NBA superstar Jimmy Butler is known for operating outside the norm. You may recall when he showed up to NBA media day with straightened hair and a somber attitude nicknamed Emo Jimmy.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he told reporters. “I’m very emotional right now. This is my emo state and I like this. This is me.”
“I’m emo”
– Jimmy Butler
(Via @ByTimReynolds ) pic.twitter.com/IrL9Nqqvyv
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 2, 2023
Given his propensity for stunts, people wondered if his declaration that he wanted to be “the best barista” in 2020 was another joke served with a deadpan delivery.
Turns out it wasn’t. What started with him selling NBA stars playing in the Covid bubble $20 cups of coffee he brewed with an espresso machine in his hotel turned into an actual business, Bigface Brand coffee. It started as an e-commerce play, and now Butler opened his first brick-and-mortar coffee shop in Miami last week.
The shop offers the brand’s signature blends of coffee and merch like hoodies, T-shirts, hockey jerseys, coffee mugs, and tumblers.
Butler told CNBC that this is the real deal — not a case of an athlete slapping his name on a product to make an easy cash grab. “I want to be in every Zoom call, every meeting, on every sourcing trip, no matter where it is, anywhere around the world,” Butler explained. “Just because I want to let people know, yes, my name is in it, on it, it’s a part of it, but I’m actually in it, I’m actually with it, I’m going to these places and I’m learning more and more every single day.”
At the Miami shop’s grand opening, Butler told CBS News that it was a dream come true.
“I get to come in here, chill out, meet people, vibe out, and become friends,” Butler said. “Coffee is life. It’s how I start my mornings, watching my daughter play while I enjoy a cappuccino. For me, that’s the quintessential coffee experience.”
Related: He Started a Multimillion-Dollar Business That Brought Back the Espresso Martini — and Has Some Advice to Save Other Entrepreneurs Time and Money
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