Since she was little, Anita Craig had always dreamed of owning a moving bakery where she could share her love for coffee and baked goods. Anita worked as an engineering technologist prior to starting her business; however, because of pandemic budget cuts she lost her job at her company. Anita realized that this was the time to pursue her dream of starting a mobile bakery.
Although she realized that baking was not her passion, her unique love of coffee only deepened. With her business partner Chauncey Moore by her side, who also shares her unique love for coffee – that is, iced coffee - she decided to start a coffee roastery. Combining Chauncey’s experience with running a business and Anita’s expertise in the hospitality industry, they created Trvl Love Koffee, a coffee roastery where she aspires for her customers to fall in love with the world of coffee and the experiences surrounding it. Trvl Love Koffee delivers high quality coffee from all over the world and seeks to educate its consumers on origins of the beans and best brewing practices.
Prior to the pandemic, Trvl Love Koffee could be found in local marketplaces; however, now that accessing physical storefronts and marketplaces have become increasingly challenging with the pandemic, Anita is focusing on building and enhancing her online storefront presence. Anita recalls that the Empower by GoDaddy program at TruFund was extremely beneficial to her business. She believes that “One of the avenues of marketing is opening up your network.” She states that “by participating in TruFund's program I was able to expose myself to different people who may not have had contact with my brand, and I was able to learn about the different platforms that GoDaddy offers.”
Anita and Chauncey hope to open their own roastery for TRVL Love Koffee in the future. This would make Trvl Love Koffee one of the first African American female led coffee roasteries in the state of Alabama. Today, Anita continues to use the skills she gained during TruFund’s Empower by GoDaddy program so that she can continue to share a delicious cup of Trvl Love Koffee.
