The Fire Protection Podcast: Episode #27 Industry Profiles: Fire Department Coffee

uh, appreciate everybody and, uh, here’s to a great 2021.

(01:44):

Well, thanks, Jason, for, for joining me today. Um, you know, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve been watching your stuff for a good four to five months now, and, um, yeah, really impressed with what you guys are doing. So we’ve got Jason Patton, vice President of, uh, FDC Coffee, uh, with us today in the podcast. And, um, yeah, we’re doing kind of another stint in the series where, uh, wanna highlight some, some companies doing good in the firefighting and fire protection world. And, um, kind of give your kind of story from even before FTC Coffee, just to introduce you to, to the, the listenership. So,

Jason Patton: (02:25):

Thank you. Uh, yeah. So, um, I, I’m a 12 year firefighter. I, uh, started making some funny videos for firefighters back in the day, fire and ems, actually, cause I do both. Um, and, uh, thank, you know, it had a really cool message behind it. People thankfully enjoyed the videos, you know, they related to the humor. And then, um, my, uh, my now friend, uh, Luke Schneider reached out to me, the, uh, c e o of, uh, fire department coffee reached out and he was like, Hey man, we should do some stuff together. And I said, send me the coffee before I do anything with you <laugh>. So <laugh>, no, I’m not gonna, not gonna support something I don’t like. So, uh, he sent me over a, a six pound bag of coffee, and the, the stronger we made it, the better it tasted. Like it was just so good, like high quality, good coffee.

(03:14):

And, um, from then on I was like, let’s do this, man. So flew out to Rockford, Illinois. He, uh, picked me up in Chicago and drove, and we drove out and we talked, and it was a great conversation. He’s, uh, driving actually on the way, it’s about an hour west of Chicago, and we’re driving there and, um, you know, we’re probably 30 minutes into this. I’ve seen nothing but cornfields for the last 30 minutes and Right. We’re joking around and he looks at me and he goes, so you have no clue where you are, are you? I’m like, nah, no clue. He goes, I could be driving you about to kill you right now, and you would’ve no clue. I was like, yeah, pretty much <laugh>. I hope that’s not what’s happening right now.

Drew Slocum (03:52):

All, all, all the tokens that, some free coffee and you got on a plane. Yeah,

Jason Patton: (03:57):

Apparently I’m, I’m very easy to murder. Um, so we, uh, but yeah, we, we became friends from there. And our messaging, uh, you know, the things that we wanted to do with the company was, was exactly aligned from the second we became friends. Sure. You know, we wanted high quality coffee for hardworking people and, you know, we wanted to be able to give back. I, I personally hate charities. Um, I think that a lot of charities out there, I’ve lost their, their messaging and lost who they totally were when they began. Yeah. So, um, we create the fire department coffee charitable foundation to give back 10% of all of our net proceeds to helping sick and injured first responders. And it’s just been an, an incredible, um, adventure since then.

Drew Slocum (04:36):

Yeah, it’s amazing. My, uh, my, my wife does a, um, she’s big into cause marketing. She owns a summit and, and she has a podcast as well. But it, it’s, that’s awesome. It’s, it’s that, it’s that combo message of, Hey, we’re, we’re doing something great, uh, but partner it up with, you know, uh, kind of a for-profit piece, which is kind of what you guys did with FCC coffee. So that’s, that’s mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That’s, that’s amazing.

Jason Patton: (04:58):

Um, yeah. We we’re lucky. We’re lucky because the biggest thing we’ve been lucky from, from the beginning is that we truly had a passion for what we were doing. We were able to create a good product, and we didn’t have to skim off the top for ourselves because, you know, and in fact, uh, we n none of the higher, the, the three highest people in our, um, in our business right now are in the company are the lowest paid. So, you know, we, we joke about that because, you know, we we’re lucky, we’re full-time firefighters. We’re able to Sure. To help. We take nothing from fire department, coffee, charitable foundation, everything that’s going into that is going right back out to helping other people. So we, we’ve been very, we’ve been very, very lucky.

Drew Slocum (05:40):

Yeah. That’s, that’s amazing. So Luke is Luke and some of the other team firefighters as well?

Jason Patton: (05:45):

Yes. So Luke, myself, um, and then our chief operating officer. All three of us are active duty firefighters. And then, um, our, uh, head roaster Dave, he is Dave McWilliams. He is a retired firefighter, um, which, you know, was great. We, we keep it, keep it in the community. You

Drew Slocum (06:04):

Know, I think I saw him, was he in one of those videos where he was falling asleep, roasting or something? Yes,

Jason Patton: (06:09):

<laugh>. Yes. He was good for him.

Drew Slocum (06:13):

Uh, yeah. Yeah. I, I was in a wormhole the last week or so with, uh, with all the, you guys put out a lot of videos. It’s, it’s amazing. Thank you.

Jason Patton: (06:21):

Yeah, <laugh>. Thank you.

Drew Slocum (06:23):

So, yeah, it’s, it’s great. Um, uh, really glad to see somebody, uh, yeah, you’re right about the charitable or the charities out there. You know, you, you almost have to do it yourself and get involved and that’s what you guys are doing. Yeah. So,

Jason Patton: (06:38):

Um, yeah, we, um, we’re very lucky in general that, that we’re able to do that again. Like the charities are cool, I like charities. There are some incredible charities out there. And yes, once you get to a certain point, you have to have some kind of operating structure. Somebody has to be running the day to day, cuz I mean, eventually it gets, uh, it gets, you know, insane. But, um, you know, you, you see these charities where if someone donates a hundred dollars and $10 actually goes back to helping the, the people. It’s like, what are you, what are you doing at this point? You know, fundraisers and fundraisers and paying people can, you know, only go so far.

Drew Slocum (07:14):

Right, right. Yeah. It, it kind of gets the, the business side gets, you know, quickly Yeah. Uh, wrapped in there too much. So, um, exactly. So, uh, where, I guess coffee question, where, uh, and who, who’s the, is there a coffee snob of the group who is, I mean, I’m sure everybody’s a coffee snob to a certain extent now, but

Jason Patton: (07:35):

Yeah, Luke, Luke is, is definitely our biggest coffee snob. You know, everything has to be right. The notes have to be right. You know, um, we, uh, you know, one of our, one of our other roasters, this guy is, he’s absolutely incredible when it, when he’s our tester. Right. So this guy is, he’s can’t even list the amount of certifications and stuff that he has. But, yeah, I mean, you know, he, he, he’s a master in the, in in cupping for the coffee itself. Um, you know, I mean, this guy, he gets the, he and I went to New York, that best story of this. Yeah. So he and I go to New York and, uh, we’re up there cuz we’re meeting with Steve a and TMZ and we’re gonna be up there hanging out doing some videos and stuff. And I, and I wanted to bring him with me.

(08:22):

And then also while we were up there, we, uh, hosted a little coffee, uh, thank you to Google. So we went to Google headquarters and hung out there. It was very, very cool. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we get there and he’s setting up cause we’re doing espressos for everybody. And, uh, he’s setting up the espresso machine that they have there and hour we get there three hours early <laugh>, and for an hour and 20 minutes he is, he’s setting up the grinder. He’s just setting up the grinder and he’s like, ah, it’s gotta be right. It’s gotta be right. And I mean, the grind was what? Perfect. Yeah. I’m telling you. Like, and that’s, that’s the kind of passion that you have to have if you’re in this business, right? Yeah. You don’t just, cuz cuz 99% of the of, of the world does not care.

(09:06):

Does it give me ca does it taste good? Do you know, do I get caffeine from it? Great. Let’s go. Right. Um, but you know, for the true coffee aficionados out there, it’s a passion. You know, there’s certain notes that they want to taste. There’s, there’s just certain things about the coffee that has to be there. Then that’s why, you know, especially with Luke, you know, the beans that we’re, that we’re sourcing, they’re from specific areas. They have those beans from those specific areas have to be roasted to a specific temperature. You know, the, the grind has to be perfect. Like, and, and some people don’t get it or don’t, don’t notice it. But there really is a lot that goes into this stuff. Making sure that the blend is, is perfect and, and harmonious every single time.

Drew Slocum (09:44):

Yeah. It, it was, uh, it was, I and I, I just left New York City about a couple of years ago, but I still work heavily with the F D N Y and on fire prevention. Nice. Mainly, but, um, uh, and obviously Nancy with friends of Firefighters, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, who I’ve had on the podcast before, but, uh, you know, coffee, New York City and some of the big metro areas is, you know, you get, you get exposed to so much. So it, you know, you quickly become almost like a quasi aficionado of it. Um,

Jason Patton: (10:14):

Yeah.

Drew Slocum (10:15):

And, uh, you know, and then you could get deeper into the, you know, the whole thing. Um, but I, I had, I think, I think I found you guys a few months back and, you know, our whole office ordered, ordered, you know, we’re, uh, ordering gifts for customers we’re That’s awesome. Everybody got a, a, you know, a bag to try out. And I, I think I had the, uh, I forgot the holiday blender, whatever, and I was okay. I was blown away by like, you know, you, you see a lot of, uh, you ta I taste a lot of coffees out there, you know, local stuff. And, you know, uh, it was amazing the holiday blend and I haven’t even tasted anything else. So I’m, I’m looking forward to some of the stronger stuff, some of the lighter stuff. Um, yeah, I appreciate that. It’s pretty, pretty amazing. Um,

Jason Patton: (11:04):

And what’s funny is, like for a lot of people, they think you just grab beans. Yeah. You know, you throw it in a roaster and then, you know, roast it, grind it, and then if that’s what you’re getting, but that’s not it. Like, it’s, that’s not even close to what it is. Cuz you know, that that Christmas blend was not, it wasn’t just ground up good. We threw some spices in there and good to go. You know, there were 25 runs of that to make sure that it was perfect. Wow. That it wasn’t bitter. You know, like, you know, our, our, our biggest seller, our medium roast, same thing, you know, 25, 30 different blends of that to make sure that it was perfect and even one, so it was perfect. Then we, we, we maybe redid it a couple more times cuz you know, we, we always wanna make sure, the fact is, is that, you know, when you taste something, you’re gonna create some kind of muscle memory to it. Right. You have a taste, a taste memory that’s gonna be associated with it. And we wanna make sure the first time you sip that coffee, that your immediate thought, the immediate memory that you attach to fire department coffee is, this is amazing tasting coffee this way. Anytime you see that, you know, hey, that’s gonna be good quality coffee, no matter what’s what blend it is.

Drew Slocum (12:06):

Right, right. Right. Now, what is the, um, back to your story from, from Google? What kind of blender or what kind of grinder was he using?

Jason Patton: (12:15):

Gosh, dude, I couldn’t even describe this to you. It was like, and this the best, I love Google. They’ve been amazing to us. Yeah. They’ve highlighted us multiple times in their veteran-owned businesses. But, you know, for me as a firefighter, uh, you know, cause that’s where my humble roots will always remain. And I was a mechanic before that, but you walk into Google, and this wasn’t even their headquarters, this was like a substation headquarters for a small group of people that were Sure. Leading up the veteran owned stuff. Like, very cool. But you walk into this and there’s two or three floors, each floor has its own kitchen and a $50,000 espresso machine with, you know, with two grinders. And, and I’m just staring at this thing going, how do I fit this in my luggage and bring it back to my fire station <laugh>, you know, fire stations, you’re lucky if you have a bun brewer. Yeah, right. Good, good commercial brewer. Yeah. Most of the time, most of the time it’s going off of some little thing that some dude bought at Walmart for $20. So, um, it was, it, it was very, very cool.

