In this episode, we sit down with Steven Swank, co-founder of Canyon’s Coffee, to unpack how he and his wife launched their cart with just $15K — and scaled it into 200+ annual events and a thriving cafe.
You’ll hear how they used GoFundMe to kickstart their business, the mistakes they made in year one (like forgetting their espresso machine), and the exact growth levers that helped them land corporate clients like Adobe, LinkedIn, and American Express.
Whether you’re just starting your first cart or thinking about opening a cafe, Steven’s story is packed with practical lessons you can apply right now.
➡️ Grab our free guide to building your event biz tech stack: https://flashquotes.com/software-tools ➡️ Join our Mobile Catering Accelerator: https://www.skool.com/mobile-catering-accelerator/about 📸 Instagram: @FlashquotesHQ 🐦 Twitter: @FlashquotesHQ
⸻ ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Welcome + why Steven’s story matters 01:00 The early days — from marriage to first business ideas 02:30 Moving to Salt Lake City and chasing the coffee shop dream 04:00 Why they pivoted to starting a cart instead of a cafe 05:30 Launching with $15K: GoFundMe, savings, and credit cards 07:00 Their first event: Rock Climbing World Cup chaos 10:00 Growing to 150–200 events a year 11:30 Utah’s unique coffee market (and competing with soda bars) 13:30 Scaling up: carts, staff, and hiring a catering manager 15:00 Funding mechanics: GoFundMe as a launch hack 17:30 The pressure of community buy-in (and how it motivated them) 19:00 Lessons from Utah’s OG coffee carts (Three Pines, etc.) 23:00 Trench stories: forgetting the espresso machine, broken carts 25:00 Sundance Film Festival and handling big-event failures 30:00 Pivoting to luxury corporate clients like Adobe and AmEx 38:00 The real math: adding carts vs. opening a cafe 45:00 Key lessons for coffee cart owners
⸻ 🔑 Key Points • The $15K funding mix that made launching possible • Why GoFundMe can be a powerful tool for cart owners • The difference between vending and catering (and why it matters) • How Canyon’s turned mistakes into systems for scaling • The real math behind carts vs. cafes • How to position your brand to win luxury and corporate clients
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com