$0 to $100K in Year One: How This Anti-Inflammatory Coffee Brand Did It

Eli Mash had been putting turmeric in his coffee for 10 years before it ever occurred to him that it could be a business.

Now, Makor Coffee, the anti-inflammatory brand he co-founded, does over $100,000 in annual revenue and $11,000 in monthly recurring revenue, all while Eli works a full-time job and raises three kids.

In this episode, Eli breaks down exactly how he and his co-founder got it off the ground — from finding a local manufacturer to figuring out pricing, building social proof through influencers, and finally cracking the subscription model that made the numbers work.

Tune in to Episode 744 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:

how Eli found a local manufacturing partner without spending months/thousands of dollars on certification
how Makor Coffee uses subscriptions, bundles, and free shipping to keep customers coming back
why Eli waited to spend money on ads until he had built up social proof through influencers

(Want to try Makor Coffee? Head to makorcoffee.com and use promo code SIDEHUSTLE for 25% off your first order.)

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Why Anti-Inflammatory Coffee?

Eli comes from a family of naturopaths and chiropractors, and for about 10 years, he’d been putting turmeric in his coffee at home. The idea behind food as medicine stuck with him, so he started wondering if other people might want this too.

When he tested it out, though, people didn’t just want turmeric. So Eli and his team added other anti-inflammatory ingredients like cacao, cinnamon, ginger, and chaga.

At the same time, mushroom coffee brands were taking off, which told Eli there was already an audience looking for healthier coffee alternatives. That gave him the confidence to take his home recipe and try turning it into a real business.

Finding a Manufacturing Partner

A Warm Introduction Close to Home

Because Eli already had a full-time job and three kids, he knew he couldn’t make the coffee in his own kitchen at scale. He needed a manufacturing partner.

Luckily, the manufacturer that ended up working with Makor Coffee was about a mile and a half from his house in Minneapolis. Eli got a warm introduction through someone he knew who was an investor in that facility.

The manufacturer already made coffee and had an organic certification, but they had never worked with spices before. Eli’s team agreed to cover about $1,000 for a grinder so the manufacturer’s regular equipment wouldn’t be affected.

A Pay-As-You-Go Deal

To keep startup costs low, Eli negotiated a net-30 arrangement. The manufacturer would produce a batch of coffee, ship it out, and then invoice Makor Coffee a month later — so they were selling the coffee before they had to pay for it.

The minimum order was around 100 bags per batch, which kept the risk small while they figured out if the business would work.

How Eli Priced the Coffee

To figure out pricing, Eli looked at similar premium coffee brands. Purity Coffee and Life Boost charge around $30 a bag, while MUD\WTR runs $40 to $60.

Since Makor Coffee includes pricier ingredients (chaga alone costs $45 a pound), Eli landed on $30.95 for whole bean and $32.95 for the ground blend, though he noted prices are subject to change.

To make the price feel more reasonable, subscribers get $5 off, and the brand reframes the cost as “less than 80 cents a day.” Eli says he’s changed the pricing 30 to 40 times while testing what works best.

Finding the First Customers

Before officially launching, Eli sent free coffee to about 60 friends and family members, asking them to buy it through Shopify with a discount code so the purchase would count as a verified review. That brought in 28 to 30 reviews.

Once they were ready to grow, Eli and his partner put in $10,000 of their own money for ads.

Looking back, Eli says this was too early. They didn’t yet have an active Instagram, influencer posts, or reviews on Amazon, so people who saw the ads didn’t recognize or trust the brand yet. At that point, it cost them $50 to $55 to acquire each new customer.

Growing Through Influencer Outreach

Free Coffee for Honest Posts

Instead of paying for ads right away, Eli started reaching out to Instagram accounts with under 30,000 followers in the health and wellness space.

He offered a free bag of coffee with no strings attached — if they liked it, they could post about it, and if not, no problem.

For about a year, Eli spent time most nights sending personalized messages to people, explaining why he thought they’d like the coffee. Around 50 to 70 people ended up posting about Makor Coffee this way.

Paying for Reach

Eli also paid one influencer with close to a million followers about $1,500 plus commission. He says they made their money back and a bit more, and the post helped with brand awareness even if the direct sales weren’t huge.

