What is coffee bar? Where did this idea come from?
New Grounds Food, Inc. is a health food company whose mission is to provide the people of the world with a healthy way to stay energized throughout their day. The first product line is a CoffeeBar. The CoffeeBar is an all natural, vegan, and gluten-free energy bar infused with an entire cup of coffee! This idea came from two young entrepreneurs who were always running late to their 8am Financial Accounting class and wanted to find a way to combine their breakfast and coffee. After making an initial recipe for the bar and winning fan favorite at the Husky Startup Challenge, the CoffeeBar was officially on its way!
How did you get involved with coffee bar?
The first week of my freshman year I was headed to what I thought was the Entrepreneurship Club. On my way there I happened to bump into these two guys who seemed to know where they were going. I got talking to them, heard about their new business idea, CoffeeBar, and decided to keep walking and talking with them. It turns out they were headed to the Entrepreneurship Immersion Program where new ventures could come pitch their ideas to the members of the club and take people on as interns. While I started as an intern, I have been working for New Grounds Food for over a year now and am currently the CMO and Head of Business Development.
Where do you hope to see the business a year from now?
For the majority of my time with New Grounds Food it has been a team of three: the two co-founders, Ali and Johnny, and myself. Recently we hired a new Marketing Director, Wendy Chu, who is doing very well with SEO and executing marketing strategies. Our hopes for the next year include: hitting all of our stretch goals for the Kickstarter campaign, launching a fully functioning e-commerce platform to sell CoffeeBars online, growing organically throughout cafes and specialty shops in the Boston area before entering the retail world, and expanding to new flavors like Mocha Chip, Caramel Macchiato, French Vanilla and maybe Pumpkin Spice? Stay tuned as many flavors are currently in the works.
What can NU students and others do to help?
SPREAD THE WORD! The most help any Northeastern student can give is to help New Grounds Food spread the word about the company and the Kickstarter campaign. Share the campaign on social media as much as you can and tell your friends and family to check out our website/Kickstarter page! They can be among the first to EAT their coffee! Help us help the rest of the world stay energized throughout the day without sacrificing nutrition.
See how you can help by joining New Grounds Food’s Facebook event!!