Drew Slocum (13:15):

So what do you, what do you have at your firehouse now? Is it just a standard It’s a coffee

Jason Patton: (13:21):

Maker. Yeah. Yeah. Standard coffee maker. Um, I strongly considered buying bun brewers for all of the stations. Um, I came very close to doing it and then I realized it was $1,500 to do the, to do it right. And I was like, I don’t wanna spend $1,500 on Coffeemakers right now. So, uh, maybe once, once fire department coffee’s a little bigger, that’ll be my gift to them.

Drew Slocum (13:41):

Yeah, that’s, that’s

Jason Patton: (13:42):

Great. <laugh>. Yeah. So,

Drew Slocum (13:44):

Uh, it’s amazing. It works. Um, yeah, it’s, it’s so, uh, we were chatting before, so there’s FTC Coffee, which you got involved in now you Yep. You also do FTC Chronicles, which is more, is it, is it web series? Is is that

Jason Patton: (13:59):

Yeah, fire Department Chronicles is. Um, so I, I created Fire Department Chronicles just for some fun humor, you know, it was kind of messing around at the station and, um, it started to take off and, you know, started to get some legitimacy to it. And people were genuinely able to relate to all of the humor, which I thought was so cool. Um, and, uh, you know, were, I’m on Facebook, Instagram, uh, YouTube, uh, TikTok. Yeah. Like all the fun stuff. So, um, it, it, it’s just a way for people to relate to humor, escape from reality gain, you know, possibly get a little mental health, uh, relief from everything going on cuz Sure. What I love about comedy and humor in general is, you know, the reason people laugh at things is because they relate to ’em. You know, they’re funny to them. Dark humor I think is hysterical. Yeah. I think dark humor is so funny and witty and it’s cool. Yes. There’s some, there’s some jerk that takes it way too far sometimes, and we have to kick that guy in the crotch. But, uh, you know, like for the most part it’s like, it’s just so funny just to see, just to be able to relate and, and, and honest to God, I believe, not just my, my humor and comedy, but comedy in general tends to bring people together. And I, and I think that’s an incredible thing.

Drew Slocum (15:12):

Yeah. It, it definitely does. I, I, living in New York for 10, 11 years, it was, uh, um, it was, it was amazing what it did to your kind of psyche and, uh, yeah. It’s funny. I had, um, you know, I, I had Nancy on here back in October from Friends of Firefighters and, um, uh, this past week, I don’t know if you saw it or not, but she had, um, they did a benefit and Steve BMI’s big in her organization has been for, you know, 10 plus years. Um, but she had,

Jason Patton: (15:44):

I gotta figure out how to connect to him.

Drew Slocum (15:46):

Oh yeah, you should definitely <laugh>. Cause so last week, I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s recorded or not, but they did this thing on, on, on fy, which was essentially raising money for, for Friends of Firefighters, but it was sponsored by Steve Bohemi. So, uh, two weeks ago they did the, the, the entire cast of the Sopranos came on and did Wow. Did a, uh, like a new episode. Um, oh, it was, it was kind of cool. But then last week they had Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, um, Chris Rock on, and they did it for ba you know, for cemi. And it was, it was so funny. But what, what I’m getting at is like the comedy, you know, there’s obviously, there’s a need with friends of Firefighters and, and what they’re doing and getting that message across, but the comedy just, it works so well.

Jason Patton: (16:35):

That’s so cool. No, and comedy is genuinely, or genuinely just, just overall, like, comedy is such an incredible thing. Like it should be used at all times. And that’s why dark humor comes up all the time and people are like, wow, you know, dark, dark humor should not be used with, with, you know, firefighting or in the medical field. And I’m like, I, I don’t believe that’s true. I mean, there’s just so many cases and so many studies that show that dark humor in general really helps people, right. It helps people be able to cope with things. It, it, you know, it creates a different, uh, memory associations with, with bad things that have happened and it helps people move on from, from really tragic stuff. So, um, you know, I’ve actually, I wanted to do a video on dark humor for a very long time. Uh, but I just have to figure out a way to, uh, do it nicely and, and not offend a bunch of people. So.

Drew Slocum (17:27):

Well, even if you do offend people, I’ll, I’ll share it. So

Jason Patton: (17:31):

<laugh>, thanks. I appreciate that.

Drew Slocum (17:34):

No, you’re right. It’s, uh, it’s, you know, comedies, it’s about talking just issues. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Talking issues, especially now with everything going on. Yeah. And everything that you guys are dealing with on the front lines, um, you, you, you gotta expose it. Cuz every, everybody, most people are thinking of it. You just gotta, you know, make a joke of it. So

Jason Patton: (17:55):

A hundred percent.

Drew Slocum (17:56):

Um,

Jason Patton: (17:56):

A hundred percent.

Drew Slocum (17:57):

Yeah. That’s great. Uh, I know you’ve done, uh, I don’t know if this is FTC or the Chronicles, but you’ve, youve done some, uh, you know, messaging and, you know, and informative video videos out there, um, about Hollywood. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and, and fire protection. So we’re, you know, I’ve been in, uh, in this, uh, fire sprinkler industry, fire alarm industry for almost going on 20 years now. And uh, obviously it’s the preventative side to all the firefighting, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I know you highlight it in your, your fire safety video, which is amazing. Um, thank you Tips at Home. But Hollywood gets involved definitely on the firefighting end. I want to hear your experience with it. And, but it also does in the fire protection end where they just, they spin it however they want.

Jason Patton: (18:49):

Yeah.

Drew Slocum (18:50):

<laugh>, it’s kind of crazy, right?

Jason Patton: (18:52):

It’s, it’s hysterical to me. And, you know, I I always try to keep things in perspective that they’re trying to make an entertaining show. Cause if there was a show actually about fire prevention, it would be boring as shit. Yeah. It would just be, you know, like, uh, you know, you walking around inspecting stuff and the same thing with firefighting. Yeah. Firefighting and medical calls. It would be nothing, but it would be nothing but to pains and stuff. I mean, people would be absolutely blown away. You know, there’s been a few books out there, like, you actually called 9 1 1 for this, uh, you know, that kind of thing. So I get it. But I I, it is, it’s just too hard not to make fun of. Yeah. And I was literally talking to my fiance earlier today. I was like, people love when I make fun of the shows. Yeah. And thankfully 9 1 1 on Fox is coming out with a new season. I’m totally excited about that. Uh, because it’s just like <laugh>, the stuff they’ve put up there, I’m like, that would never happen. Right. Like, like you could put every moon together and it would never, it would never pan out like that. And my, my favorite is, uh, station 19.

Drew Slocum (19:56):

Station 19. I dunno. I know about that one.

Jason Patton: (19:58):

Oh my God. It’s, it’s an orgy. It’s four seasons of orgies. Like, that’s all it is. It’s literally every season, every season they’re, they’re having sex in the stations. I’m like, I almost tell my girlfriend or my fiance, I said, cuz uh, one of the last ones I watched, they come in, it’s all four or five of them in a locker room. Guys and girls all changing together, just talking casually, putting their shirts on. I’m like, HR would have a, oh my God. They couldn’t even hold their brains together if they saw that happening. Like, it’s just, it’s hysterical. And, and they’re totally okay with it. Like the captain’s having sex with the Lieutenants and they’re all doing their thing in an office and they come out like, oh, you guys having sex? Like, oh my God, never <laugh>. And

Drew Slocum (20:44):

It, and it’s not a comedy either, right? It’s,

Jason Patton: (20:47):

No, it’s not. Not even close to comedy. <laugh>. It’s not even close. This is the one that said that the blue sticky fire was, uh, blue fire was stickier than red fire. And once you get it on, you can’t stamp it out. It’s like, holy crap, are you

Drew Slocum (21:01):

Kidding me? Oh, it’s, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go a wormhole now that, you know, and start, start making fun of this stuff.

Jason Patton: (21:10):

It’s so fun. It’s, that’s so much fun.

Drew Slocum (21:12):

Yeah. Have you seen, uh, king of Staten Island?

Jason Patton: (21:16):

I wanna watch that. Actually, I wanna watch that. Cause I know that that guy pays homage cuz his dad died and, uh, and, and nine 11, right?

Drew Slocum (21:25):

Yeah. Yeah. Pete, Pete Davidson and I, I think Na Nancy knew his dad, or, uh, she knows of Pete. But, um, yeah, there’s a bunch of firefighters in the movie too.

Jason Patton: (21:37):

I, you know, Pete Davidson probably had the best example of dark humor, funny dark humor that I’ve ever heard. And it was a nine 11 joke and it was probably one of the only people that I, that I think could get away with a nine 11 joke. Right. And it was legitimately funny. Yeah. And he talked about, you know, he said his, he was talking about his dad in the beginning and how his dad, I guess his dad was on one of the planes and, you know, he lost, he’s like, I lost my dad on one

Drew Slocum (22:03):

Of the for nine. No, he was, he was, he was a firefighter. He, he

Jason Patton: (22:05):

Oh, he was a firefighter. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Then I misunderstood part of that. Yeah. So either way, so he, he, he, he loses his dad in nine 11. Right. Um, you know, he is talking about planes and all this stuff. And then he, like, 10 minutes later he circles back and he’s like, yeah, because it was during the roast of, um, of uh, Justin Bieber. Oh. And he’s like, yeah. And he’s like, you, he’s like, and uh, you know, half the cast of Soul Plane is, is uh, here today. He goes, soul Plane. He goes, I watched Soul Plane and Soul Plane was what was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life regarding planes <laugh>. And I was, dude, I was

Drew Slocum (22:44):

Dying.

Jason Patton: (22:44):

I was like, that was so good, man. <laugh>. So, you know, like he, he’s, that’s a tragic thing that happened to him. And he’s using humor to cope with that. And he did it in an amazing job at it. And, and I’ll never, like, I’ll never forget that joke. And it was just, it was so good. I was, I was totally impressed with him.

Drew Slocum (23:01):

Oh, that’s, that is, that is hilarious. I, I think I remember that roast and he’s, uh, yeah. Uh, him saying about something about that. It’s, uh, yeah, that’s a, they have, it’s gotten, you know, I’ve talked to, I think John Sorrentino or, or, or, or Nancy has, he’s the next firefighter that was in the movie. So they, it really kind of hits home to mental health and firefighting and what it’s really like, you know. Yes. Um, and there’s a lot of comedy in it, so it’s right up your alley, Jason.

