When Bryce Schneider was thinking about where to go to college, he made his decision based on which campus had a Dutch Bros stand nearby that was hiring.
He was already working as a broista in Newberg, Oregon and applied to both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. Whichever Dutch Bros location offered him a job would determine where he’d go to school, Schneider said, laughing. He got a call from a franchise in Corvallis, so he decided to go to Oregon State.
He ended up managing a stand while he was going to school.
“When I graduated, I had so much love for the company and didn’t want to be done yet,” Schneider said.
He drove to HQ and met with the Vice President of Field Ops - Southwest, Lance Risser.
“I asked him if they had any jobs, and he explained what the MOB was.”
Over the course of several years, he worked his way up to Director of the MOB, the group that travels to train and assist teams when opening new stands.
“You get to meet so many different people over such a small course of time,” Schneider said. “It’s a community made up of leaders. The bonds happen quickly. The best thing I can relate it to is band camp.”
After spending anywhere from five to seven weeks training and readying a new stand, the team gets to see the fruits of their labor.
“It's a really rewarding feeling,” Schneider said. “I'm not a crier, but I've never left a trip without crying.”
With the recent developments of COVID-19, many of the mobsters are understandably nervous about traveling, and the team has had to shift people around to make sure all needs are covered. In March, Schneider flew last-minute to Colorado to assist a team.
And there were several openings that almost didn’t happen. Many employees and community members were unsure whether it was safe to be opening in such uncertain times, but ultimately all the openings got the green light.
Schneider said careful consideration went into making the difficult decision to open despite concerns, keeping both employees’ and the public’s safety in mind. He’s in a unique position of bridging the gap between a desk job at HQ and a job in the field, so he knows that the decisions made at HQ affect people in the stands in a very real way.
“We were thinking of the best interests of the broistas and the customers,” Schneider said. “We had two-hour phone calls every day beating up the pros and cons of opening versus not opening. We asked, ‘Can we do this as quietly as possible but still have a good impact?’ And we thought we could. The reaction from the community was insanely positive.”
The openings didn’t include any of the normal flashy grand opening elements, like fly guys, big inflatable cups, loud music, special lights, and promotions.
“We literally just flipped on the lights of the building,” Schneider said.
But still, the MOB brought excitement and energy to the opening of a new store, as always. And the community was thankful that Dutch Bros was there.
Some customers came in after being laid off and expressed gratitude for having someone to talk to — a cherished normal, everyday interaction in the midst of a bizarre time.
“The person who’s sitting at home that might not have a job or may know someone who got sick, they still get to come by their local Dutch Bros and be served with a smile and a nice greeting and get to be treated like it's just another day,” Schneider said. “The silver lining is that we still get to serve and protect our communities. People forget how important human interaction is. We still get to provide that.”