INVESTING IN PERSONAL CONNECTIONS MICHAEL POWELL didn’t even drink coffee
a few years ago. Yet now he and his brother, Ben,
are the proprietors of three bustling coffee shops
with 35 employees.
As young professional surfers traveling the
world, the Powell brothers discovered what had
been happening in cafes around the world for
ages — people connecting over simple cups of
coffee. Taking inspiration from coffee shops
where they found community while abroad, they
decided to recreate the experience at home.
“I believe that with the way things are going
digitally, human interaction is something that
will be relevant if you do it right and people will
value, and even crave, places where they feel con-nected,”
Michael says. “We want to provide that
connection point.”
The brothers, both graduates of the University
of North Carolina Wilmington’s Cameron School
of Business, extensively researched the methodol-ogy
of harvesting, curating, roasting and brewing
coffee beans, then opened the first Drift Coffee
and Kitchen in their native Ocean Isle Beach in
2014.
They didn’t know what they were getting into
but had the foresight not to take out loans to
fund the space, materials or employees. It was a
minimal investment using their personal savings.
They got creative and bootstrapped where they
could, even building the tables — everything was
DIY.
“It was all back-of-the-napkin math,” Michael
says. “We’ve made mistakes and we’ve had to fig-ure
those out. No one gave us a million dollars to
open more stores, we had to grow within what we
already had. Authentically providing a place for
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WBM march 2020