B I R T H OF H A M M E R H E A D
The incredibly titillating tale of one man's foolhardy ambition and dangerous optimism
The Choice:
Or 
?
From 1990 to 1999, my spouse, Mary and I operated a series of espresso carts and one coffee house in Portland, Oregon. We made a decent living, and even had a chance to roast our own beans eventually with a converted chicken roaster I affectionately referred to as "Mr. Char", due to all the chaff fires and ruined batches. In 1999 we left the business and Portland behind and finished our college education in Missoula, Montana. For five years we lived without salt water and waded through blackened mounds of snow, before we packed up our degrees and moved back to the extreme Northwest. I missed the coffee business the moment I left it, and fantasized about a new venture often, to the raised eyebrows and pained sighs of my partner.
In Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington State, good jobs are hard to find. Many newcomers search for months or more without success. It doesn't seem to matter how qualified or educated or talented or experienced a person is, because so many of us are all of these, and we compete for the same jobs. In 2004 I got lucky; after searching for six months, I was hired by Whatcom Transportation Authority, the local transit organization, as a transit operator: decent wages, incredibly good benefits, and security. I was fine with the job for a few years, but something kept nagging at me. Despite the very comfortable feeling of having a stable employment situation, I began to yearn for something different. I wanted more control of my time, a greater challenge, maybe even the ability to take a summer vacation. It didn't help that as a paratransit operator, I made twenty percent less than fixed-route operators, for no reason other than that was the way it had always been.
One night in August of 2007 the ghost of my father visited in a dream. "Scotty, get off your ass and make something of your life," He said, his grizzled old face crinkling into a smile. Okay, that was not only ridiculously hokey, but also untrue. I did, however, think of his failed ambitions and big life dreams when I finally quit my job, walking away from the best benefits my family had ever experienced. There were many raised eyebrows, not the least of which belonged to Mary. I could tell people were uncomfortable, knowing the risk not only I was taking, but the risk my family would be taking as well. But damn the torpedoes, I always say. Plenty of family and friends were excited, knowing how much I'd enjoyed our old business. Mary supported my decision, because she is a saint and understands me better than I understand myself.
The time to upgrade my life has arrived, and every day I experience emotions ranging from intense pride to quivering fear to giddy joy. I have a real coffee roaster this time around, a great source of fair trade, organic green beans, an oversized roasting facility, and a serious caffeine addiction from all the coffee I've been sampling. I have a feeling about this business, the way it's going to change my life and my family's life. And I have a feeling about all of you reading this, be you friends or acquaintances or strangers, that you're going to get on board. And quite frankly, the success of this business isn't really up to me, in the end; it's in your hands, whether or not Hammerhead Coffee Roasters becomes a viable enterprise. Because of this simple truth, I give you my word that I'll work tirelessly to satisfy your coffee needs, and continue to push this business down a socially and environmentally responsible path and into the future, where one day I might actually go on a summer vacation with my wife and children and raise a glass to all of you for making it possible.
And so it begins.
Scott Hartwich