Over time, this shifted into an affiliate model, where some partners earn up to 60% commission on a customer’s first order. All of this work helped bring the cost of acquiring a new customer down from $50-55 to around $28-30.

Leaning Into Google Ads

As brand awareness grew, Eli started running Google Ads to capture people already searching for products like his.

He notes that Google Ads wouldn’t have made sense early on — nobody was searching for Makor Coffee yet — but once the brand had built some recognition through Meta and influencers, search intent started showing up.

People typing in “organic turmeric coffee” were already warm leads, making Google a more efficient channel at that stage of the business.

Encouraging More Subscriptions

Making Subscriptions Easy to Choose

Makor Coffee’s subscription option includes free shipping, a side-by-side comparison with other premium coffee brands, and the “less than 80 cents a day” framing to make the price feel smaller.

The site also sends a notification before each subscription order ships, so customers can cancel if they want — Eli says he doesn’t want people subscribing who don’t want to.

Bundling Bags to Save on Shipping

Customers can subscribe to one, two, or three bags at a time. Since shipping three bags costs only about $2 more than shipping one, bundling brings the per-bag price closer to what people expect for a premium coffee.

By comparison, a one-time purchase of a single bag costs $36 with shipping. Eli says subscribers tend to stick around for 7 to 8 months on average, and some have stayed for 18 months.

Replenishable products are a recurring theme on the show. If this model resonates, check out past episodes with Chris Gray (barbecue seasonings) and Connor Meakin (organic bone broth) for more examples of how this playbook plays out.

Expanding to Amazon and Retail Stores

Heading to Amazon

Makor Coffee is planning to launch on Amazon within the next month. An agency reached out to Eli, showing that people were already searching for Makor Coffee on Amazon and not finding it.

Eli has heard that customer acquisition costs can be much lower on Amazon than on Shopify or Meta ads, since people are already searching with intent to buy.

He plans to hold off on Amazon ads until they’ve built up more reviews there, a lesson learned from their early DTC ad spending.

Getting Onto Store Shelves

Makor Coffee is also sold in retail stores, including Kowalski’s and Lunds & Byerlys in Minnesota, through distributors. The coffee is now in about 46 stores.

Eli spends time calling other retailers that those distributors already supply, since the distributor opens the door but doesn’t actively sell the product for them.

Tools and Tech Behind Makor Coffee

Eli says the business runs on a fairly lean set of tools:

Shopify – the online store
Klaviyo – email marketing and SMS, including welcome and discount emails for new subscribers
Loop Subscriptions – manages subscription orders (around $100/month plus a 1% fee on subscription sales)
Koala Bundles – used to bundle the one, two, and three-bag options (around $10)
ShipStation – for cheaper shipping rates and order tracking
Claude – used for some ad design work

Surprises Along the Way

Eli says a few things caught him off guard. He didn’t expect Meta ad costs to climb as high as they did.

He also didn’t realize how much effort it would take to get the coffee to brew at a normal speed through regular coffee makers and filters, since the added ingredients slow it down.

On the customer service side, Eli is often surprised by how many people email with questions that are already answered on the website — like asking him to pause their subscription instead of using the self-serve link.

He says he handles these personally and tries to stay friendly, even when he’s busy.

What’s Next for Makor Coffee?

Looking ahead, Eli says Makor Coffee may add more flavors down the road, possibly something like a protein coffee or a heart health coffee.

Whatever they add, he says it will stick to whole food ingredients, stay organic, and be tested for toxins and mold.

Eli is clear that Makor Coffee isn’t trying to become a supplement company. Instead, the goal is to stay a coffee and health food brand that helps people start their day with better ingredients without having to think about it.

Eli’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation

“Know your numbers – you have to have margins.”

Episode Links

Makor Coffee – use promo code SIDEHUSTLE for 25% off your first order
Purity Coffee
Life Boost
MUD\WTR
Kowalski’s
Lunds & Byerlys
Shopify
Klaviyo
Loop Subscriptions
Koala Bundles
ShipStation
Claude
Episode 678 with Chris Gray
Episode 489 with Connor Meakin

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