Episode 127: Jonathan Casteel

Ever wondered how a coffee company could light up the world of hydroplane racing? Join us for an conversation with Jonathan Casteel, Director of Operations for Mercury Coffee, as he shares the journey of Mercury Coffee's entry into the sport. Discover the deeply-rooted passion that founder Morgan and his father Mike have for hydroplane racing, leading to Mercury Coffee's dynamic presence at Seafair. Get ready to be inspired by Mercury Coffee's impactful contributions to hydroplane racing and their plans for the future!

Show your support for Mercury Coffee with the links below:
Mercury Coffee
Mercury Racing H1 Merch
Mercury Coffee Locations

Chapters

• 0:25 Mercury Coffee's Entry Into Hydroplane Racing
• 12:21 Mercury Coffee's Hydroplane Racing Partnership
• 16:15 Mercury Coffee Fuels Unlimited Racing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Ruchet Tail Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love, hydroplane Racing. I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again, so sit back, relax and welcome. Rooster Tail Talk. Hello, race fans, and welcome back to the podcast. It's episode 127 and August 20th 2024.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Well, race fans, we're a few weeks removed from Seafair. We have a few weeks to go before we can watch the Gold Cup down in San Diego. Regardless, hopefully you enjoyed your time with Seafair, whether you were on the shorelines of Lake Washington watching the race live, like I was, or if you watched it on streaming services through H1 Unlimited or through ComTV. Hopefully you enjoyed your experience. I know there were some controversies and I talked about it last week, but there was a lot of great highlights and a lot of fun that happened in the race, and I want to share a conversation, an interview I had with the Director of Operations of Marketing for Mercury Coffee, jonathan Castile. I had the opportunity to talk with him Saturday before racing began and you're going to listen to it and it's fun because you can hear some of the background noises there's some turbines going on, there's some J-stocks racing, there's announcements going on in the pits, so you got that background noise, which is always fun to have on any interview.

Speaker 1: 1:53

But I had a fun time talking with Jonathan because Mercury Coffee has really made a great impression this year, entering the sport and bringing a lot of energy and hype around H1 Unlimited Racing. I love their social media platform. They've got a lot of great posts going out there. They have a great look for the 11 racing team with their shirts and hats and the new paint scheme and really just bringing a lot of energy to H1 Unlimited Racing and yes, that is a pun they're caffeinating the sport. They're bringing energy and I love what they're doing and really glad I had this chance to talk with Jonathan about this because this year I really think that the 11 team has jumped to a fan favorite and really brought a lot of great attention to the sport. But it's not about what I think. It's about what Mercury Coffee is thinking about their experience with H1 Unlimited Racing.

Speaker 1: 2:43

So let's listen in to my interview with Jonathan Castile as he talks more about Mercury Coffee's involvement with H1 Unlimited Racing. I'm sitting down here, Seafair, Saturday sitting with Director of Operations of Mercury Coffee, Jonathan Castillo.

Speaker 2: 2:59

How are you doing, jonathan? Hey, good morning. Good morning, happy to be here, all right.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Well, really excited about Mercury Coffee entering the sport of hydroplane racing this year. You made a big splash, really got a kick out of your display down here on the boulevard giving away free coffee, free energy drinks, stickers, buttons, selling hats and shirts. You've got a huge display here and making a big statement for the fans. Can you talk more about what you've got going on down here at Seafair?

Speaker 2: 3:27

Yeah, so I mean this is our hometown race. We consider Tri-Cities and Seafair our hometown races because of the proximity to our locations. Our headquarters are in Bellevue and we have locations all on the east side of Seattle, but we can see our offices from here, essentially, so we didn't want to let the home fans down by. You know, some people have been following these races from Guntersville to Madison Tri-Cities, and we've been fortunate to be able to give them pretty cool offerings, and we wanted to make sure we could do that here. Down here we have our 10x20 booth with assorted swag items and whatnot, along with a ton of freebies. We're giving out organic cold brew, we're giving out energy elixirs all free of charge, along with temporary tattoos for the kids and stickers and all the things.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Just a few things.