Jason Patton: (23:32):

I’m definitely gonna watch it. And, and I, I love anything that, that, that goes in mental health, obviously that’s, I’ve become very involved with that with, uh, Banyan treatment centers and stuff and, you know, cause I kept getting, people kept reaching out to me. They were like, dude, I love your videos, man. They help with my mental health. Hey, um, is there any place that you recommend? And I’m like, uh, I don’t know anybody. So, um, you know, I started researching, looking in, I came across Baney treatment centers. They’ve been incredible working with me and helping my, my fellow first responders and stuff. And I think anything that has to do with that, the more we address mental health, the more we, uh, I hate saying stigmatized cuz everyone uses this de-stigmatize it. But I think if we just make it a normal part of life, like, yo talk about what’s going on in your head and you’re good to go. Yeah. I mean, it may makes things a lot easier, you know?

Drew Slocum (24:17):

Yeah. That’s, that’s, that’s, uh, it’s amazing. So you said Banyan treatment centers?

Jason Patton: (24:22):

Yes. Bandon treatment centers. They, uh, 12 facilities across the United States. Uh, nice. Probably gonna be right around 15 by the end of, um, 2021. And, uh, it’s just been, it’s been fun. Uh, it’s been very cool working with them and, and, and dealing with people that legitimately care about other people. And I don’t know if you saw recently the, I did a video about mental health for first responders.

Drew Slocum (24:44):

I, I think I saw one with the one in September, or, or

Jason Patton: (24:48):

No, this was, I I made a comedic video. Oh, I made a fun video. It was, yeah. Man, I gotta tell you. Oh, is

Drew Slocum (24:54):

That the one the happy, uh, your Yeah.

Jason Patton: (24:57):

It says Happy on the front. Yes, yes. Oh man, I had such a fun time making that. So it, it was, it was cool.

Drew Slocum (25:06):

Yeah, it’s great. And that’ll be probably one of the ones I highlight is, is that video. That was pretty recent too, I think in the last couple months, right?

Jason Patton: (25:14):

Yeah, it was, yeah, about three weeks ago. I, I released it. Unfortunately, Facebook flagged it as, as, uh, spam, which was a little disappointing lot. Um, yeah. An algorithm thing. Unfortunately, I think Covid didn’t help. Just, they’re just like not allowing people to put medical stuff out there. It still has half a million views on Facebook, so it, well, oh my gosh. Yeah. Like, it, it still did very, very well for that aspect of it. And honestly, it, it opened up the conversation cuz that’s the biggest thing people, so I, I own a CPR company and it’s comedy cpr and it’s standup comedy for an hour and a half. You learn how to do cpr, you laugh the entire time and by the time you leave, you are now associating comedy and fun with helping save a life. And I think that’s what has to happen with mental health. You make mental health a fun subject and then people are willing to talk about it. It’s not so thick and gloomy, you know?

Drew Slocum (26:09):

Yeah. That’s, uh, I, that’s funny. I didn’t know you had the comedy CPR and the video that you did on that was like, cuz I, I, I, I was a health safety manager in another life and, um, you know, I had to give classes on CPR and it was just this boring kind of topic that you don’t remember either.

Jason Patton: (26:28):

Yeah. Um,

Drew Slocum (26:29):

So yeah, getting into, you know, you make it fun and somebody’s gonna remember that probably for years,

Jason Patton: (26:34):

So. Exactly. Exactly. Man. And that’s what it’s about. I mean, look, there’s times to be serious. There are always times to be serious. Totally. And, and there are serious moments within the class itself, but in general it’s like, why, why does it have to be serious? You should be able to laugh and have a good time. And, and as long as you get the information, and I guarantee you’re gonna retain a lot more of it if you’re laughing. And, and remember, you know, again, memory association, you, you associate how to do CPR on somebody, you know, by, again, like one of the biggest jokes I say is like, what are your biggest fears when people say, you know, number one is, uh, touching someone or, or hurting someone or doing it wrong. Um, you know, and one of the big things I say is, look, their heart’s not beating and they’re not breathing anymore, so they’re dead. You can’t make their day any worse than it already is. Like, just, just go for it, man. They don’t care. You know, like, it’s just that simple. So, and people love it, man. So

Drew Slocum (27:24):

Yeah, you dispel in, in a lot of those videos. You dispel some, you know, obviously the myths of uh Yeah. Right. Getting sued after, after performance cpr, which, uh, I never knew. Uh, <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative> and all the other stuff.

Jason Patton: (27:39):

People Yeah. They believe it. They’re like, I’m gonna get sued. I’m like, there’s no one standing behind you, like going, like, there’s no CPR beliefs. No one gives a shit. They’re not like, ah, you only did 198 like that, but sue this guy. Like he’s does, nobody cares. It, it’s all about like, you’re doing something, you’re doing it right. In fact, lay rescuers, lay rescuers are responsible for most cardiac arrest saves. So people that start CPR before fire rescue gets there, they’re the reason why they survive. Wow. If the person’s in cardiac arrest before we get there, and no one does any, no one does any cpr r chance of survivability is less than than 5% in reality. Wow. That’s, I mean, it’s super low. That’s crazy. But if people start doing cpr, if they shock ’em with an a eed the automated external defibrillators, you shock ’em with one of those things. And, and it’s within the first minute. And that’s the reason they’re in cardiac arrest is electrical imbalance or electrical issue. Sure. Give ’em upwards of a 90% chance of survival. I mean, the stuff works, man. Yeah. That’s crazy.

Drew Slocum (28:35):

That’s crazy. And I, you know, we get involved in the ad inspection side to make sure mm-hmm. You know, facilities and all that, and you don’t, I I honestly don’t see too many, uh, facilities with those, uh uh, you see a lot of public places, but I think, you know, maybe that’s, there’s call for more a adss out there, you know, defibrillators

Jason Patton: (28:54):

You a hundred percent. And there’s no, like, there’s a lot of fears around it. They’re like, well, you know, if I, if I use it, I’ll get sued. And that’s like, that’s not true. It’s covered in the Good Samaritan Act. I mean, yeah, look, if you put one pad on their face and one on their crotch, yeah, you might get in trouble for that <laugh>, but you know, the, it’s cuz the pictures are on the pad and you’re an idiot <laugh>. Um, but you know, like, you know, like there’s, there’s, you’re, you’re fine man. The pe no judge in the world is gonna, is gonna allow a lawsuit to go through if you were doing the right thing. And so it’s that simple.

Drew Slocum (29:25):

Yeah. And same thing with, with firefighting, with extinguishers and, and everything mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It’s like, I think there’s certain companies out there, I know their policies, just, if there’s a fire just run out. Don’t, why is the extinguisher there? But, you know, hit it, hit it quick while it’s small

Jason Patton: (29:41):

<laugh>. Yes, yes, yes. And I forget the studies or, or I forget the numbers cuz I always screw it up, but I, uh, I think it’s fire doubles every 15 seconds or something like that. I can’t. Um, and that sounds about right. 15 seconds, but I may be wrong. Um, but I, you know, yeah. If you hit it while it’s small, it’s gonna be fine. It’s, and again, it’s the smoke damage that, that destroys most homes. Oh, right. So

Drew Slocum (30:05):

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy. I, you know, keep up, keep up the, how, how do you have time for firefighting? Crazy.

Jason Patton: (30:12):

Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’ss nuts, man. <laugh>. It’s, I, every, every, when I have a day off, it’s not a day off. It’s, uh, it’s doing fun stuff. But I, I genuinely love doing this. I think it’s incredible. I think it’s, it’s, it’s uh, it’s my passion. I, uh, I’m hoping one day I can turn this into like a network thing where I can have a show, I can, you know, teach people, I can, you know, be, be the Bill Nye the science guy of firefighting. You know, like just, just have a, have a good time with people, but legitimately educate them or just do a talk show. I think that would be cool. And I think I could pull it off. So,

Drew Slocum (30:44):

Uh, yeah. I, I think, I think you’re onto something. I mean there’s so much, uh, there’s so much need now for, for that informative mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, or informative comedy, you know, and in comedy cuz yeah, it’s, uh, especially now everybody’s like in this and even comedy’s not the same anymore. So I think people need to get their laughs some other way

Jason Patton: (31:04):

Almost. Yes. And there will always be someone that has a problem with something. In fact, that CPR video I put out, someone commented on there cuz I talk about the no mouth to mouth, you know, you don’t have to do that hands only cpr, we see higher save rates, that kind of thing. Right. And someone was like, that says, crap, you know, my, my, uh, my loved one died because they didn’t do mouth to mouth. And I was like, okay. It was whatever saying a little more investigating. And it was had nothing to do with the mouth of outside of it. It was, it was more like there was a 45 minute response time. Cause they were in the middle of nowhere, like really bad stuff. So I was like, let’s, let’s not comment stuff like that. So just

Drew Slocum (31:45):

Insanity. You gotta to turn off negative comments, you know? And then if, if you could, there’s no way to do it. But <laugh>

Jason Patton: (31:51):

And on. Yeah. And for anyone who’s listening to this that’s gonna do any kind of social media stuff, negative comments can be the best thing for you because negative comments creates, uh, algorithm responses. So if somebody’s commenting something ridiculous on there, it’s most likely going to make other people engage in that comment, which will show that, that comment and the video to all their friends. So it ends up working out for you.

Drew Slocum (32:14):

That’s interesting. I had a, uh, a podcast and I probably should do this more. I had a podcast where a bunch, a bunch of different companies on there and they, a bunch of ’em didn’t get along. So I was trying, I was trying to, and we did a tequila bar in Texas, so, uh, oh God. <laugh>

Jason Patton: (32:31):

That’s awesome.

Drew Slocum (32:32):

And you know, it was like, you know, it, it was sprinkler system. It was like, uh, it was, it was super niche. But, um, I tried to kind of mix it up a little cuz it’s a, it was a, you know, a controversial topic. So Yeah. Who doesn’t like, you know, tequila in the mix, so <laugh>. But,

Jason Patton: (32:52):

Um, oh man, that’s awesome.

Drew Slocum (32:54):

<laugh>. No. Is there, uh, I guess what do you, what do you guys got planned for 2021? Anything, anything? Uh, any new blends? Any, any new initiatives?

Jason Patton: (33:03):

Y we got, uh, we got a few new blends we’re gonna be doing a lot. So our spirit refused. Um, line has been very cool. Our, um, our black cherry bourbon was, was incredible. People loved it. And, um, we’re gonna be doing some, um, some new blends of bourbons and, and other types of, uh, spirit infuse stuff that people are gonna love. What’s great, excuse me, is it safe for work? There’s no alcohol once the roasting is done. Um, but it has a, uh, yeah, a nicer aroma and taste to it. It’s incredible. It’s not a, the one thing we we won’t do is flavored coffees. We will find a way to create the coffee using the natural, uh, ways of spiriting and everything. So it’s very fun. Um, so we’re gonna be doing some of that. And then we have, um, um, some other cool announcements that we’ll be doing very soon that I think a lot of people will like.

Drew Slocum (33:53):

So Nice, nice, nice. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. Uh, no spice lattes or anything.

