DEATH WISH COFFEE LOGISTICS - NATE GAETANO

DEATH WISH COFFEE COMPANY EMPLOYEE SERIES #23

"I try to do my best to come in every day and not only be on the same page as the people around me, but turn the page with them every day." Nate Gaetano, Death Wish Coffee

PREVIEW:

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ABOUT NATE GAETANO:

Nate Gaetano was a teacher for a few years before finding his way to Death Wish Coffee. Starting on the production floor, he learned all the ins and outs before recently joining our incredible logistics department. Nate talks about his daily duties and everything he has learned and continues to learn, at Death Wish. Plus, he likes to stay active in sports outside of work and helped start our company softball team. Nate is also a big Game of Thrones fan and we talk about some of the theories going into the final season of the show.

TRANSCRIPT:

Jeff: Right out of the get go, please name your least favorite employee here at Death Wish Coffee.

Nate: Sometimes it's myself.

Jeff: That's a shitty answer.

Nate: No, I don't have one of those man.

Jeff: You don't have one of those.

Nate: No, I don't have one of those.

Jeff: All right, all right. How about your favorite employee?

Nate: Oh man, that's tough. I have a little bit of a bias because I actually, not many people know this but some do, I live with John John Bennett.

Jeff: I did not know that.

Nate: Yes, him and I share an apartment together. So yeah, we do a lot of stuff together. We hang out, we work together. We see each other pretty often. So he's up there man. That's it.

Jeff: All right, all right. Okay. So let's get into then. How long have you been working here at Death Wish Coffee?

Nate: About a year and a half, it'll br two years in October.

Jeff: Okay. So almost two years ago you get the job. What was it like walking into this company? You started out on the production floor, correct?

Nate: Yes I did, yes I did.

Jeff: All right. So kind of walk us through your first impressions of working for Death Wish.

Nate: It was very exciting, but also I want to say a little intimidating because I was walking into an environment where for the first time there was a lot of people who I was working with who were my own age.

Jeff: Oh.

Nate: Yes. Which I had never done before. So walking in, just getting to know everyone. I used to be a teacher before this job.

Jeff: Really?

Nate: Yeah. So I worked at an elementary school, and you can imagine, a lot of the teachers there were experienced, a little bit older. And I sort of felt out of place, so I kind of wanted to make a good impression when I walked into Death Wish, and hopefully I think I did that.

Jeff: Okay, okay. So let's walk it back even further then. You were teaching before you were here at Death Wish. What were you teaching?

Nate: Yes sir. So I was an elementary school physical education teacher?

Jeff: Really?

Nate: Yes.

Jeff: How long?

Nate: Three years.

Jeff: Did you go to school for that?

Nate: I did. I went to Springfield College in Massachusetts. It was a great four years. And then I started teaching right off the bat after that. And after three years I decided I did not want to do that anymore.

Jeff: Not to get, I guess, too much into it, but where was that turning point for you? At three years in, was it just the daily grind of being a teacher?

Nate: I could tell you exactly man. So I was three years in. So the very first teaching job I had was in a pretty rough area and it took a toll on me. I was pretty stressed out most of the time. Three years in, my older brother had had his third child back here in New York. My mother, father back here in New York. My little brother was out there in Massachusetts with me, but I was a good distance away from him. So I almost felt like I needed to be with my family again kind of thing.

Jeff: Understandable.

Nate: So at the end of that third year, I decided to take a chance and come back to New York. And I didn't have a job at that time so I jumped into working at the Saratoga race track for the summer. Awesome job. Really fun. Cool experience.

Jeff: What did you do there?

Nate: So they actually ... I just signed on to do an outdoor thing, sort of like maintenance on the lawns and cutting the grass, all that stuff. And they actually liked me so much they taught me how to drive the tractors between races.

Jeff: Oh really? To groom the tracks and stuff?

Nate: Yeah. So I was one of the guys who would go around the track between races, rake the track. And, yeah.

Jeff: Wow. One of my earliest jobs when, I was 16 I worked for the track. I ported. So there was a company that had a bunch of lemonade stands and pretzel stands, and one sausage and peppers and onion and funnel cake stand. And I would have to make sure that they were stocked all day every day. So I was running around the track all the time. Saratoga race track is an incredible experience for sure.

