When Ali Kothari and Johnny Fayad launched their business as freshmen at Northeastern University, they had two goals: Get into the local Shaw’s grocery store — and sell a million of their coffee bars.
Four years, a new name and a few new employees later, they’ve smashed both.
Fayad and Kothari have both gotten their diplomas, and Eat Your Coffee is now in 1,000 stores — more than triple the 300 they had when we met the pair in 2016. Deals with Texas-based H-E-B grocery stores and midwest retailer Meijer drove that expansion.
Now with Vice President of Marketing Kate Prince, whom they hired last summer, on board, they are seeing growth most entrepreneurs only dream about.
Oh yeah, and they’re all under 30 years old.
“Now what’s exciting is we’re able to dedicate 100% of our time to the company,” said Kothari, noting that while in school they had to at least show up for class to get the attendance points.
And now they’re thinking outside the bar.
