Interview with Voyage Tampa.
Did you get a chance to read our interview with Voyage Tampa? We were very excited to have the opportunity to interview with a local Tampa magazine, especially one that shares small business stories like ours and helps uplift small business owners all across the Bay area. It was a fun time talking coffee and diving in on Dripbox!
Read the interview below or visit their site to view our story and more incredible small business stories!
Kallan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Jake and I met in college and both of us always had a dream of starting a company. We would often write ideas down and still have lists of ideas today. Local coffee shops were included in our dates almost every time and eventually we started talking about how much we’d like to be involved in this industry, especially because we enjoyed it so much as consumers. Knowing how big subscription services are getting in a ton of different markets, we started thinking about how we could put together a coffee subscription service that made a very intentional point of lifting up the amazing roasters that we include in our boxes.
We also wanted to make sure that single-purchase buyers could also use the site and get one-time coffees. One night we were playing videogames and in the middle of it, Jake yelled out “Dripbox!” which is how we settled on our name. Through a ton of meetings with pro-bono consultants at our University and brainstorming the idea, we finally landed on what we do today. We absolutely love being able to connect those who love coffee, or may be trying specialty coffees for the first time with the roasters we partner with. We’re a little community of small businesses supporting, connecting, and sharing a love of coffee with one another. Through Dripbox, we’ve been able to connect individuals from all over the U.S. with small scale roasters. From trying new coffees to listening to roaster stories on our podcast Sip the Drip with Dripbox it’s been great to see how just one cup of coffee can bring us together.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As with all small businesses, you always run into the obstacle of funding. We are completely bootstrapped, so this has definitely been our biggest challenge, However, we have an amazing network of people and small businesses that have helped us along the way. Whether it was the pro-bono consulting at Baldwin Wallace University, or people helping guide us along the right path, or cut us a friend and family rate, we have been able to consistently turn to our network and they’ve always been there for us. We strongly suggest to whoever is thinking about starting a business to not let funding stop you from thinking about it or trying. There are a lot of free resources for entrepreneurs to take advantage of and we have found many rights here in Tampa. Our next biggest challenge is growth. We are entirely organically grown at this point. This year, we are going to begin paid advertising and we hope that we will be able to achieve sustainable growth to continue our journey upward!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We’re all about connecting over really good coffee in the comfort of your home. When forming Dripbox we wanted to not only bring awareness to specialty coffee and all the hard work that small scale roasters do in order to bring unique, exceptional coffees to you, but we also wanted to be able to create a community that fosters knowledge and looks to support small businesses. We’ve actively sought out partnerships with other small businesses when and where we could. From our logo, box art, website, and even our roasters we’re all just a bunch of creatives sharing our passions with the world. Thankfully, for us, our passion is super tasty! Our Coffees: With Dripbox we aim to partner with small scale roasters from all over the US and connect you to their incredible coffees. We have two subscription options and a wide selection of one-time buys available in our shop. Our Sampler Box includes four 3oz bags of specialty coffee curated by the Dripbox team and shipped out monthly. This box showcases four coffees and roasters that rotate monthly so you’re always trying new things! We recommend this subscription option for those who are new to specialty coffee and still trying to figure out what they like, or those who love adventure! Our Bag of Coffee subscription is one full bag of coffee curated by the Dripbox team that’s shipped to your door monthly.
With both subscription options you have the ability to choose between light, medium, house blend, or surprise me roast levels. As of right now we only ship while bean coffee in our subscriptions on a monthly basis. We are working on adding biweekly and weekly shipping options very soon! If you’re not ready to commit to a subscription just yet have no fear! We have a wide selection of one-time buy options under our “shop coffee” tab. If you find one you love and can’t get enough you can opt into our subscribe and save feature for recurring shipments. More Than Just Coffee: We wanted to be able to provide you with more than just coffee. We wanted to be able to provide a community of coffee lovers and a place we can all connect to share recipes, coffee tips, and our coffee stories. A few ways we help share the stories of our roasters and provide a sense of coffee community would be via our Facebook groups for both subscribers and coffee lovers, our blog which is a great resource to learn more about roasters and coffee in general, and our podcast which is specifically aimed at connecting with roasters and sharing their unique stories with all of you! Join our community! Our public Facebook group which is open to all coffee lovers is called Sip the Drip with Dripbox. We’d love to be able to connect and share with you there! You can also find our podcast Sip the Drip with Dripbox on most places where you listen to podcasts. Of course, you can always sign up for our email list so you never miss when new coffees, roasters, and deals drop!
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
As is the basis of our business, collaboration is absolutely essential to continue growth! We love hearing about new roasters we should talk to, we love having roasters on our podcast, and we love when someone like you gives us the chance to talk about what we do on your platform! Besides a purchase, a simple like or share on socials goes a long way
Pricing:
- Sampler Box Subscription : $29.99/mo
- Bag of Coffee Subscription: $19.99/mo
- Individual Coffees from $11 – $25