Jason Patton: (33:58):

<laugh>, no spice lattes, man. Like, you know, like, I, I bust people’s chops about that, you know, the pumpkin spice, like, you know, we, we all joke about it, but you gimme a nice pumpkin spice latte, I’ll drink it. Uh, I’ll drink it all day long. But

Drew Slocum (34:11):

It’s, it’s not called coffee. It’s just not called coffee

Jason Patton: (34:13):

Anymore. That, that is no longer a pumpkin spice latte that is an actual pumpkin spice latte. Is, is, it’s it’s a milkshake. That’s exactly what it is, man. It is just drenched. So <laugh>

Drew Slocum (34:25):

No, it’s exciting. I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m curious to see what the other blends are and, and really try to, I, I, I really love what you guys are doing and, um, we appreciate it. Uh, obviously there’s a message behind it too. It’s not just, it’s just coffee. It’s, it’s getting the message of, you know, mental health and, and everything else out there. Yeah. So

Jason Patton: (34:43):

Absolutely.

Drew Slocum (34:43):

Um, absolutely. So at, at the end of, I don’t think I did this with Nancy, but end of most of the, uh, podcast I do this thing called the, the quick response Round. Um, okay. Which essentially probably like three questions. You don’t know what’s coming. Uh, and I try to make ’em fun and, and, and everything. So, um, all right. <laugh>

Jason Patton: (35:06):

<laugh>,

Drew Slocum (35:06):

Um, what, who is the, um, who is the actress Doris in some of those videos?

Jason Patton: (35:17):

Oh, Doris. God. Doris was a, actually an actress that we hired, um, oh, no way out in Rockford, Illinois. And she just a random actress, and she did such an amazing job. She did such a good job at, at like, doing that part. So she was just a random, a random lady that we hired and, and absolutely killed it. We loved it.

Drew Slocum (35:38):

I, I was, I was hoping you were saying it’s, it’s like somebody’s mom or something.

Jason Patton: (35:42):

<laugh> No, every other actor and actress in, in, in every one of our videos is associated with some one of us, but not, not her. Doris was a random woman that we hired and she killed it

Drew Slocum (35:52):

For, for those who you hadn’t seen the video. It’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a, it’s an older lady, you know, that, that calls in Jason to, you know, to, to fetch your cat or whatever. And she’s asking him, asking him to take off his shirt or tricks him, didn’t take off his shirt or something. <laugh>.

Jason Patton: (36:07):

Yep.

Drew Slocum (36:10):

That’s great. Um, uh, sorry, I got on a big wormhole on, on a lot of your stuff. Um,

Jason Patton: (36:17):

That’s awesome. What,

Drew Slocum (36:18):

Uh, what happened to that YouTuber that you kind of,

Jason Patton: (36:23):

The hi. Oh, that dude, you know, he was a, I don’t know what happened to him now, man, but, uh, Hess, uh, that, uh, he was just this guy that his entire platform was built on trashing other people. And for some reason he decided to trash firefighters. And I think the backstory is that his, he set his house on fire and the firefighters showed up. They, the best part is that his entire rant is like, he’s like, God, they say they save lives, but do they save lives? And he’s like, yeah, they said, they saved my cat in iguana. And, and, and he is like, I mean, they did. They, they got him out, but, you know, did they really say? I’m like, what are you talking about, bro? But the best, the best thing he ever said, I laughed so hard. He goes, yeah, this firefighter walks in and he goes to grab my cat, and the cat looks at him and runs upstairs and, and the firefighter goes, eh, all right. And then keeps it goes and fights the fire <laugh>. And I was like, what else he supposed to do? They put, instead of chasing the cat to put the fire out, to stop the entire house burning down. So kinda makes sense that he made the right choice instead of teaching your cat upstairs. This is so good, man.

Drew Slocum (37:32):

Well, it’s good. And you, and you just, you, you said it before, it’s like some of that negative, you turned it into a positive about, um, yeah. You know, about some of the ridiculous stuff out there that people are, you know, say about fire firefighting, fire

Jason Patton: (37:47):

Protection stuff. It doesn’t matter what you do, someone’s always gonna have something to say about something, so you might as well have a little fun with them while they’re doing it, you know?

Drew Slocum (37:54):

Yeah. And as, as, as I get some new fire protection videos, like that grease fire and there, there’s some other stuff out there, I, I’ll I’ll forward ’em to you guys just to,

Jason Patton: (38:03):

Sounds good.

Drew Slocum (38:03):

Just be a take on

Jason Patton: (38:04):

’em. I appreciate it.

Drew Slocum (38:06):

Um, so, uh, couple more here. Uh, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. What’s your favorite?

Jason Patton: (38:15):

I, uh, Facebook’s probably my, my number one, I had the hot, the highest followership on that. So really love that. YouTube has a different type of feel to it, and it’s very, um, like you put a video up and the people that follow you subscribe to you, they watch your videos, so they, they, you know, they honor the, that you have, which is kind of weird to say. TikTok is, TikTok, uh, is is probably one of the most fun for just creating random videos that I would never put up on Facebook, but it’s just fun to throw up there. And the reactions, some people on TikTok are the most talented people I’ve ever seen. Very, very cool. Um, and then, uh, Instagram is just like an OG man. Yeah. Just like an OG to me. And I just enjoy going on there and seeing what people are putting up. So it’s fun.

Drew Slocum (39:01):

Yeah. And, and the comment, you know, you get the different sets of comments and, uh, you know, yeah. We’re always, uh, uh, you know, we’re more on Facebook, LinkedIn, and, and a little bit on Instagram. TikTok would be totally new, but, uh, yeah. <laugh>, what, uh, um, you know, out of last, last question here out of, out of all the Hollywood about Firefighter, you know, all the Hollywood situations or shows about firefighter other than Station 19, because that sounds amazing. <laugh> <laugh>, uh, what, what is your favorite, you know, I, I saw your, your, your fire safety tips with like the, the office fire drill, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I love that one. Uh, do you have a favorite out there?

Jason Patton: (39:48):

Uh, the, of the videos that I made, um, well,

Drew Slocum (39:51):

Not of the videos that you made, but just more like made, just like shows ho just Hollywood embellishing on, oh

Jason Patton: (39:58):

God, you know, side fire

Drew Slocum (39:59):

Writing.

Jason Patton: (40:00):

I’ll say this, the worst one I’ve seen, uh, would’ve to be, uh, it’s 9 1 1 on Fox in Texas, or where Austin, I think is, it is like, I don’t even understand who is putting this stuff together. I mean, at one episode, the girl does a Foley catheter in the middle of a bar <laugh>, and she does it because it’s insane. It’s like she does it because the girl drank too much water and she’s now suffering from something called Hyponutremia. And I’m like, which is low sodium in the body. I’m like, what? What are you doing? Like, it made no sense, dude. And like, I’m laughing hysteric cuz I’m like, oh. And she intubated a kid who was alive conscious to help with his asthma, then extubated him and gave the dad some, some, uh, asthma medication. I’m like, I don’t know what the hell is happening right now.

(40:56):

<laugh>, the, the only show that has seemed to like nail it that has done a really good job is Tacoma FD Tacoma FD is killing it right now. Really? They’re just, yes. Watch it, man. I think they’re on their third episode. You may or may not see, um, a product that I am familiar with, uh, on there. But, um, they are just so good man, because they capture what it’s like to be a firefighter. They capture the fun of it. They don’t, they don’t put any dramatic BS in there. And it’s exactly what people should, you know, what people should be associating with firefighter having a good time, you know, enjoying our jobs, saving lives, but genuinely to be around each other, you know?

Drew Slocum (41:34):

Yeah. It’s a camaraderie and, and all that. Yeah. And not the, you know, the, I guess, you know, the cra crazy cells sometimes, right? So not,

Jason Patton: (41:43):

Not the drama of like Station 19 where someone walks in, it’s like, did you sleep with Michael? Like Captain Michael, like, I slept with Captain Michael cause you’re not sleeping with anymore. I just slept in him two shifts and go, why is everyone having an or right now <laugh> like, what is happening? If anyone knows anything in the fire service, you don’t openly talk about sleeping with each other. Not that you ever do. Cuz there’s no other, it’s, it’ll all dudes, but you, you keep it to yourself and then it sneaks out on its own. You know, like, come on. Right. So <laugh>

Drew Slocum (42:13):

Oh, that’s hilarious. I’m, I’m, you know, I’m gonna get more in a wormhole after us talking here, so <laugh>, that’s funny. Um, well let’s wrap it up here again, Jason, thanks for, uh, for, for coming on and, and chatting a little bit. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll try to get this out in the next few weeks or next week or so. Awesome. Uh, where, I guess, where can we find you? Uh, uh, obviously fdc coffee.com, but is there any Yeah, any other handles and all that?

Jason Patton: (42:39):

Yeah, no fire department coffee or fire dbt coffee.com or you can Google us and then any fire department, coffee and fire department Chronicles on Instagram, Facebook, uh, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, uh, search it. We’re always trying to come out with new content to, uh, you know, make you laugh and pay some homage back to our, uh, firefighter roots. So check it out.

Drew Slocum (42:57):

Cool. Well, I appreciate the time today, man. Thanks

Jason Patton: (43:00):

Tha Thank you man.

Drew Slocum (43:03):

Thanks again to Jason, uh, Patton from FTC Coffee to Company and the FTC Chronicles, uh, for, for joining out today’s podcast. Really learned a lot about what they’re doing and, and, and the messages they’re trying to get across and have fun with it. You gotta have fun with, with, with your work, with your life and, uh, it makes things so much better. So, um, hopefully everybody enjoy the podcast and, um, make sure to like, and subscribe. Talk to you soon.

Episode Summary

Coffee, comedy and fire protection.  What could be a better range of topics in a 45 minute podcast?

In Episode 27, Jason Patton, Vice President at FDC Coffee, sits down with Drew to discuss how their influence has helped give back to the fire fighting community.  Not only is the coffee very high quality but their give-back for mental health awareness for firefighters and EMT’s is amazing.
FDC Coffee is a veteran and firefighter owned company that gives 10% net proceeds back to mental health awareness for first responders.  Jason also started a comedic video series called Fire Department Chronicles which gives a take on a variety of topics from fire safety to life at a firehouse.

To date it’s one of the most fun times I have had interviewing someone in the firefighting / fire protection world.  Grab a cup of Fire Department Coffee and get ready to laugh.

Fire Dept. Coffee is a veteran-owned business dedicated to providing great-tasting coffee to people everywhere. Every order is freshly roasted in Rockford, Illinois, by a dedicated team of firefighters, first responders, and coffee connoisseurs.

Inspired by the vital role that coffee plays in helping firefighters stay alert and energized through long shifts, Fire Dept. Coffee was founded in 2016. Founder and CEO Luke Schneider is a full-time firefighter/paramedic and a U.S. Navy veteran who teamed up with firefighter/paramedic Jason Patton who is also a full-time firefighter and VP for Fire Department Coffee.

Fire Department Coffee is run by active and retired firefighters, including our operations officer and chief coffee roaster.

Along with providing a growing selection of incredible coffee — including its signature spirit-infused roasts — Fire Dept. Coffee also supports heroes in need through the Fire Dept. Coffee Foundation. Ten percent of net proceeds are donated to help provide essential resources and assistance to first responders who have been injured on the job, mentally or physically, or who are facing other serious health challenges.