Nate: Yes, absolutely. Hell yeah.

Jeff: So you come back. You're doing that. When does Death Wish come into the play? Was Death Wish even on your radar at this point? Do you know what it was?

Nate: Yes. So funny story, I actually went to high school with a relative of Mike Brown and he is one of my good friends and I was at his apartment one day and he actually brought to the Death Wish vodka. And that was my very experience with Death Wish. So I was like, "Wow, this is pretty cool. They're not a vodka company though." And he's like, "No, no, no. They make coffee." So that's the first time I heard of them, and that was like a year before I even applied for the job here. So I was working at the track. It got to be September, early October, and the track obviously was closing. The races were long done and they were finishing up for the season. And I was like, "Oh shit. I need a job." So I had applied for a bunch of teaching jobs. I really only wanted one and I didn't get that one so I was like, "What am I going to do?" And then I was actually Facebook friends with the then office manager, [Kristin 00:05:06]. And she had posted there was a job opening. So shot in the dark, sent her a message. "Is that still open? Can I interview?" She said, "Yep." And then like a week later I was in. It happened very fast. Very fast.

Jeff: Wow. Wow. So okay, so you start working on the production floor. Was your expectation different than the reality? Because you had obviously never worked for a coffee company before.

Nate: To be honest, man, I didn't know what to expect. When I walked in I was like, "I'm just going to give this all. Whatever they need me to do, I'm going to do." That's kind of my attitude towards a lot of things. So John John was super helpful, showed me around, showed what I needed to do, my role there. And I kind of just took it on the chin and was like, "Let's do this. Whatever I need to get done, I'll do it." And I learned everything I possible could, from grinding to eventually roasting. So I mean, I knew pretty much everything on the floor eventually. It took a little bit of time.

Jeff: That's awesome. And your job has now shifted even father. And can we talk about what your kind of daily job is now?

Nate: Absolutely. It's mind blowing how many times I've sort of changed my role here, but in good ways. So now I work for the logistics department with the Brads and of course Dustin. My main job now every day is just to handle the shipping and receiving going out of Death Wish. So I help set up truck loads, I help load the trucks, unload the trucks. I'm making more and more new contacts every day. Talking to different companies about different lanes for shipping our coffee all over the country, man. It's pretty cool.

Jeff: That's pretty crazy. And I mean you embody a lot of what I learn every time I talk to employees of Death Wish here on the show, is that we do a lot of things that we never set out to do.

Nate: Yes, absolutely.

Jeff: And is that interesting for you? Do you enjoy that? Do you enjoy learning new things on the job all the time?

Nate: I do. So that's one of the things that has not only kept me around here, but makes me super proud of my job. It's that you think things are going one way and you think things are going to be monotonous, and then boom. We switch it up, we get bigger, things change, and it's exciting. I never come into work thinking that this is going to be a boring day.

Jeff: That's cool. That's very cool. So on the other side of the job, and we'll get back to day to day here at Death Wish Coffee. But on the other side of the job, and I know a little bit about you, what do you like to do when you're not working? Do you have hobbies? Do you have stuff that you enjoy?

Nate: Yeah. So my physical education background, I'm a super sporty type guy. Big New York everything fan. Giants, Yankees, all that. So you can catch me watching the Yankees. I know you're a Red Sox fan, I know, I know. You can catch me watching baseball. Actually, you know this, I help organize our softball team here at Death Wish. We could talk about that. But that's just [inaudible 00:08:04]. I play basketball with my friends, I go to the gym.

Jeff: That's awesome.

Nate: Yeah, I just, I like to be super active man. It keeps e going every day and it helps me sleep at night for sure.

Jeff: That's awesome. Well yes, last year you started our softball ... Well, there is a softball league, a local softball league that we joined as Death Wish Coffee, and we did all right.

Nate: All right? Semi finals man.

Jeff: Semi finals.

Nate: Yes, people forget that. We didn't start off great, which I expected. I wanted to see how people would react to that, and everyone had the best possible attitude.

