Like many software developers, Cory Westerfield and David Huff run on coffee.
While working together a couple of years ago at a Denver agency, the duo would often duck out of the office to grab a fresh cup at a local shop to charge up for the remainder of the day.
To expand on his love for coffee, Westerfield began to look for a way to marry his skills in software development with the independent coffee industry. He spitballed a handful of ideas, before eventually putting the vision on the backburner.
Then, last year, the ideas bubbled up again and he reached out to Huff with a new plan.
What if you could drink a different cup of coffee from a local roaster at home, every day of the week?
Westerfield’s initial prototype involved grabbing bags of coffee from local roasters, putting a rough package together and sending it off to a handful of friends, including Huff.
When the positive feedback came flowing in, Coffee Kick was born.
“When he sent me that first one over, my fiancé and I had so much fun trying it,” Huff said. “Especially seeing from day one to day two how different coffee can be.”
So, the developers put their heads down to build this physical business. They used their experience in the software industry to drive the formation of the company, constantly iterating on every small detail of the box, packaging and coffee.
“It felt very much like software, it was an iterative approach,” Westerfield said.
“We got used to the undo button in software, but there isn’t that with this,” Huff added with a laugh.
After months of working on the first box, Coffee Kick launched its experience in Denver in early-June.
For $24, customers get a Coffee Kick box that includes seven pouches of coffees made by a collection of local coffee roasters in the Denver metro area. Each pouch can make around two cups of coffee every morning. Roasters in the first box include local favorites like Huckleberry, Corvus and Middle State, among others.
Customer are given an information card that describes their list of coffees, its origins and flavor profiles, in addition to instructions on how to prepare the coffee.
If they wish to buy more, customers can scan a QR code on the information card to buy a larger bag of coffee from Coffee Kick.
“Hopefully we can be a fun, friendly way to introduce people to the specialty coffee market, because it can be a little intense sometimes,” Huff said. “We want to provide a low-risk way to try it.”
With more than 20 coffee roasters just in the Denver-area, Coffee Kick expects to rotate the available products in its offering, providing customers with new blends and flavors for their morning routine.
As the company matures, Westerfield said they’d love to expand into different cities across the country to provide this unique coffee experience. The goal is that someone in Denver could order a Coffee Kick box filled with products from Austin roasters, find their favorite and order a bag from a business they weren’t otherwise familiar with.
“Our vision is to expand to different markets around the U.S., so it's not the same thing over and over again,” Westerfield said. “We see it being a nonstop coffee experience that goes on throughout the year.”
