From a $1,500 Coffee Cart to an Eight-Figure Empire

The journey began in Rhode Island, where Finocchiaro and her partner, Sam, sought an alternative to the toxic management styles they encountered in the restaurant industry. Their initial setup was rudimentary: a three-sided cart equipped with bicycle wheels and coffee brewed in an uncle’s borrowed diner space. Early days were defined by exhaustion, with the duo occasionally resorting to the ruse of pretending to be their own customers to encourage foot traffic.

Everything shifted when they repositioned their cart to Brown University. The surge in demand, followed by a pivotal $100,000 investment from a local family, allowed the pair to quit their service jobs and scale operations. By leveraging a consistent social media presence on TikTok and Instagram, they turned local coffee interest into a viral phenomenon. Today, the business is scaling toward eight-figure annual revenue, with expansion plans reaching into New York City and collaborations with major consumer brands. Despite the rapid growth, Finocchiaro maintains that her primary focus remains on fostering an inclusive workplace culture and addressing mental health, proving that aggressive scaling does not have to come at the expense of human-centric values.