Jeff: I think it's a lot of fun as a company to be on a team like that. Especially because for those of you who might now know, this is both a woman and man team, which is great, so we can have all of our employees there. And any skillset of [inaudible 00:08:54]. Well it's what's considered a beer league, which is nice.

Nate: Yeah, there you go. Meant to fun. Yeah.

Jeff: And it's fun because for me, when I was kid, I played baseball through junior high basically. And I enjoyed it. I was never good at it but I enjoyed it. So I have some of the fundamentals, I'm a baseball fan as well. So I know some of the fundamentals. So going into it, I was really excited about it. But it was fun seeing people like Dustin that you brought up, who's never played softball of baseball or anything. And a couple games in as having the time of his life.

Nate: So he got me jacked up because he came to the field wanting to learn and get better. And my expectation was, "All right. If we're going to suck, we'll drink. It'll be a good time, whatever." He came and he was like, "Yeah, how's my swing? Am I level?" All this stuff. He was like, "Can you give me pointers?" And then he improved tremendously by the end of the season. So yeah, that was exciting and I'm excited to see how he's going to do this year too.

Jeff: This season is going to kick off pretty much the same time this episode comes out, which is going to be good. So what do you think we need to do as a team this year to make it farther? We made it to the semi finals, I want to make it to the finals this year.

Nate: Yeah, which is, I mean, awesome that we did that. But yeah, that's a good question man. Let's see. I think we should drink more. No.

Jeff: Drinking more would definitely help.

Nate: I don't know. I mean, we had a few practices last year. We're going to try to do that again. I know the weather's been kind of-

Jeff: Yeah, upstate New York. Got to love this weather.

Nate: Yeah, unpredictable. Just if we go into this season with the same fun attitude and confidence we ended this new season with last year I think we'll be in good shape.

Jeff: I think so too. I know a couple of us from last year are coming back and playing again this year, which is going to be good. In fact, I think our start in field with you me and Shannon-

Nate: Intact.

Jeff: ... is going to be all stacked and ready to go.

Nate: The core is intact.

Jeff: I think, yeah, I'm very excited. And again, I'm excited because it's a fun thing to do that is with everybody at work, but it's not work.

Nate: Right, yeah. It's that whole team thing, but off the clock. And we get to know each other a little better. I mean, we work closely together anyways, but even now that the office and the production is separated it's an opportunity for us to get together and have fun.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah. Which will be hopefully rectified in the next year or two when we hopefully get out own space again and marry the warehouse and the office back together. But getting back to the work side of it, one of things, again, why I love softball is that we can all kind of get together and have a good time. And a lot of people who see Death Wish Coffee now on social media or out at events and stuff like that, and I get this a lot and I'm sure you probably do to. People think, "Oh man, you guys work for Death Wish Coffee. You guys work for like an amusement park. It must be fun every day-"

Nate: "It's fun all the time, all the time."

Jeff: "... because you're jacked up on coffee." And that's really ... I mean, yes, we like to have fun. But that's not the case. It is a lot of hard work. As part of the logistics team now, and with a lot of what we've been scaling, what do you think is like some of the biggest obstacles we're looking at now as a company that's growing so quickly.

Nate: Man, yeah, I mean you hit it right there at the end. Just the fact that we're growing so quickly that time is becoming an issue. Just getting things together and out and ready to go and get out of our hands in time for these trucks to come and pick up stuff, it's tough. So me and the Brads, we sometimes will pull someone of the production floor or wherever we can to just be like, "All right, we've got to get this one thing done because time's running out." So yeah. The biggest issue right now as far as I can see is just the hands we have. They're always moving and we've got to keep that going because it's going to get bigger and bigger obviously.

Jeff: One of the biggest misconceptions about Death Wish too is people think we are a team of hundreds. Really, what are we, 34 at this point I think?

Nate: That was one of the most shocking things that I realized when I first started working here was that, I was like, "Oh, Death Wish Coffee. Cool." I had heard of them, knew about the Superbowl commercial. I was like, "All right, there's probably 100 employees there." When I started working there, less than 30. Wild.

Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, a couple years ago we were barely at 20. And so I mean, scale is definitely something that's tough in a business like this. But being on the front lines in logistics you're seeing that at an actual level. Where do you think we're headed? Do you see us continually scaling at this level? Do you see us leveling off? Do you see us going even further? Where do you think we're headed in the next few years.

Nate: Seven kingdoms man, we're going all the way. Yeah, it's cool. Since I started working in the logistics department, this is like my second month there now, you see more and more places that pop up on my screen basically. So we just got our fulfillment center out in Reno. You see more and more orders go out that way. We have the business that we do with Cascade now in Seattle. Just, you start to see new cities that ... A city will come across my desk and I'll be like, "Where is this city? I have no idea." Because I don't travel a lot. But it's cool to see that more and more places are experiencing what Death Wish Coffee is.

Jeff: It's really crazy to see us hit almost every corner of the world at this point, and definitely every corner of this country. And on my end, as people know with this show, is I talk to a lot of our different influencers, or different people who are in a completely different world that we are connected to because of that coffee. And now, on the logistics side, you're seeing that too because you and I work together to help to caffeinate some of the bands that we deal with or some of the people that we meet that we're trying to create these relationships with through the podcast and stuff like that. Is that surreal to you?

Nate: Yeah. So a really cool story that I'll tell quickly. John Swedish, the first time I walked into his office I noticed that he had a signed Breaking Benjamin album behind him, and they happen to be one of my favorite bands. Me and my older brother go way back listening to them. And they happened to come out with a new album and they were coming to Glens Falls. And this was December 10th, I believe, of this past year. So I said, "Hey John, what can we do?" I just wanted to go, man. And he came through clutch. He knew the bassist Aaron, and he got us backstage passes. We got to meet the band. I got a picture with Ben and the guys and we got invited back into their dressing room to hang out with them before their concert. And it was the coolest. I was starstruck. It was cool.

Jeff: That's really cool. And again, a lot of people see that from the outside and think, "Oh man," our job is just hobnobbing with celebrities and all that stuff, but it's a lot of hard work on that. John's especially creating this relationship. And a lot of it isn't ... Like, we love the guys in breaking Benjamin and a lot of the different bands that we've been able to caffeinate. But a lot of it stems from we start with their crew, with their roadies, with their tour manager. These people who definitely need to be caffeinated because they're making the show go.

Nate: Yeah, what I realized was how hard John worked at that. He knew their tour manager and he got him on the phone and was like, "What do you guys need, what can I get you?" And it all fell from there.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah. It's really cool to see these relationships grow with this company because at the end of the day, we're just a small little coffee company where everybody really likes coffee and it's cool to be able to parlay that into fun relationships and stuff like that. So on that thought then, we've done a lot in the music space, especially metal and rock and roll. We've done a lot in the comic book industry. We've done a lot in some of these different niche areas. Is there a place that you think that we haven't hit yet that we should be working towards?

Nate: Actually, I've had this discussion with John John before. And he is a big fan of hip hop. I sort of have ... I come from a weird music background where I like all sorts of stuff. My father's in a-

Jeff: That's a great background.

Nate: ... band and yeah. So yeah, I have my hip hop side. More of an old school hip hop fan. But if there was any sort of way to get into that scene maybe, I know he mentioned one time how cool it would be is Post Malone rocked a Death Wish shirt on stage one time. You know what I'm saying?

Jeff: It's true.

Nate: That would be really cool. So maybe there, sure.

Jeff: All right, all right. We'll have to look into that. We've actually been lucky enough to have a couple hip hop artists on this show.

Nate: I know Wyclef Jean was on.

Jeff: Wyclef Jean has been on twice. We love him to death. And we had Sadistik on just recently which was very cool.

Nate: Yes, yes. New album, awesome.

Jeff: So we're starting to dip our toes into there, I hope we do more. So let's talk about, outside of the job, outside of everything, something that both you and I love, you actually referenced it earlier-

Nate: Here we go-

Jeff: ... Game of freaking Thrones. And I've got to bring it up because another place that we're starting to get all in on is the Twitch universe, which started out as this video game space but now is this amazing space for everything dealing with pop culture and that kind of thought. And one of the things we started doing was recapping this final season of Game of Thrones. And how did you start to be a fan of this? Were you a fan of the books? Did you become a fan of the show?

