“That was our initial business plan,” said David Piotto. “To sell coffee off the nitro trike – and things changed drastically after that.” As the Nitro Bros brand and nitrogen infused brew was a huge success, much to Shaughnessy and Piotto’s surprise. “A business can’t just be a product, it has to be a brand that people can identify with, understand and feel that it represents who they are,” said Piotto. Both Shaughnessy and Piotto believe that building a brand is not something that you can be passionate about and full vested in and have someone else do it for you. That is why, since day one, they both have been in the trenches everyday promoting their brand and educat- ing potential customer and coffee lovers on the benefits of their cold brew. It is their enthusiasm and energy that fuels the brand and builds a fol- lowing among coffee lovers for their products. Shaughnessy and Piotto have been involved in every aspect of building this brand, from website development to physical set up of produc- tion with zero outsourcing, nothing but “sweat
“A business can’t just be a product, it has to be a brand that people can identify with, understand and feel that it represents who they are,”
equity.” Piotto says with pride, “Instead of hiring anyone else we did everything on our own. We truly grew it from the roots up.” Piotto goes on to say, “we realized we were trying to save money by doing it all ourselves, but we were then forced to learn everything. Any self-respecting business owner should be able to play any role from janitor to CEO and take pride in it.”
Piotto explains that because of the success of the brand, “We had to find a different niche to move away from the bike. So, we got kegs and approached restaurants and bars to make sure we had a constant turn over and it really changed our business model,” he goes on to say, “we still want people to feel connected, but we are more than just coffee – it’s about the proper selling culture and excitement.” Although the company has no official brick-and- mortar store front as of yet, they have been able to transition from peddling a tricycle around the city, to a label product that can now be purchased, and you can have in your fridge by focusing on what they do best. A major part of this transition happened in early 2020, one of the few good things to come out of last year, when in addition to offering kegs of nitro infused cold brew to businesses, Shaugh- nessy and Piotto launched their first canned Nitro Bros Cold brew making the brand and the brew truly mobile. By keeping the caffeine dream alive for their customers and making it easier than
ever for their brand to get into the hands of cus- tomers not only locally in Alberta but nationally throughout Canada.
“we still want people to feel connected, but we are more than just coffee”
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APRIL 2021 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • APRIL 2021
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