Cuppa Joe

What Cuppa Joe does

Cuppa Joe LLC is a locally owned, multi-format independent coffee and food cafe operator founded in 1999 and headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan. The company runs three physical locations in the Traverse City market: a full-service Westside Cafe inside the historic Building 50 at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons (1200 W 11th St #101), a fast drive-thru at the corner of Front and Garfield streets (1060 East Front St), and an Eastside Cafe at US-31 and Four Mile Road (1990 US-31 Suite F). Across all three formats it offers a unified menu built around coffee roasted by Roaster Jack Coffee, organic loose leaf tea from Light of Day Organics, handcrafted breakfast and lunch items, smoothies, and homemade baked goods, with ingredients sourced from Northern Michigan farms and producers and additional pastries and bagels from 9 Bean Rows and Bubbie's Bagels at the drive-thru.

The business operates on a standard small-cafe retail technology stack: a WordPress-based website with a Facebook and Instagram presence, plus Square's e-commerce infrastructure powering the company's online pickup ordering portal and digital and physical e-gift card sales. There are no proprietary technology assets, no app, no API, and no disclosed AI/ML components.

Cuppa Joe is a direct-to-consumer operator with revenue generated primarily through in-cafe transactions (beverage and food sales), supplemented by Square-enabled online ordering for pickup and gift card purchases. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, no subscription or membership model exists, and no enterprise or B2B customers are present. The company is privately held by local ownership with no disclosed institutional investment, funding rounds, acquisitions, or parent-company relationship.

Name

Cuppa Joe

Legal name

Cuppa Joe LLC

Website

https://cuppajoetc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cuppa Joe LLC is an independent, locally owned Traverse City, Michigan coffee and food cafe operator, founded in 1999, running three physical cafe formats (Westside sit-down, Front Street drive-thru, Eastside cafe) serving locally roasted coffee, organic tea, breakfast, lunch, smoothies, and baked goods to local residents and visitors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Coffee Shop / Cafe

NAICS

Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251), Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515), Limited-Service Restaurants (722513)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Independent Neighborhood Cafes (THAFADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Drive-Thru Coffee Stands & Coffee Kiosks (THAFADAK), Cafe-Bakeries (Coffee + Pastry Focus) (THAFADAG)

Keywords

• Specialty coffee shop
• Cafe and bakery
• Locally roasted coffee
• Breakfast and lunch cafe
• Organic loose leaf tea

Headquarters

HQ city

Traverse City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Beverage Sales: Revenue from locally roasted coffee, organic loose leaf tea, and smoothies sold at all three cafe locations.
2. Food Sales: Revenue from handcrafted breakfast and lunch items, homemade baked goods, scones, and sandwiches.
3. Online Ordering: Digital ordering platform via Square enabling customer purchases through web-based ordering system.
4. E-Gift Cards: Digital and physical gift card sales through Square platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Cuppa Joe operates three physical cafe locations in Traverse City, Michigan, serving locally roasted coffee, organic loose leaf tea, fresh smoothies, handcrafted breakfast and lunch items, and homemade baked goods. The business combines a full-service sit-down cafe format with a fast drive-thru and supports online ordering and e-gift card sales through the Square platform.

