Audrey Finocchiaro and Sam Lancaster started ‘The Nitro Bar’ in 2016 with a $1,500 credit card limit, scrap wood, and a plan to sell nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee from a makeshift cart. The couple initially struggled to attract customers, earning just $20 to $60 during eight-hour days on the streets of Providence, Rhode Island.Their fortunes changed when they brought the cart to Brown University, where a queue of students helped transform the struggling venture into a promising business. Over time, the company expanded into wholesale, opened coffee shops, and gained traction on social media. According to an interview with Fortune, Finocchiaro revealed that the business generates $4.5 million in annual revenue.
How a couple built a mobile coffee business with just $1,500
In 2016, Finocchiaro and Lancaster used a $1,500 credit limit and scrap wood from her parents’ basement to build a basic coffee cart. The makeshift structure was little more than a box and had no electricity, with space only for the equipment needed to prepare their nitrogen-infused cold brew. The couple loaded it into Finocchiaro’s Subaru Outback and drove to Providence, Rhode Island, where they began selling coffee on city streets and at community events.They often set up stalls on their own initiative, hoping to attract customers, but initially earned just $20 to $60 over eight-hour days.
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Brown University students helped the coffee cart find customers
The turning point came when Lancaster realised they had not yet taken the cart to Brown University. When students returned to Brown University that autumn, the couple began attracting larger crowds, and their sales improved significantly. Finocchiaro recalled one day when a queue formed and they made about $600, a sum that felt life-changing at the time.The couple began visiting the university daily to serve undergraduates who gathered around the cart for cold brew. In spring 2017, two investors approached them at a Providence farmers’ market and asked how much funding they needed to expand. After working through financial projections together, they estimated they needed about $150,000.
How did the couple use their $150,000 to expand their coffee business
“The next day, we got that money, which was crazy,” said Finocchiaro. Until then, the couple had prepared their cold brew each night at her uncle’s diner. The funding allowed them to set up a production facility and expand into wholesale, which they hoped would help sustain the business during winter months.However, much of the money was quickly spent, including on kegerators for the 60 wholesale accounts they secured in their first year. Each unit cost $1,200 and allowed customers to dispense cold brew directly from a keg. The couple later found another opportunity when a local bike shop offered them 200 square feet of space for $400 a month. They used a Square loan with a 30% interest rate to open their first storefront.
How Instagram and TikTok helped the couple grow their coffee business to $4.5 million
The ‘Nitro Bar’ generates $4.5 million in annual revenue and employs 80 people across three coffee shops, a production facility, and a small coffee trailer. Its cold brew is also available on tap at more than 50 other locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The company has built an audience of more than 500,000 followers on TikTok and 130,000 on Instagram.Finocchiaro said, “We just threw a ton of things at a wall and kept going until we found something that stuck”.“And for us, that took I think it was seven years until we really started to gain a significant following online.”“I think it’s an incredible time to start a business, because it can cost $0 to start”.“You can have no money and start a TikTok or start an Instagram account. That was monumental for us.”