When business and creatives intersect: coffee, culture, and hip-hop is the story of Dope Coffee
It's business. It's creative. It's immersion of best practices with infusing creative energy and synergy.
And yet, there's truly more to it.
In our recent conversation with Mike Lloyd of Dope Coffee (visit www.realdope.coffee for details), it's more than just business and being creative. He and his outstanding team are walking in their passion and purpose which truly inspires all to do and create.
The former Marine (thank you for your service) notes how transformative 2018-19 is, but not for the most obvious reasons.
Given Hurricane Florence, his business ventures (along with those of a number of people in Eastern North Carolina) literally and figuratively come crashing down and washing away. However, this sets the stage for a proverbial "phoenix moment" in that he (and his team) get back to the basics and essentials, which starts with simply reembracing the creative culture and energy which comes from it.
After a momentary break (he suffers a broken leg on February 10, 2020), the work starts taking form and becoming more manifest. Thanks to a sound compliment of business mentors and more, startup capital is secured for the next stage of development for Dope Coffee (make sure watch the full interview below):
And three years later, truly exponential growth is taking place.
The February 2023 opening of their 6,000 square foot center not only houses their retail and production services, but as an added feature, their event space is a place where creatives, business, and the community can come together, making it truly entrenched in the Stonecrest, GA and greater DeKalb County area/Metro-Atlanta. Combined with their continued growth (including their recent footprint in the Atlanta University Center and other retailers) to their upcoming event (on April 6, 2023), the blended approach of the creative and business, from applying best practices to showing a readiness to strategically push the creative envelope and edges is positioning themselves for making sure where they see themselves going 5 years from now is taking place today.
"Whatever you're thinking about doing, do it now", are not only words Mike Lloyd and his team apply, but words of wisdom, motivation, and inspiration we can all apply (including the next generation of those entering the coffee industry).
Then again, when business and creatives intersect, along with infusing and immersing coffee, culture, and hip-hop, this is what you can come to expect in speaking with minds along these lines.
And that's real dope.
