Stone soup, microprocessors and poop: How Biggby CEO found success

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Stone soup. Microprocessors. Poop.

This was how Mike McFall, co-CEO of Biggby Coffee, framed a free, public talk he gave at the Metropolitan Club last week. The talk was the first in a series related to his book Grind: A No Bull**** Approach to Take Your Business from Concept to Cash-Flow, which details some of the things McFall has learned in his 20 plus years in the coffee business.

McFall began his tenure at the first Biggby Coffee location in East Lansing, Michigan, as a barista, where he met his partner, Bob Fish. Founded in 1995, the company opened several locations in Michigan in the late nineties, before beginning to franchise in 1998. Biggby now has nearly 250 locations in nine states, according to McFall’s book. During his talk, McFall drew upon passages in Grind as well as episodes from his life to dispense what he hoped was down-to-earth and accessible advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. He spoke for about 45 minutes.

“What I’m going to talk about is what I know,” he said at the beginning of the talk. “I support people in opening businesses, the intention being that that business, that asset, will help contribute to that franchise owner building a life that they love.

“So, I’m going to try to make stone soup, microprocessors and poop make sense in that conversation.”

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