In the 2023 playoffs, when the Heat faced the Bucks, the No. 1 seed in the Upper East, Ryan Hoban, the owner of Interval, a well-known local coffee shop in Milwaukee and a basketball fan, received a message, "A friend who also owns a coffee shop asked me if I had any I thought his shop wanted to use the Italian grinder. When I was wondering if he had a spare machine, I asked him if it was your shop that wanted to use it?" Hoban received a surprising reply, "No, Jimmy Butler wants to use it. of. "
Bubble circle entrepreneurship
In the bubble park in 2020, because he was bored and wanted to kill time, while other players brought electric machines, computers or fishing gear, Jimmy Butler brought a ground coffee machine and various coffee beans, which cost a lot of money. Time is spent steeping coffee, including drinking and brewing better coffee.
And because the coffee in the park was of poor quality, many players would come to Butler to ask for coffee, so he thought about it, why not make a profit? "The only thing I was thinking about when I was in Orlando was how to defraud these guys out of their money." Butler said with a serious face. At that time, he shouted that whether it was a latte, black coffee or cappuccino, as long as you name it, Butler They will be made and delivered to you for $20 per cup. 20 US dollars may be expensive for ordinary people, but it is just a fraction for NBA players. "I know they have a lot of cash because they have nowhere to spend it because of the epidemic, so I decided to take it."
Butler launched the Big Face Coffee brand playfully. At that time, Butler's Big Face Coffee was considered a trial operation. He mainly wanted to share his hobby with other players. He hoped that the players would directly pay 100 yuan, so that he would pretend that he had no money to find it. "This trick is useless, no one will give it to me." 100 yuan," Butler said with a smile.
Butler's teammate at the time, Goran Dragíc, instead took advantage of Butler. "When I was trying to make money, I didn't notice that Goran was extorting me. Every transaction was on credit," Butler said. "I didn't realize it until the offseason. He is very strategic. Every time he comes to drink coffee, he talks to me about the world in Slovenia or discusses the strategy for tomorrow's game, and then he goes to practice."
Butler and his personal trainer are both crazy coffee lovers. They will drink the first cup of coffee at breakfast out in the morning, and then brew another cup of coffee with the Big Face travel set when they return to the hotel. After lunch, Butler will have another cup, and then he will have another cup for dinner before the game, so five cups of coffee a day is Butler's basic routine.
Usually when attending away games, Butler will go to local coffee shops. Usually he will go to the Big Face Coffee community to read recommendations from netizens, or support some local specialty coffee shops.
After returning to Hoban and receiving the message, he found another grinding machine that he was going to use to open a branch. Butler also came to pick up the goods in person. "Jimmy Butler just walked over from the corner," Hoban said. "He said humbly, "Hey, buddy, I'm Jimmy." He shook my hand and I said, "I know who you are, I'm Ryan, the barista."
After returning home. Butler will transform into the family's exclusive coffee butler, making coffee for everyone as soon as they get up. Even his daughter Butler, who is not yet 5 years old, thinks of ways to let him drink and watch coffee. Sometimes after being at home all day, Butler was even described by his friends as suffering from coffee poisoning. "From playing basketball to playing dominoes or poker, Jimmy never leaves his hand without coffee."
Butler himself admits to being so dependent on caffeine that he can’t even remember the last time he didn’t drink coffee. Although he drinks a lot of coffee, Butler is not affected by caffeine at all. "I still sleep well. I drink 10 cups before going to bed and I can start snoring in 5 minutes. But my trainer said Well, coffee doesn’t make you more awake.”
Butler’s friends said that he has recently gradually developed a coffee-related skill tree, including roasting coffee beans, various coffee making and latte art. He has also held many latte art competitions with friends, "I want to master the entire field. , and I have a clear understanding of the coffee industry.”
Butler is not picky about coffee. He loves everything from espresso, light roast, filter, cold brew, hand brew to latte. "The taste of coffee does not depend on the method of making it, but on the skill of the maker." Butler said that when he opens a new location, he will ask the barista to create a signature coffee.
In addition to coffee itself, Butler loves the relationships that coffee can expand, including sharing. In addition to socializing with coffee in the bubble circle, Butler regularly drinks coffee with Heat teammates, including general manager Pat Riley.