Speaker 2: 4:26

Just a few things, yeah, and then tomorrow we're actually going to be moving locations. We're going to be in a different spot, on the boulevard more towards the west, and we're going to have our Hummer over there as well. We have an H1 Hummer that's completely decked out with all Mercury, so we're going to have that there too.

Speaker 1: 4:43

All right, Very fitting to have the H1 Hummer decked out for your H1 Unlimited Exactly Excellent yeah. So what are your initial thoughts? You enter the sport and you're making a huge statement. What's going on at Mercury Coffee? What are the initial thoughts going on?

Speaker 2: 4:58

I mean, there's a big history with hydroplane racing, with the owner, morgan, and his dad, mike, and they grew up with hydroplanes and Mike taking Morgan to these races and everything up with hydroplanes and and mike taking morgan to these these races and everything and um. So it's kind of like a dream come true opportunity for for morgan's dad, and and morgan, and now morgan is able to share it with other people as well and um, yeah, it's so. I would say that you know, our initial thoughts are it's you put a lot of work in to get these on the water and, especially when you do a full title sponsorship, there's a lot of work that goes into it and it's not like you're just putting one sticker somewhere. You're rebranding a boat. You're rebranding a boat, you're rebranding a truck and the and the, and I'll say it was like an indescribable feeling to see the boat go in the water the first time or see the boat pull up one for pre-season testing. So I'd say our initial response, our initial feeling, was definitely a sense of pride for me.

Speaker 2: 6:12

I've been able to see somebody that I care about a lot, having him be able to give his dad something that he'll never forget, and being able to help support that is. I'm at a loss for words for that, honestly.

Speaker 1: 6:27

So it's been great like I said, the fans really love you coming on board here, and was this more of Mercury Coffee and the owners looking to get back into the sport? Said the fans really love you coming on board here. Uh, and was this more of uh, the mercury coffee and the owners looking to get it back into the sport, or was this uh? Did someone pull you in?

Speaker 2: 6:42

um, I think it was just timing was right. If the timing was right, um, you know, our brand has been growing year over, year over, you know, uh, since inception. Essentially, you know, we've been around for 25 years and the last, uh, you know, six or seven years we've had huge growth spurts with like and and we we don't ever push anything, that we're, that we don't force anything, and so, like, just like this, we didn't force it Right, so it just happened naturally, happened fast and it happened hard. Like honestly, it was like, it was like all right, it was a quick conversation. Morgan told me hey, we have a chance to do this. What do I think? And I'm like we definitely should do it. And then, since then, it's just been, I don't know, I mean, it's been hitting the ground, running, it's been awesome.

Speaker 1: 7:30

Yes, well, fantastic. I've been talking to a lot of the fans this season. You're sponsoring 11, shannon and and scott rainey and their boats have had very colorful boats over the years and they have a great paint scheme and I gotta say I think it's a fan favorite on the water. Uh, what? What went into the decision for that paint scheme this year? Did you have a hand in that? Was that company decided?

Speaker 2: 7:54

yeah, so so I mean, anyone that is familiar with Mercury's is we're pretty meticulous about everything that we do, and Morgan's eye is really good for design and style and nothing. And where he and I both align is even if you look at our logo. Our logo is solid, contrasting colors. You have black, white and red, and they're all not like you know, pastels. They're bright, they're vibrant.

Speaker 1: 8:28

It's a true black. It's a true white, it's a true red.

Speaker 2: 8:31

And so you start with that, you put that into. You know, all our, our drinks and food items are, um, you know, handcrafted. We do, um, uh, rigorous testing with our staff and then same thing with the build out of our locations. I mean, there's multiple revisions, multiple tweaks before it gets to the final thing and and you're not always, you're not ever done, right, you always make tweaks.

