Denison's Alan Phung hoping to grow Mai Coffee in life after graduation

Alan Phung took a college degree back home to Chicago after Denison University's commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 14. He also took the full–fledged coffee business that he managed to develop throughout the course of his four years in Granville with him.

When Phung began his journey as a freshman in the fall of 2018, he decided that he wanted honor his late father in a unique way. Recalling fond memories of drinking Vietnamese coffee together, Alan decided that he would try to make his own version of the product, and sell it to others.

Vietnamese–style coffee packs a bold–tasting punch, and leaves consumers with quite the caffeine kick. It is made with "robusta" beans, which contain 2–3 times more caffeine than the standard "arabica" beans. Condensed milk and ice are typically added to the brewed coffee, added a sweet contrast to the strong beans.

After persisting through a series of roadblocks and managing demanding college coursework for nearly three full years, Alan—with the support from a handful of people in Denison's connection sphere—turned what once looked like a pipe dream into Mai Coffee, a profiting organization that has intrigued entrepreneurial minds and local beverage vendors alike.

Door to door coffee

Phung liked Vietnamese coffee's unique taste. But would others?

He took a page out of the Girl Scout playbook to find out. A freshman at the time, he knocked on doors throughout Denison's Shorney and Smith dormitories, offering free samples to anyone who opened.

After gauging the responses of his peers, Phung was quick to realize that his envisioned business needn't be a nonprofit one.

But creating a brew of his own soon proved to be a challenging task. He originally intended to sell premade, bottled coffees. After trying for about eight months to make a product with adequate shelf life, he realized that he would need some assistance.

His first thought? Hire a food nutritionist. But there was just one, $10,000–$20,000 problem with that: they weren't cheap.

Phung shifted gears. He decided that he would sell bagged beans, unsusceptible to rotting quickly like canned coffees products are.

Again, though, he would need help. This time, he had it: people on Denison's own campus.

Help from Red Frame Lab

In order to get coffee beans shipped from across the globe, Phung needed to internationalize his network. He did not have to look far to do so. He found David Hirsh, president of the Ohio-based Atrium Buying Corporation and an executive–in–residence for Denison's Global Commerce department. Hirsh managed to get Phung in touch with a customs broker.

Today, Phung communicates with the customs broker in order to get his beans packaged and shipped from Buôn Ma Thuột, Vietnam. But in the budding stages of the business development process, he needed help getting connected with people who could be willing to sell Mai Coffee products. Enter Denison's Red Frame Lab.

Denison created its Red Frame Lab in 2017 to support entrepreneurial–minded students and alumni. Their services aim to aid three kinds of students: those who want to start their own businesses, those who want to consult other entrepreneurs, and those who want to use their creativity to tackle on–campus issues of concern.

Since then, the RED Frame Lab has played hand in the creation of numerous success stories. Nick Yehle, a 2020 Denison graduate, worked with the group to create "JoGo—The Coffee Brewing Straw," a product that has since been featured in publications like Forbes, Mashable, and Roast Magazine. The Lab also helped James Clear, 2008 graduate and author of no. 1 New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, find ways to financially capitalize on his writing abilities.

The Lab offers two programs for students looking to pitch their own product: Red Startup and Red Accelerate. Phung partook in the latter, which guides students who seek help with a business idea already in mind. They were quick to see potential in Phung's product, and in his willingness to work tirelessly.

"He's got a great market, a great product, and a great angle," said Steve Krak, Red Frame's director.

Phung has worked closely with Krak and entrepreneurship coach Richard Coplin, Denison class of 1985. When the product was ready for sale in the spring of 2021, the team began to leverage connections with nearby business owners.

Robusta beans a local hit

Mai Coffee's unique flavor profiling ended up being Alan's blessing and curse in his quest to find business partners. Some potential suitors, particularly those who owned coffee shops, worried that the robusta bean taste would throw off customers who had become standard to the more traditional American taste.

“Every day, they want the same cup of coffee," Phung said of the typical American coffee shop connoisseur.

Sales pitching became a tedious task, especially as he navigated through rigorous academic semesters.

“When you talk to twenty people, and you’ve got less than five people who want to buy your stuff, it’s hard," he said. "But these are businesses. It is what it is.”

But as the coffee shops continued to turn the other way, some local groups were intrigued by the thought of taking a chance on something different. One such group was Bon Appétit Management Company, which provides the food in Denison's dining halls.

"Upon sampling and appropriate vetting, we all agreed (Mai Coffee) was an amazing product that we should share with our campus community," said Adam Poling, general manager of Bon Appétit at Denison.

The partnership quickly proved to be of mutual benefit. Morning, day, and night, students flock to the Slayter Hall Student Union for the product. School staff workers had to start adding extra water to the blends, for fear that students were consuming too much caffeine in their large coffee cups.

Phung additionally struck deals with two other local spots. Slivy's, located on the bottom floor of Denison's Silverstein Hall, sells bagged Mai Coffee beans. Granville's Mai Chau, which happens to be a Vietnamese restaurant, picked up the product as well.

Post graduation plans

Soon, Alan will begin working for Morningstar, Inc., a financial services company headquartered in Chicago. For most soon–to–be college graduates, taking on a full–time job and adjusting to a post–collegiate lifestyle would provide more than enough occupation. But Alan will continue to make time for growing Mai Coffee.

Alan looks to expand his partnership range geographically, as he is in talks about potential fits with companies in both Columbus and Chicago. He doesn't see his role with Morningstar as conflicting with his business ventures, but rather complementary; the job will provide him with money that he can devote to expanding Mai Coffee.

In the new setting, unprecedented challenges are bound to arise. But after four years of living the student–entrepreneur life, Alan will be better equipped to manage them.

“Mostly, business is about talking to people and building relationships,” he said.

For more information about Mai Coffee, visit https://www.maivietnamesecoffee.com/. To learn more about the Red Frame Lab and the services it can bring to local businesses, visit https://denison.edu/career/entrepreneurship.