Onyx Coffee Lab was just voted the best coffee shop in the world!
Not in New York, Copenhagen or Melbourne. In Arkansas.
Andrea Allen and her husband Jon opened Onyx in 2012 with a wildly ambitious idea: one day, they would serve the best coffee in the world. At the time, success meant paying the bills, the staff and the rent.
Fourteen years later, Onyx sits at number one on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list and has become a James Beard nominee for Outstanding Bar.
Andrea joins us to unpack how they built a hometown coffee company into one of specialty coffee’s most influential brands, without losing the point of view that made it special.
We talk about creating destination cafés, why every Onyx venue is completely different, the failed ideas nobody sees on Instagram and how their newest location, The Preserve, evolved from the slightly unhinged idea of building a bike path through a café.
Andrea also shares how a cold DM eventually led to working with Jimmy Butler and BIGFACE, why Doyenne grew far beyond expectations and what genuine transparency should look like across the coffee supply chain.
Plus, Hugh Grant, Elon Musk, broken robot baristas and Andrea’s defence of the humble mocha.
If you’re opening a café, building a brand or trying to create something people genuinely care about, this one is packed.
CHAPTERS!
00:00 Meet Andrea Allen01:56 Winning World’s Best Coffee Shop04:19 Hugh Grant, Elon Musk and George Howell07:04 Building the Onyx Brand09:13 Why Arkansas?12:36 Opening a Café Outside a Major City14:58 Teaching Customers About Specialty Coffee18:23 Working With Jimmy Butler and BIGFACE23:47 Why Every Onyx Café Is Different26:10 The Onyx Ideas That Failed29:28 Inside Onyx at The Preserve33:11 Coffee as an Accessible Luxury36:05 How to Create Better Hospitality39:49 Doyenne and Women Coffee Producers47:17 Onyx Becomes a James Beard Nominee50:24 Changing the World Through Coffee51:28 What Coffee Transparency Really Means59:34 Andrea’s Advice for New Café Owners01:02:06 Andrea’s Favourite Coffee Shops01:04:31 Hot Take: The Mocha Is a Pro Move01:07:31 Industry Shout-Out: Niki Weegens
If you're new here (welcome), our show dives into some of the best coffee conversations on the internet, but we will always remind ourselves that at the end of the day, it’s just coffee!
Find Andrea and Onyx here:
Onyx Coffee Lab:https://onyxcoffeelab.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/onyxcoffeelab/
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Want to get in touch?
Hit us up at hello@itsjustcoffeepod.com for any questions or comments.
Proudly sponsored by
APAX LAB:https://apaxlab.com/
Condesa Co.Lab:https://condesacolab.com.au/
Riverina Fresh:https://www.riverinafresh.com.au/
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