First impressions matter in most things – and I find the interviews I do are no exception. It was my first face-to-face meeting with Scott. We’d talked a few times on the phone – and I’ve been to many 12,000 sq. ft. warehouse/office locations in my work. Should be routine and typical. Well, it wasn’t.
The front door doesn’t lead to a spacious empty reception area – but rather into a busy place, even first thing in the morning. Customers were already inside, smiling faces greeted me and I was offered a cup of coffee. And I’m impressed by clean. I always have been, and most business premises are what I call ‘sorta guy-clean’ – but this place was spotless, impeccable, and it didn’t look like the apple had been polished for my visit, or just for those retail customers …
We met at his office, above the warehouse – above the retail store (yes, a K-cup emporium), Scott Dawson, Pres. & CEO of a coffee service – DawsCo Coffee Service Ltd. He’s proud of the name, the look, the logo … the business he’s built, where things are going, his son in the business, 28 staff … and a lot more it turns out.
Call me jealous … how did he develop a 6-handicap in golf? In 1999/2000, when the first Mrs. Dawson was doing a law degree in Australia, he played golf every day for a year with a pro who helped him deconstruct and rebuild his game. Divorced once, and remarried once, he tells me his second wife – mortgage broker Fowzia Dawson – has taken up golf and enjoys it, so I guess she has a good teacher …
Let's start the story of his success road at the beginning - born in London, Ontario (same hospital as his son Christopher was born). Mom was an only child, homemaker and worked in data processing. Dad wasn’t around much – absentee, alcoholic. Divorced when Scott was 11. Siblings? “One of each, both older”. Scott’s grandfather was a steady hand and very involved in his upbringing.
School came easy. “I hated school”. Honour student, never cracked a book, loved to cut class with the gang and hang out at Lake Erie. He played football, basketball, volleyball – captain for five years; jock with brains. First job in a factory in St. Thomas, ON, lasted three hours! … For motivation, “a baby arrived! Christopher”. Marriage, child and a need to support everyone – prompted a move to Calgary, staying with family and exploring the job market after helping out in sales of computer software (remember the Commodore 64?) to farmers. Business was good, he was good – sales was clearly his game, natural selling skills it seemed. The story is long (I’ve left out a few of the interesting twists/turns for brevity), ‘an ad for coffee sales’ intrigued him. Cory coffee – he was 19 at the time and quickly rose to be top salesman – iterations, companies bought and sold – fast forward to a partnership in Western Coffee Royale, 100% two years later and a name change – in 1991 Dawson Coffee was born, a branding/name change to DawsCo in 2008.
Why are you successful? “Family, wife, son – now a grandchild – I’ve done this for them. Why? I pay attention to details – maybe trying hard to be the opposite of everything my dad was, to be what he wasn’t. Self-imposed structure. I’m smart at the office coffee business. I’ve had some experiences with failure, followed by successes.”
What has held you back? “Not much. A sense of comfort level. Some people live on the edge of that comfort level. I like to challenge myself … but I can’t control outside forces.”
Of two hours of storytelling – one interesting bit for repeating. Every three months Scott trips off to Toronto to work with his coffee roaster supplier (he also uses some local Calgary roaster suppliers) to test coffee. They ship Calgary water in five-gallon jugs to Toronto … so what they taste is what the customer will get … now that’s attention to detail!