to feel ownership and pride that, yeah, this isn’t Tacoma.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: We love this place. We wanna support them. Um, because. [00:43:00] They just love it. That’s kind of what we want people to feel ’cause they feel they have been there since the beginning.
Amazing. And so
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: that’s kind of what our social is, is we want, we are, we’re showing transparency and people to see. Everything we’ve done from the beginning so they, once they walk in, they know what it’s like.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah. Well thanks
Marguerite Martin (Host): so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. Yeah. And good luck with your opening.
Kevin Lee Third Space Tacoma: Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.
Doug Mackey (Producer): If you like this podcast, check out, move to tacoma.com. Move to tacoma.com is a neighborhood guide, blog and podcast to help people in Tacoma Pierce County and beyond find their place in the city of Destiny. More information@movetotacoma.com. Move to Tacoma is part of the Channel 2 5 3 podcast network.
Doug Mackey (Producer): Check out these other shows, grit and Grain. Nerd Farmer, interchangeable. White Ladies what say you, citizen Tacoma and Kitchen 2 5 3. This is Channel 2 5 [00:44:00] 3.