GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A brand-new small business in Grand Rapids is combining state-of-the-art technology and sustainability to bring you delicious coffee.
Inside the Southeast Market on the shelf among other locally found products are bags of coffee from Last Mile Café.
“We wanted to incorporate all the things we love about coffee and e-commerce and just create a better coffee experience for people," founder Arick Davis said.
Arik Davis and partner Sarah Laman started the small business four months ago.
“I grew up in this area and I’ve been in the tech space for a while and I thought it would be exciting for us to build a profitable business and then scale up our technology from there," Davis said.
Everything from the packaging to the ethically sourced coffee beans was chosen with sustainability in mind.
“What we have now is a naturally processed Ethiopian coffee. So you get a lot of the natural flavors of blueberry and it’s super smooth," Davis said.
Ten percent of the revenue from Last Mile Café goes to charitable organizations.
The website has unique features that allow people to chose which charity they want to support and a texting system that connects you with an actual person.
“People can text us and with that, they can choose which charity directly their money goes to, they can also text us and get help with their coffee. If they want recipes, if they want to give us feedback, they can actually reach out to a person," Davis said.
Davis says they have big plans for the future, including the opening up of a physical café and the launch of a new app.
“Every time you buy a cup of coffee when we open our café, you’ll actually get this unique NFT like a non-fungible token. It’s like a digital thing that you own and you can use it to play games, get rewards and free coffee," Davis said.
The app will also feature a delivery option, bringing a delicious cup of joe straight to your door.
Davis says the goal is to open up a café by the end of the year.
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