Fire Department Coffee
Facebook – Fire Department Chronicles
YouTube – Fire Dept. Coffee

Timestamps

• Intro - 3:00
• Cause Marketing - 5:00
• Coffee Connoisseur - 7:30
• Coffee Blending - 10:30
• Coffee Grinding - 12:10
• Fire Department Chronicles - 13:55
• Friends of Firefighters - 15:30
• Comedy & 1st Responders - 17:35
• Hollywood & Firefighting - 18:30
• Banyan Treatment Centers - 24:15
• Comedy CPR - 25:45
• Social Media / Comedy - 31:00
• Coffee Blends - 33:00
• Quick Response Round - 35:00
• Best TV show about fire fighting - 40:00
• Where can we find you? - 42:20

Full Transcript

Drew Slocum (00:09):

This is episode 27 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect Point. Today, my guest is Jason Patton. Jason is the Vice President of FDC Coffee Company. He’s also an active firefighter down in West Palm Beach, Florida. Uh, Jason’s, uh, he’s a great guy. He was a really great podcast to obviously learn about what FTC Coffee is doing with their, um, a lot of their give back on the, uh, mental health awareness side. They give back, back 10% of their net proceeds back to, uh, uh, helping out firefighters, but also just getting the message out there. Um, obviously the coffee company, but, uh, Jason also is involved with, uh, fire Department Chronicles, which is essentially a web series where he’s putting up a lot of funny stuff about first responders and, um, inaccuracies amongst Hollywood. That was, that was a really cool part of the conversation.

(01:02):

But, uh, good way to start off 2021, uh, trying to make it lighthearted, and it’s gonna be a, a long, tough year, I think. But, uh, you know, we’ll definitely get through it. And comedy, like Jason says, is one of the best ways to, to get those messages across. So, um, appreciate, appreciate all the listenership. Uh, feel free to subscribe to all the, uh, inspect point, uh, side of things as well. We have a lot of fun stuff coming out in 2021, so, um, and obviously the Pop podcast, get the word out there, spread it, subscribe, like everything. So, uh, appreciate everybody and, uh, here’s to a great 2021.

(01:44):

Well, thanks, Jason, for, for joining me today. Um, you know, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve been watching your stuff for a good four to five months now, and, um, yeah, really impressed with what you guys are doing. So we’ve got Jason Patton, vice President of, uh, FDC Coffee, uh, with us today in the podcast. And, um, yeah, we’re doing kind of another stint in the series where, uh, wanna highlight some, some companies doing good in the firefighting and fire protection world. And, um, kind of give your kind of story from even before FTC Coffee, just to introduce you to, to the, the listenership. So,

Jason Patton: (02:25):

Thank you. Uh, yeah. So, um, I, I’m a 12 year firefighter. I, uh, started making some funny videos for firefighters back in the day, fire and ems, actually, cause I do both. Um, and, uh, thank, you know, it had a really cool message behind it. People thankfully enjoyed the videos, you know, they related to the humor. And then, um, my, uh, my now friend, uh, Luke Schneider reached out to me, the, uh, c e o of, uh, fire department coffee reached out and he was like, Hey man, we should do some stuff together. And I said, send me the coffee before I do anything with you <laugh>. So <laugh>, no, I’m not gonna, not gonna support something I don’t like. So, uh, he sent me over a, a six pound bag of coffee, and the, the stronger we made it, the better it tasted. Like it was just so good, like high quality, good coffee.

(03:14):

And, um, from then on I was like, let’s do this, man. So flew out to Rockford, Illinois. He, uh, picked me up in Chicago and drove, and we drove out and we talked, and it was a great conversation. He’s, uh, driving actually on the way, it’s about an hour west of Chicago, and we’re driving there and, um, you know, we’re probably 30 minutes into this. I’ve seen nothing but cornfields for the last 30 minutes and Right. We’re joking around and he looks at me and he goes, so you have no clue where you are, are you? I’m like, nah, no clue. He goes, I could be driving you about to kill you right now, and you would’ve no clue. I was like, yeah, pretty much <laugh>. I hope that’s not what’s happening right now.

Drew Slocum (03:52):

All, all, all the tokens that, some free coffee and you got on a plane. Yeah,

Jason Patton: (03:57):

Apparently I’m, I’m very easy to murder. Um, so we, uh, but yeah, we, we became friends from there. And our messaging, uh, you know, the things that we wanted to do with the company was, was exactly aligned from the second we became friends. Sure. You know, we wanted high quality coffee for hardworking people and, you know, we wanted to be able to give back. I, I personally hate charities. Um, I think that a lot of charities out there, I’ve lost their, their messaging and lost who they totally were when they began. Yeah. So, um, we create the fire department coffee charitable foundation to give back 10% of all of our net proceeds to helping sick and injured first responders. And it’s just been an, an incredible, um, adventure since then.

Drew Slocum (04:36):

Yeah, it’s amazing. My, uh, my, my wife does a, um, she’s big into cause marketing. She owns a summit and, and she has a podcast as well. But it, it’s, that’s awesome. It’s, it’s that, it’s that combo message of, Hey, we’re, we’re doing something great, uh, but partner it up with, you know, uh, kind of a for-profit piece, which is kind of what you guys did with FCC coffee. So that’s, that’s mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That’s, that’s amazing.

Jason Patton: (04:58):

Um, yeah. We we’re lucky. We’re lucky because the biggest thing we’ve been lucky from, from the beginning is that we truly had a passion for what we were doing. We were able to create a good product, and we didn’t have to skim off the top for ourselves because, you know, and in fact, uh, we n none of the higher, the, the three highest people in our, um, in our business right now are in the company are the lowest paid. So, you know, we, we joke about that because, you know, we we’re lucky, we’re full-time firefighters. We’re able to Sure. To help. We take nothing from fire department, coffee, charitable foundation, everything that’s going into that is going right back out to helping other people. So we, we’ve been very, we’ve been very, very lucky.

Drew Slocum (05:40):

Yeah. That’s, that’s amazing. So Luke is Luke and some of the other team firefighters as well?

Jason Patton: (05:45):

Yes. So Luke, myself, um, and then our chief operating officer. All three of us are active duty firefighters. And then, um, our, uh, head roaster Dave, he is Dave McWilliams. He is a retired firefighter, um, which, you know, was great. We, we keep it, keep it in the community. You

Drew Slocum (06:04):

Know, I think I saw him, was he in one of those videos where he was falling asleep, roasting or something? Yes,

Jason Patton: (06:09):

<laugh>. Yes. He was good for him.

Drew Slocum (06:13):

Uh, yeah. Yeah. I, I was in a wormhole the last week or so with, uh, with all the, you guys put out a lot of videos. It’s, it’s amazing. Thank you.

Jason Patton: (06:21):

Yeah, <laugh>. Thank you.

Drew Slocum (06:23):

So, yeah, it’s, it’s great. Um, uh, really glad to see somebody, uh, yeah, you’re right about the charitable or the charities out there. You know, you, you almost have to do it yourself and get involved and that’s what you guys are doing. Yeah. So,

Jason Patton: (06:38):

Um, yeah, we, um, we’re very lucky in general that, that we’re able to do that again. Like the charities are cool, I like charities. There are some incredible charities out there. And yes, once you get to a certain point, you have to have some kind of operating structure. Somebody has to be running the day to day, cuz I mean, eventually it gets, uh, it gets, you know, insane. But, um, you know, you, you see these charities where if someone donates a hundred dollars and $10 actually goes back to helping the, the people. It’s like, what are you, what are you doing at this point? You know, fundraisers and fundraisers and paying people can, you know, only go so far.

Drew Slocum (07:14):

Right, right. Yeah. It, it kind of gets the, the business side gets, you know, quickly Yeah. Uh, wrapped in there too much. So, um, exactly. So, uh, where, I guess coffee question, where, uh, and who, who’s the, is there a coffee snob of the group who is, I mean, I’m sure everybody’s a coffee snob to a certain extent now, but

Jason Patton: (07:35):

Yeah, Luke, Luke is, is definitely our biggest coffee snob. You know, everything has to be right. The notes have to be right. You know, um, we, uh, you know, one of our, one of our other roasters, this guy is, he’s absolutely incredible when it, when he’s our tester. Right. So this guy is, he’s can’t even list the amount of certifications and stuff that he has. But, yeah, I mean, you know, he, he, he’s a master in the, in in cupping for the coffee itself. Um, you know, I mean, this guy, he gets the, he and I went to New York, that best story of this. Yeah. So he and I go to New York and, uh, we’re up there cuz we’re meeting with Steve a and TMZ and we’re gonna be up there hanging out doing some videos and stuff. And I, and I wanted to bring him with me.

(08:22):

And then also while we were up there, we, uh, hosted a little coffee, uh, thank you to Google. So we went to Google headquarters and hung out there. It was very, very cool. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we get there and he’s setting up cause we’re doing espressos for everybody. And, uh, he’s setting up the espresso machine that they have there and hour we get there three hours early <laugh>, and for an hour and 20 minutes he is, he’s setting up the grinder. He’s just setting up the grinder and he’s like, ah, it’s gotta be right. It’s gotta be right. And I mean, the grind was what? Perfect. Yeah. I’m telling you. Like, and that’s, that’s the kind of passion that you have to have if you’re in this business, right? Yeah. You don’t just, cuz cuz 99% of the of, of the world does not care.

(09:06):

Does it give me ca does it taste good? Do you know, do I get caffeine from it? Great. Let’s go. Right. Um, but you know, for the true coffee aficionados out there, it’s a passion. You know, there’s certain notes that they want to taste. There’s, there’s just certain things about the coffee that has to be there. Then that’s why, you know, especially with Luke, you know, the beans that we’re, that we’re sourcing, they’re from specific areas. They have those beans from those specific areas have to be roasted to a specific temperature. You know, the, the grind has to be perfect. Like, and, and some people don’t get it or don’t, don’t notice it. But there really is a lot that goes into this stuff. Making sure that the blend is, is perfect and, and harmonious every single time.

Drew Slocum (09:44):

Yeah. It, it was, uh, it was, I and I, I just left New York City about a couple of years ago, but I still work heavily with the F D N Y and on fire prevention. Nice. Mainly, but, um, uh, and obviously Nancy with friends of Firefighters, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, who I’ve had on the podcast before, but, uh, you know, coffee, New York City and some of the big metro areas is, you know, you get, you get exposed to so much. So it, you know, you quickly become almost like a quasi aficionado of it. Um,

Jason Patton: (10:14):

Yeah.

