Today we’d like to introduce you to John “Sonic” Ban.
John “Sonic”, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m originally from the Midwest. I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana at a time when there weren’t many Asians in the city. My first job was at Burger King making $4.25/hr, and I quickly realized there had to be a better way. I began DJing in high school and quickly became one of the top DJ’s in my city. By the age of 18, I was spinning in all of the major night clubs as well as the hip-hop radio station, Hot 96.3 FM.
After an eight years career of DJing, I felt like Los Angeles was calling my name. So I gave away all of my belongings, packed up my car and drove 2000 miles to Koreatown in pursuit of a career as a recording artist. Unfortunately, no jobs were available due to the recession in 2008. I was barely getting by, but I grinded it out for about three years. One day, I was talking to a friend from Indiana on the phone about a local taco truck in LA. He had no idea what I was talking about. It was then that I saw an opportunity to bring food truck culture to my hometown. I partnered up with a friend from LA, and two months later I was back in Indianapolis launching the first food truck there. It was a Korean taco truck called West Coast Tacos. It instantly gained huge popularity – resulting in lines around the block just to try our tacos. We were getting non-stop media coverage that entire year, even gaining national attention in the New York Times. Our concept inspired hundreds of other trucks and created a huge foodie culture in Indianapolis.
I ended up selling my stake in West Coast Tacos and started another food truck called The NY Slice, which was a pizza truck. This grew to 2 trucks and a brick and mortar location within months. I sold The NY Slice in 2014 with plans of taking a year off to travel the world, party and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Before I left for my travels, a friend asked me to stop and visit him in LA. When I got there, he was shooting me a variety of business ideas that we could do together. None of the ventures were getting me excited until one morning we were both enjoying homemade butter coffee, and I realized the need for a ready-to-drink version. That’s how Grass Fed Coffee began.
It took us three years to formulate the perfect butter coffee using only the cleanest ingredients. We launched on Kickstarter and raised $86,000 in two months to pay for our first production run. We have been on the market since January 2018 in natural retailers in the Southern California region. Our product has been a hot seller in Gelson’s, Bristol Farms, Erewhon and Lazy Acres, and has become a staple in the keto community.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, and the pressure increases because the stakes are much higher. As a new startup company, a single learning mistake could end your entire business. Last year, we put our product on Amazon, and Grass Fed Coffee was selling like crazy. Sales were increasing month by month and we were gaining huge momentum. But once summer arrived we started receiving messages about the butter clumping. We discovered that the warehouses storing our coffee were reaching extremely high temperatures in the summer months, which was causing our emulsifier to break down. As a company, we chose to use natural and gentle emulsifiers in our products, but the downside to that is the emulsification is not as strong as those found in something like a Frappuccino. As a result, we lost a lot of inventory in those warehouses due to heat damage. These are the crazy types of things that can happen and you just have to make adjustments quickly and adapt.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Grass Fed Coffee – what should we know?
The mission of my company, Grass Fed Coffee is to craft the finest grass-fed butter coffee possible. We really focus on producing a healthy and clean product with zero sugar. In order to do this, we only use Non-GMO ingredients and make our butter coffee in small batches.
I’m most proud of the team that I work with as well as the product that we are able to offer. My entire team truly believes in the products that we are making because we use them daily and notice immediate and tangible results. For those familiar with the Keto diet, they know that the butter increases your metabolism by training your body to use fat for energy, which helps with weight loss and also keeps you satiated. The MCT coconut oil really gives you amazing mental clarity.
I think what sets us apart from someone like Bulletproof is that we only do coffee. Bulletproof is a fantastic company, and I love a lot of their products. They sell numerous supplements, which in turn can make it difficult to really give the proper attention and expertise to their RTD coffee. At Grass Fed Coffee our only focus is coffee, so we are able to really perfect it and create a superior butter coffee with unbelievable taste.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
First and foremost, I could not get to where I am today without My God, Jesus Christ. God has opened so many doors for me that I was not qualified at that time to enter. Also, my entire team deserves credit. No one can succeed at the highest level without a great squad. I truly believe that I am surrounded by the most talented and gifted people. I want to shout out my business partner, John P. who took a huge risk and gave me this opportunity. Also my internal team: Mark Yu, Zak Zaidman, Loretta Wang, Darrian Stokes, and all of the great agencies like The Co-Op, KCM, CMG and several other partners that we work with. To be the best, you must work with the best.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://grassfedcoffee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grassfedcoffee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Grassfedcoffee/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/grassfedcoffee
Image Credit:
Lawrence Kim
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