After leap from dorm room to industry leader, Super Coffee makes Austin its new home

Super Coffee — a fast-growing bottled coffee maker with celebrity investors including Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez — has moved its headquarters from New York to Austin as it launches its next wave of growth.

The idea behind Super Coffee started six years ago, when Jordan DeCicco, a student-athlete at Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University), became tired and began falling asleep in class.

He didn't want to drink mainstream bottled coffee because of the high sugar content and calories, and because it didn't provide the stamina he was seeking.

"So he started brewing his own coffee in his dorm room, just to give himself energy," said his older brother, Jim DeCicco."He would brew strong organic coffee and would add protein and healthy fats like coconut oil."

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It worked so well for him that his basketball teammates took note and he started making coffee for them. Then his coaches started drinking it.

Soon after, Jordan called Jim DeCicco and his middle brother, Jake DeCicco, shared market data on the bottled coffee industry and said he was ready to break out on his own.

"He was a point guard on a full scholarship, and he dropped out of school to start his business," said Jim DeCicco, a recent Colgate University graduate working on Wall Street. "We said, 'Hey, if you're that serious, we'll help you.' "

The brothers founded Super Coffee in 2015 in Washington, where Jake was a senior at Georgetown University. Working from Jake's apartment, the three brothers brewed coffee, made deliveries and put out invoices. Two years later, after Jake graduated, the company moved its headquarters to New York.

Since then, the brand has developed a loyal following with health-conscious bottled coffee in a range of flavors that is organic and keto-approved. It is naturally sweetened with monk fruit and contains MCT oil from coconut and lactose-free protein. The company also sells creamers, pods and ground coffee.

Today, Super Coffee, which describes itself as the third-largest manufacturer of bottled coffee in the United States behind Starbucks and Dunkin’, sells its products on Amazon and nationwide at more than 50,000 retailers including Target, Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, H-E-B and 7-Eleven. Revenue hit $55 million in 2020, up from $4 million in 2018, according to the company.

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Super Coffee has raised a total of $175 million since its launch, including a $106 million infusion in August that gave it a valuation of over $500 million. Investors in the round included 7-Eleven's venture arm, Boston Beer Co. CEO Dave Burwic, former Anheuser-Busch president Dave Peacock and Deep Eddy Vodka and Sweet Leaf Tea co-founder Clayton Christopher.

Big-name backers and endorsers of the brand include Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, actor Patrick Schwarzenegger; former basketball star Baron Davis and actor and comedian Kevin Hart.

With the new investment, Super Coffee plans an aggressive expansion from its recently opened South Austin headquarters at 1005 E. Saint Elmo Road.

The decision to relocate to Austin, which the company did in July, was an easy one, said Jim DeCicco, CEO of Super Coffee.

"Last year we were living in New York and we were getting ready to grow to a national presence from the startup phase," he said. "Austin is one of the best cities for high-growth food and beverage companies and we just thrive off the energy here. We wanted to be in a place that is collaborative and creative."

While New York "is every man for himself," by contrast, "in Austin, it's 'how can we win together?' Investors and entrepreneurs want to know what problems we might be facing and they want to help. It's just a very generous community and they don't expect anything in return."

DeCicco said Austin has also been ideal for recruiting executive talent, including the hiring of Rosanna Godden, an industry veteran of Amazon, Whole Foods and Starbucks, as chief financial officer.

"Rosanna ran mergers and acquisitions at Amazon for 10 years. I met her in January and recruited her hard," he said of Godden, who led the $13.7 billion Whole Foods Market acquisition in 2017. "She joined in April and brought three of her fellow VPs from Whole Foods to Super Coffee."

Godden said she was ready to jump into a growth-stage company and Super Coffee was the perfect fit.

"Having spent the last decade at two large enterprise organizations — Amazon and Whole Foods — I miss building things," she said. "Super Coffee is at a critical point in their evolution, I'm excited to apply my lessons from Amazon to help create efficiencies as we scale Super Coffee to a global household brand."

Super Coffee currently has 120 employees, including 12 in Austin. Plans include relocating some employees to Austin and ramping up hiring here. Of the 100 new positions the company plans to fill in 2022, half will be in Austin.

Although the $22 billion ready-to-drink coffee market is dominated by giants Starbucks and Dunkin' and has a growing number of smaller players, DeCicco sees big growth potential in the convenience store market and club stores such as Costco

"The traditional model is pretty saturated with bottled coffee that adds cream and sugar," he said. "Our whole model is about adding something positive. Taste, health and energy are the three core tenets of the brand, and that's what sets us apart."