Today we’d like to introduce you to Shayan Sadri and Kevin Tran.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Shayan and Kevin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Caphin (pronounced caffeine) started in 2013, given the fact that Houston is highly dense with the Vietnamese population there was a need for a more convenient way to drink Vietnamese coffee since the process to go get Vietnamese iced coffee in the restaurant is time-consuming and requires you to get the coffee poured over in a slow drip called a phin and then mixed with condensed milk and poured over ice. So that light bulb hit and our team created the first Ready To Drink Bottled Vietnamese Iced Coffee. We named our company Caphin as a play on words since a Phin is the filter used to make Vietnamese coffee.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We were only in Food Trucks as the food truck business started to boom in Houston. So our first year we focused with one flagship flavor, then the following year Central Market picked us up and we began to add seasonal flavors. We began to grow all over Texas in the major cities like Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston and ran into issues for expansion and had to go into a two-year hiatus. When we came back in 2018 the day we relaunched with our single-serve pods and ground coffee Hurricane Harvey hit Houston Since then, we were able to relaunch the cold brew coffee and get into Central Market, Walmart’s online platform, Neiman Marcus, Amazon, Phoenicia, Williams-Sonoma, Total Wine, Rice University, University of Houston and other hotels, and restaurants.
As things began to start growing again, Covid-19 hit, so we had to pivot and pause cold brew production because it’s handcrafted and instead focused on offering ground coffee and single-serve pods to keep the company moving forward. We are staying innovative and coming out with more products to add depth to our selection during this pandemic.
Caphin Gourmet – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Caphin produces cold brew Cafe Sua Da Vietnamese coffee along with other cold brew black flavors and other sweetened flavors like Dairy-Free Horchata Vietnamese coffee, Matcha Vietnamese coffee, and Longan Honey Vietnamese coffee. We are artisnal and handpick the highest quality of coffee beans from around the world. Our ground coffee flavors and single-serve pods include Vietnamese Coffee, Colombian Roast, French Roast, Caramel Dulce, Hazelnut, and Sunrise blend. Be on the lookout for newer products. We specialize in Vietnamese coffee but cater to every coffee drinker from our 0 calorie cold brew Black flavor line to the person who has that sweet tooth. Caphin is not proud of our team who has stuck together through thick and thin but we are also proud of our cult-like fan base who prefer Caphin over other brands in a world of so many choices. What sets us apart from others is we are the first cold brew bottled Vietnamese coffee brand that came out of Texas.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success can be viewed differently with everyone, but for Caphin, success is listening to our consumers and satisfying them day in and day out as well our vendors, because without them there is no way to succeed. On a mental standpoint for success, there are days where it can be overwhelming but you have to accept your failures, learn from them, and not make that mistake again and stay with the trends to be ahead of the competition. We know we can’t hit every target consumer but we stick with what’s trending and what could potentially take off that hasn’t been introduced yet to stay innovative as well because what works for one company can’t work for another.
Pricing:
- $11.99 Central Market and Phoenicia for coffee grounds
- $14.99 Amazon.com, Walmart.om, and Caphin.com for grounds.
- $23.99-$43.99 for single serve pods on Caphin.com, Amazon.com and Walmart.com
- $4.49 for Cold Brew at Central Market, Phoenicia, Rice Epicurean and other retailers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.caphin.com
- Email: CaphinGourmet@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caphin_inc/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Caphinicedcoffee/
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