For too much of my career I bought into the illusion that once you become an established professional, or achieve a certain level of success and experience, that things would somehow become easier.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing
A celebrated veteran in brand strategy, design and advertising — Paul led the teams behind the creative development of craft beverage brands such as Humm Kombucha, 21st Amendment, Deschutes Brewery, Odell Brewing and Crux Fermentation Project — which he co-founded, served as President and CMO. In 2017, Paul co-founded Riff Cold Brewed Coffee along with veterans from Stumptown and LinkedIn. Paul is also a long-time active community member, having played a significant role in launching both the Bend Volunteer Corps and TEDxBend.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit how you grew up?
I’m the youngest of 9 kids, so the way I see it, I was born into a community, or team, as its youngest member at the bottom of the pecking order. Collaboration, compromise and teamwork were more than aspirational concepts, they were necessary for survival! I watched my older siblings go through a lot of challenges ahead of me which helped also develop a strong sense of empathy, along with wisdom.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
Coffee is one of the largest traded agricultural products in the world, yet very few know that coffee is a fruit, and that the coffee bean is actually a two-headed seed surrounded by a fruity pulp called cascara (Spanish for “husk” or “skin”). Due to a lack of awareness, and hence a lack of demand, cascara has sadly been a traditionally wasted byproduct of the coffee harvest for centuries.
We estimate that as much as 70 billion pounds of cascara is thrown to waste each year, wreaking havoc on the environment as it’s left to decompose. Some is left in the back corners of farmers’ plantations where it emits methane gas and develops mycotoxins destroying the soil and contaminating the water table rendering the land useless for future agricultural use. Much of it is dumped in waterways, where as it decomposes depletes the water of oxygen killing off fish and other aquatic life. Most is sent to landfills where it’s piled into literal mountains, generating methane gas equivalent to 31 billion pounds of carbon dioxide annually — that’s the same level of emissions as 3 million automobiles in a single year.
The environmental impact is enough to cause serious alarm, but what makes this an even graver sin is that cascara is an incredible gift of nature. It’s naturally sweet, naturally caffeinated and loaded with nutritional value. Imagine taking some of our favorite fruits, such as apricots, peaches or cherries, and extracting the pit to make a wonderful beverage, only to throw the fruit that we so love to waste. We would argue that cascara is likely the better half of what the coffee plant has to offer. And due to little-to-no awareness, it currently has no real agricultural value.
Making matters worse is that coffee farmers continue to struggle financially. An estimated 25 million individual smallholder farmers located in impoverished developing countries produce 70–80% of the world’s coffee. With some of the lowest commodity pricing in the past decade, many coffee growers are unable to make a reliable living. By capturing cascara before being thrown to waste, we’re converting it into a refreshing and delicious natural energy drink with immunity benefits, called Riff Energy+ Immunity. By producing a consumer product that can scale quickly, we’re generating demand for cascara leading to a potential doubling of revenue and jobs for smallholder coffee farmers while reducing coffee’s contribution to climate change by reducing cascara waste.
In addition, we’re giving the sustainability of the coffee industry a boost,k as scientists predict that up to 50% of the land currently used for coffee production will no longer be viable due to rising temperatures by the year 2050.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
In the early stages of developing the plan and vision for Riff, and being new to the coffee industry, we prioritized understanding how coffee was grown, what life was like for coffee farming communities, and supply chain economics. My co-founder and son, Bobby, and I spent two weeks in Colombia in January 2017 visiting 6 different coffee farms. We saw first-hand how coffee was grown and processed, and had direct exposure to coffee farmers’ challenging living conditions as they hosted us for meals in their humble homes built with bamboo walls and dirt floors. While farmers walked us through their fields, we were introduced to cascara fresh off the plant, and were blown away by the fruity flavor and sweetness. We were also shown fields of rotting cascara in the back corners of plantations but hadn’t even begun to understand the implications of its waste.
