GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — An immigrant-owned coffee shop with modest beginnings will soon take the spot of a Biggby Coffee and a Starbucks inside two Meijer stores.
“I started the company with 12 pounds of Guatemalan coffee and 12 pounds of Honduran coffee in the trunk of my car," said Mayan Industries owner Marco Bulnes.
Mayan Buzz Cafe, which first opened six years ago in Grand Rapids, will soon have four locations in Michigan. Bulnes said he's still shocked at the thought.
"After a lot of years of hard labor, you start seeing the possibilities of finally being able to make it," Bulnes, who is originally from Honduras, said Wednesday.
Bulnes' first venture with Meijer started with the Bridge Street Market, which opened in Grand Rapids last year. The Mayan Buzz Cafe's next two locations will be at the Okemos and Grandville Meijer stores.
Bulnes also recently opened Mayan Chocolate and Ice Cream, which is on Bridge Street NW. He said there are plans for future Mayan Buzz Cafe locations already in the works.
"We are just trying to take it one store at a time," Bulnes said.
Bulnes grew up working with coffee beans in Central America, before he moved to America at age 13. He lost his mother to cancer and came to Grand Rapids to live with his father.
“That was basically the toughest thing I've ever had to go through. My mother was my rock, she was my everything," Bulnes said.
Bulnes said Mayan Buzz's recent growth will help fund a school and children's advocacy center he is building in Honduras, which will be named after his mother.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.