From Happy and Fast to a Customer Centered Rebrand

The distinctive bright purple building and the mobile-centric coffee shop with the ambiguous name made a splash on the Lakeland scene when happyfastdelicious opened in May 2023, but owner Andrew Nesi and his business partner Katie LeCapitane didn’t find sustainable success with that model. Instead of quitting, they have simply retooled, taking the feedback of community members to heart and integrating them into the changes under the newly re-launched name of Andrew’s Coffee at the same spot on South Florida Ave.

“We heard that people wanted drive-thru ordering, stronger coffee and lower prices. So, we added a drive-thru, premium locally-roasted signature espresso, and about 75 percent of our menu items are now less than $5,” said LeCapitaine, who is also the shop manager.

Other changes made to the coffee shop included: painting the building white, replacing patio furniture and adding non-coffee drinks to the menu.

“We want to be an everyday drink spot for the Lakeland community, so we care about making the improvements that will bring people back day after day,” LeCapitaine said.

While the name has changed, the logo made up of three exclamation marks remains. 

“We kept the logo because it still captures the idea of what we want people to feel,” LeCapitaine said. 

The logo also represents Nesi’s personality, and despite crowd confusion over the exclamation marks resembling french fries, Nesi has remained confident in it—so confident he even got it tattooed on his left forearm, (which unintentionally has meant everyone can see it when he hands drinks out the drive thru window).  

“The logo was meant to capture the best parts of myself: exuberant, a little over-caffeinated, always smiling, and hopefully exciting other people,” the 37-year-old New York native said. “I’m really proud of how much of myself I’ve poured into the business—and whether we succeed or fail, this is a time and experience that have taught me a ton, and I wanted to memorialize that with the tattoo.”

“We want to be an everyday drink spot for the Lakeland community, so we care about making the improvements that will bring people back day after day.”

– Business Partner and Shop Manager Katie LeCapitane

Andrew’s Coffee Customers will notice there are a couple of fun experiences on the menu that are foreign to traditional coffee spots. One of them is the 10-cent gummy worms. This idea stemmed from Nesi’s love of candy and his first job, where he worked in a candy factory.

Another fun experience is the decorative straws which have included: rubber ducks, creepy doll heads and a gingerbread-shaped straw. In correlation to these fun straws, Andrew’s Coffee has an app where customers can customize their own drinks and save their concoctions for others to try.  

“We think a lot about the ways in which we can make a person’s day a little bit brighter. So even if we’re just seeing them for a moment, we want that moment to be the one that makes them feel cared for and important,” said LeCapitaine. 

To stay connected with the community of Lakeland, Andrew’s Coffee uses Instagram (@andrews__coffee), where staff post entertaining videos of the shop, drink and food recommendations, and engaging activities such as scavenger hunts. A few months ago they hosted a scavenger hunt and they posted clues on Instagram about where they hid banana-shaped rubber ducks throughout Lakeland. When people found the ducks they could take them to Andrew’s Coffee to receive five free drinks to share with family and friends. 

Nesi and his team have their sights set on stabilizing and growing their business—and he credits the second chance opportunity to Lakelanders. 

“The best outcome has been, by far, the way customers have been rooting for us and giving us another chance. We have a lot more work to do to build a successful business, but it’s much more fun with people cheering us on!” he said.