Nate: So, funny story. My little brother was super into Game of Thrones since the beginning. He read the books, watched it from season one. Tried to get me into it. I watched episode one and I said, "I hate this show."

Jeff: Let's preface this. Are you a fantasy fan at all?

Nate: Yes. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So I was into Lord of the Rings. Yes. So absolutely. So I watched it and I was like, "This isn't for me, I don't like it." Two years down the road, I think they were in season three or so, I said, "What the hell? I'll give this a shot." Because he kept going on and on about it. So I was like, "I'll watch the first couple episodes and maybe I'll start to get into it." Lo and behold, man, here we are. I've read the books through twice.

Jeff: Really?

Nate: Yeah. Well, read. I listened to them on audio.

Jeff: It's all right, it's all right.

Nate: Same thing. And then I've seen the show through now three or four times. Yeah, him and I, I remember watching Battle of the Bastards with him in season six, just going nuts. Yeah. It's my favorite thing in the world right now.

Jeff: I've said this to other people that aren't necessarily fantasy fans or that kind of thing. This doesn't really touch their wheelhouse. It's one of those shows that even if it's not something that necessarily might hold your interest, I always tell people, give it a shot. Because I can't believe that we get to live in an age of entertainment where something like this gets to be created. Just when I was a kid in the early '80s, the idea of the giant blockbuster movie was a big thing, and now we're getting things like Game of Thrones that blow movies out of the water, filmed on six continents.

Nate: [crosstalk 00:20:56], think about how much more ... I mean not ... Just, as opposed to one single movie, not like a series of movies, but how much more goes into a show that's been going on for, what is it? Eight, nine years now?

Jeff: This is ten-

Nate: Ten years, ten years.

Jeff: ... almost ten years since shooting that original season, yes. Before it actually aired. Because I just saw an interview with some of the primary cast who are still alive, and they were talking about how it's been almost ten years since they got the job and day one on set.

Nate: Crazy. And I think that's cool because you almost ... Well not almost, you do get to watch these characters and actors grow up.

Jeff: Oh my gosh. Some of the kids like Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, we watched them grow into adults. Not just as their characters grow into adults, but them as actors and actresses as well. So as a giant fan of this series, if you got the phone call and they were like, "George R. R. Martin is dead. Nate, we need you to write the end of this," where does it go? What is your prediction? How would you end this story?

Nate: That's tough. I've played that out in my head so many times.

Jeff: Oh I'm sure, I'm sure.

Nate: Man.

Jeff: There's no wrong answer until the final episode premieres four weeks from now.

Nate: So I tend to go back to the books, and I know that the show has far surpassed the books. But I like to take subtle hints from the books. And there's the whole Azor Ahai prophecy from the books, which is the chosen one. I always had it in my heart that John was the chosen one, he was the guy. He was going to lead everyone.

Jeff: He is the Song of Ice and Fire.

Nate: Right. He is the guy who's going to be on top at the end. But the more that you watch the shows, I don't think that's his character. I don't think that's where he wants to be. So I guess in a perfect world they go in and they defeat the dead and they take care of Cersei and maybe it's John and Danny together. That's kind of the cheesy ending. But it's something I might want to root for. I don't know.

Jeff: Do you subscribe to the theory that no one wins, and the Night King just decimates the throne and-

Nate: It becomes a long night.

Jeff: ... there's ever night, yeah.

Nate: It's funny you say that. I always go back to something my little brother always says to me, and it's a Ramses Bolton quote. And he always says, "If you think has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

Jeff: You haven't been paying attention.

Nate: So yes, that is very possible. And would I be disappointed if that happened? No. Because that's Game of Thrones, unpredictable.

Jeff: Exactly. My prediction is that we're going to get the actual villain of this entire series has been under our nose the entire time and we've been rooting for her and we did not know that Daenerys-

Nate: The Mad Queen.

Jeff: ... was actually to be the Mad Queen-

Nate: Mad Queen Danny.

