The Rise of Night Swim coffee

Jul 22

Written By GoLive

It’s no secret that in a post-pandemic environment, where the Covid-induced urban sprawl following 2020 left most cities eerily void of human activity, many urban stakeholders have sought solutions for their dwindling rent rolls in the form of retail amenities. And shouldn’t they? Being the front door of any well-positioned office or apartment tower, retail storefronts are quite literally how a community perceives and interacts with a development. Historically, most major institutions have naturally been inclined to consider the ground floor retail an afterthought when underwriting their one-million-square-foot office tower, but the mass exodus of the urban core throughout the pandemic has done much to reframe the value landlords place on their retail space.

While small shop retail rents remain a drop in the bucket on the balance sheet of institutional-grade office and multifamily developments, hopes of attracting what sparse office prospects exist in the market are motivating landlords more than ever to aggressively pursue experiential amenities. While many retailers turned inward throughout the pandemic, limiting their overhead and cutting their losses, select opportunistic brands were able to capitalize on shifting market dynamics, particularly in the urban core. In Charlotte, North Carolina, there may be no better example of a small-shop retailer seizing this opportunity than Night Swim Coffee.

Since the opening of their flagship roastery and first four cafes in 2021 and 2022, the Night Swim Coffee brand has been poised for expansion. Night Swim is a marriage of two of Charlotte’s most beloved café brands, Not Just Coffee and Undercurrent Coffee. Prior to opening Not Just Coffee, James and Miracle Yoder traveled extensively, working for various international nonprofits in South America, East Africa and Europe. While living in Italy, they fell in love with the culture around espresso and café service and while making plans to move to Charlotte, they dreamed about opening a coffee shop of their own. “The idea of opening a space centered around people and hospitality was exciting. I believe cafés can offer a unique opportunity for that and specialty coffee was pretty much non-existent in the city,” said James. “It feels like entrepreneurship has always been in our blood and coming out of the challenging world of nonprofits, the segue made sense to us. We opened Not Just Coffee in 2011, bootstrapping the first two locations and eventually opening six throughout the city.”

The journey to create Undercurrent Coffee looked a bit different. Owner Todd Huber came from a banking background, structuring and investing in debt capital used to finance company acquisitions. “After taking some time off of work when [my wife] Erin was sick, I realized that I wanted more out of my life than what had become the grind of spending most of every day in an office working for someone else.” Todd’s love of coffee began in high school, and the urge to make a coffee shop part of his daily life crept in shortly thereafter. “Early in our relationship, Erin suggested that I open a coffee shop given my obsession for visiting one as often as possible when we were in our early twenties. Once I left my job, we decided to open a café for our neighborhood, and to create a brand that could eventually serve much more.”

Running a business is demanding and competitive. As owners of two different specialty coffee brands with similar growth goals, the Yoders and Hubers found themselves asking each other questions as well as sharing information and sales data. According to James, “there weren’t a lot of comps or business resources specific to our industry—although that is changing—and being able to gain insight and bounce ideas off each other was really helpful.” As they became friends, the idea of merging brands and working together eventually arose. While they pursued the idea with the possibility of either brand absorbing the other, they realized that that would create too many emotional challenges. They agreed that creating a new brand from scratch would be the best path forward. And so, Night Swim Coffee was born.

When asked about the most notable opportunities the City of Charlotte affords Night Swim, James cited the rapidly growing population, an appetite for better quality offerings and desire for experiences found in other, larger markets as additive to the Night Swim brand. Conversely, as is the case in all growing cities, a high volume of new development and expanding neighborhoods breeds increasing operating expenses, inflated construction costs and an influx of competitors.

“Given our years of experience running a coffee business prior to Night Swim Coffee, I wouldn’t say anything in particular surprised us too much,” Yoder explained. “I think one of the biggest challenges has been getting the right people in the right positions. We are a fairly large team and have moved incredibly fast over the last several years, opening five cafés and a roasting business, plus future projects in the works. It takes time for everyone to find their rhythm and what they’re best suited for. You can be very talented and a great team member but in the wrong role, which leads to frustration and unnecessary challenges.”

When asked what advice he would give young entrepreneurs aspiring to start their own business, James replied, “prepare to be flexible; entrepreneurship is full of surprises. You will need to immerse yourself completely and be prepared to let it completely absorb you, at least as you get started and learn the ropes. Hopefully it’s something you enjoy doing and you can be excited to wake up to!”