Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Remsbottom.
Will, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Since I was a kid, I wanted to be an entrepreneur of sorts.
Mowing neighborhood lawns on the weekends, to selling screen printed shirts in high school, the list of money making schemes goes on and on. Fast forward a few years, I worked at various restaurants and through cafes whilst trying to do the whole college thing, which I ended up dropping out of a few different times. I learned through all of this that I had a heart for hospitality and creating great experiences & a degree wasn’t necessary to be genuine.
Eventually, I decided that coffee was the right path for me. So, I started putting in the work to make it happen – specifically where I could fit in this exploding market. I partnered with a friend and ex-coworker who I always worked well with, to start planning a future endeavor. I called on an “available” space in the neighborhood, after being turned down by a ton of other landlords, and fast forward a few years, here we are pourin’ that hot bean juice to the masses.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
This is tough – progress is always uncomfortable. It hasn’t been the smoothest of roads, but I think we had set an expectation that forced us to accept struggle which put us in a better place overall when the unexpected arose.
Whether that was money, physical and emotional exhaustion through the build out, nerves and excitement, setbacks with the city, etc., we knew it was going to be part of the ride. So of course, we’ve seen all the normal struggles that a new shop sees, but none of them had a dire effect on the long term mission.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Scrimshaw Coffee story. Tell us more about the business.
We’re Scrimshaw Coffee, a neighborhood cafe that prides itself in the quality of your visit. We wanted to create a shop that removes the pretentiousness that so many people associate with specialty coffee, and focus on creating an approachable and authentic experience in a true neighborhood setting whilst upholding the highest standards of product quality.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has played the smallest of roles, if any. The closest we can say to us “getting lucky” was probably during build out, maybe when it came to the outcome of things. Every decision we made, we knew had the potential of having multiple consequences, so when things went better than expected, there wasn’t ever a time when we thought “oh wow! We’re so lucky that worked!”. We’ve been pretty calculated, and every little thing has had to been worked hard for, so I’d say luck hasn’t played a huge role.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5542 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115
- Website: scrimshawcoffee.com
- Instagram: scrimshawcoffee
- Facebook: facebook.com/scrimshawcoffee
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