We really didn’t begin to understand cascara until working with our co-founder, Nate Armbrust who, prior to Riff, led product innovation and oversaw brewing for Stumptown’s cold brew division. He had worked with cascara while there. We had heard that cascara was traditionally composted and converted to fertilizer for farmers and sometimes used as animal feed. But, as we thought about it further and considered the sheer volume of coffee produced on an annual basis we became suspicious that the whole story wasn’t being told.
We began conducting our own research and learning about the anatomy of the coffee cherry (whole fruit) prior to harvest. Prior to processing, coffee beans make up only 20% of the coffee cherry’s weight while cascara makes up 60–65%. With 25 billion pounds of green coffee produced for export annually, we had a hard time imagining coffee farmers adequately processing the resulting cascara byproduct for compost due to the shear magnitude. We then partnered with Oregon State University’s Environmental Science department on a comprehensive environmental impact study to quantify the magnitude of cascara waste along with the magnitude of its impact on the environment and economic viability of the coffee farming community. This research was conducted by a PhD student and supervised by a senior climate change scientist. Turns out, our suspicions were justified — it’s estimated that 100 billion pounds of cascara is produced annually with at least 70% of it thrown to waste leading to the severe environmental impact. It’s estimated that decomposing cascara left in landfills produces methane gas equivalent to 32 billion pounds of carbon dioxide annually — that’s the same level of emissions as 3 million automobiles in a single year.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
Getting a consumer product off the ground is incredibly challenging. The old guard of the industry conspires against the rise of new innovative products. Being an emerging brand in this category comes with continual challenges and obstacles — it’s far from easy. What inspires us to push forward is the perfect overlap of an altruistic sense of purpose with an enterprise opportunity. We believe we’re the first to crack the code in translating cascara into a consumable product that is poised for scale. It’s delicious, refreshing and delivers excellent functional benefits. We’re not asking consumers to compromise their demand for great taste and the perfect amount of energy in order to help save the planet and create greater economic viability for coffee farmers while increasing sustainability for the coffee industry. We see this as a win-win-win-win.
I find this quote from Randy Pausch in his book, The Last Lecture, relevant and inspiring: “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
The ”Aha Moment” came when we realized we had an exciting enterprise solution to a centuries-old issue that has led to massive environmental impact and economic inequity for farmers. That “Aha Moment” transitioned us from a company simply seeking to disrupt the cold brewed coffee category to a company that was driven by a sense of purpose with much broader and much greater significance for the world. A mission and purpose that inspires us to break through seemingly endless brick walls to accomplish.
Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
It all begins with an authentic passion. For me the end product is paramount, along with the team that you build around that product. My preferred route to starting something is to build teams around an idea to help bring it to optimal fruition. To help the idea realize its full potential. I’m quick to recognize my own limitations and weaknesses and consider one of my greatest strengths being the ability to recognize talent in others. I find greater value in being a part of a vibrant and inspiring team than I do in the pride of having exclusive ownership. I’m a big believer in the idea that what we can accomplish as a collaborative community is, more often than not, much greater and more effective at achieving positive impact than what we can accomplish as individuals.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
My favorite day of my entire career took place in late February 2020 — exactly one week before the pandemic hit Oregon. I was invited by University of Oregon’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices to spend the day on campus speaking to various classes and groups about our suspicions related to the magnitude of coffee’s food waste, its impact, and our innovative solution converting cascara into a consumer product. I told Riff’s story to 400–500 students — their response to the story and to our cascara product was incredibly inspiring. This population truly cares as much for the health and wellbeing of the planet and the farmer as they do about their own. I left buoyed by the validation that what we were doing had significant promise and resonated with that generation. That day also held deep personal meaning for me. I loved my experience in college but made the difficult decision to drop out my junior year to help care for my mom who was battling cancer. I was a commuter student still living at home, and being the youngest and one of the last to still live at home, my mom really needed the help. The balance of my education took place in the school of hard knocks, but I continually felt something missing by not completing my formal education. That day at UofO somehow brought a sense of resolution for me.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
(response to come)
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
At Riff, we’re blessed to be surrounded by an incredible supportive community. We designed our first round of fundraising, which we called our “Tribe Round,” with the intention of building a community of enterprising and supportive like-minded people around the brand. “No pointy elbows” was the first rule we set. The second rule was that each investor would bring, beyond funding, promise of contributing a strategic advantage to our shared objective of ensuring Riff was a success. Our goal was to raise $750k while capping each investment at $25k, with a limit of one per household. Our legal counsel commended the idea, said they’d had dozens of previous clients attempt to do something similar because the concept was so meaningful, but none to date had been successful. We pitched well over 100 people on our vision for building the most innovative cold brewed coffee brand in the country. And were blown away by the response we got — we ended up over-subscribing for a total raise of $1M from 40 individual investors. This general philosophical approach was carried into our next round. We have the opportunity to reach out to every one of our investors to seek guidance, feedback and support at any time — and they continually deliver.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
The root of the challenges we’re trying to solve really lie at the source — in the many developing coffee-growing countries. Beyond our efforts to generate greater awareness and demand for cascara, we’re seeing the future need to work closely with local governments, co-ops, trade associations and non-profits to help the thousands of individual smallholder coffee farms to better organize and work together to adopt best-in-class sustainable farming and processing practices. The way coffee is grown, processed and sold varies wildly from region to region so these efforts will require the involvement of multiple organizations implementing a wide variety of approaches.