Speaker 2: 8:55

So, you know, I mean, we've been hearing a bit about being the fan favorite vote and that's amazing. You know, I would love to hear that. The support from the h1, uh, family is awesome. I mean the fans and the fans of the family. Right, this is the um. The goal is to ignite some energy into the sport and and bring it. You know, you always hear about the heyday, like, why does the heyday need to be? Then like, why can't it be now? Right, and so that's the kind of the view and that's why everything that we're doing, we're we're putting all of our effort in, like, uh, you know, I wear my apple watch and it tracks my, my fitness and everything. I've closed every circle, like every single day for the past two months.

Speaker 1: 9:37

We're moving, we're moving.

Speaker 2: 9:44

The Rainies. We heard from the very beginning they're great people, great people to partner with. I don't think I can say anything different than that they invited us into their crew. This sponsorship is a big deal, so there's always that element of oh, the sponsor's here, this or that, but we genuinely care about all these people. Then you get Jamie, our driver, jamie Nilsen. He's just a pure good guy. He is the last one to leave when people are breaking things down and putting things away. You know all the guys over there are like that, but you know, always expect that from your main driver right.

Speaker 2: 10:28

Right, the main driver. I mean he can go do his thing, but I mean he's helping wash the boat, getting the boat ready, helping over us at the booth. You know getting it, you know John. You know, john, do you need any help? What can I do? And so you take that and you just apply that mentality to that entire crew so they were able to put up with a lot of tweaks and design changes. Yeah, and I think it was a huge sense of pride for all of us, you know, to see that thing on the water.

Speaker 1: 10:57

Yeah, but I'm going to throw you off on this question. I'm sure the JSTOC's on the water now Something here at Seafarer. For years now they've had a matching JSTOC hydro. So you've got a 9, 10-year-old driving a boat that's just like the H1 Limited. So you've got a Mercury Coffee JSTOC with a little guy in there. What are your thoughts about that in there?

Speaker 2: 11:15

What are your thoughts about that? It's pretty neat. I mean this guy's super excited. He's been riding, he's been wearing the Mercury's gear for the last you know two days, especially yesterday Saw him riding his scooter all around the pits. You know, he's just having so much fun. Then last night literally I don't even know what time it was, it was late afternoon, it was after Blue Angels were done we were um coming back down and that guy was in his, in that boat on the side and just you know messing with things, you know dialing it in for him. He I don't remember what exactly he told me, but he was saying that he was needed to work on something and that was awesome.

Speaker 1: 11:58

Yeah, so cool and the boat's sweet. Yeah, the boat's sweet, yeah, yeah, awesome. Yeah, it's a fun program they do down here at Seafarer and it's been a tradition they've done for a few years now. But there was a picture I think it was on your social media, yep With him, the J-Stock and then the U-11 behind it. It looked like it was taken from a drone, maybe, or something high up yeah probably.

Speaker 2: 12:18

Yeah, it was really really cool yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:21

You know you mentioned before how this fan base is passionate. A lot of the fans really like to show their support for the teams and the companies that are sponsoring these boats, and I have a few friends in town. One's from New Zealand this weekend.

Speaker 2: 12:36

I got married there last year. Oh, did you really, and this is ironic as well I got married there a year ago, in four days, five days, okay, all right. Yeah, eight, eight last year, sorry, all right. Well, happy early anniversary to you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Yeah, but they were talking about their support. Where is Mercury Coffee supplied? How can we show our support for you?

Speaker 2: 13:00

Yeah, I mean we're available on mercuriescom. We do ship around the world. I mean, going to somewhere like New Zealand is going to be a little bit probably expensive for shipping. But you know, I would say in the States we offer flat rate shipping of like $5 or free. If you have a subscription We'll ship across the entire US. But yeah, we have all of our organic coffees on there. We have all the hydro swag as well. We have like a few of the model kits left.

