Brands for a Better World (formerly Evolve CPG)

039 - From Coffee to Cascara with Paul Evers of Riff

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Your morning cup of coffee has a far greater environmental impact than you might realize. Ironically, the current unsustainable practices have the largest effect on the industry itself. Today’s guest, Paul Evers, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Riff, an innovative cold brew coffee company that looks to use the whole coffee plant, reducing waste and increasing sustainability. In this episode, Paul unpacks coffee’s dirty, not-so-little, secret and shares how uncovering it led Riff to venture into an entirely new range of products no one else in the space is creating. Paul also talks about his other passion, craft beer, and how the sector’s growth has had had cascading effects for other small business growth. Consumers have grown to trust their neighbors more than corporations and this is in large part due to craft beer. Tuning in, you will hear why reducing waste in the coffee industry will not just benefit the environment but could improve your health too!


Key Points From This Episode:

  • Coffee’s big, dirty secret and how this led Riff to have a new product range. 
  • The coffee industry has large stakes in more sustainable practices yet is contributing to environmental degradation. 
  • The craft beer sector has been the catalyst for artisanal manufacturing in other industries too. 
  • The importance of getting clear on purpose as a mission-driven brand. 
  • Get to know Paul, his background in creative services, and the ethos that underlies his career. 
  • What drew Paul to focus his work on beverage brands. 
  • Insights into the first brand Paul launched and the major lessons from this first big step. 
  • Building a brand is about more than just good marketing; it’s about community. 
  • What led Paul to transition into the world of cold brew coffee. 
  • We could potentially be overlooking a super fruit, cascara. 
  • All of the benefits of creating demand for cascara, which should be done through creating awareness. 
  • Paul’s advice for impact entrepreneurs and marketers. 
  • Parallels between craft alcohol and cold brew coffee. 
  • Why small, emerging brands are the bedrock of the economy.


    • Tweetables:

    “My ethos is really oriented around relationships and that’s really driven a lot of my career path and what my interests are. I really see brand actually as being the conduit.” — @paulevers [0:02:03]

    “Nobody understands that their normal up of Joe is actually contributing to the new normal; the extreme weather events, the floods, the fires, what’s happening to the planet.” — @paulevers [0:36:00]

    “The coffee industry as a whole has this very significant sustainability risk moving forward and the irony is that they are contributing to the greatest threat.” — @paulevers [0:37:26]

    “Failure is part and parcel of exploration.” — @paulevers [0:47:21]


    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

    Paul Evers

    Riff

    Crux Fermentation Project

    Bobby Evers

    Cascara

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    Brands for a Better World (formerly Evolve CPG)By Gage Mitchell of Modern Species
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