Coffee Entrepreneur Taking Her Lumps in Stride
She thought there should be a way to combine instant coffee, sugar and flavors such as mocha, cappuccino or hazelnut into one cube that could be easily dropped into a steaming cup of hot water or milk to create a convenient drink. Faella, who lives in Lincoln, thought it would be popular among college students, military personnel and the general public.
She discussed the idea with her brother, who lives in Colombia, where she is from. Three years later, she and her brother have created 25 patented formulas for cubed coffee and teas. The tea cubes are infused with fruit flavors.
The siblings formed Violet’s Coffee Inc., though it was originally called Victory Coffee, she said, because when they finally got the formula right it felt like a victory.
When they found out the name was taken, they had to think of another name that started with a “V” because it was part of the logo. Faella’s brother chose violet because it was the color on the logo. Soon after, Faella found out that the violet is the state flower of Rhode Island, which seemed fitting, she said, because the idea was hatched in Rhode Island.
Now Faella and her brother are ready to launch Violet’s Coffee products in Colombia, the United States and Spain, all places where they have found interest, Faella said. But the entrepreneurs are missing one crucial ingredient: $2 million for mass production and marketing.
We are giving a lot of presentations,” she said. “It’s launching beautifully [in Colombia],” where the product is already available in a few stores. Faella hopes to make the cubes available locally, perhaps at universities, early next year.
The company doesn’t have the production capacity to respond to the full-scale demand, she said, which is why it hasn’t been able to sign contracts with distributors anxious to sell the product to grocery stores or specialty shops.
She says $2 million is needed to purchase equipment and establish a factory in Colombia, where the cubes would be produced and then shipped to other markets, including Rhode Island.
To help raise the funds, Faella decided to participate in the R.I. Small Business Development Center’s third Business to Business Venture Forum last month. The forum provides inventors with a venue to present their ideas to a room of investors, bankers and other entrepreneurs.
Some of the investors are angels, said John Cronin, executive director of the RISBDC, which leverages expertise from the Cherrystone Angel Group, based in Providence, and the Brown Forum for Enterprise to prepare the inventors before giving their 20-minute presentations.
The RISBDC recently created a special “Investor Ready” series, which supplies the presenters with coaches who help them fine tune their presenting skills and the content of their message prior to the event.
The “B2B Venture Forum” series was created and launched in March, in response to the need of inventors to have an informal venue to practice presenting their ideas and to network with other entrepreneurs, Cronin said. It is designed for entrepreneurs who do not have access to the types of resources that scientists and others from academia have access to.
Past participants include Mark Wholey, a commercial artists and sculptor from Warren, who invented a patented paint brush with a right angle handle designed to reduce wrist and hand fatigue while applying brush strokes and Jon Smythe, the North Kingstown Power Lifting Special Olympics coach, who invented a new kind of decorative crutches for children called Sidekicks.
Faella said she has received some funding as a result of the forum, but nothing near her goal of $2 million. So far all the money used to develop the product has come out of pocket.
Like other inventors, Faella works full-time during the day. She is a data entry clerk and judicial interpreter for the fourth division district court in Wakefield. She also has a husband and two daughters, Michelle, 12, and Alejandra, 9.
Faella said working full time and starting a company can be stressful. “You have your good days and your bad days,” she said. “It’s important to never give up.”
Providence Business News Article