We recently connected with Matthew Lu and have shared our conversation below.
Matthew, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
It all started with a little bird. This might sound like a storybook, but it is a true story from our company history, and it is the core of who we are. I was working a regular corporate job for a decade, and my wife is the more entrepreneurial person who always encouraged me to start my own business. I always dabbled but never actually had any real buy-ins or seriously invested my time and money into what I’m interested in doing. One day on my way to work I found a little mouse-looking creature in the ground, and when I got a closer look, it turns out to be a baby sparrow. Naked, no feathers, yet it was screaming to be rescued. The nest got blown away by a storm the night before, and all her siblings got crushed by cars… we named her Lucky.
We didn’t really know how to take care of baby birds back then, but Lucky had a thirst for life, she would never give up. Lisa hand-fed Lucky every 20 mins for 2 weeks straight. The bird became stronger, able to feed herself, and she became a part of our family. We used to host a lot of dinner parties, and everyone loved hanging out with Lucky. She would fly like a dance and land on the heads of people whom she likes. Lucky made hospitality: fun. We started BerryBird when Lucky was about 6 months old, because we wanted to embody Lucky’s spirit, sparrows unfortunately don’t have a long lifespan.
Love for our bird is the reason why we started BerryBird Coffee.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We are a coffee company. We approach coffee a little differently than most, pushing the edge of what people can imagine as coffee. As we source, roast, and brew coffee all in-house; we are integrated vertically in the coffee supply chain. Doing this helps us gain more control over our coffee quality, and allows us to be more creative. We are currently located on the Big Island of Hawaii, we work with farmers to explore new roasts and recipes that their coffee is capable of. One of our signature coffees is called Dirty Coffee, not that it is unclean, it’s just topped with a caramel crumble that people chew on and it gets messy. It accentuates the coffee instead of take away from it. This is the kind of coffee we prefer to craft.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Inquisitiveness with reality check, this is tantamount in our startup journey. Without curiosity to imagine a landscape of where we can go, and reality check that comes with time as so many variables (such as geopolitical, budget, market demand, skill set available) to help concentrate our attention on what to do next.
2. Patience and hope. Sometime the easiest way to improve is to face adversity and think of it as the best way to reach our goals. I always thought business was easy…before I started doing business. My wife has way more patience than me, she taught me how struggle is always there, but the important thing is to remember your goals.
3. Don’t get cheap training. One of our best decisions was to purchase training from Bill Tsiang, who is a good friend and one of the most respected coffee masters from Taiwan. It was not cheap, but the skills we learned really paid back in multiples when we applied them to our product and services.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Coffee lovers with an elevated taste buds. People can love caffeine, but they might even go for an energy drink. People who love exploring a world of flavors that connect them to a sense of place, culture, and maybe even memory? That’s the magical thing about specialty coffee, tea, and fine wine. In all honesty, people who like fine wine tend to enjoy our coffee.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.berrybirdcoffee.com
- Instagram: Berrybirdcoffee
Image Credits
First 2 Photos by: Matthew Lu (Me)
Photos of coffeemaking by: Daniela Bontecou
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