Jeff: ... and she's going to shift. And it's going to be heart wracking and we're going to hate it. But I think, as a fan of this series, I think that could be a viable thing. But if I were writing it, I would say that Lady Mormont, the bear, comes out of left field and she gets the throne, because that actress, and I looked it up the other day and I'm going to never forget her name, Bella Ramses. Remember that name, because this actress, this young girl, can walk into a room with the likes of Lena Headey and Kit Harrington and these incredibly forceful actors and actresses and basically walk into the room and be like, "Sit down. I'm talking."

Nate: Steal the show.

Jeff: And to be a young child actor and have that kind of gravity when you're on set, she's going to go far. We're going to see her 100%. And I think a lot of these actors and actresses are going to have incredible careers. Some of them already did going into it, but I think some of them, we're going to see them in roles for years to come.

Nate: Yeah man. Just think about back to season one. The most popular ... The most experienced actor on the show was probably Sean Bean.

Jeff: Oh yeah. He was top billing, Sean bean, yeah.

Nate: And they killed him in episode eight.

Jeff: Crazy.

Nate: Spoiler alert, sorry. But yeah, that's just ... That show has sort of produced this mass group of really good actors I think.

Jeff: I do want to date this episode as we're talking and recording this episode right now, because we are talking very lofty about Game of Thrones because the Battle of Winterfell, which is season eight, episode three, is going to happen after we record this. So I'm sure if we were having this conversation after the fact, we'd be a lot sadder and a lot more kind of understanding of what's going to happen. Because I think there's going to be a lot of terribleness.

Nate: I'm trying to prepare myself. I'm not ready. People will die.

Jeff: Yeah, a lot of them. I think it's going to be nuts.

Nate: I think you're right about Danny though. It's weird just thinking about the road she's going down. And it's crazy to see, but she's becoming more and more ... I can see her having to make a very tough decision in this battle that's coming up and it being the wrong one. So we'll see.

Jeff: We'll see. Shout out to, actually, an earlier episode with a guest, John Longstreth, he's the drummer of a metal band named Origin. He actually wrote online and I love this quote, he thinks that, "Danny is going to have the biggest heel turn since Hulk hogan did in the WWE." Which I think is very, very poignant.

Nate: Yeah, I like that.

Jeff: Going back to work, going back to all of it, what is really inspiring talking with you is, like you said, you came in day one with Death Wish Coffee and you were like, "I'm just going to put my head down, and I'm going to learn whatever I can." And by the end of it, you learned pretty much everything there is to learn on the production floor, and now you're working with the logistics team and doing the exact same thing. All the while, while still wanting to be active and be out there with all your sports and everything. What fuels you to want to keep doing that? What fuels you to keep coming to work and wanting to learn?

Nate: I love that question and I've thought a lot about it. I've thought a lot about that pretty much since I started working here. I listen to the podcast all the time. I always ask myself that question when I hear it too, and really, it boils down to the attitude of the entire Death Wish environment. And that is, every day you come in and you don't want to be that person who's slacking and you don't want to be that person who says, "I'm going to take the day off," but still be here. You don want to be that person who is left behind almost because we are moving forward as a company every day. Whether it's baby steps on the elevator, or whether it's whatever. Small steps, big steps. We're doing it. And if you're not a part of it, then get out of the way. I mean, it goes back to my sports background of being on a team and growing up playing sports an the attitude that you're not going to accomplish anything if people aren't on the same page.

Jeff: It's true.

Nate: So I try to do my best to come in every day and not only be on the same page as the people around me, but turn the page with them every day. So once we move forward, all right, we're going to move forward together. No one's taking leaps and bounds ahead. No one's staying behind. We're all doing this thing together. And it's cool. It's really cool. I've never really had a job where that's been the case.

Jeff: It's the truth. One of the things that I find talking to employees on this show all the time is that we all believe in the brand, we all believe in the product, and we all believe in the work that we're putting in behind it. And that's rare. That's super rare. I've said this before on episodes. I dare you to talk to an employee of Maxwell House or something like that to hear the same passion as people like you have for that.

Nate: Passion's a good word. Every single person here is proud to be here.

