Adam Torres and Leonard Lightfoot discuss The Milken Institute Global Conference.
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Show Notes:
Listen to Milken Institute Global Conference coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres and Leonard Lightfoot, CFO Black Coffee Company, explore the Black Coffee Company and the Milken Institute Global Conference.
About Black Coffee Company
The Black Coffee Company is a purpose-driven enterprise launched in 2018, rooted in community, culture, and collective empowerment. Founded by five lifelong friends—brothers forged through shared experiences from high school to Xavier University of Louisiana—the company began as a vision to create opportunities and resources for underserved communities, using something as simple and powerful as a cup of coffee.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. Alright, so today my guest is Leonard Lightfoot and he’s the CFO over at Black Coffee Company, and they were the.
Sponsors of the coffee over at this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. And this particular interview will be part of the interview series that we’re doing for that conference where we feature and highlight individuals that participated and were part of the conference and, and attendees as well.
So first off, Leonard, welcome to the show. Alright. Thank you. Thank you Adam. First and foremost, I want to thank you and the team for this opportunity to share our story and share more about our mission about the Black Coffee Company. Yeah. that’s amazing. And first thing, first have you been to the conference?
Was this the first year you attended? Like, tell me how all this happened, how it’s connected. And by the way, I was drinking much of your coffee, so thank you for that. But how did all that, how did all that connection happen? Talk, gimme the backstory. Yes. So this is actually our second year attending the Milken conference.
Mm. So last year we was actually a sponsor of the an official coffee sponsor for the Milken. Global conference as well. And so what happened? The backstory behind how did we become the official coffee sponsor is that the original coffee sponsors, I guess, backed out the last minute and then happenstance.
The event organizer knew of our growing business and asked if we wanted to sponsor The conference and we took a leap of faith to say yes. I have to learning more about the Milken Institute, everything that the conference um, it displays and empowers, it aligns perfectly with our core values of the Black coffee company.
Mm-hmm. So it was a, a no brainer and it’s actually one of the best decisions that we made in our lives. Wow. what an amazing story and just being in that air, you’re year two in, so like, what was that like? Like what do you think makes this conference, this group of people that come together, like what makes it so special?
I. So it is truly the headquarters of all of the world global thinkers. So it is the place to learn where everything, all of the cutting edge technology, learning more about the healthcare learning more about technology just learning more about the economy. So it is the perfect place for us to have our coffee to kind of help fuel and, be the, fuel of the conference. Yeah. That’s great. And let’s go. I wanna talk more about the the company as well. So Black coffee company, like, tell me a little bit about the story and the backstory just and around the company itself and, and the mission behind what you’re trying to accomplish.
Correct. All right. So the Black Coffee Company was founded in 2018 by five lifelong friends. We all went to undergrad together. One day we was on a conference call trying to brainstorm ideas of what we could start a business and, and we happened to all be drinking coffee. And that kind of sparked.
the story of how the Black Coffee Coffee Company was started and 2018 we decided to launch the company. And then 2020 we had our first opportunity to open up our first coffee shop in Atlanta, Georgia, right in the heart of the pandemic. We took that leap of faith and opened up our first coffee shop.
And in 2024 we got another great opportunity to open up our second coffee shop in the historic Morehouse College. And so we’ve just been truly a journey and a blessing. I. And so what keeps you, I love to hear this story and you said 2018, so now you guys are some years into this. Like, leave me in the early days a little bit longer here.
’cause I love to, I love when somebody’s launching a new business. Did you or any of the other partners, did you have experiencing the coffee space or like how did, like what was the early days like those first steps? Yeah, so the very first steps, we had zero knowledge about the coffee industry. Wow.
So five of us, we were friends in undergrad and still maintain our friendship after we graduated school. But we actually started an investment club prior to that and with learning them. About the stock market, learn about investing, we would research various sectors of the stock market. And with that, we just decided to kind of have the same discipline as we would.
Have of searching different stock sectors. We’ve learned about, you know, the coffee industry. It’s a multi being dollar industry. And it, most importantly, it’s a, connector, right? Mm-hmm. It’s something that centered around community, and we thought this would be the perfect vehicle to, you know, promote the ideas of entrepreneurship.
Mm-hmm. Financial freedom and community empowerment. Yeah. So talk to me about where the, company stands today and like your, your future growth plans. Like, I’m, I’m guessing at the conference you had quite a few conversations, I’m just so curious, like, what are the plans going forward?
Yeah, so we currently have two locations and we’re currently looking to expand it to multiple universities as a starting point. And then also with healthcare facility in the Atlanta, Georgia area. And I’m currently residing in Fairfax or the DC, Maryland, Virginia area, and we’re looking to expand into a retail location out here as well.
So we’re mm-hmm. Excited about the opportunities. And where did you say those locations were located at, by the way? I just wanna make sure I, have I got that part in correct? Yeah. So we have our first flagship location is in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as our second location is on Morehouse. It’s on the campus of Morehouse College.
Wow. And we’re looking to expand into multiple HBCU campuses across the nation in the near future. Hmm. what kind of response have you gotten on this? Like whether it’s from the colleges, whether it’s from the location, the community, what kind of response have you received from this?
I think it’s, it’s an, it’s an amazing idea. Yeah. So it’s been very, very positive as you would imagine, you know, coffee is the connector and when you add very specialty rich flavor, coffee profiles into that is just, it’s, it’s just an amplifier. And so we found that, you know, coffee gets us to see that every table, like we would’ve never imagined starting this journey in 2018, that coffee as a commodity would’ve gotten us to see at the Milken Institute.
Mm. A global conference. So it just shows the power of. Coffee and how it plays a pivotal role into not just the community, but empowering the world leaders. Right. As you had the experience of enjoying the coffee at the conference as well. Yeah, I agree with that. And looking at the next steps of, opening an expansion, what kind of, like, how can people get involved?
Like, are you looking for investors? Are you looking for, like, are you, are you thinking franchising? what’s the model for this? And like, in terms of the next steps, like how you’re gonna accomplish these goals. Yes, very great question. I’m so, so excited that you actually asked that. So we’re actually looking to launch our next round of crowdfunding investing.
If you would like to learn more, you can just go to our website, the black coffee company.com and it has all the information regarding our crowdfunding campaign. And then we’re also looking to expand by offering franchise location or franchise opportunities in the near future. And we’re also looking to just bring in like-minded investors to help us grow and scale.
Hmm, that’s great. If somebody’s listening or watching this and if they want to follow up how do they do then? How do they connect? Yeah, so you could reach out to us on our website, the black coffee company.com or you could send us an email at contact at the black coffee company.com. We’re also very heavily involved or utilize social media, so you could find us on Instagram.
The Instagram handle is BLK Coffee Co. And. We’re also on LinkedIn as well as Facebook. Hmm, fantastic. And for everybody watching or listening to this, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes so that you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking to the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, I. Be sure to hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way on your journey as well.
And Leonard, man, I’m just telling you, I like the concept I’m pulling for you guys. I can’t wait to see this thing continue to grow and to when I’m gonna be able to say, man, I remember when Leonard was on my show. He had, they had two locations, him and his team. Now look at them. He don’t answer my call no more.
It’s okay, Leonard. No, it’s just messing with. Really looking forward to you and your partners making this thing really shine. So congrats on in everything that you’re doing. Thanks again. We truly appreciate it. I’m definitely looking forward to staying connected and watching your growth as well. So anything that we could do to help.