Three areas that would really help would be: 1) Elevating the awareness of cascara and its nutritional value along with potential economic value, 2) Coffee farmer empowerment; support for adopting sustainable farming practices and cascara processing best practices, and 3) Assistance with reducing cascara waste and waste management as demand for cascara as a raw ingredient for food products grow.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
The rise of the internet has been incredibly empowering for consumers. They now have access to information that wasn’t available prior, when they only had advertising and news media to learn about products and the brands that make and sell them. And as the public learns more about what’s going on with our planet and the impact of consumer products, they’re simply demanding a lot more from companies — with a whole lot of conviction. As an example, Millennials and Gen Z’ers now interpret the term “sustainability” as relating to more than the environment and now includes concerns for social and economic equity. They’re concerned about equity throughout the entire supply chain and are alarmed by the threat of climate change. Greenwashing only backfires — they can sniff that out quickly. And, they’re continuing to become a greater force in the marketplace. Those brands that fail to become faithful stewards of the planet and all those contributing to the supply chain will only become less and less relevant. Consumers truly hold the power now, as they should. Being authentically aligned with consumers’ values is more than an added bonus — it’s now a requirement for achieving success and profitability.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
For too much of my career I bought into the illusion that once you become an established professional, or achieve a certain level of success and experience, that things would somehow become easier. Challenges would become minimal, easy to tackle. You could then “shift into overdrive” or “put it on cruise control.” I wish someone convinced me early in my career to embrace challenge, hardship, and the continually shifting landscape as teachers. And that life will never ever be static, and that its beauty lies in its ability to continually change and evolve. It’s forever dynamic. I guess I wish someone would’ve taught me that in at least five different ways so that it really sunk in. It took me too long to adopt the mindset of being a lifelong learner — life and work then became so much more inspiring, enjoyable and fulfilling, and so, so much less frustrating.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
There’s nothing more energizing and inspiring than being centered on a meaningful purpose. Being an entrepreneur is incredibly challenging with many days leaving you feeling defeated. Oftentimes you can’t help but wonder if you’re making a huge mistake or simply going crazy. A sense of purpose keeps you focused and driven — it’s what convinces you to break through those brick walls that are encountered with oftentimes alarming frequency.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’m hoping the relevance of this quote is obvious:
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”
― Viktor E. Frankl quoting Friedrich Nietzsche
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
That’s a quick one to answer. Shakira! But not for obvious reasons. She is incredibly talented and has continued to remain relevant and continues to build a massive following. She’s at the top of my list because she’s from Colombia where coffee is a primary economic driver (it’s the third largest coffee producing country in the world), and because of her commitment to humanitarianism and the environment. I’d love to share the story about our work with cascara and mission to help coffee growing communities along with the planet.
How can our readers follow you online?
Instagram: @plevers, Twitter: @paulevers, LinkedIn:
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Paul Evers of Riff Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.