How Onyx Built the #1 Coffee Shop in the World | ANDREA ALLEN!

Onyx Coffee Lab was just voted the best coffee shop in the world!

Not in New York, Copenhagen or Melbourne. In Arkansas.

Andrea Allen and her husband Jon opened Onyx in 2012 with a wildly ambitious idea: one day, they would serve the best coffee in the world. At the time, success meant paying the bills, the staff and the rent.

Fourteen years later, Onyx sits at number one on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list and has become a James Beard nominee for Outstanding Bar.

Andrea joins us to unpack how they built a hometown coffee company into one of specialty coffee’s most influential brands, without losing the point of view that made it special.

We talk about creating destination cafés, why every Onyx venue is completely different, the failed ideas nobody sees on Instagram and how their newest location, The Preserve, evolved from the slightly unhinged idea of building a bike path through a café.

Andrea also shares how a cold DM eventually led to working with Jimmy Butler and BIGFACE, why Doyenne grew far beyond expectations and what genuine transparency should look like across the coffee supply chain.

Plus, Hugh Grant, Elon Musk, broken robot baristas and Andrea’s defence of the humble mocha.

If you’re opening a café, building a brand or trying to create something people genuinely care about, this one is packed.

CHAPTERS!

00:00 Meet Andrea Allen
01:56 Winning World’s Best Coffee Shop
04:19 Hugh Grant, Elon Musk and George Howell
07:04 Building the Onyx Brand
09:13 Why Arkansas?
12:36 Opening a Café Outside a Major City
14:58 Teaching Customers About Specialty Coffee
18:23 Working With Jimmy Butler and BIGFACE
23:47 Why Every Onyx Café Is Different
26:10 The Onyx Ideas That Failed
29:28 Inside Onyx at The Preserve
33:11 Coffee as an Accessible Luxury
36:05 How to Create Better Hospitality
39:49 Doyenne and Women Coffee Producers
47:17 Onyx Becomes a James Beard Nominee
50:24 Changing the World Through Coffee
51:28 What Coffee Transparency Really Means
59:34 Andrea’s Advice for New Café Owners
01:02:06 Andrea’s Favourite Coffee Shops
01:04:31 Hot Take: The Mocha Is a Pro Move
01:07:31 Industry Shout-Out: Niki Weegens

If you're new here (welcome), our show dives into some of the best coffee conversations on the internet, but we will always remind ourselves that at the end of the day, it’s just coffee!

Find Andrea and Onyx here:

Onyx Coffee Lab:
onyxcoffeelab.com

Instagram:
instagram.com/onyxcoffeelab

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Want to get in touch?

Hit us up at hello@itsjustcoffeepod.com for any questions or comments.

Proudly sponsored by

APAX LAB:
apaxlab.com

Condesa Co.Lab:
condesacolab.com.au

Riverina Fresh:
riverinafresh.com.au

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