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Kikwetu Kenya Coffee Company founders Leecox and Martha Omolo
With three young children and a full-time job as a technology executive, Lecox Omolo has to be intentional about how he spends his spare time.
So when he and his wife, Martha, grew the Kikuwetu Kenya Coffee Company from a pet family project into a profitable business, they thought carefully about why it was a worthwhile endeavor.
“It has to mean something to us to say, ‘Let’s add something else,'” Omolo said. Making a convincing ‘why’ was the hardest part.
Chicago-based Kikwetu Specialty Coffee Co., a local farmers’ market staple that began appearing on retail shelves, aims to create connections and bonds between people and places, especially the founding couple, Kenya. Foster home in Chicago.
A Polsky Center Small Business Development Program student, Kikwetu sources coffee beans for sale directly from small farms in Kenya and offers handcrafted beverages featuring local ingredients. Beyond Chicago, you can find them at corporate catering, farmers markets, and pop-ups.
Unlike coffee culture on the go, Kikuyu etiquette encourages customers to slow down and socialize with other people.
“We’re on a journey to create a coffee company that creates relationships,” says Omolo, who lives in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. “We look forward to meeting people from around the world and finding the things that connect us.”
The Omolos’ three children — Nia, 11, Ari, 8, and Zoe, 5 — help Kikuyu with marketing.
Kikwetu’s idea was sparked by Omolo’s own sense of connection. While on a business trip in Michigan, Omolo stopped by a small coffee shop in Grand Rapids and fell in love with the coffee he learned he had imported from Kenya. Born and raised in Nairobi, Omolo went to college in Michigan, earned his MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and settled in Chicago, where he felt like a bridge between the two worlds.
As the idea of starting his own coffee company crossed his mind, he calmed down. On his way home from a consulting job in suburban Libertyville, Omolo coolly waits for the train and sees a coffee maker on the street. He went in and met the owner of the Hansa Coffee Roaster, his coffee mentor, and eventually brewed a small-batch specialty coffee that set the roaster apart from Kikwetu.
“There is a lot of human interaction involved in bringing Kikuyu coffee to the world,” Omolo said. “There is no Kikwetu without the Kenyan farmers who grow the crops and ensure that they are of good quality, who are willing to give us their time and not see us as competitors, but there is no Kikwetu without the people whose story needs to be told. . There is no Kikwetu without customers and employees who deeply believe in what we are building.
Although Omolos started working on Kikuyu in 2014, it didn’t pick up steam until 2018.
That’s when they set up their first booth at the Hyde Park Farmer’s Market, hoping to have a little fun and maybe sell a few bags of coffee beans. You don’t expect them to sell out in 30 minutes.
The next week they brought more bags and a few pots of coffee on site, and a week later brought home-made mandazi, similar to the new beignets popular in Kenya and Africa. Orleans
Mandazi made a big difference for Kikwetu as shoppers from different nationalities flocked to the stall because of what they knew. One of those consumers is Isra Omar of the Polsky Center, whose native Somalia has a version of Mandazi. Omar Kikwetun, who runs the Small Business Development Program, encouraged them to apply for the program.
For 10 weeks in late 2019, Omolo worked with a group of Chicago Booth students to create a development plan for Kikwetu. The outside view gave structure to their “amorphous dreams” and was dynamic to the business.
“They opened our eyes to the fact that this is a bigger opportunity than we are enjoying,” Omolo said. “We’ve talked a lot about growing our story and differentiating ourselves in a crowded marketplace.”
Since then, Kikwetu has grown to more than half a dozen farmers markets, drawing long lines of customers and employing 20 people part-time, including in Green City, the West Loop, the South Loop, Hyde Park, Logan Square, North Center and Wicker Park. at the moment. Martha Etulia-Omolo has left her 20-year career at Hilton Hotels to work full-time in business.
Last year, Kikuyu turned a profit for the first time.
Kikwetu’s growth strategy includes hosting more pop-up events, expanding online sales, and offering coffee and tea services for corporate group events and catering, including condo buildings. It is also establishing retail partnerships, and from November, Kikwetu coffee beans will be on the shelves at Dome Kitchen and Market. Omolo hopes to attract the attention of retailers like Foxtrot Market who are focused on showcasing local brands.
Along the way, Omolo wants to open a destination coffee shop that embraces the ethos of the Kikuyu community and celebrates both Kenya and Chicago.
“I think the greatest service an immigrant can have in America is to build a bridge back to where they came from,” Omolo said. “This is what makes America special. This is what makes Chicago a world-class city.
Article by Alexia Elejalde-RuizAssociate Director of Media Relations and External Relations at the Polsky Center. A longtime journalist, Alexia was most recently a business reporter with the Chicago Tribune. Reach out to Alexia email Or on Twitter @alexiaer.
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