Jeff: It's true. And that's something that's really, really interesting. As we wind down, the one question that I always ask, and you cannot take your time, I want the first answer that comes to your brain, Death Wish or Valhalla?

Nate: Death Wish.

Jeff: 100%.

Nate: 100% Death Wish.

Jeff: Okay, give me a reason.

Nate: Yeah. It boils down to just a flavor thing for me. I had never really heard of Valhalla until I got to Death Wish. And then I got to Death Wish and I was like, "Oh cool. Something different, I'll give it a shot." And when I tried it, I was like, "Yeah, it's good. But the original is for me."

Jeff: Well please welcome Zakk Wylde to beat you up! No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

Nate: Hey Zakk, I'm sorry man.

Jeff: And that's awesome. I mean, everybody has their own preference. Were you, before working for this company, were you a coffee drinker?

Nate: Yes. But not until college. I mean, I guess that's relatable for a lot of people. But when I got to college we had a Dunkin Donuts on campus. I didn't drink coffee in high school at all. I got to college. Was doing work all the time, seven days a week. And it got to the point where I was like, "All right, I need something." And yeah, that's when I started. And I don't go crazy with it. One cup of Death Wish in the morning will do it for me. It's fine. The rest of the day I'm good.

Jeff: You drink it black?

Nate: Sometimes. But, and Dustin will get on this for me, but I also like my flavors. I almost like my coffee to be like a desert sometimes.

Jeff: It's all right. It's all right.

Nate: He's not the biggest fan of that. But like the other day I put, Stewart's had cinnamon bun flavored creamer. So I brought that in. I was like, "I'll give it a shot." And he smelled it. He sniffed it out from across the room and he's like, "This smells disgusting."

Jeff: What was your thought on it? Was it disgusting?

Nate: I liked it.

Jeff: You liked it? All right, all right. Hey, look, coffee's a wonderful drink because you can drink it black and we pride ourselves on Death Wish coffee because of the taste of it, but it's a great drink because you can add all sorts of things to it to make it for you. And that's why so many people enjoy it.

Nate: Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff: And that's awesome. So for our viewers and listeners out there, obviously you want to follow Death Wish Coffee on all of our social channels because that's where a lot of us pop up all the time, but do you use social media at all? Can anybody follow your journey?

Nate: Sure, yeah. I do have Instagram. My Instagram is just my name. It's nategaetano, N-A-T-E-G-A-E-T-A-N-O. Italian boy. And I have Twitter. Same thing. Same nategaetano, N-A-T-E-G-A-E-T-A-N-O.

Jeff: All right, I'll put those in the show. You said Italian boy. Like family over on the boat, like a couple generations?

Nate: Oh yeah. Like my father's father's name is Mario.

Jeff: Really?

Nate: Yeah. Yes.

Jeff: It's a me!

Nate: Yeah, straight off the boat man, for sure.

Jeff: Wow. So oh man. That makes me hungry.

Nate: I know, but it's funny, because everyone's always like, "Your parents came over, your grandparents came over from Italy, you must be 100% Italian." I'm actually 25% Irish as well.

Jeff: Oh. Do you have family in either country still?

Nate: No. I need to get to Italy, man. I've never been. But there is a church. I believe it's in the southernmost point of Italy. Maybe even near Sicily. But it has my last name above the door of the church.

Jeff: Is it from your family?

Nate: I don't know.

Jeff: Oh cool.

Nate: Yeah, I've got to find out.

Jeff: You've got to find that out.

Nate: I had a family friend over there send us a picture one time and I was like, "Wow, I need to get over there, check it out, and find that out because I don't know."

Jeff: Hey, you're 75% Italian. They'll welcome you with open arms right off the plane. They'll be like, "Come here. Here's a plate of spaghetti."

Nate: "It's spaghetti time." Awesome.

Jeff: Nate, it was so good having you on the show and talking with you and I cannot wait for this season of softball.

Nate: We're going to kick some ass in softball. Let's go.

Jeff: We're going to kick some ass.

Nate: Awesome.

Jeff: Thanks a lot, man.

Nate: Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Jeff: Awesome.