DOPE Coffee’s Hustle and Grind is Cornering the Coffee Industry One Bean at a Time.
No matter where you stand on the issue of black economics, the role of the black businessman and woman is lodged firmly in the middle. In the eyes of some, the black business person is a beacon of hope showing us all a path to freedom while others view them as cogs in a larger machine that keeps us focused on the wrong things. If you ask North Carolina native Mike Loyd however, you’d be surprised to find a nuanced and unique perspective on the matter.
“When we see creativity in our community we must embrace and fund it. In 2015 there was no incentive for anyone in America to create and fund DOPE Coffee. That has to come from us. But at the same time, I don’t agree with the lift and climb mindset. You have to make it and snatch a person where you are.”
Concise and curt, Mike’s approach to life and business builds off his background. Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a former manufacturing hub in the state, he and his cousin Stace Loyd, have come to epitomize the three tenets of success in the black community, black money, black wealth, and soulful sounds, all principles that they infuse into their unique coffee infusions.
Pioneers in the coffee industry, their DOPE Coffee brand, started in 2015, is one of the few black-owned brands to control the means of manufacturing and distribution. Operating out of Decatur GA, Dope Coffee’s work blending hip-hop culture and black excellence positions them at the top of the disruptors list. But long before they changed the landscape of coffee, they were just two men trying to change their lives.
Stars out of Poverty
“For myself and the homies I was around, I always wanted to show we could create through it.” Stace Loyd
Mike, a former captain in the Marine Corps and Wake Forest University graduate, has lived several lives. Enlisting in the US Marine Corps directly following graduation in 2006, he went on to serve two tours overseas, learning the enemy outside while trying to understand the enemy inside.
Stace, slightly younger and equally as passionate, spent his early 20s conquering the music scene originally as an emcee before becoming a producer and studio engineer.
Years before DOPE Coffee existed, the duo existed as a rap group named $pinach, rapping out of the dorms at Wake Forest while Mike was in undergrad. Gifted with studio equipment through Mike, Creative Mike the Rapper and Stace the Great’s boom bap sound and real-life raps gave them their first major life jewel that soulful sounds could get them closer to success.
“My high school experience I was the rapper. I enjoyed getting up with Mike on the weekends and then coming back to school with my CD.”
Cafe Solar
Mike’s first foray into the world of coffee came in 2015 when he and his wife, Cher, teamed up to create Cafe Solar. Located not far from Camp Lejune in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, the idea spawned from Mike’s fond memories of grabbing coffee while he was stationed in California.
“My passion came from my time in California when I was able to bike down and grab coffee. The lifestyle felt so easy. When I got to Camp Lejune, the area didn’t have a coffee shop for twenty miles. Once I came to understand the economics, things changed. If you could get a tiny slice of a $100 billion product, so tiny no ones notices, you can get rich.”
Successful but costly, Mike’s four year entrepreneurial mission opened his eyes to the nuance of business which inspired him to pivot from operating a shop to taking advantage of the consumer packaged goods or CPG avenue.
Closing up the business in 2019, Mike, Cher, and Stace came together to create a coffee business that encompassed their values of money, wealth, and music. The result was DOPE Coffee.
DOPE Coffee
Stace’s work in the Atlanta music scene as an engineer and producer inspired Mike to relocate and relaunch his business in 2019. Deciding to move swifter and lighter, the company utilized pop up locations to sell their product and embraced the e-commerce model of business when the 2020 Covid pandemic came.
One of the major tools they used to acquire the necessary capital they desired came from their masterful use of crowdfunding. Through dedication and honesty, they were able to secure over $100,000 in funding to go towards their company’s growth.
“To start Cafe Solar we used the crowdfunding site IndieGogo. Nabisco gave me $3,000. But they found me because it was on a public site and I wasn’t afraid to show my revenue.”
Equipped with the tools they needed, they began working meticulously to build a formidable online and in person brand. From 2020- 2022, they worked day and night, traveling all across the country to market their brand of coffee, all while aligning themselves with other tastemakers in the culture.
It wasn’t long before they got the chance in 2022 to open up a pop up booth at the annual SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas on behalf of television network FX during the third season of its storied Atlanta show.
“Season 3 of Atlanta they asked us to put up a cafe in the middle of SXSW overnight. I almost wanted to say no because it was a lot of work and they weren’t sure of what they wanted. We had a line wrapped around the corner for our event and it got to a point where the focus shifted to us like it was a DOPE Coffee installation.”
In the midst of their installation, Shady Records emcee and Atlanta native Grip took the stage nearby performing cuts from his heralded project, I Died For This. Impressed by their talent, they shared numbers and agreed to collaborate on a coffee brand inspired by Grip’s project with the same name.
Almost as if they planned it, DOPE Coffee kept building and in 2023, obtained their first brick and mortar location on Atlanta’s Eastside.
Out of all of their accomplishments however, the group’s greatest source of pride comes from the fact that they own the tools needed to make and sell their own coffee. For many commercial brands, their product touches so many hands before consumers get to it, which isn’t the case for DOPE Coffee.
For them, this is just one aspect of their life long mission to hustle and motivate others to do the same. As a result, they’ve become passionate advocates of black people using venture capitalism to obtain wealth and in Mike’s case has led to the creation of his own non-profit, Break the Wealth Gap.
This year DOPE Coffee will get its first major retail contract in the supermarkets Harris Teeter and Kroger, which is another milestone for the company and for black entrepreneurs in general.
“We are rolling out DOPE Coffee in 104 Harris Teeters and 200 Krogers. Why are we in this position? It’s because of the level of legitimacy we’ve accomplished. I was humble enough to step out there with my $5000 in revenue and bag with a sticker on it got me another $250,000 in revenue. But I had to be willing to start somewhere.”