Is NBA star Jimmy Butler really the owner of Bigface coffee? Read more to know about it.
There are several NBA players who are passionate about many things. Following their passions, the NBA players venture out into different paths and many of them go ahead and invest in several businesses of their liking. Some players even become founders of some businesses.
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler is one such player who is very fond of coffee. Butler played smart and turned his love for coffee into a full-fledged business.
Yes, Jimmy Butler is actually the owner of Bigface coffee brand. Like the whole world at the peak of Covid-19 quarantine, the six-time NBA All-Star, Butler found himself bored.
With lots of time on his hand, Butler made the ultimate decision to mix both his love of competition and coffee. The combination of competition and coffee finally paved the way for creating Butler’s own coffee brand, named ‘Bigface.’
Since the beginning, Butler has involved himself in every step of the process when creating his own coffee company, Bigface Brand.
“I want to be in every Zoom call, every meeting, on every sourcing trip, no matter where it is, anywhere around the world,” Butler said. “Just because I want to let people know, yes, my name is in it, on it, it’s a part of it, but I’m actually in it, I’m actually with it, I’m going to these places and I’m learning more and more every single day.” (h/t: CNBC Small Business Playbook)
Bigface exploded into the scene when the NBA was forced to move its operations and games to Disneyland, Orlando, to play its “bubble” season.
At the Disneyland bubble, Butler found the coffee options unsatisfactory. Butler soon took matters in his own hand and started selling $20 cups of coffee to fellow NBA players. Notably, Jimmy brewed the coffee himself with an espresso machine he brought to use in his Disneyland hotel room, using beans from El Salvador.
“From when the [NBA] bubble started I wanted to be the best barista,” Butler said. “Now Bigface Brand, Bigface coffee is a real thing, and I’m just trying to get the best coffee and the best experience out to the world.”
Soon, in October 2021, Butler officially launched Bigface in partnership with the e-commerce platform Shopify and through its creator program.
Butler receives all profits through the creator program, while Shopify leverages the athlete’s name, image, and likeness.
Bigface currently offers four different blends of coffee and has a collaboration with the coffee brand Onyx Coffee. Bigface further sells more than coffee beans – Bigface’s site also features apparel like hoodies, crewnecks, and t-shirts, and accessories like coffee mugs and tumblers.
“Shopify really made my idea as an ecommerce [platform] make sense,” Butler said. “I had all of these different ideas and I didn’t know how to really bring it to life. … They made that transition legit flawless and everything looks so great. I was so comfortable in the way that our business model was moving along and I think they helped me to bring this entrepreneur idea to life.”
Butler claimed that he got the concept for Bigface by watching the impact that coffee had on connecting people together. He stated that he intends to start Bigface cafes all over the world as the brand expands.
“That’s what this whole thing was built off of, is trying to bring individuals together, laughing and having a good time, no matter if you’re getting an iced coffee, hot coffee, cold coffee, cold brew, and sit down and have a conversation and realize how alike you are as individuals,” Butler said.