Today we’d like to introduce you to Jose Roberto Alaniz, Jr.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Jose Roberto Alaniz, Jr. and I grew up in San Antonio close to Edison High School. I remember sitting at the table as a young man watching my dad read the paper and drink his percolator Folgers coffee. After my enlistment in the Navy, we settled near Mom and Dad’s house, and I would go by in the mornings before work and drink coffee and read the Express News Newspaper with Dad. Dad worked at the Express News for over 30 years and was an Air Force veteran.
During an overseas trip, my wife, Connie and I, got a cup of coffee from a vendor in a park. It was the best cup of coffee I had ever drank. After quizzing the vendor about his coffee, I embarked on a long and interesting coffee journey. A friend from church lent us her countertop electric coffee roaster and we were off. At the time I was praying for Divine appointments and just like that Ashley Williams entered our lives. To this day we still don’t know exactly how we met but Ashley told me he was being led by the Holy Spirit to help us with whatever we were doing. Ashley didn’t know at that moment that I was roasting coffee on an open flame steak grill, but he owns Legacy Farms Coffee in Cerro Bueno, Honduras and lives in Moundridge, Kansas. Soon I took the giant offset smoker grill that I had built several years prior and began to cut and weld on it until I had what mimics a commercial coffee roaster. With Ashley’s mentorship and a whole lot of Divine Intervention we gained a purpose.
Our business started out as a men’s bible study small group. When we met at our house I would put on coffee that I roasted. Soon one of the brothers asked me for some coffee to take home and he said he would pay me for it. Not long after that I was selling coffee to several of the men in our group. After a lot of prayers, we opened our business on February 7, 2019. We named the business Third Day Coffee Seguin, named after the scripture Luke 24:46 that reads: “it is written that the Christ would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day.”
Our business really exploded during covid. I suspect it was a fact that businesses were closed to the public and everyone was at home doing all their shopping online. We did so well that I had to take a year off work to keep up with demand. As the year progressed, we found ourselves understanding that our business was a ministry to share the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and the bonus was we were roasting and selling excellent Specialty Grade coffee that we have dubbed “The Best Coffee this Side of Heaven”
On November 25, 2023, just two days after Thanksgiving that year our son, JC, took his own life. In a split second not much mattered to my family outside of the tragedy. The morning that my mom called to tell me what had just happened, Connie and I were working in the coffee shop that we built on our property out of two shipping containers. Micah Johnson, a young man I played guitar with at our church’s youth choir, came to the house with his dad Justin Johnson and they secured the building while we rushed to San Antonio. To this day none of remember when Micah started helping us with the coffee but at the time of JC’s death Micah knew how to roast, ship, bag and just about every other aspect of the business. In the days that followed a friend, Frank Manteau, owner of MilTreats LLC, producers of Crayons Ready-to-Eat, arrived in Seguin and began working with Micah every day for several months to keep the business going. Had it not been for those two men, Third Day Coffee Seguin would not have survived.
In the days, weeks and months following JC’s suicide, God redirected my path and my purpose. I have been called to the ministry and will be sharing the Gospel to anyone who will hear it. Our focus will be Hope and suicide prevention. We strongly believe that the platform for the ministry is the coffee business and so we have several plans for expansion. Currently we are in the middle of renovating a retired ambulance to be a mobile coffee shop. We call it the Emergency Coffee Vehicle or ECV 001, and plan to maintain the ambulance look as we move forward. We are also aggressively seeking investors and properties for a brick-and-mortar location.
Third Day Coffee Seguin has always been a Christ Centered, Veteran owned small business and will always remain so. As we move forward, we know that our business needs to be successful to support the important ministry that God has put on our hearts. We have always put God first and will always do so in whatever we do.
You can read all about our coffee and mission on our website at www.thirddaycoffeeseguin.com.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No the ride has been far from smooth. Initially the business bolted out of the gate at a full gallop. We really did well during the first two years of covid but then slowed down significantly after that. Between revenue issues due to reduced sales during a tough national economy and the suicide of our son, our business has had it’s challenges. Overall God continues to bless us with a business that at it core is Christ-centered!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
After almost 5 years in the world’s finest Navy, I used my experience in the military and worked many jobs. In 2010 I secured a position as a contractor for the NSA with a great company, Corporate Office Properties Trust. It was this job that enabled us to move to Seguin, start a business and make several trips overseas that really played into the coffee business. Today I work for my father’s beloved Air Force as an electronics tech supporting electronic security systems for the Air Force police and associated Flights. As the business grows, eventually we will leave the workforce to pursue full time ministry on the platform of the coffee business.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk is a funny and frightening thing. My wife will be the first to tell you that she is NOT a risk taker. So when I approached her about the coffee business you just imagine her concern. Me on the other hand I have always been a risk taker. If you never use the talents that God bestows on each of us, you will never know the unending blessings that God gives in abundance. I believe that when we are obedient to God’s will, the risk is always worth it. That’s not to say we wont fail but failing forward and getting back up and moving on is not failing, it’s learning.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thirddaycoffeeseguin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirddaycoffeeseguin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirddaycoffeeseguin
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/71791603
- Twitter: https://x.com/3rdDayCoffeeTX
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GodCountryCoffee
