I'm a commercial coffee equipment technician based in Central Indiana. I work on espresso machines, grinders, brewers, water systems, installs, and the controls and systems that keep all of it working together.
Joe was the name lovingly given to just about any person, object, and sometimes even a feeling when my grandfather couldn't get the name out. Sometimes he would lean back into a room just to ask, “Y'all right, Joe?”
Eventually, we were all Joe.
The last five years of my working life have been with Indie Coffee Roasters, learning about wholesale logistics and the technical side of coffee equipment — diagnostics and repair, Scheduled Maintenance, grinders, water filtration, installations, and commissioning.
The roughly 20 years before that were spent in and around kitchens, restaurants, and other service jobs in different capacities. That taught me something just as useful: what people actually value when service is good, and what they remember — usually for a long time — when it isn't.
I know the 5:30am call saying not to come in because the machine is down. I have also been the person waiting on a service visit that was supposed to happen before dinner and never did.
When Indie handed me the wrenches, something clicked. The work I already knew how to do could actually be useful to the people around me.
That was a gift.
Y’all Right Joe’s grew out of wanting to be the person somebody can call, explain what is actually happening to, and get a straight answer from — not another layer between the customer and the technician.
The person I wish existed when I needed it.
Y’all Right Joe’s has roots. I learned a lot of this work while I was with Indie Coffee Roasters, so when I first started thinking about what my own thing should look like, I naturally stayed pretty close to that world.
At first I pictured us almost like siblings. The longer I worked through it, though, the more I realized Y’all Right Joe’s was really more of a cousin. Clearly from the same coffee community, with some shared DNA, but its own personality and way of doing things.
That is why the logos have a little familiarity without trying to be the same thing.
Indie gave me the yard to grow in, with established trees and a stream already running.
Now I want to share what I’ve learned to help other people plant trees of their own, and make sure they have the RIGHT WATER and enough room to grow.
That’s community. Hey Joe, let’s plant a forest.
A beaver’s whole job is to watch what water is doing, then divert it, contain it, and build around it. That felt familiar.
If something is wrong, I want to know why. Sometimes it is one failed part. Sometimes the whole setup, including the water, installation, wear, workflow, and maintenance history, explains why that part failed.
The point is not to make the job bigger. It is to fix what needs fixing, leave the system better understood, and help the people using it take care of it.
Build it. Keep it working. Contain the knowledge.
Hands-on manufacturer training completed with:
Affiliated with The Service Layer.