Espresso: Tom Gozney - The Hidden Obstacles of Doing Business in the USA

0:01But you're now a global brand. what has been the hardest market to get into to deliver on those two things yeah do you know what i think um people like people especially from this country just think the u.s is one country it's europe right it's like however many states so nuanced by it yeah so many idiosyncrasies from cali which is like really socialist down to like texas they have completely different cultures you know you go across to new york and it's completely different and it's so nuanced state by state and really thinking and we did it in the early days like we were just like right we're going to market to america before denny joined 50 of our sales were north america but we would do to see whereabouts in america was it or was it was it like pockets or yeah like they were really sort of like accelerated pockets like new york state pizza's obviously a big thing in new york um cali weather and texas weather and culture around cooking outdoors with food but like we had a we had a really interesting spread also like washington state up near seattle you know there's affluence there's a big outdoor lifestyle you know people really enjoy there's lots of good restaurants people want to buy into quality products and stuff like that so those have those been really compelling states for us yeah and then but then and then but in terms of you said like in terms of delivering those things obsession with consumer and like how we actually build this out with denny like how did you what was the hardest state to get into and how did you crack that do you know what um that's a really interesting question i guess um you know we've we've got a sort of like overarching north american wholesale and dc strategy anyway some markets perform better than others um i guess like the key thing that we're trying to do is at the rate that we're growing and basically being a bootstrap business You know, we've never done a true series A, series B.

1:56We've sort of like bootstrapped it on the journey. So I guess like being really strategic about how you tackle key states one at a time. So you don't spread yourself too thin and dilute your impact in those states is something that's really interesting. You know, I think America is just a fucking beast, right? It's an absolute beast. So we've gone into strategic retail partnerships that are bearing like significant fruit. I guess one of the core things that Denny's really done as well, I was really adamant on this, but we said no to going into any retail partners before the North American team joined.

2:33I was so transfixed with protecting the brand from how it was presented in retail, how people are selling it, how people are talking about us, that it was probably to our detriment in a degree. the fact that I was so focused on protecting the brand and the word that I didn't want anyone else doing a shit job of representing it so we actually just didn't go into wholesale and I think that's another thing that Denny has done so well he's so intrinsically connected to the brand and how to remain premium how to remain exclusive that we we we say no to more people than we say yes to that's such a really good point actually that I haven't really talked about I think being able to change your mind and like being because sometimes not change your mind and ego like two things that people battle with i think real real kind of openness and being able to like yeah what was the last thing you change your mind on is a question i kind of i i i love but like what other things have you changed your mind on since i do all the time man do you know what like what are the big ones you think um yeah let me think let me think some of them are more recent which probably can't talk about but you know like if i revert that back right the core emphasis and the core root of some of the qualities that I've got of being able to be an entrepreneur and evolve and learn when I left rehab Oliver my pastor said Tom you know you'll do incredibly life you do incredibly in life you just need to remain humble and kind you know and that was that was like that statement just stuck with me so like on my journey and this isn't directly related but like humility is so unbelievably important to me and that's something that I've really battled with as the company's gained more traction I'm like building out my personal brand or my personal positioning that like notion of um self-promotion like edging into arrogance edging into ego like where's the fucking balance and actually you know there's a this overarching notion that you know the journey that I've gone on from being a drug addict to starting to building an idea to building a business is like an incredibly inspirational journey for a lot of people that don't have qualifications that are told constantly that they can't achieve shit they shouldn't quit their jobs they've got to be in a mundane shit existence for the rest of their lives it's just not fucking true and like I'm proof of that but I think you know on my journey I've been like I've been like a fucking sponge man I'm literally a sponge I like I will take all the key nuggets that you've given me today they will be lodged in my head I will think about them I'll reflect on them and I guess I guess that's the like having humility and being open you know I remember in the early days when we professionalized the business probably in 2016 I would sit in a board and I would pretend that I knew everything and I pretend that I got an answer for everything if I didn't really know and now I sit in a boardroom with incredibly smart people and I'm like what the fuck does that word mean that you've just said I don't know what that word is yeah I mean it's there's yeah I think that the smart answer lies in the dumb question and people are too scared to ask dumb questions especially in school because they like they basically castigate you for asking dumb questions that's another interesting dichotomy as well it's more from like a leadership perspective I suppose it's like being able to change your mind and or like being open to change your mind but then obviously probably balancing with that with like especially from the brand side is like yeah being like i ain't changing my mind on this like i think there's knowing when to like hold your yeah because it's like there's a difference between business decisions and brand decisions 100 like and i think that something will like uh who was a i was down in bristol the other day we did a supper club you know saying sunny stalls bang in restaurant those good pizzas actually and he was like we we make our in-house this like mascarpone putting things like it we actually lose money on it but like but like from from the brand like i get out of bed every morning so i want to make this and it makes the dish better yeah and it's like some of those things like people agonize over brand decisions that a lot of business people like well surely just do that because we're going to cut costs two months free yeah that's what espresso sponsors unleashed are offering they are supply chain gurus and offer inventory management that talks to your e-com and accounting software.

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