EVERYDAY PEOPLE: CAFFEINATION

THEY'RE NOT CELEBRITIES. THEY WALK PAST YOU ON THE STREET, BRING YOU YOUR FOOD AT A RESTAURANT, AND LIVE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY'RE EVERYDAY PEOPLE. JUST LIKE YOU.
OCTOBER 2003: CAFFEINATION
MORE AND MORE I HEAR ABOUT MY GENERATION CREATING THEIR OWN FUTURE INSTEAD OF JUST TAKING WHAT IS HANDED TO THEM. HERE ARE THREE YOUNG MEN WHO CREATED THEIR OWN BICYCLE DELIVERY SERVICE CALLED CAFFEINATION, AND THEY HAVE PLANS TO BE JUST AS FAST AND RELIABLE AS THE MUCH-RESPECTED DOWNTOWN COURIERS. IT'S ALL ABOUT BIKE CULTURE AND THE NEEDED SUPPORT TO SPREAD THIS GROWING LIFESTYLE.
Laura: First off, what is CaffeiNation? What are you all about?
Mouse: Caffeination is when you drink a lot of coffee, and you’ve got a lot of caffeine in your system-- that’s basically the definition of that.
Gifford: But, CaffeiNation, which is what we are, is, ah,.. we’re about coffee and bikes. That’s what we’re about. Promoting bike culture in Milwaukee, so people in SUVs stop when pulling out of a parking structure before running you over. (NOTE: On Gifford’s way to the interview an SUV hit him, so he’s a bit bitter.)
L: What about delivery costs, and how long do deliveries take?
G: Typically, we deliver to the east side of the city. It’s extremely flexible at this point in time. Most of our deliveries are food, but we will deliver anything. We tack on a $2.50 delivery charge on orders that cost $15 or less, and then it goes up in increments of 50-cents. It's pretty cheap-- cheaper than Pizza Shuttle.
Aaron: It usually takes about 15 minutes.
G: Sometimes it takes a little longer when we can’t call ahead, because it takes about ten minutes for the restaurant to prepare. So, we’re quick, cheap, and it’s real easy. You just call us up, and we order and deliver for you.
A: And we can deliver more than just food. We have big baskets on our bikes, so we could deliver a stereo, if you wanted.
L: Are you trying to promote a more bike conscious Milwaukee?
M: There is the whole convenience of cars, a whole convenience of McDonald’s, but that doesn’t matter. You can get food just as easily from El Chico’s or Beans & Barley-- decent food places-- because with us, you don’t have to move. You don’t have to waste gas.
A: You can sit on your porch and wait for it. It also works well for people who work in businesses; people that don’t have time to go sit down and eat. They can order ahead of time.
L: Do you have a lot of regular customers yet? Are you building good relationships with businesses?
M: There are a couple places that have ordered from us a couple of times.
A: Gothic Body has ordered from us a couple times.
M: We’re trying to forge some business relationships. It's just going slowly. We’ve only been in business for a little over a month.
L: I heard Aaron say before that riding bikes for a living was always a dream. Was this the same for all of you? Is that why you decided to do this?
A: First of all, it’s been a dream of mine to be my own boss ever since I started working. And I look up to couriers a lot. And I want us to be, not just sub-couriers, I want us to be up with them. I want to be as fast and dependable as them.
M: It’s definitely a long-term plan. The point is, I love bikes. I love ripping them apart and welding them back into weird-ass bikes. I want to be my own boss. And, eventually, I’d love to get a storefront with a full-time mechanic and a store.
A: Yeah. It reaches even further than that. Like, I’m even going to go to school to do frame building. A big thing I’d like to do is custom frames. I want to do specialized stuff. Maybe even dabble in motorcycle frames.
G: I just love biking a whole lot, and wanted to participate and learn a lot more about bikes.
A: (TO GIFFORD) You’re like our little brother.
L: Are there more riders?
G: There are more riders, but this is pretty much the core. There are some others, but they just fit it in when they have time. We’re not making much money right now.
L: I know Gifford had a run-in with a car today. How do you deal with traffic?
G: Usually, I just say, "Fuck it."
A: The words we’re looking for is “red light go.”
G: What I like about bikes is you’ve got the benefits of both cars and pedestrians. You don’t have to obey signals, but you’re going faster than walking. The key is to not get hit.
A: There are no walls between you and the world.
M: If there is heavy traffic, I love flying high speed between the two lanes of traffic. Racing buses is fun, too.