Product overview

Cuppa Joe operates as a multi-location coffee shop business with three distinct cafe formats in Traverse City, Michigan: the Westside Cafe (full-service sit-down cafe in historic Building 50), the Drive Thru (fast drive-through service), and the Eastside Cafe (casual cafe on the east side of town). All three locations share a unified product offering centered on locally roasted coffee (Roaster Jack Coffee), organic loose leaf tea (Light of Day Organics), fresh smoothies, and homemade baked goods with ingredients sourced from Northern Michigan farms and producers. The company was founded in 1999 starting with the drive-thru location.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cuppa Joe Westside Cafe A full-service cafe in Building 50 at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons offering a full coffee bar, locally-inspired breakfast, lunch featuring local ingredients, loose leaf tea, smoothies, and homemade scones in a retro-style converted cafeteria space for Traverse City residents and visitors.
• Cuppa Joe Drive Thru A fast drive-thru coffee location at the corner of Front and Garfield streets offering a full coffee bar, loose leaf tea, smoothies, scones, and baked goods including pastries from 9 Bean Rows and bagels from Bubbie's Bagels, designed for quick on-the-go service.
• Cuppa Joe Eastside Cafe A cozy cafe at the corner of US-31 and Four Mile Rd offering a full coffee bar featuring Roaster Jack Coffee, Light of Day Organics loose leaf tea, fresh smoothies, and homemade scones for the eastside Traverse City community.
• Cuppa Joe Online Ordering Web-based ordering platform powered by Square that allows customers to place pickup orders for coffee, tea, smoothies, baked goods, and food items from Cuppa Joe's three Traverse City locations.
• Cuppa Joe E-Gift Cards Digital and physical gift cards sold through Square that can be redeemed at any Cuppa Joe cafe location for coffee, tea, food, and baked goods.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Roaster Jack CoffeecoreOthersRoaster Jack Coffee supplies the locally roasted coffee featured at Cuppa Joe locations. Their beans are used for the full coffee bar at all cafe locations.
• Light of Day (Light of Day Organics)coreOthersLight of Day Organics supplies loose leaf tea to Cuppa Joe cafes. Their organic tea is featured at all locations.
• 9 Bean RowsminorOthers9 Bean Rows provides pastries for the Cuppa Joe Drive Thru location.
• Bubbie's BagelsminorOthersBubbie's Bagels supplies bagels for the Cuppa Joe Drive Thru location.
• Northern Michigan Farms and ProducerscoreOthersVarious local farms and food producers in Northern Michigan supply ingredients for Cuppa Joe's handcrafted food and homemade baked goods.
• SquarecoreTechnology or IntegrationSquare provides e-commerce infrastructure for Cuppa Joe's online ordering system and e-gift card services.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Morsels Bakery: Traverse City bakery cafe offering pastries, breakfast, and coffee. Comparable as a local cafe-bakery operating in the same market with overlapping product mix of baked goods and specialty coffee.
• Higher Grounds Coffee: Independent Traverse City-area coffee shop focused on specialty coffee in a welcoming community setting. Directly comparable as a local independent cafe serving Traverse City residents and visitors with sit-down, locally-rooted positioning.
• Brewologist Coffee Creations: Michigan-based independent specialty coffee shop and roaster with multiple locations. Comparable to Cuppa Joe as a Michigan-rooted independent multi-location cafe serving locally roasted coffee and scratch food.
• The Omelette Shoppe: Established Traverse City breakfast and lunch restaurant with multiple locations. Directly comparable as a locally owned Traverse City daytime cafe serving handcrafted breakfast and lunch fare to local residents and visitors.

Broad incumbents

• Dutch Bros Coffee: Large multi-state drive-thru coffee chain with thousands of locations. Comparable through its drive-thru coffee kiosk format that competes directly with Cuppa Joe's drive-thru location in terms of speed and convenience.
• Black Rock Coffee Bar: Regional drive-thru and cafe coffee chain operating across multiple U.S. states. Comparable in drive-thru coffee format and specialty beverage positioning, but at meaningfully larger scale and with corporate backing.
• Starbucks: Largest global coffee chain with broad cafe footprint, mobile ordering, and loyalty program. Comparable as the dominant incumbent in U.S. cafe and drive-thru coffee, setting benchmarks for digital ordering, throughput, and loyalty that Cuppa Joe competes against.

Others

• Roaster Jack Coffee: Michigan-based coffee roaster that supplies Cuppa Joe's coffee program. Listed as a peer because it is a small-batch local roaster in the same Northern Michigan ecosystem, even though its primary business is wholesale roasting rather than retail cafes.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/cuppajoetc
• Instagraminstagram.com/cuppajoetc
• Xx.com/CuppaJoeWL
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cuppa-joe

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cuppa Joe