Kaytlin Ebora says that her first position at Dutch Bros was as a regular customer.
“I came through twice a day, every day before school and after school, and that was when I was in high school,” Ebora said. “I'd get strawberry peach Red Bulls. It was before we had our own energy drink.”
She started as a broista at a stand in her hometown of Newberg, Oregon, and worked there for four and a half years before joining the MOB to travel states across the company assisting and training teams opening new stands. After seven months traveling with the MOB, she met Tonya Thomason, an operator in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
“I fell in love with her vision and what she was doing there,” Ebora said. She ended up moving to Idaho Falls and helped Thomason open and manage her second stand. After about a year, Ebora moved back to the Portland area to be closer to her family.
If you know Ebora, you know she loves bringing kindness to everyone she meets. She enjoys writing encouraging words and sayings on her stand’s windows, phrases like “you’re not here by mistake,” “you matter,” and “you’re loved.”
Last year she started an initiative called Project Sunshine in the hopes of spreading encouragement and joy to friends, colleagues, and strangers. She prints messages — “you’re worthy,” “you can do hard things,” and more — on what she calls “sunshine cards” and hands them out.
“They’re such simple words, but they carry so much power because people don’t hear them regularly,” Ebora said. “When people are waiting in line — which is not something necessarily that people love to do — it catches their eye, and they see something good.”
She says leading a team with kindness requires both strength and vulnerability — a willingness to show your team that you are human, too.
“As a leader, you need mental and emotional strength, and both of those require vulnerability,” Ebora said. “As a leader it’s being able to tell the staff, ‘I struggle with anxiety, and I've struggled with depression, and it's okay that you're struggling, but you're not walking it alone.’ To hear that somebody leading them or somebody that they look up to is going through or has gone through similar things gives people hope.”
When all but essential business closed in Oregon because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many wondered why coffee shops were allowed to stay open. But Ebora said coffee shops are essential because it’s about more than caffeine.
“Dutch Bros has never been about coffee,” Ebora said. “We do put out a really good cup of coffee, but the core of what we do is serving people. Right now, that’s essential. We’re providing hope and comfort and a smile and a good cup of coffee.”
Kaytlin’s Tips for Leading With Strength and Vulnerability
- Don’t forget our purpose. We’re a company making a difference one cup at a time. Be the light. A lot of us are looking for the light at the end of this tunnel. It’s time we realize we are the light.
- Be creative! Write words of encouragement on lids, have dress-up days, start a stand group chat for funny videos. Turn up the music and have a dance party — keeping your distance of course. There are so many ways to be fun-loving while still adhering to protocol.
- Be kind. So many people we encounter — including our coworkers — are going through hard times. It may come across in different ways for different people, but if we react with kindness we can’t go wrong.
- I tell my crew that each person is writing their own story every day. It’s special that they are choosing to share a page of that story every time they come through our line. We have an opportunity to change lives just by listening and investing in other people’s stories.
- We’re in this together. If you have fear or doubt or questions, reach for your leaders. We are here to serve you and our community. You’re not alone.