On the day when the well-known travel media "thrillist" interviewed Butler, the interview was not over yet. He had already drank four cups of coffee. "When my friends and I sit together and chat and share, one cup of coffee can easily turn into four cups."
Interpersonal communication and story sharing are the core of Butler's passion for coffee. It started out as a passionate interest. In 2020, due to the epidemic, the NBA continued its games in a bubble in Orlando. The official coffee at that time was of poor quality, so Butler used his own coffee. The half-joking trial operation of the coffee machine was the origin of Big Face Coffee.
Founder of Big Face Coffee
The experience in the bubble circle has also made Butler's passion for coffee stronger. "Passion is my biggest driving force. As long as I have enthusiasm, whether it is basketball or playing UNO, I want to do my best." In the 2020 season. After it ended, Butler began to fully devote himself to Big Face Coffee. "This is a new opportunity to learn and start again, and to be honest, this business gives me a good reason to travel."
However, as Butler became more and more interested in doing it, Big Face Coffee also turned from a hobby into a side job, and now it is a large-scale business. In 2022, Butler even set up a stall at the Miami Tennis Open, and he personally served some fanatic fans and players Make a latte.
"The flavor of coffee beans is mainly composed of four elements: coffee tree species, origin, processing method and coffee roasting degree. The four elements will form completely different coffee flavors through different arrangements and combinations." Butler said that the climate of different origins , soil and altitude will all affect the flavor of coffee. In order to personally experience the purest flavor of coffee beans, Butler has visited many coffee producing areas. Currently, Butler purchases coffee beans from Ethiopia, Honduras, Colombia and El Salvador, and plans to visit Brazil and Africa, among other places.
Butler has witnessed firsthand the hardships of growing coffee beans. "I will personally understand the coffee culture and production of these countries and get along with these coffee craftsmen." Butler is grateful and respectful for every sip of coffee, hoping to inject spirit and elements into it. Regarding the Big Face Coffee brand, "They get up and go to work every day, using technology and hard work to extract the highest quality. Just like a basketball court, dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm can drive happiness."
Butler defines the brand spirit of Big Face Coffee as "a brand that leads the transformation of coffee culture, providing specialty coffee that can be enjoyed by connoisseurs and ordinary consumers." Currently, Big Face Coffee has launched 4 types of coffee, each of which is carefully crafted by Butler. Select and launch coffee peripherals, including coffee cups and limited edition travel coffee sets.
Although Big Face Coffee is currently a brand selling coffee, Butler hopes to do more through this medium, including educating people about coffee and coffee farmers, and promoting fair trade. "I am learning every day and launching more series using coffee as a starting point."
Big Face Coffee also launched tennis sportswear and hats because of Butler's love for tennis, and launched a joint coffee flavor with Van Leeuwen ice cream. "As a person who is obsessed with a certain food, I can definitely feel his passion for coffee." ." Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder of Van Leeuwen, said, "We all want to endlessly pursue quality. I am to ice cream what Jimmy is to coffee, so I think he is a very good partner."
Butler is personally involved in every step of Big Face Coffee's brand management. "I attend every meeting, every purchase or physical event." In 2021, Butler reached a strategic cooperation with the e-commerce platform Shopify. Butler does not need to take a commission from Shopify. And Shopify can use his name and portrait rights for promotion. "Shopify has given me a lot of online business strategies. They have put my ideas into practice and turned my entrepreneurial ideas into reality."
Back in Milwaukee in the 2023 playoffs, Butler and Hoban barely talked about basketball. Instead, they talked deeply about their love for coffee and how to run a coffee brand and coffee shop. At that time, "The Athletic" published a story about Interval and Butler, which also caused Hoban to receive criticism and negative comments from some Bucks fans, but more of it was an increase in customers and orders. "This is a coffee exchange. I'd love to have a cup of coffee with Jimmy and talk for a while, but on the court, I'm just rooting for the Bucks."
"My dream is to have coffee shops with local characteristics all over the world, so that people from different backgrounds and cultures can enjoy coffee and communicate and understand each other." Bulter said, "This is my personal goal and also the big face coffee brand vision.”
