The 85 South Show with Karlous Miller, DC Young Fly and Chico Bean - BLACK COFFEE ATL | BLACK MARKET w/ Karlous Miller

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

SHOP WITH BLACK COFFEE:  https://www.blackcoffeeatl.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today, and before we get started, you know, I got to hit them with one of them. Just to let them know. That is money on the flow. That is money on the flow. Now, you know, we keep it real black on the black market. And today, we got a very special guest with us. Mr. Jamon Butler, how you doing? Bless you, brother.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. From the black coffee company. Yes, sir, yes, sir. Now, the name stands out to me the most. Tell me about the black coffee company. You know, this is a brotherhood. It's a family, truly. It's a family-run business.

We started in 2018. Okay. But me and my brothers are five, My five partners, Leonard Lightfoot, Christopher Broden, Gino Jones, and Brandon Cole. You got a brother named Gino Jones. Yes, indeed. He got to be a best to later on LA.

Gino is a life of every party, man. That's my brother. We go back to junior high actually, over 30 years, 82 babies. We stayed together, stay connected through our HBCU Xavier University. Magnificent. Xavier? Yes, sir.

I'm Xavier alumni. Okay, brother. Okay, okay. Okay, I see you family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see you. I just went for, a college hill celebrity edition.

That's what's up. Yes, you're rocking the black and gold. You know this. You're looking good. You're looking good. I'm crazy for my ex. You, you feel me? Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, I see you. Yes. Yeah, but our brotherhood, you know, so Xavier brought us together. We stayed together. And as we traveled the world, going to All-Star weekend, you know, partying,

folks getting married, we realized that we were blessed because our parents were hard working and they told us about education. But our brothers, our nephews, my cousins, my community, my neighbors, Everybody couldn't come with us right on this experience and see what we were seeing.

So we wanted to create something to bridge that gap. We started with an investment club because we was motivated by the Barry Gordy family. Everybody knows the story of Motown records, the Jackson Five, the Supremes, you know, Smoky Robinson. Temptations. All that billions of dollars of culture, right, that that record label created. It started with an $800 loan that Barry Gordie Jr. got from his parents. For us, that was the Motown moment. our high. If we put together an investment club, we'll have the money when we realize what

business we want to launch. How do you start an investment club? It's simple. We got an LLC. We came up with the name. It was backpack investments because truthfully, that was our click name in high-and-college. We were the backpack clique, but ultimately what we wanted to do was give high-impact educational materials to use in backpacks. So that's what we were going to use the money for originally. Flash forward two years, we had some success investing in the market. We realized we could do a little bit more, and we started we're going to launch a business. We were on conference calls. This was 2817, trying to figure out what we were going to do.

My brother, Dr. Leonard Leifah, who's based in the D.C. area, said, yo, what about coffee? Because at the time, we were all drinking coffee a Saturday morning on a Zoom call. It was Google Hang on, actually. I was like, bro, I'm not, I'm trying, what I look like doing coffee? I'm trying to do a black business. I wanted to do some tech. Coffee is black.

What I learned, right? What I learned. At the time, no, I was ignorant, right? I wanted to do an app. I was, I'm from L.A., so I wanted to do cannabis. I was like, you know, weed is blowing up. Let's get in this space. But then he was like,

he was like, nah, no, bro. Look into coffee and that's when my mind was blown, right? People, when you think coffee, you think about Colombia, you think about Costa Rica, you think about El Salvador, all these beautiful places around us right here, right? Truth, but the birthplace, all coffee on this planet, the species originated in Ethiopia. Come on, man.

Right, in the mountainous regions of Ethiopia. We'll clap for Ethiopia. Clap it up, clap it up to Ethiopia, right? The birthplace of so much culture, knowledge, math, you name it, right? And coffee. So when I discovered that, I was like, wait a minute. My whole life, I'm thinking Juan Valdez and all those other things about coffee was me.

They stole it. Coffee's black. So I was like, we're going to reclaim our seat at the tech. It's going to be the black coffee company. And in February 2018, we launched with our website. We had one product. It was a coffee mug that said woke. Our family loved it.

They supported it. Then we got our coffee beans. We started roasting later on. What was the plug on the coffee bean? We met a coffee roaster out of Ohio. Shout out to Namesake coffee. They put us on. We got to connect with them.

My brother Leonard, he started roasting himself in his garage. Now we roast about 30 to 40% of our production. Flash forward, we started making... Where did you get the education on that? Like, who put you up on that? Ourself. We learned it. We started asking people, asking questions, researching,

going on Google, going to conferences, going to other coffee shops. Hey, how did you do this? That's what's up, man. At Flash Forward, we started making our own cake cups, right? We got our cure eggs. We sell these across the country. So our website, the black coffee company.com, we sell our products across the world. We've been to military bases in Japan.

Our product is going places that I'll never go. And so flash forward, we were doing pop-ups. I was in L.A. I had a partner here in Atlanta, a partner in D.C. and one in Houston. When the pandemic hit, all that shut down, there were no pop-ups. But our website was going crazy because people were shopping online. So that gave us the courage and said, okay, we're going to need to get a brick-and-mortar. The only city that was still open, Atlanta, Georgia.