G: If you don’t have a car, you ride your bike. Especially in the city. You can just fly from one end to the other in a half-hour or less.
M: I hate the buses in this city. In a lot of other cities you can take your bike on the bus, or they have racks on the front. So even if you lived outside the city, you could take the bus in, and bike the rest of the way.
A: Amsterdam has bike lanes completely integrated in the city, with their own traffic lights.
L: So, what happens come winter? Can you ride?
G: Biking through blizzards is awesome, especially at three in the morning.
A: We all have bikes that can handle the snow. We can all tough it out.
M: Layers. Thermal.
G: We will just get better, faster, stronger. We’re like the post office,.. only on bikes.
L: Are you running into problems with local businesses that already offer delivery services?
A: No.
M: Soup Brothers has their own delivery service, and someone from True Value on Brady called and ordered from us to pick it up. But it’s not a problem, because we go in and order it ourselves and take it to them.
L: So, what’s your story? How did you all end up in Milwaukee together?
M: I’m from West Bend, and I left it because I hate that city. I love Milwaukee. I’ve traveled a lot; there are only four states I haven’t been to, and Milwaukee is still my favorite city. I really like Riverwest. I really like the people, and the neighborhood in general.
G: I grew up in Shorewood, and I hang out around Riverwest. I’ve toured with bands, traveled a bunch. I’ve been around, and I still really like Milwaukee a lot. The bike scene is definitely something that is lacking. You go to a big city-- like Minneapolis, Portland, or New Orleans-- and there are just gangs of people, everywhere. We want to incorporate the feeling I get other places here, because Milwaukee is great. Accepting bikes as a way of transportation and living, and not just as a hobby or toy.
L: I’ve seen lots of “Share The Road With Bicycles” bumper stickers. Do you think that it is being accepted slowly?
A: Not really. It’s kind of like putting a bumper sticker on your car that says, “Save The Earth”. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. People can say they are being eco-friendly, but really it’s just about being a little more passive than the next person.
G: It’s like one minute they are saying, “Yeah, I share the road with bicycles,” but then they get cut off by a bike, and want to speed up and kill the person because they are running late for work.
L: When they should be biking to work?
M: Yeah, you know.
A: We need to move more toward a petroleum-free society.
M: All I have to say is that I can’t imagine a bike traffic jam. If everyone was on bikes, there would be no traffic jams.
G: I once read a census done in Milwaukee, about how in 2010 it would take five hours to go from one side of the city to the other by car, because traffic was getting so bad. Milwaukee is so small, and most of the traffic is for daily work and businesses. You could easily bike instead, and that would solve so many of the problems. The city should build bike lanes and promote bike culture-- inform people of it-- and even provide bikes for people. In Seattle, companies like Microsoft reward people for riding to work on a bike rather than taking the car.
L: At school, they handed bikes out to students.
A: Yeah. That’s a nice gesture, but it was very limited. They only had about 20 bikes.
M: Also, it’s really hard to change the world. It’s a good dream to have-- like cars are just gone one day, and everyone sees the light. It’s just going to take a lot of work.
G: Cars have their place. They are very useful inventions. If I wanted to move a bunch of band equipment around, that’s what I’d use a car for. I wouldn’t want to use a bike. But if I wanted to go visit a friend or get something to eat, there is no reason for me to use a car for that. I would walk before I would ever use a car.
L: Instead of taking the easy way out-- after you’ve seen cities like Portland and New Orleans, cities that offer a pleasant place for bike culture-- you decided to come back to Milwaukee, a city that doesn’t support your culture. Why?
A: Milwaukee is the first city I fell in love with. When it comes down to it, CaffeiNation is based off of a small business endeavor in New Orleans called Verde Mart, which is a 24 hour deli/liquor/grocery store. They have been hiring people off the street to do deliveries, and it’s become a serious profession for some people.
M: You can call at any time. You can call at four in the morning, want a bottle of Jack Daniels, a bag of chips, and a sub, and they will deliver it by bike.
L: My uncle biked out to Portland and California on two separate occasions. Have you ever been on any long bike trips?
A:Yes. I rode my bike from Milwaukee to Louisville, Kentucky and back.
M: The farthest I’ve been was Harrington Beach, which is about 50 miles round-trip.
G: Basically, our purpose is to show Milwaukee that there is a bike culture, and that bikes can be more effective and faster than cars.
L: Yeah. Bike culture. Support.
CONTACT CAFFEINATION HERE.