Today at 4pm, one of the founders of Innkeeper’s Coffee was on campus to speak to the Midwest Entrepreneurs class. The discussion was open to anyone, so if you missed it….well you missed a classic story of how one of the best secrets in Galesburg became a $1 million business selling specialty coffee, desserts, and lunch. Mike Bond spent 20 years working in management for Bergners (http://www.bergners.com) and had a dream. Don’t be afraid to “dream big” Bond told the 20 students in attendence. “But be careful what you wish for”. His partner Johan worked in New York City and even opened the Belmont Kitchen in Washington, D.C. before starting Innkeepers Coffee in 1997. We thought we might open a nice B & B in Galesburg since we saw a classic victorian during our 20th year renuion, but that business model was not viable. “We listened carefully to our coffee customers, and we did a lot of what they suggested. They wanted food, so we added pastries, breakfast items, then a full lunch menu. They asked for desserts and we did that along with chocolate. It wasn’t what our business plan said we were going to do but it made sense to follow the business. Some of our best customers do business with us 21 times a week.”

It is amazing to see how Innkeepers Coffee succeeded in a small market where Starbucks failed by taking a greater share of wallet from each customer, thus avioding the need to sell thousands of cups of coffee monthly. The volume you would need to sell the 500-1000 avid coffee drinkers in Galesburg that have the means to buy daily coffee didn’t work for Starbucks but by going deeper and getting that greater share of wallet, InnKeepers has been very successful. There current challenges: Innkeepers best customers are 50+ and they want to appeal more to the 20-30′s crowd. Another big challenge–Finding great people who are articulate and willing to work hard.