SMB Lab partners with local coffee shop

Daphnie Kelly of Modern Grind joined the SMB Lab to discuss the company’s business model and growth goals.

W. P. Carey’s small and medium-sized (SMB) Lab is a group of ASU faculty, business leaders, and development professionals who convene periodically to focus on a specific company’s concerns and brainstorm actionable solutions. Most recently, the lab met on Nov. 22 with Daphnie Kelly, founder and owner of Modern Grind, a coffee, catering, and health food company based in Avondale, Arizona.

“I cannot thank you enough for the time spent brainstorming and sharing your expertise with me,” Kelly told lab participants. “The collection of professionals working together to grow our local community is incredible.”

Created by Gopalakrishnan Mohan, senior associate dean of faculty and director of the School of Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, and Hitendra Chaturvedi, supply chain management professor of practice, and in partnership with the Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce (SWVCC), the SMB Lab met for the second time during the fall 2023 semester on the ASU West Valley campus to discuss Modern Grind’s business strategy. Some of the attendees included Todd Sandrin, vice provost of the ASU West Valley campus and dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, former SMB Lab participant and Latham Industries CEO Tracey Latham, and Amapola Judd-Shimp, vice president of partnerships at the SWVCC.

A former elementary school teacher, Kelly started Modern Grind as a coffee fundraising company in 2017 before opening a brick and mortar location in Avondale in 2020. The company uses locally sourced products and ingredients and aims to provide the community with high-quality coffee and health drink options while giving back to youth, teachers, first responders, and veterans.

After a presentation by Kelly featuring the company’s strengths, weaknesses, and challenges, lab members dispersed into three groups to brainstorm solutions to Modern Grind’s marketing, sales and strategy, and financial challenges before presenting their ideas to the lab. Students from W. P. Carey and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication also participated in the discussion.

Over the next few weeks, Kelly will decide which proposed ideas and solutions to implement into Modern Grind’s business plan, and Chaturvedi will assign student teams and faculty advisors to Modern Grind’s projects to continue to assist the company’s growth.

“Hitendra and Amapola have been so supportive since we met. I'm so appreciative that the lab selected Modern Grind to participate in this amazing opportunity,” said Kelly. “My husband, Bryan, and I are humbled to be involved with such incredibly genuine people.”

Learn more about the SMB Lab.

Photo from left: Jeffrey Garza Walker, member of the Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce; Jenni Thomas, manager of ASU government and community engagement; Kristin Slice, director of community entrepreneurship for Edson E+I; Todd Sandrin, vice provost of the West Valley campus and dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences; Hitendra Chaturvedi, supply chain management professor of practice; and Daphnie Kelly, founder of Modern Grind Coffee. Photo by Alexa Ruona.