WEST CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Co-owners of a suburban coffee company went from thousands of dollars in debt after a failed Walmart deal to selling out all of their coffee within 24 hours.
An opportunity of a lifetime soon turned into a nightmare for Jenni Trilik and Marcus Contaldo, co-owners of Modest coffee, after being told their deal with Walmart was off.
Contaldo said they were left with $216,000 in debt and 34,000 bags of unsold coffee.
"The panic sets in when you realize, like, ‘how are we going to get out?’ Like, ‘how do we crawl out of this?’ Because now, our small business is getting crunched for cash,’" Contaldo said.
So, they posted their story on the shop's blog last Thursday, and, by the evening, Trilik said, orders coming in were averaging $1,000 a minute.
"Our heads were spinning. It was wild. I told my friend I'm like I don't even know how I feel right now. I have so many emotions," Trilik said.
By Friday evening, they were sold out of all their bags of caffeinated coffee, and Contaldo said they're still reeling from the love they've received from the community.
"I feel I've sort of been touched and changed in a way that I didn't expect. I feel like there's good in humanity," Contaldo added.
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