How It All Started, Pochi Origin Stories
Welcome to our FIRST EPISODE of Spill The Tea, where we’re spilling the tea about the owners of our company, Pochi. We get to know who the owners are and learn about their journey into the world of Pochi back in 2015. They actually dive into a topic that people always ask them about, why Pochi? So join us as we uncover the story behind how Ralph, Arthur, and Malyn met and started working together. Grab your cup of tea and let's spill the beans on the Pochi owners!
From Friends to Business Partners
We take a trip down memory lane and learn about the individual paths that brought the owners of Pochi together. Ralph and Arthur discuss previous visits to Pochi as customers and the moment that started it all and got the ball rolling. Then continued their discussion of how Malyn came into the picture and why.
Ralph, Arthur, and Malyn all have a connection to Marysville with them either growing up there or have lived there at some point in their life. Arthur, who has a background in dance and IT, speaks first about his passion for dance and how it led him to connect with Malyn through mutual friends. Malyn, who also has a background in dance, comes from the retail and event planning world. She discusses how her skills in these areas prepared her for the demands of running a business like Pochi. Ralph, who has a background in martial arts, talks about the impact it’s made on him and about his “entrepreneurial fire.” Together, the three owners took a risk and made the jump to acquire Pochi in 2015. With it, they took Pochi’s OG orange, green, and yellow walls, and set forth on making the brand their own.
The Vision for Pochi
A big part of the vision Ralph, Arthur, and Malyn had for Pochi was to take from their own experiences and give back what they’ve learned and pour it back into the people. Each of them have their own individual goals for Pochi whether it’s to foster a place of belonging, investing in their future, or doing something that is bigger than themselves. At the end of the day, the people, our team, are always top of mind.
Something that Ralph always says is that “we’re not in the Bubble Tea Business. We’re in the People Business. We just happen to make Boba.” It’s our own spin on what Howard Schultz has said about Starbucks being in the coffee business.
That is something that carries over into our Core Values for Pochi where 1) our team is family, 2) our customers are family, and 3) we take care of family.
This is the reason why Pochi offers our team things like a Gym Membership or a 401k among other benefits. It influences the way we make our decisions as well, from what we offer on our menu to how we scale as a business.
Future Pochi - Spill The Tea
As far as where Pochi is headed next, we hope to take you on that journey with us more! This podcast is one of the directions we’re taking Pochi and we want to continue to share our stories with you. And we want to share the stories of other creatives, business owners, and just amazing human beings, who we feel are very inspiring and can teach us a thing or two.
Tune in to the next episode where we peel back the curtains a bit on how we approach hiring & interviewing- Ep. 2: Not-So-Secret Interview Tips & Tricks
Join our Team
>> Take your shot at becoming a bobarista! <<
Connect with us on Instagram!
