Delivery

How CoffeeNow brews delivery in a cup

In this two-part series, we highlight two emerging businesses, Sunfly and CoffeeNow, as the next wave of beverage-brand startups. Here's a look at CoffeeNow, and how childhood best friends Jordan West and Kaleb Schrank turned a late-night business idea into a tech-driven coffee delivery company.

Photo: CoffeeNow

October 29, 2026 by Valerie Gritton — Editor, Pizza Marketplace

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Jordan West and Kaleb Schrank have been dreaming up businesses together since they were six years old. Growing up in a small farming community in Yakuma, Washington, the childhood best friends have tried their hands at everything from lawn mowing to cattle operation, having developed an entrepreneurial streak long before they imagined building a coffee company.

To continue with their entrepreneurial push, the pair purchased a house together with plans to flip it. But one late-night conversation would lead them toward a different kind of venture: bringing specialty coffee directly to businesses through a technology-powered delivery model.

The idea emerged in 2018, when West and Schrank were talking about their hometown's abundance of coffee stands and the time customers spent waiting in line at each one. Somehow, the conversation turned to delivery. And the two continued talking until 3 a.m.

Neither had experience in coffee or technology. Schrank had worked in the beer industry, while West had experience working in chemicals. But the opportunity was compelling enough to pursue.

"We shook hands on the back porch and we went for it," said Schrank, CoffeeNow's co-founder and chief operating officer, in an Zoom call with QSRWeb. "We just knew we could never live with ourselves if we didn't make the jump."

Building bridges

CoffeeNow launched Oct. 28, 2020, after the founders navigated the challenges of building a business, a brand and a technology platform. The company has since developed a model that combines specialty coffee, scheduled business deliveries and software designed to coordinate ordering, production and routing, building a bridge between customers and easier access to their flavored favorites.

The concept targets a familiar consumer habit in a crowded market. Americans drink approximately 454 million cups of coffee a day, according to the National Coffee Association's fall 2026 data. And World Coffee Portal's 2026 market report also counts more than 45,200 branded coffee shop locations in the United States.

CoffeeNow's approach is different from the traditional coffee shop or delivery service. Rather than sending individual drivers to homes, the company organizes deliveries around predetermined routes serving offices and other businesses.

Three platforms, one coffee operation

CoffeeNow's model depends on three connected software systems: a customer app for placing orders, an employee app that helps van teams manage their routes and orders, and an administrative panel that handles data, route building and customer service, said Mason Rojas, CoffeeNow's operations manager.

The company determines its delivery routes and schedules in advance. A route might include 25 businesses, with a van stocked for the day and customers notified when ordering opens. As drinks arrive, customers receive notifications that their orders are being delivered.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning further helps evaluate demand and optimize routes around revenue potential. A hospital, for example, might generate strong demand at 9 a.m. on a Tuesday but less at 11 a.m. The system helps identify the most productive times and days for each stop.

Customers must be located on an active route to order. If a stop consistently underperforms, CoffeeNow can combine it with another stop as the route evolves.

"The name of the game for us is efficiency," Schrank said.

That efficiency is central to the business model. By batching deliveries and visiting multiple customers at a single location, CoffeeNow can serve far more orders in a concentrated period than a conventional one-order-at-a-time delivery model.

Schrank said the company has produced and delivered 124 items in a single hour across two locations, including the time required to make drinks and travel between stops. Its record-breaking route delivered 368 drinks, on Halloween, when the team also was serving customers in costume, "which was even funnier," he said.

Up until this year, CoffeeNow operated without service or delivery fees. However, the company is now testing a delivery fee as it continues refining the economics of its model.

Specialty coffee, customized

While technology coordinates the operation, coffee quality and customization remain central to the customer experience.

Rojas joined the company with experience at Dutch Bros and Black Rock Coffee Bar. The opportunity appealed to him because the delivery model offered something different from what he had seen in the industry.

Rojas oversees the coffee side of the business, including the menu, product development and the relationship with the company's roaster. He credits the roaster's commitment to the craft with helping deliver the quality CoffeeNow wants customers to experience.

His focus is on refining the menu and differentiating the company's offerings as new coffee concepts enter the market, and its something he takes great pride in doing.

"Our roaster is amazing," Rojas said. "He loves his craft so much and you can taste it in the beans. And my love for coffee pushes me to deliver a good cup."

CoffeeNow's ordering system also allows customers to customize drinks with options such as whipped cream and cold foam. Orders are configured through the software, so baristas do not have to memorize every recipe. Customers also can reorder a favorite drink or communicate with the barista about their preferences.

The company has worked to establish its own brand and customer loyalty rather than simply functioning as a delivery vehicle for existing coffee shops. Its branded cups, specialty coffee and customer service are all part of that effort.

Schrank said the goal is to provide a high-quality, five-star product while going above and beyond in serving customers.

From a handshake to franchising

The company's growth ambitions emerged quickly. Schrank said the founders first heard the word "franchise" about two weeks after launch.

Franchising has remained part of the vision because the founders believe the model can solve a consumer problem while giving the business a way to expand. CoffeeNow has aimed to combine a welcoming, local feel with a polished corporate presentation suited to serving offices and businesses.

Rojas' arrival helped bring additional pieces of the coffee operation together, Schrank said, strengthening the company's ability to build out the concept.

Growth, however, has required adjustments. CoffeeNow shut down two Washington markets as it worked to consolidate its new corporate headquarter in Boise, Idaho, where it recently completed the build-out of a 20,000-square-foot facility. The company currently has two to three vans operating, with nine vans available to deploy, Schrank said.

Building the vehicles also has been a learning process. The founders initially used a food-truck builder, then started a separate company to build the delivery vans themselves. Eventually, they closed that business down and now have a partnership with the food-truck company for all future builds.

New vehicles can take six to eight months to build, making fleet planning an important part of expansion.

For the founders, the business remains about more than logistics. CoffeeNow's sunshine logo reflects the experience they want to create for customers: a positive break in the middle of the workday.

Schrank said employees sometimes walk into businesses where customers cheer as the drinks arrive. Those reactions reinforce the founders' belief that the delivery experience can become a source of connection and enjoyment, not just convenience. For two friends who spent decades imagining and starting businesses together, CoffeeNow represents a chance to build something different from the routines they knew growing up.

"We are the sunshine in peoples' day," Schrank said. "It breaks up their day with positivity; and that's what the culture is of our company."