New Canaan's Expert On Coffee & Cars: Escaping The Corporate World for a More Enjoyable Life

Douglas Zumbach decided to trade in his suit and tie more than 20 years ago to pursue a life filled with more of his passions.

"I wanted a change in lifestyle," Zumbach said. So he made the change.

Now Zumbach spends his days roasting beans for Zumbach's Gourmet Coffee at 77 Pine Street and, six times a year, arranging the local gathering Caffeine and Carburetors a celebration for car enthusiasts from all over.

Zumbach split from his job as the vice president of human resources for a Manhattan firm and started working part time as a manager at a high-end food store. Watching customers come in and buy gourmet beans at twice the price of processed coffee, he wanted to understand more about the appeal.

"I was scratching my head," he said. "I grabbed some books, I went to the library and I booked a plane."

In 1990, Zumbach flew to the West Coast to "discover the roasting aspect" of coffee-making and attended a roasting school for a week before returning to the area to find a place to open up shop.

"I found this place," Zumbach said, sitting on a large sack of coffee beans in a back store room. "It was an old liquor store and I convinced the owner opening up this coffee shop was a viable idea. 20 years ago I opened it up. Starbucks only had 7 stores at the time. Gourmet coffee was just taking off. It was pure luck I got into it and I haven't looked back since."

Zumbach found the Pine Street space and moved to New Canaan. He opened up shop, put his roaster right out in the front of the shop and—though he's a community staple now— things got off to a bit of a rocky start.

"I opened the doors on that first day, a Tuesday, at 11 a.m. and stood here all day. No one showed up," he said.

But eventually, they began to arrive. And they kept coming back. And while business grew, Zumbach found pursuing one passion made it was easy in that particular industry to find people in town who shared his other interests as well.

"I like the conversation with the community," he said. "I'm on my feet, in conversation 10 hours a day."

Zumbach eventually met enough car enthusiasts that, in 1995, they decided to have a small gathering out front on a Sunday while the coffee shop was closed. A group of about 30 car lovers met the first time, just a group of people who loved cars.

As one of the founders of Caffeine and Carburetors—the others being Todd Brown and radio personality Peter Bush—they began meeting on a weekly basis. After about 11 months, Zumbach said he began to feel burnt out and the meetings fell off.

"I couldn't believe how many people asked me about the gatherings," he said. "10 years later, people would still come in and ask when the next show would be. Finally, five years ago, two of my buddies convinced me to revive it."

On Father's Day, June 16, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., more than 350 to 400 cars and upwards of 2,000 people are expected to come pack the area and join the "gathering, not a show" as Zumbach calls it.

"The philosophy remains that it's a 'gathering,'" he said. "No one needs to worry about judging. Owners are always proud of whatever it is they own and there's always a story behind the car."

Caffeine and Carburetors now meets six times a year, in April, May, June, September, October and November. They have a website at caffeineandcarburetors.com even though Zumbach's Gourmet Coffee still doesn't have one.

"It's coming later this year, I promise" Zumbach laughed.

At the end of the day, pursuing a life he could enjoy has led to many more positive moments than he'd ever been able to dream of in the executive world.

"It's about happiness. Quality of life," Zumbach said. "I enjoy my current lifestyle. Someone once said, 'Life's not a dress rehearsal.' You don't get a second go at it. Strive for whatever makes you happy."