Speaker 1: 13:29

We didn't do a huge run this season.

Speaker 2: 13:34

But if you want to get one, go online and grab one this season. But, um, you know, if you want to get one, go online and grab one. Um, we have everything that we have at the sea fair and all these events we have online too okay, yeah, and are?

Speaker 1: 13:46

it's only been a few months now since the season started, kind of a short, you know, summer season, but are you seeing much of a return and in your investment for the sport?

Speaker 2: 13:55

yeah, I mean mean it's hard to quantify it exactly and I've been asked that a couple times. In fact, right before we got on this, I got asked a similar question of what type of return are we seeing? I can say that we have really busy locations and the foot traffic is always pretty high, but I will say it feels different right now and the vibe and the energy from the brand is awesome and the numbers are showing. I can't say it's up 20%, I can't say that, but I'll say the brick-and-mortar stores are performing really well and then our web sales and web traffic is increased as well. We saw a really high return after testing because I think everybody, like you said, saw the boat in the water and was like who are these guys? This is not just a couple stickers on a boat.

Speaker 1: 14:50

Oh right.

Speaker 2: 14:52

So yeah, we are seeing good return, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:54

Excellent. Well, I'd like to say that you're putting some fresh taste on the sport. You're bringing some everyone's getting caffeinated here from you yeah. Trying to get some sort of pun for you, but you know, moving forward, you have one more race in San Diego and then the season's over. What are your thoughts moving forward?

Speaker 2: 15:12

with H1 Unlimited. You couldn't do an interview without asking that question right, no, I can't.

Speaker 1: 15:16

That's the one. That's the closing question.

Speaker 2: 15:17

And all I'm going to say is this season's fantastic and we're having a lot of fun with it and we're excited to see how we end up here. I'm really excited to go to San Diego. That's actually I consider that my close to hometown, because I'm from Orange County, from South California and I don't know I can't give the 100% of what happens for next year. I will say that the energy is really good right now and I don't think we want it to stop. All right, I'll say it like that. I'll say that I definitely am excited for the end of the season and seeing how it carries through fall and know fall and winter and whatnot, but hopefully we're back here before you know it.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Yes, well, we hope so Keep us caffeinated we appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 16:04

Yeah, we're trying our best, we'll do our best All right. Thank you very much for taking the time with me.

Speaker 1: 16:09

Of course, I appreciate your time.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 16:12

All right listeners. That's all the time we have for this week. Hopefully you enjoyed my talk with jonathan castile. I really enjoyed chatting with him and meeting him down at seafair and really just love his and mercury coffee's energy that they're bringing to the sport because they're caffeinating h1 unlimited right now. They've shown so much support this year throughout the merchandise, the free giveaways, the sponsorship to the team, the publicity on social media. They've done a lot for the sport this year and it's time for us to do our part as a fan.

Speaker 1: 16:44

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, I would highly encourage you. Look at the link below in the bio and you can find their locations in the Pacific Northwest so you can go in person, get a coffee or two, maybe an energy drink, and show your support for H1 Unlimited Racing and Mercury Coffee. Even if you don't live in the Pacific Northwest, there'll be a link below where you can go to online and you can buy some merchandise or coffee. I will say they gave away some samples of Octane outrageously good coffee down at Seafair. I grabbed a few and I've been brewing that this week and love what I've tasted so far.

Speaker 1: 17:21

I'm going to do my part and purchase some more of that coffee, because I'm going to need it, because I'm getting back to school only a few days away before the kids are going to be coming in my classroom and I need energy, so I'm going to be getting some octane coffee. No, I'm not being paid for this, but I'm just really want to show my support to Mercury Coffee with what they've done so far for H1 Unlimited Racing. So please do your part, show your support and get some coffee from Mercury's Coffee. Well, coming up on the podcast, I've got a few ideas and a few great interviews lined up, so I'm excited to see what I can share with you, the listener. So until next time, I hope to see you at the races.