Drew Slocum (10:15):

And, uh, you know, and then you could get deeper into the, you know, the whole thing. Um, but I, I had, I think, I think I found you guys a few months back and, you know, our whole office ordered, ordered, you know, we’re, uh, ordering gifts for customers we’re That’s awesome. Everybody got a, a, you know, a bag to try out. And I, I think I had the, uh, I forgot the holiday blender, whatever, and I was okay. I was blown away by like, you know, you, you see a lot of, uh, you ta I taste a lot of coffees out there, you know, local stuff. And, you know, uh, it was amazing the holiday blend and I haven’t even tasted anything else. So I’m, I’m looking forward to some of the stronger stuff, some of the lighter stuff. Um, yeah, I appreciate that. It’s pretty, pretty amazing. Um,

Jason Patton: (11:04):

And what’s funny is, like for a lot of people, they think you just grab beans. Yeah. You know, you throw it in a roaster and then, you know, roast it, grind it, and then if that’s what you’re getting, but that’s not it. Like, it’s, that’s not even close to what it is. Cuz you know, that that Christmas blend was not, it wasn’t just ground up good. We threw some spices in there and good to go. You know, there were 25 runs of that to make sure that it was perfect. Wow. That it wasn’t bitter. You know, like, you know, our, our, our biggest seller, our medium roast, same thing, you know, 25, 30 different blends of that to make sure that it was perfect and even one, so it was perfect. Then we, we, we maybe redid it a couple more times cuz you know, we, we always wanna make sure, the fact is, is that, you know, when you taste something, you’re gonna create some kind of muscle memory to it. Right. You have a taste, a taste memory that’s gonna be associated with it. And we wanna make sure the first time you sip that coffee, that your immediate thought, the immediate memory that you attach to fire department coffee is, this is amazing tasting coffee this way. Anytime you see that, you know, hey, that’s gonna be good quality coffee, no matter what’s what blend it is.

Drew Slocum (12:06):

Right, right. Right. Now, what is the, um, back to your story from, from Google? What kind of blender or what kind of grinder was he using?

Jason Patton: (12:15):

Gosh, dude, I couldn’t even describe this to you. It was like, and this the best, I love Google. They’ve been amazing to us. Yeah. They’ve highlighted us multiple times in their veteran-owned businesses. But, you know, for me as a firefighter, uh, you know, cause that’s where my humble roots will always remain. And I was a mechanic before that, but you walk into Google, and this wasn’t even their headquarters, this was like a substation headquarters for a small group of people that were Sure. Leading up the veteran owned stuff. Like, very cool. But you walk into this and there’s two or three floors, each floor has its own kitchen and a $50,000 espresso machine with, you know, with two grinders. And, and I’m just staring at this thing going, how do I fit this in my luggage and bring it back to my fire station <laugh>, you know, fire stations, you’re lucky if you have a bun brewer. Yeah, right. Good, good commercial brewer. Yeah. Most of the time, most of the time it’s going off of some little thing that some dude bought at Walmart for $20. So, um, it was, it, it was very, very cool.

Drew Slocum (13:15):

So what do you, what do you have at your firehouse now? Is it just a standard It’s a coffee

Jason Patton: (13:21):

Maker. Yeah. Yeah. Standard coffee maker. Um, I strongly considered buying bun brewers for all of the stations. Um, I came very close to doing it and then I realized it was $1,500 to do the, to do it right. And I was like, I don’t wanna spend $1,500 on Coffeemakers right now. So, uh, maybe once, once fire department coffee’s a little bigger, that’ll be my gift to them.

Drew Slocum (13:41):

Yeah, that’s, that’s

Jason Patton: (13:42):

Great. <laugh>. Yeah. So,

Drew Slocum (13:44):

Uh, it’s amazing. It works. Um, yeah, it’s, it’s so, uh, we were chatting before, so there’s FTC Coffee, which you got involved in now you Yep. You also do FTC Chronicles, which is more, is it, is it web series? Is is that

Jason Patton: (13:59):

Yeah, fire Department Chronicles is. Um, so I, I created Fire Department Chronicles just for some fun humor, you know, it was kind of messing around at the station and, um, it started to take off and, you know, started to get some legitimacy to it. And people were genuinely able to relate to all of the humor, which I thought was so cool. Um, and, uh, you know, were, I’m on Facebook, Instagram, uh, YouTube, uh, TikTok. Yeah. Like all the fun stuff. So, um, it, it, it’s just a way for people to relate to humor, escape from reality gain, you know, possibly get a little mental health, uh, relief from everything going on cuz Sure. What I love about comedy and humor in general is, you know, the reason people laugh at things is because they relate to ’em. You know, they’re funny to them. Dark humor I think is hysterical. Yeah. I think dark humor is so funny and witty and it’s cool. Yes. There’s some, there’s some jerk that takes it way too far sometimes, and we have to kick that guy in the crotch. But, uh, you know, like for the most part it’s like, it’s just so funny just to see, just to be able to relate and, and, and honest to God, I believe, not just my, my humor and comedy, but comedy in general tends to bring people together. And I, and I think that’s an incredible thing.

Drew Slocum (15:12):

Yeah. It, it definitely does. I, I, living in New York for 10, 11 years, it was, uh, um, it was, it was amazing what it did to your kind of psyche and, uh, yeah. It’s funny. I had, um, you know, I, I had Nancy on here back in October from Friends of Firefighters and, um, uh, this past week, I don’t know if you saw it or not, but she had, um, they did a benefit and Steve BMI’s big in her organization has been for, you know, 10 plus years. Um, but she had,

Jason Patton: (15:44):

I gotta figure out how to connect to him.

Drew Slocum (15:46):

Oh yeah, you should definitely <laugh>. Cause so last week, I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s recorded or not, but they did this thing on, on, on fy, which was essentially raising money for, for Friends of Firefighters, but it was sponsored by Steve Bohemi. So, uh, two weeks ago they did the, the, the entire cast of the Sopranos came on and did Wow. Did a, uh, like a new episode. Um, oh, it was, it was kind of cool. But then last week they had Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, um, Chris Rock on, and they did it for ba you know, for cemi. And it was, it was so funny. But what, what I’m getting at is like the comedy, you know, there’s obviously, there’s a need with friends of Firefighters and, and what they’re doing and getting that message across, but the comedy just, it works so well.

Jason Patton: (16:35):

That’s so cool. No, and comedy is genuinely, or genuinely just, just overall, like, comedy is such an incredible thing. Like it should be used at all times. And that’s why dark humor comes up all the time and people are like, wow, you know, dark, dark humor should not be used with, with, you know, firefighting or in the medical field. And I’m like, I, I don’t believe that’s true. I mean, there’s just so many cases and so many studies that show that dark humor in general really helps people, right. It helps people be able to cope with things. It, it, you know, it creates a different, uh, memory associations with, with bad things that have happened and it helps people move on from, from really tragic stuff. So, um, you know, I’ve actually, I wanted to do a video on dark humor for a very long time. Uh, but I just have to figure out a way to, uh, do it nicely and, and not offend a bunch of people. So.

Drew Slocum (17:27):

Well, even if you do offend people, I’ll, I’ll share it. So

Jason Patton: (17:31):

<laugh>, thanks. I appreciate that.

Drew Slocum (17:34):

No, you’re right. It’s, uh, it’s, you know, comedies, it’s about talking just issues. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Talking issues, especially now with everything going on. Yeah. And everything that you guys are dealing with on the front lines, um, you, you, you gotta expose it. Cuz every, everybody, most people are thinking of it. You just gotta, you know, make a joke of it. So

Jason Patton: (17:55):

A hundred percent.

Drew Slocum (17:56):

Um,

Jason Patton: (17:56):

A hundred percent.

Drew Slocum (17:57):

Yeah. That’s great. Uh, I know you’ve done, uh, I don’t know if this is FTC or the Chronicles, but you’ve, youve done some, uh, you know, messaging and, you know, and informative video videos out there, um, about Hollywood. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and, and fire protection. So we’re, you know, I’ve been in, uh, in this, uh, fire sprinkler industry, fire alarm industry for almost going on 20 years now. And uh, obviously it’s the preventative side to all the firefighting, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I know you highlight it in your, your fire safety video, which is amazing. Um, thank you Tips at Home. But Hollywood gets involved definitely on the firefighting end. I want to hear your experience with it. And, but it also does in the fire protection end where they just, they spin it however they want.

Jason Patton: (18:49):

Yeah.

Drew Slocum (18:50):

<laugh>, it’s kind of crazy, right?

Jason Patton: (18:52):

It’s, it’s hysterical to me. And, you know, I I always try to keep things in perspective that they’re trying to make an entertaining show. Cause if there was a show actually about fire prevention, it would be boring as shit. Yeah. It would just be, you know, like, uh, you know, you walking around inspecting stuff and the same thing with firefighting. Yeah. Firefighting and medical calls. It would be nothing, but it would be nothing but to pains and stuff. I mean, people would be absolutely blown away. You know, there’s been a few books out there, like, you actually called 9 1 1 for this, uh, you know, that kind of thing. So I get it. But I I, it is, it’s just too hard not to make fun of. Yeah. And I was literally talking to my fiance earlier today. I was like, people love when I make fun of the shows. Yeah. And thankfully 9 1 1 on Fox is coming out with a new season. I’m totally excited about that. Uh, because it’s just like <laugh>, the stuff they’ve put up there, I’m like, that would never happen. Right. Like, like you could put every moon together and it would never, it would never pan out like that. And my, my favorite is, uh, station 19.

Drew Slocum (19:56):

Station 19. I dunno. I know about that one.

Jason Patton: (19:58):

Oh my God. It’s, it’s an orgy. It’s four seasons of orgies. Like, that’s all it is. It’s literally every season, every season they’re, they’re having sex in the stations. I’m like, I almost tell my girlfriend or my fiance, I said, cuz uh, one of the last ones I watched, they come in, it’s all four or five of them in a locker room. Guys and girls all changing together, just talking casually, putting their shirts on. I’m like, HR would have a, oh my God. They couldn’t even hold their brains together if they saw that happening. Like, it’s just, it’s hysterical. And, and they’re totally okay with it. Like the captain’s having sex with the Lieutenants and they’re all doing their thing in an office and they come out like, oh, you guys having sex? Like, oh my God, never <laugh>. And

Drew Slocum (20:44):

It, and it’s not a comedy either, right? It’s,

Jason Patton: (20:47):

No, it’s not. Not even close to comedy. <laugh>. It’s not even close. This is the one that said that the blue sticky fire was, uh, blue fire was stickier than red fire. And once you get it on, you can’t stamp it out. It’s like, holy crap, are you

Drew Slocum (21:01):

Kidding me? Oh, it’s, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go a wormhole now that, you know, and start, start making fun of this stuff.

Jason Patton: (21:10):

It’s so fun. It’s, that’s so much fun.

Drew Slocum (21:12):

Yeah. Have you seen, uh, king of Staten Island?

Jason Patton: (21:16):

I wanna watch that. Actually, I wanna watch that. Cause I know that that guy pays homage cuz his dad died and, uh, and, and nine 11, right?

Drew Slocum (21:25):

Yeah. Yeah. Pete, Pete Davidson and I, I think Na Nancy knew his dad, or, uh, she knows of Pete. But, um, yeah, there’s a bunch of firefighters in the movie too.

