While killing time in the NBA bubble during last season’s playoff run, Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler decided to start a pop-up cafe named Big Face Coffee. No matter the size or order, the five-time NBA All-Star sold cups joe out of his hotel room for $20 a cup.
While Butler led Miami to the Finals, his burgeoning coffee shop flourished from a steady flow of NBA stars needing a crafted caffeine kick. Now, the 31-year-old considers himself a full-blown coffee aficionado. In a recent interview with GQ, Butler opened up about how he “learned to do cappuccinos, lattes, pour-overs, chemexes, all of the good stuff.”
“I really thought that I could dive into being a coffee connoisseur and one day open up my own coffee shop,” Butler mused. “So I learned how to run a business out of a hotel room, and how to make all the different types of coffee.”
Butler also revealed to GQ that Dragic, “the Dragon,” was his “number one customer.” Although, “it doesn’t really count,” as “he’s the only person that never paid for a single cup of Big Face Coffee.”
While Dragic was able to skirt paying for his coffee, he was the rare exception. When Butler was asked how much money he banked from creating the most popular coffee shop in the NBA bubble, Butler wouldn’t reveal the exact number.
“Somewhere in between $1 and like $6,000,” Butler said. “Somewhere in between there is about the amount of money I made.”
Butler Filed 3 Trademarks for Big Face Coffee
Jimmy butler really bout to drop #BigFaceCoffee haaa
Fitting for “one of the most interesting people in the NBA fraternity,” as he was dubbed by Sports Illustrated, Butler was able to file three trademarks in relation to his Big Face Coffee business during the NBA Finals. “The filings, all made on September 4th, cost Butler $4,125 in USPTO fees,” tweeted lawyer Josh Gerben.
The coffee cups are branded with Butler’s logo, which he’s used since he played for the Chicago Bulls, according to Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, who couldn’t believe the reaction following his client’s pop-up coffee shop.
His pending trademarks include the Big Face Coffee logo, the player’s tagline, “no I.O.U.’s” and the words, “Big Face Coffee.”
“I didn’t understand the coffee hustle before,” Lee said. “There are bean brokers, roasters — I didn’t know any of that. Seven out of 10 calls I get now are about coffee.”
Jimmy Butler has filed 3 new trademarks for the coffee business that he launched from his hotel room in the NBA bubble.
The filings, all made on September 4th, cost Butler $4,125 in USPTO fees.
While Butler’s business grows in popularity, there has been no inflation in price. No matter what size or type of coffee you order, it’s still a hefty $20 a cup. As for the high price tag, “I make them with love,” Butler said with a smile.
So apparently Jimmy Butler wasn’t kidding about the up-charge for the use of his French Press at Disney. (From Meyers Leonard’s Twitter):
For those wondering why he named it Big Face Coffee, it’s related to an inside joke with teammate Meyers Leonard, ESPN reported.
Lululemon Makes Butler’s Big Face Coffee Clothing
Sources: Jimmy Butler’s “Big Face Coffee” clothing is made by Lululemon.
Butler has been wearing their apparel throughout the NBA restart and is closing in on a unique long-term partnership to become arguably the biggest face of the athletic brand.
Butler’s side hustle has become quite lucrative for Butler, who by the end of the 2022-2023 season, the last year of his contract with the Miami Heat, he will have made a total of $220,111,606 from his NBA earnings, according to spotrac.com.
However, when it comes to paying his models, Butler insists they work for free, as he tapped top model Goran Dragic to walk the runway for Big Face Coffee.
In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols asked if Dragic would soon be making appearances to show off the merchandise.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re not paying him a damn thing either,” Butlers said. “But he’s going to walk it for free, and he’s going to love doing it.”
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Heat’s Jimmy Butler Reveals Big Face Coffee Banked Him Thousands