Austin and Tony Ferrari, Owners of Mom n' 'em Coffee
Founders look to honor the memory of late customer with coconut coffee. https://momnemcoffee.com/
The young man’s name was Franklin.
“He was a good friend of ours. We’d go out to dinner, to his house, out of town together, etc. He always would tell us, ‘We should do this coconut coffee kind of thing.’ I had another beverage at our coffee shop at the time that was selling very well and I mentioned I would love to put that in a can one day,” recalls Austin Ferrari, co-owner of Mom ‘n ‘em Coffee alongside his brother, Tony. “We kept talking about it, talking about, talking about it ... I was with him on July Fourth and we were spending the day hanging out at our friend's pool up in Northern California. About an hour later, he gets in a vehicle, takes off, wrecks and suddenly passes away.
“I've obviously never experienced anything like that day. I called my brother – and I was very emotional – and I was like, ‘We have to bring this drink to life because Franklin wouldn't stop talking about it.’ So, the next couple months after Franklin passed, we developed a recipe and came out with this beverage that we started selling in our cafes and it just took off.”
Now, the Ferraris are set to honor their friend’s memory with assistance in the form of a grant from Main Street Ventures (MSV).
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME
Originally envisioned as an airstream coffee bar and named after a phrase uttered by a local radio host that became part of their family’s lexicon, Mom ‘n ‘em Coffee is the Ferrari brothers’ latest entrepreneurial venture. Opening their Camp Washington location in 2019 with the Madisonville location following suit in 2022, the brothers also set up shop every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. inside MadTree Brewery in Oakley. They recently added a new venture under the Mom ‘n ‘em family banner in the form of an Airbnb property in a former church in Covington, Kentucky. While based in Cincinnati, the Ferrari brothers got the idea for Mom ‘n ‘em in 2014 when they were living and operating businesses in San Francisco. Ever the good sons, the brothers have also appropriately dedicated their business to their own mother, Theresa.
Returning home to Cincinnati several years later, it would be a meeting with Justin Brookhart, Executive Director of BLINK, that would lead them to Main Street Ventures. The Ferraris would apply for and receive a $20,000 grant in early 2023 to help bring to market Franklin’s Coconut Cold Brew, a canned coffee beverage inspired by their late friend’s love of coconut, coffee and camaraderie they shared.
“It's a cold brew base. We make our own house-made coconut syrup with toasted coconut ... We do serve it with milk so the texture isn't acidic; it's very well-rounded, well balanced – you could almost think of it as sort of a coconut milk/coffee milkshake, if you will,” says Ferrari about the beverage’s texture and taste. “It's not loaded with sugar though (as) that toasted coconut flavor already is sweet on its own. It's a very refreshing coffee cold brew.”
CAN DO SPIRIT
Noting he and his brother are now working with a formulator based out of Canada to keep the product’s recipe as close to its roots as possible, Ferrari hopes to have 30,000 cans of the product ready to launch this winter. In addition to having the product at their Mom ‘n ‘em locations, he hopes to expand to surrounding Cincinnati-adjacent cities (Columbus, Dayton, etc.) soon thereafter via retail partners. Learning that bringing a product from concept to RTD (ready to drink) can be a time-consuming and expensive process, Ferrari says the MSV grant will help with the design and packaging of the beverage. He envisions the retail price being $4.95 for a “sleek” 12-ounce can similar in size to that of a High Noon hard seltzer.
But given that they “work in an industry that can be very brutal,” Ferrari says the grant has been instrumental not just for their product, but their company in its entirety.
“Having the opportunity to get this grant is huge; honestly, we'd probably be another three years out had we not received the funding ... It was like, ‘Alright, we definitely got to do this thing,’” he says. “There's so much learning involved with whatever you do in life, whether you open a grocery store, start a tech company, etc. We learned a lot with this new avenue as it's definitely helped jumpstart us ... I'm very excited to have a beverage that I can walk into Main Street (with) and be like, hey, guys, I finally have the product and be able to say, ‘Here it is.’”
Now having recommended the organization to other entrepreneurial friends, he says the benefits of receiving the grant far surpass simple monetary gain, which is why anyone looking for similar help should consider contacting MSV.
“They’re not just about the funding; they’re there through your journey, constantly checking in on you (asking) ‘How are numbers looking? How can we help? Is there something we can do? Can we meet?’ (They’re constantly) having gatherings of people for mentors and leadership telling you how you can flourish or how can you take your business to the next level,” he says. “I do feel like that's a beautiful thing for Main Street to have because a lot of business owners don't always get that advice or leadership or mentorship, especially for free.”
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