And we got the ultimate hookup from Killer Mike. He invited us to come to the swag shop to do a pop-up. He was doing this Black Market Fridays. Shout it up to Killer Mike, that brother. Absolutely. Listen, not only did give us an opportunity to demonstrate our entrepreneurship, we paid us a plug. He said, yo, this family, the Ali family.

They got this building in Lakewood, and they're looking for some black-owned businesses, specifically coffee. You should give him a look. We went over there, my brother, Chris, checked it out with his fiance Shannon I said hey man that sound like to move I moved my family down here in November 2020 and we went to work we got an investment thanks to Beyonce the Baygood grant man hold up man come on bro okay now you might not know this

but over here in this building we love the good sister sister Beyonce and whatever she got going to be absolutely we were we were a recipient of the round two small Bay Good grant once our family heard about that it was like oh okay, I'm going to put my money with Beyonce. So we did crowdfunding because we didn't have enough money to build out this coffee shop. It goes over $100,000 to do it. We raised the first round. We raised about $20K from our family and friends.

We did another round. We did another round. So all together, we did five rounds of family and friends financing. And we raised $150,000. We built out our coffee shop. We opened it on Juneteenth, 2021. Shout out to our culture, our ancestors. And the shop itself, we designed it so that's reflective of all Atlanta culture.

You walk in, you're going to see a big. mural with John Lewis, Keisha Lance, Bottom, Reverend Raphael, Warnock. You're going to see the plan. You got to put Gucci on the. Oh, yeah. Hold on the way. Listen. We all, we're on the southeast side, right? You sign off to East Atlanta. But if you look at our menu, the names of our drinks are reflective of. We got the killer Mike, of course. That's a double shot expresso. We got the Andre. Shout out our mayor, Andre Dickens. That's the camomile tea with lavender because he don't drink coffee. He's been to our shop multiple times. Shout out to the mayor. We got the, our number one seller is a drink we call it's a vanilla lavender latte with a honey drizzle we call it the

light skin kisha it's the number one seller everybody loves that drink uh you go on google we got over a thousand five-star reviews uh people love it you know it's the taste but it's the culture it's the customer experience you get when you come in our shop bro i'm going to take the whole staff to just have some coffee now it's a beautiful space we uh we do people come for co-working they come to host meetings we do spoken word every first fridays shout out to cafe unplug and low little data promoter it's a dope vibe right we wanted to create a space that celebrated our culture celebrated us but so many entrepreneurs come together to do deals create projects we like we want 10 years from now and shout out to Apache cafe because they were the

most definitely shout out to Apache cafe they you know they help pay and shout out to Apache XLR they continue to move but you know they kind of paved that way they gave us the like this we want to create something that we everybody around the country when they go to Atlanta, they want to pull up to black coffee Atlanta. They want to get that greeting, welcome. They want to come taste the life and kisha and see the vibe. And that's what we've built. And also one thing that we've always done is support other entrepreneurs. So we bring in pop-up vendors every single day. Any day you can walk in the shop, somebody selling candles, selling incense, selling dresses. They can even selling tea and coffee because it's no

competition. If a thousand more black-owned coffee businesses launch tomorrow, that's a good thing for us because that gives us more leverage. That gives us more people to No, negotiate with, to educate with, network, and build together. Because this is coffee, people don't know. It is multiple hundreds of billions of dollars industry, right? And it's projected to grow even more. A hundred billion dollars.

Multiple hundred. Right? But you think about the people who own these companies who own the farms, they don't look like us. But when you go to the farms, the people who are hands in the dirt, they look like us. So I'm like, you know, this had to change. can't just be, you know, that green and white company based in Seattle, right?

It had to be, we need people to reflect us, so the black coffee company. I won't host an event there. Just get there early with all the old black dudes and just drink coffee and talk shit. We do it from six to eight in the morning. Truthfully, because we, well, listen, that's, and we see all ages, all demographic. We get white, Asian, Latino, we get young, old pastors, you know, businessmen, council folks. Yeah. Everybody comes because that coffee, we got a saying, coffee, coffee, we got a saying, coffee, gets a seat at every single table.

It's a social dream. From the board room to the break room, from the docks to the dining table. Yeah. Man, what's been your experience with this whole building this company from the ground up and just coming in contact with all these different people?

It's the best, it's a beautiful journey, for one. It's a beautiful journey, but it's long, it's gotta be patience. Things that we learned year one are now coming in fruition in year six, right? The skill set that we've built, we still do pop-ups, right? I was trying to make some coffee here today.

Most of them. I'm going to figure something out, right? And it's really about people, though. It's a people business. Like, you know, right now, technology and AI is a big thing. All these companies are laying off folks. They're going through it, trying to figure it out. But technology cannot replace this experience.

Exactly. The connection, me and you talking. And that coffee is the medium in which we do that. Yeah, man. So, damn, that Lyski and Keisha. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It breaks them down.

