By Jennifer Sawhney

Tell me about the backstory of Caffeine Inc. What led you to this?

The coffee shop came about when I was transitioning from my first restaurant that I co-owned in Stinson. And, at the time, I was looking for a second location, to be honest. Somehow I stumbled upon this coffee shop because there's been a coffee shop here for 12 years. So we're the third iteration of a coffee shop here. When I was going through that transition, I wanted to see if I could have something closer to home, which is Petaluma. And that's how I came about the location. I fell in love with the marina and I thought, ‘You know what, there's a lot of potential here.’ 

Have you always enjoyed working in customer service and the service industry?

I've had a lot of background in restaurants, but actually, my first job when I came here from Nicaragua was in a coffee shop. I think I've been in the industry for like 12 years, 13 years now. Mainly in restaurants. And for Caffeine specifically, I always wanted to do a coffee concept. It's a little bit less stressful than a restaurant. And this one was like the perfect footprint in terms of inventory and all that comes along with having a restaurant or a coffee shop. 

So, the idea had always been there, but I think the start of when I decided that this is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life was when I actually found out that I was gonna be a dad. I was a server and when I found out I was gonna be a dad I'm like, ‘Oh I gotta feed a mouth now. Another mouth.’

I was lucky enough that I was working at a restaurant in Larkspur called Pico, it's really well known, and then, basically, my mentors just kind of took me in. They started showing me inventory, ordering, the kind of the operations behind restaurants, and I fell in love with it. I really did. 

I think the hospitality industry is one of those industries that really mixes people with business in a really awesome way because it is a business for the people. If you're not good with people, people are not going to come to your business. The way you interact with people, even not just with the customers, but with your team – I'm so blessed to have the team that I have here, especially now that we're growing so much. So that's what I fell in love with it. And that's the thing that initiated me into this path of Caffeine.

We're actually looking into opening a second location for Caffeine. We're looking for another concept that's closer to home. It's going to be called Solo Mate, which is a slang word in Nicaragua. (Gutierrez later told us that in Nicaragua, people will playfully respond with “solo mate sos,” to express disbelief to something that’s been said. It’s akin to “I don’t believe you,” or “you’ve got to be kidding me.”)

In our past conversations, you’ve told me about your relationship with your grandfather in Nicaragua. Could you share some wisdom from him?

The reason why I relate so much to my grandpa was because he also had businesses in Nicaragua. We actually had a textile company. And unfortunately during the Civil War in Nicaragua in the ‘80s, it was bombed because we were actually part of the contra-revolution, they call it. No la contrarrevolución, la revolución. (Not the counter revolution, the revolution.)

That was in the ‘80s. I was born in the ‘90s, so I saw a lot of, kind of, the back end of everything. Something that always stuck with me is how people interacted with him and those were people that he had done business with. People loved my grandpa. When he died, I mean, era una procession (there was a procession). There were so many people, and a lot of those people showed up because of the way he would conduct business with them. It showed me that if you want to be successful in business, you have to do good business.

And I think that philosophy applies to the product that you're giving to your customers, to the customer service that you're giving to your customers, to the way you pay your vendors, the way you treat your employees. So, that kind of stuck with me. When I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to have my first business on my own, it was always in the back of my mind – like how do I do good business? And it starts with my team because, obviously, they're the ones that are there for me and then, obviously, that translates to the customer.

How do you bring your Nicaraguan culture with you here?

Of course, the Nicaraguan culture. I bring it, I think, every day. We're very warm. You know, I think that's just Latinos, we're just very warm people when it comes to how we treat others. You go to Nicaragua and you go to somebody's home, they want to feed you, and I think you can relate to that. So, I think that plays really well with hospitality. 

What’s something that people don’t know about you that you think they should know?  

I love swallows. If I ever die, I want to be a bird. A swallow, actually. Have you ever seen them fly? Like, actually, notice how they fly? They're beautiful. They dance. If the pigeons get too close to them, in mid-flight, they'll hit the pigeon, which is awesome to me because they're smaller. They're this very small bird, but they're so agile and they also mate for life, by the way. So I just grew to have some kind of respect for them. I think they're very beautiful birds. I'm surprised they're not flying around right now.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Jennifer Sawhney is a reporter and co-founder of Petaluma Voice. She can be reached at jsawhney@petalumavoice.org.