Jason Patton: (21:37):

I, you know, Pete Davidson probably had the best example of dark humor, funny dark humor that I’ve ever heard. And it was a nine 11 joke and it was probably one of the only people that I, that I think could get away with a nine 11 joke. Right. And it was legitimately funny. Yeah. And he talked about, you know, he said his, he was talking about his dad in the beginning and how his dad, I guess his dad was on one of the planes and, you know, he lost, he’s like, I lost my dad on one

Drew Slocum (22:03):

Of the for nine. No, he was, he was, he was a firefighter. He, he

Jason Patton: (22:05):

Oh, he was a firefighter. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Then I misunderstood part of that. Yeah. So either way, so he, he, he, he loses his dad in nine 11. Right. Um, you know, he is talking about planes and all this stuff. And then he, like, 10 minutes later he circles back and he’s like, yeah, because it was during the roast of, um, of uh, Justin Bieber. Oh. And he’s like, yeah. And he’s like, you, he’s like, and uh, you know, half the cast of Soul Plane is, is uh, here today. He goes, soul Plane. He goes, I watched Soul Plane and Soul Plane was what was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life regarding planes <laugh>. And I was, dude, I was

Drew Slocum (22:44):

Dying.

Jason Patton: (22:44):

I was like, that was so good, man. <laugh>. So, you know, like he, he’s, that’s a tragic thing that happened to him. And he’s using humor to cope with that. And he did it in an amazing job at it. And, and I’ll never, like, I’ll never forget that joke. And it was just, it was so good. I was, I was totally impressed with him.

Drew Slocum (23:01):

Oh, that’s, that is, that is hilarious. I, I think I remember that roast and he’s, uh, yeah. Uh, him saying about something about that. It’s, uh, yeah, that’s a, they have, it’s gotten, you know, I’ve talked to, I think John Sorrentino or, or, or, or Nancy has, he’s the next firefighter that was in the movie. So they, it really kind of hits home to mental health and firefighting and what it’s really like, you know. Yes. Um, and there’s a lot of comedy in it, so it’s right up your alley, Jason.

Jason Patton: (23:32):

I’m definitely gonna watch it. And, and I, I love anything that, that, that goes in mental health, obviously that’s, I’ve become very involved with that with, uh, Banyan treatment centers and stuff and, you know, cause I kept getting, people kept reaching out to me. They were like, dude, I love your videos, man. They help with my mental health. Hey, um, is there any place that you recommend? And I’m like, uh, I don’t know anybody. So, um, you know, I started researching, looking in, I came across Baney treatment centers. They’ve been incredible working with me and helping my, my fellow first responders and stuff. And I think anything that has to do with that, the more we address mental health, the more we, uh, I hate saying stigmatized cuz everyone uses this de-stigmatize it. But I think if we just make it a normal part of life, like, yo talk about what’s going on in your head and you’re good to go. Yeah. I mean, it may makes things a lot easier, you know?

Drew Slocum (24:17):

Yeah. That’s, that’s, that’s, uh, it’s amazing. So you said Banyan treatment centers?

Jason Patton: (24:22):

Yes. Bandon treatment centers. They, uh, 12 facilities across the United States. Uh, nice. Probably gonna be right around 15 by the end of, um, 2021. And, uh, it’s just been, it’s been fun. Uh, it’s been very cool working with them and, and, and dealing with people that legitimately care about other people. And I don’t know if you saw recently the, I did a video about mental health for first responders.

Drew Slocum (24:44):

I, I think I saw one with the one in September, or, or

Jason Patton: (24:48):

No, this was, I I made a comedic video. Oh, I made a fun video. It was, yeah. Man, I gotta tell you. Oh, is

Drew Slocum (24:54):

That the one the happy, uh, your Yeah.

Jason Patton: (24:57):

It says Happy on the front. Yes, yes. Oh man, I had such a fun time making that. So it, it was, it was cool.

Drew Slocum (25:06):

Yeah, it’s great. And that’ll be probably one of the ones I highlight is, is that video. That was pretty recent too, I think in the last couple months, right?

Jason Patton: (25:14):

Yeah, it was, yeah, about three weeks ago. I, I released it. Unfortunately, Facebook flagged it as, as, uh, spam, which was a little disappointing lot. Um, yeah. An algorithm thing. Unfortunately, I think Covid didn’t help. Just, they’re just like not allowing people to put medical stuff out there. It still has half a million views on Facebook, so it, well, oh my gosh. Yeah. Like, it, it still did very, very well for that aspect of it. And honestly, it, it opened up the conversation cuz that’s the biggest thing people, so I, I own a CPR company and it’s comedy cpr and it’s standup comedy for an hour and a half. You learn how to do cpr, you laugh the entire time and by the time you leave, you are now associating comedy and fun with helping save a life. And I think that’s what has to happen with mental health. You make mental health a fun subject and then people are willing to talk about it. It’s not so thick and gloomy, you know?

Drew Slocum (26:09):

Yeah. That’s, uh, I, that’s funny. I didn’t know you had the comedy CPR and the video that you did on that was like, cuz I, I, I, I was a health safety manager in another life and, um, you know, I had to give classes on CPR and it was just this boring kind of topic that you don’t remember either.

Jason Patton: (26:28):

Yeah. Um,

Drew Slocum (26:29):

So yeah, getting into, you know, you make it fun and somebody’s gonna remember that probably for years,

Jason Patton: (26:34):

So. Exactly. Exactly. Man. And that’s what it’s about. I mean, look, there’s times to be serious. There are always times to be serious. Totally. And, and there are serious moments within the class itself, but in general it’s like, why, why does it have to be serious? You should be able to laugh and have a good time. And, and as long as you get the information, and I guarantee you’re gonna retain a lot more of it if you’re laughing. And, and remember, you know, again, memory association, you, you associate how to do CPR on somebody, you know, by, again, like one of the biggest jokes I say is like, what are your biggest fears when people say, you know, number one is, uh, touching someone or, or hurting someone or doing it wrong. Um, you know, and one of the big things I say is, look, their heart’s not beating and they’re not breathing anymore, so they’re dead. You can’t make their day any worse than it already is. Like, just, just go for it, man. They don’t care. You know, like, it’s just that simple. So, and people love it, man. So

Drew Slocum (27:24):

Yeah, you dispel in, in a lot of those videos. You dispel some, you know, obviously the myths of uh Yeah. Right. Getting sued after, after performance cpr, which, uh, I never knew. Uh, <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative> and all the other stuff.

Jason Patton: (27:39):

People Yeah. They believe it. They’re like, I’m gonna get sued. I’m like, there’s no one standing behind you, like going, like, there’s no CPR beliefs. No one gives a shit. They’re not like, ah, you only did 198 like that, but sue this guy. Like he’s does, nobody cares. It, it’s all about like, you’re doing something, you’re doing it right. In fact, lay rescuers, lay rescuers are responsible for most cardiac arrest saves. So people that start CPR before fire rescue gets there, they’re the reason why they survive. Wow. If the person’s in cardiac arrest before we get there, and no one does any, no one does any cpr r chance of survivability is less than than 5% in reality. Wow. That’s, I mean, it’s super low. That’s crazy. But if people start doing cpr, if they shock ’em with an a eed the automated external defibrillators, you shock ’em with one of those things. And, and it’s within the first minute. And that’s the reason they’re in cardiac arrest is electrical imbalance or electrical issue. Sure. Give ’em upwards of a 90% chance of survival. I mean, the stuff works, man. Yeah. That’s crazy.

Drew Slocum (28:35):

That’s crazy. And I, you know, we get involved in the ad inspection side to make sure mm-hmm. You know, facilities and all that, and you don’t, I I honestly don’t see too many, uh, facilities with those, uh uh, you see a lot of public places, but I think, you know, maybe that’s, there’s call for more a adss out there, you know, defibrillators

Jason Patton: (28:54):

You a hundred percent. And there’s no, like, there’s a lot of fears around it. They’re like, well, you know, if I, if I use it, I’ll get sued. And that’s like, that’s not true. It’s covered in the Good Samaritan Act. I mean, yeah, look, if you put one pad on their face and one on their crotch, yeah, you might get in trouble for that <laugh>, but you know, the, it’s cuz the pictures are on the pad and you’re an idiot <laugh>. Um, but you know, like, you know, like there’s, there’s, you’re, you’re fine man. The pe no judge in the world is gonna, is gonna allow a lawsuit to go through if you were doing the right thing. And so it’s that simple.

Drew Slocum (29:25):

Yeah. And same thing with, with firefighting, with extinguishers and, and everything mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It’s like, I think there’s certain companies out there, I know their policies, just, if there’s a fire just run out. Don’t, why is the extinguisher there? But, you know, hit it, hit it quick while it’s small

Jason Patton: (29:41):

<laugh>. Yes, yes, yes. And I forget the studies or, or I forget the numbers cuz I always screw it up, but I, uh, I think it’s fire doubles every 15 seconds or something like that. I can’t. Um, and that sounds about right. 15 seconds, but I may be wrong. Um, but I, you know, yeah. If you hit it while it’s small, it’s gonna be fine. It’s, and again, it’s the smoke damage that, that destroys most homes. Oh, right. So

Drew Slocum (30:05):

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy. I, you know, keep up, keep up the, how, how do you have time for firefighting? Crazy.

Jason Patton: (30:12):

Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’ss nuts, man. <laugh>. It’s, I, every, every, when I have a day off, it’s not a day off. It’s, uh, it’s doing fun stuff. But I, I genuinely love doing this. I think it’s incredible. I think it’s, it’s, it’s uh, it’s my passion. I, uh, I’m hoping one day I can turn this into like a network thing where I can have a show, I can, you know, teach people, I can, you know, be, be the Bill Nye the science guy of firefighting. You know, like just, just have a, have a good time with people, but legitimately educate them or just do a talk show. I think that would be cool. And I think I could pull it off. So,

Drew Slocum (30:44):

Uh, yeah. I, I think, I think you’re onto something. I mean there’s so much, uh, there’s so much need now for, for that informative mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, or informative comedy, you know, and in comedy cuz yeah, it’s, uh, especially now everybody’s like in this and even comedy’s not the same anymore. So I think people need to get their laughs some other way

Jason Patton: (31:04):

Almost. Yes. And there will always be someone that has a problem with something. In fact, that CPR video I put out, someone commented on there cuz I talk about the no mouth to mouth, you know, you don’t have to do that hands only cpr, we see higher save rates, that kind of thing. Right. And someone was like, that says, crap, you know, my, my, uh, my loved one died because they didn’t do mouth to mouth. And I was like, okay. It was whatever saying a little more investigating. And it was had nothing to do with the mouth of outside of it. It was, it was more like there was a 45 minute response time. Cause they were in the middle of nowhere, like really bad stuff. So I was like, let’s, let’s not comment stuff like that. So just

Drew Slocum (31:45):

Insanity. You gotta to turn off negative comments, you know? And then if, if you could, there’s no way to do it. But <laugh>

Jason Patton: (31:51):

And on. Yeah. And for anyone who’s listening to this that’s gonna do any kind of social media stuff, negative comments can be the best thing for you because negative comments creates, uh, algorithm responses. So if somebody’s commenting something ridiculous on there, it’s most likely going to make other people engage in that comment, which will show that, that comment and the video to all their friends. So it ends up working out for you.

Drew Slocum (32:14):

That’s interesting. I had a, uh, a podcast and I probably should do this more. I had a podcast where a bunch, a bunch of different companies on there and they, a bunch of ’em didn’t get along. So I was trying, I was trying to, and we did a tequila bar in Texas, so, uh, oh God. <laugh>

Jason Patton: (32:31):

That’s awesome.