They come in there, like, Biceke and Keisha, they try that. Ooh, they get hooked. They get hooked with oat milk, too, because, you know, elmook's better for you. Is it? Oh, yes. Don't say that's their way from dairy if you can.

I just keep smelling. You know, a lot of people just have coffee at their house just like, for the scent, do you have a favorite scent? My favorite coffee would have to be our Ethiopian, of course, because that's the source. But my second one would probably be our Guatemalan. That's a newer direct, so all our coffees are direct tray. I like it because it's berry. mostly central and South American coffees are more floral.

They're going to be more berry-like, so they're a little more fragrant for me. That's what's up, man. So look, somebody who hasn't had the experience of the black coffee company, man, we have a whole audience right now. Let them know why they should stop by and check y'all out specifically. Yo, listen, if you want authentic quality, a customer experience, if you want coffee that not only tastes good, but it's good for you,

If you want to support your community because we support a number of nonprofits. Shout out to my future successors group. Shout out to nothing but a numbers. You know, if you want to invest in a local Atlanta coffee shop that is going to grow and continue to support you, you've got to come to the black coffee company. The black coffee company.com. That's our website. You can check our coffee shop.

It's called Black Coffee Atlanta. And we're about to host our third annual, our third annual festival called Black Coffee Fest. This year, our keynote speaker is John Hope Bryant. the CEO of Operation Hope. He invested $25,000 in our business this year because he believes in our dream and we want y'all to believe to come support us. That's what's up.

I know you said that you had to learn how to roast, man. It's somebody out here watching that's doing their own coffee journey right now. Can you drop them a quick little piece of game on the roasting? Or any type of look inside that you had to learn that didn't nobody tell you? I would say, you know,

you don't think it needs to be done one way, right? All the experts and the aficionados are going to tell you this is how you make a cup of coffee. But the coffee is just like anything else, personal. It's your experience. And that's why I love coffee. Everybody prepares it different. Everybody drinks it different. And that doesn't make their cup any better than your cup, just like people.

We're all the same. I like to think that coffee, kind of like black folks, it was taken from our home and transplanted around the world. But we didn't lose our value. No, we took on the value and the soil and the properties. became different but we're still the same what's the website where they can still order and all that you can order our coffee beans you can order our cake cups you can order our merch our mugs our t-shirts all that at the black coffee company

dot com that's the black coffee company dot com we're looking to get in social media y'all know y'all got social media yes indeed our social media is at black coffee Atlanta at black coffee Atlanta that's one of our main pages we got a bunch for every region that we operate in but check that one out first and then Don't forget black coffee fest.com. When is that? We need dates for that. Yes, sir.

Juneteenth and 16th, June 15th, June 15th and 16th. It's going to be a community activation, a dinner. We're going to have over 50 vendors, free event for the community. It's a free event for the community. All to come learn, keynote speakers, and taste some amazing coffee. Look, bro, I got to plug my partner. You see that dude sitting right there? He's finding a coffee house in probably every city that we go to, man.

So if y'all ever need an ambassador or y'all, are your own one Valdez? True, true. There you go right there. Yes, yes, somebody tastes, right? We need the aficionado, there you go. See, I know people. No you, bro.

Listen, we're just so blessed to be on this platform. Thank you for highlighting black businesses. Most definitely, bro. I want you to come back and then you can just be on set next time I shoot the black market and we'll just be having coffee. You say you need a pop-up. Yes, let me bring y'all some coffee. Exactly.

No, you gotta stay the whole day and don't come at night. When we're shooting the show show, we'll have an on-set black coffee experience. Let's do it. I got this, I got all the equipment I'm just going to it in a gig in the morning so we can do that. I can bring the team, we'll have a great time. Well, look, man, I appreciate you stopping through here. Black Coffee Company 85 South Black Market. We out here and is money on the floor.

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Win the tech search at Lenovo.com. Lenovo, Lenovo. Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X-1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Join IHeart Radio and Sarah Spain

in celebrating the one-year anniversary of IHeart Women's Sports. With powerful interviews and insider analysis, our shows have connected fans with the heart of women's sports. In just one year, the network has launched 15 shows and built a community united by passion. Podcasts that amplify the voices

of women in sports. Thank you for supporting IHart Women's Sports and our founding sponsors, Elf Beauty, Capital One, and Novartis. Just open the free IHart app and search IHard Women's Sports to listen now. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant. For My Heart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is the Turning, River Road. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse.

But in 2014, the youngest escaped. Listen to the Turning River Road on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen. to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Our IHeart Radio Music Festival, presented by Capital One, is coming back to Las Vegas.

September 19th and 20th. On your feet. Streaming live only on Hulu. Ladies and gentlemen. Brian Adams. Ed Shearin. Fade. Chlorilla.

Jelly Roll. John Fogarty. Lil Wayne. L.L. Cool J. Mariah Carey. Baroon 5. Hagar, Tate McCraig, the offspring, Tim McGrath. Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com. Get your tickets today. AXS.com. This is an I-Heart podcast.