Today we’d like to introduce you to Sumi Ali.
Hi Sumi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a first-generation Pakistani American and a lifelong “coffee person.” I grew up behind the counter of my parents’ Dunkin in Albuquerque, New Mexico counter until my first job working for a small coffee shop outside of Chicago as a teenager. I fell in love with coffee, hospitality, and entrepreneurship right away. At 17 years old, I was fortunate enough to open and run one of Atlanta’s first “thrid-wave” coffee bars, Condesa Coffee – this was my first education in business. Within a year of opening Condesa, I knew the real up-and-coming coffee scene was happening in Los Angeles, so predictably, I packed what little I had and drove west.
After a stint at a few well-known coffee bars around town, I found myself itching to get my hands dirtier, so I began exploring coffee roasting and soon after was given the opportunity to roast alongside my now business partner Tony Konecny at his previous company Tonx Coffee.
In 2017, a few years after Tonx Coffee was acquired but Blue Bottle and subsequently Nestle, Tony and I were working on multiple projects together when we realized we weren’t enjoying a lot of the coffee that was being roasted in LA and outside of going to coffee bars, there was no company focused entirely on the home consumer so we launched Yes Plz, a direct to consumer coffee roaster based in Los Angeles that is only focused on roasting the fresh beans to folks who make coffee in their kitchens.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth is relative. I’ve been fortunate to find adversity at every turn; it’s made me stronger. I had nothing when I moved to Los Angeles, I often lived out of my small Acura coupe, and when I did have a roof, my bed was made of one of the two towels I owned. I had no furniture until I convinced a pretty girl who had her s*** together(now my incredible wife, Chris) to move in with me.
I don’t think of these times as hardships or bumps in the road. Everyone has a different path, and as I said, smooth is relative — everyone’s limit is different. I was determined to find my place in Los Angeles and figure the rest out as I went, although in hindsight, moving across the country with $500 to a city you’ve never been to that has a reputation of chewing up and spitting transplants out, It was probably pretty wreckless.
We’ve been impressed with Yes Plz Coffee, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
If you make coffee at home, you should try Yes Plz. We live in a time where it’s never been better to be a coffee lover. However, there are still too many landmines when navigating what beans to buy or how to brew them. We believe that embracing the ephemeral nature of coffee is paramount, and while leaning into variety, what actually ends up in your mug should always be delicious. Yes Plz isn’t about the flashy packaging or the most fringe ends of the coffee flavor spectrum or even the culinary theater of brewing techniques and gadgets.
Yes Plz is about sourcing and roasting the best possible beans we can find and shipping that insanely fresh coffee to folks who make coffee in their kitchen as fast as we can, all while changing it up every single time we roast.
I just don’t think making great coffee is hard if you start with really good beans.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The greatest gift I have had throughout my career is other people taking irrational bets on me.
I always believed that no matter your business, it should be about the people. The customers, the employees, and even your competitors and it will always pay off to double down on relationships with the people around you. That belief has paid itself back to me tenfold. I am where I am today because of the people around me betting on me and showing me support in whatever way I needed, whether it be making an intro to someone else, lending me a couch to crash on, or even investing in a new business idea.
It will never hurt you to invest in your relationships with other folks. Show up for people and people will show up for you.
Pricing:
- $17-23 (shipping included for subscribers
- $19-25 to bag a one off
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yesplz.coffee/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yesplzsumi/
