Throwback Thursday ~ A little LAB history

~ Finishing up 6 strong years. Looking back at a few chapters along the way. ~

When I started LAB 5702 I wanted it to have this mysterious exterior to it, but mostly because it was about the clients we worked with, and not about us. I didn't want our name to get in the way. 

Now being mysterious is cool and trendy. Where's this secret bar, which chef is preparing the menu tonight, who brewed that beer with that brewery, why doesn't that coffee shop have a website, and so on. We were always approachable and that shaped us into the team we are now. The LAB way is to be very personality based first, and beverages come second. With that we are trying to be more transparent on who we are. A few of these articles from former days tell a fun story on how we got here. It has been a fast...and fun six years. - Jason

The LAB, known as LAB 5702 then, was just a baby. Here's an article in The Pitch from early 2010 on the first beverage class we did. The subject was simple syrups, and was a collaboration class with Lindsay Laricks, owner of Little Freshie. 

Here's another oldie goldie from way back. You know, a whole 5 years ago. Here's an interview in Black Enterprise magazine where I was asked about social media techniques. In the online and social media world 5 years might as well been a generation ago. 

A lot has changed in 18 months, and I'm proud of the direction we are going. I miss not visiting as many Kansas City establishments as I was able to in the early years, but what I learn from traveling so much has so much value that I can apply to what we do. This article from Barista Magazine covers the past, present, and future.

Here's an article from one of my favorite industry writers, Pete Dulin. It was published about half a year after we started Caffeine Crawl. This is for his food and beverage blog, and our Q and A covers a lot of my path in the beverage world.
P.S. I can tell I was tired in this photo. A lot of 16 hour days and 5 hours of sleep back in those days. #entrepreneurlife