Drew Slocum (32:32):

And you know, it was like, you know, it, it was sprinkler system. It was like, uh, it was, it was super niche. But, um, I tried to kind of mix it up a little cuz it’s a, it was a, you know, a controversial topic. So Yeah. Who doesn’t like, you know, tequila in the mix, so <laugh>. But,

Jason Patton: (32:52):

Um, oh man, that’s awesome.

Drew Slocum (32:54):

<laugh>. No. Is there, uh, I guess what do you, what do you guys got planned for 2021? Anything, anything? Uh, any new blends? Any, any new initiatives?

Jason Patton: (33:03):

Y we got, uh, we got a few new blends we’re gonna be doing a lot. So our spirit refused. Um, line has been very cool. Our, um, our black cherry bourbon was, was incredible. People loved it. And, um, we’re gonna be doing some, um, some new blends of bourbons and, and other types of, uh, spirit infuse stuff that people are gonna love. What’s great, excuse me, is it safe for work? There’s no alcohol once the roasting is done. Um, but it has a, uh, yeah, a nicer aroma and taste to it. It’s incredible. It’s not a, the one thing we we won’t do is flavored coffees. We will find a way to create the coffee using the natural, uh, ways of spiriting and everything. So it’s very fun. Um, so we’re gonna be doing some of that. And then we have, um, um, some other cool announcements that we’ll be doing very soon that I think a lot of people will like.

Drew Slocum (33:53):

So Nice, nice, nice. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. Uh, no spice lattes or anything.

Jason Patton: (33:58):

<laugh>, no spice lattes, man. Like, you know, like, I, I bust people’s chops about that, you know, the pumpkin spice, like, you know, we, we all joke about it, but you gimme a nice pumpkin spice latte, I’ll drink it. Uh, I’ll drink it all day long. But

Drew Slocum (34:11):

It’s, it’s not called coffee. It’s just not called coffee

Jason Patton: (34:13):

Anymore. That, that is no longer a pumpkin spice latte that is an actual pumpkin spice latte. Is, is, it’s it’s a milkshake. That’s exactly what it is, man. It is just drenched. So <laugh>

Drew Slocum (34:25):

No, it’s exciting. I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m curious to see what the other blends are and, and really try to, I, I, I really love what you guys are doing and, um, we appreciate it. Uh, obviously there’s a message behind it too. It’s not just, it’s just coffee. It’s, it’s getting the message of, you know, mental health and, and everything else out there. Yeah. So

Jason Patton: (34:43):

Absolutely.

Drew Slocum (34:43):

Um, absolutely. So at, at the end of, I don’t think I did this with Nancy, but end of most of the, uh, podcast I do this thing called the, the quick response Round. Um, okay. Which essentially probably like three questions. You don’t know what’s coming. Uh, and I try to make ’em fun and, and, and everything. So, um, all right. <laugh>

Jason Patton: (35:06):

<laugh>,

Drew Slocum (35:06):

Um, what, who is the, um, who is the actress Doris in some of those videos?

Jason Patton: (35:17):

Oh, Doris. God. Doris was a, actually an actress that we hired, um, oh, no way out in Rockford, Illinois. And she just a random actress, and she did such an amazing job. She did such a good job at, at like, doing that part. So she was just a random, a random lady that we hired and, and absolutely killed it. We loved it.

Drew Slocum (35:38):

I, I was, I was hoping you were saying it’s, it’s like somebody’s mom or something.

Jason Patton: (35:42):

<laugh> No, every other actor and actress in, in, in every one of our videos is associated with some one of us, but not, not her. Doris was a random woman that we hired and she killed it

Drew Slocum (35:52):

For, for those who you hadn’t seen the video. It’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a, it’s an older lady, you know, that, that calls in Jason to, you know, to, to fetch your cat or whatever. And she’s asking him, asking him to take off his shirt or tricks him, didn’t take off his shirt or something. <laugh>.

Jason Patton: (36:07):

Yep.

Drew Slocum (36:10):

That’s great. Um, uh, sorry, I got on a big wormhole on, on a lot of your stuff. Um,

Jason Patton: (36:17):

That’s awesome. What,

Drew Slocum (36:18):

Uh, what happened to that YouTuber that you kind of,

Jason Patton: (36:23):

The hi. Oh, that dude, you know, he was a, I don’t know what happened to him now, man, but, uh, Hess, uh, that, uh, he was just this guy that his entire platform was built on trashing other people. And for some reason he decided to trash firefighters. And I think the backstory is that his, he set his house on fire and the firefighters showed up. They, the best part is that his entire rant is like, he’s like, God, they say they save lives, but do they save lives? And he’s like, yeah, they said, they saved my cat in iguana. And, and, and he is like, I mean, they did. They, they got him out, but, you know, did they really say? I’m like, what are you talking about, bro? But the best, the best thing he ever said, I laughed so hard. He goes, yeah, this firefighter walks in and he goes to grab my cat, and the cat looks at him and runs upstairs and, and the firefighter goes, eh, all right. And then keeps it goes and fights the fire <laugh>. And I was like, what else he supposed to do? They put, instead of chasing the cat to put the fire out, to stop the entire house burning down. So kinda makes sense that he made the right choice instead of teaching your cat upstairs. This is so good, man.

Drew Slocum (37:32):

Well, it’s good. And you, and you just, you, you said it before, it’s like some of that negative, you turned it into a positive about, um, yeah. You know, about some of the ridiculous stuff out there that people are, you know, say about fire firefighting, fire

Jason Patton: (37:47):

Protection stuff. It doesn’t matter what you do, someone’s always gonna have something to say about something, so you might as well have a little fun with them while they’re doing it, you know?

Drew Slocum (37:54):

Yeah. And as, as, as I get some new fire protection videos, like that grease fire and there, there’s some other stuff out there, I, I’ll I’ll forward ’em to you guys just to,

Jason Patton: (38:03):

Sounds good.

Drew Slocum (38:03):

Just be a take on

Jason Patton: (38:04):

’em. I appreciate it.

Drew Slocum (38:06):

Um, so, uh, couple more here. Uh, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. What’s your favorite?

Jason Patton: (38:15):

I, uh, Facebook’s probably my, my number one, I had the hot, the highest followership on that. So really love that. YouTube has a different type of feel to it, and it’s very, um, like you put a video up and the people that follow you subscribe to you, they watch your videos, so they, they, you know, they honor the, that you have, which is kind of weird to say. TikTok is, TikTok, uh, is is probably one of the most fun for just creating random videos that I would never put up on Facebook, but it’s just fun to throw up there. And the reactions, some people on TikTok are the most talented people I’ve ever seen. Very, very cool. Um, and then, uh, Instagram is just like an OG man. Yeah. Just like an OG to me. And I just enjoy going on there and seeing what people are putting up. So it’s fun.

Drew Slocum (39:01):

Yeah. And, and the comment, you know, you get the different sets of comments and, uh, you know, yeah. We’re always, uh, uh, you know, we’re more on Facebook, LinkedIn, and, and a little bit on Instagram. TikTok would be totally new, but, uh, yeah. <laugh>, what, uh, um, you know, out of last, last question here out of, out of all the Hollywood about Firefighter, you know, all the Hollywood situations or shows about firefighter other than Station 19, because that sounds amazing. <laugh> <laugh>, uh, what, what is your favorite, you know, I, I saw your, your, your fire safety tips with like the, the office fire drill, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I love that one. Uh, do you have a favorite out there?

Jason Patton: (39:48):

Uh, the, of the videos that I made, um, well,

Drew Slocum (39:51):

Not of the videos that you made, but just more like made, just like shows ho just Hollywood embellishing on, oh

Jason Patton: (39:58):

God, you know, side fire

Drew Slocum (39:59):

Writing.

Jason Patton: (40:00):

I’ll say this, the worst one I’ve seen, uh, would’ve to be, uh, it’s 9 1 1 on Fox in Texas, or where Austin, I think is, it is like, I don’t even understand who is putting this stuff together. I mean, at one episode, the girl does a Foley catheter in the middle of a bar <laugh>, and she does it because it’s insane. It’s like she does it because the girl drank too much water and she’s now suffering from something called Hyponutremia. And I’m like, which is low sodium in the body. I’m like, what? What are you doing? Like, it made no sense, dude. And like, I’m laughing hysteric cuz I’m like, oh. And she intubated a kid who was alive conscious to help with his asthma, then extubated him and gave the dad some, some, uh, asthma medication. I’m like, I don’t know what the hell is happening right now.

(40:56):

<laugh>, the, the only show that has seemed to like nail it that has done a really good job is Tacoma FD Tacoma FD is killing it right now. Really? They’re just, yes. Watch it, man. I think they’re on their third episode. You may or may not see, um, a product that I am familiar with, uh, on there. But, um, they are just so good man, because they capture what it’s like to be a firefighter. They capture the fun of it. They don’t, they don’t put any dramatic BS in there. And it’s exactly what people should, you know, what people should be associating with firefighter having a good time, you know, enjoying our jobs, saving lives, but genuinely to be around each other, you know?

Drew Slocum (41:34):

Yeah. It’s a camaraderie and, and all that. Yeah. And not the, you know, the, I guess, you know, the cra crazy cells sometimes, right? So not,

Jason Patton: (41:43):

Not the drama of like Station 19 where someone walks in, it’s like, did you sleep with Michael? Like Captain Michael, like, I slept with Captain Michael cause you’re not sleeping with anymore. I just slept in him two shifts and go, why is everyone having an or right now <laugh> like, what is happening? If anyone knows anything in the fire service, you don’t openly talk about sleeping with each other. Not that you ever do. Cuz there’s no other, it’s, it’ll all dudes, but you, you keep it to yourself and then it sneaks out on its own. You know, like, come on. Right. So <laugh>

Drew Slocum (42:13):

Oh, that’s hilarious. I’m, I’m, you know, I’m gonna get more in a wormhole after us talking here, so <laugh>, that’s funny. Um, well let’s wrap it up here again, Jason, thanks for, uh, for, for coming on and, and chatting a little bit. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll try to get this out in the next few weeks or next week or so. Awesome. Uh, where, I guess, where can we find you? Uh, uh, obviously fdc coffee.com, but is there any Yeah, any other handles and all that?

Jason Patton: (42:39):

Yeah, no fire department coffee or fire dbt coffee.com or you can Google us and then any fire department, coffee and fire department Chronicles on Instagram, Facebook, uh, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, uh, search it. We’re always trying to come out with new content to, uh, you know, make you laugh and pay some homage back to our, uh, firefighter roots. So check it out.

Drew Slocum (42:57):

Cool. Well, I appreciate the time today, man. Thanks

Jason Patton: (43:00):

Tha Thank you man.

Drew Slocum (43:03):

Thanks again to Jason, uh, Patton from FTC Coffee to Company and the FTC Chronicles, uh, for, for joining out today’s podcast. Really learned a lot about what they’re doing and, and, and the messages they’re trying to get across and have fun with it. You gotta have fun with, with, with your work, with your life and, uh, it makes things so much better. So, um, hopefully everybody enjoy the podcast and, um, make sure to like, and subscribe. Talk to you soon.