Pilots drink a fair amount of coffee. Taxi up to an FBO and chances are high there is a some sort of coffee available. Quality and taste is debatable. V(max) Coffee seeks to change that.
The new coffee company debuted at this year’s Northwest Aviation Conference in Washington state, with the stated mission of from farm to cup at “maximum possible speed,” says James Cummiskey, managing director.
Cummiskey, an ATP-rated pilot, is also a Special Coffee Association of America Licensed Q-Grader.
When I caught up with Cummiskey at the show, he laid out a litany of ideas and plans for the future of coffee, real estate investment, FBO services, and “socially sustainable coffee.”
My first question: “How much coffee have you had today?” He laughed and replied, “Do I seem fired up?” Uh…yeah.
No matter, his display at the show was continuously full of visitors eager to sample what he calls “authentic specialty coffee.”
As a one-cup-a-day drinker, I’m in no way a connoisseur, but I have enjoyed the samples Cummiskey sent me home with.
Of particular interest to me was Cummiskey’s interest in the FBO side of business. He’s tired of “questionable quality coffee” and hopes to entice a number of FBOs to trade no-cost-to-them coffee for space, electricity and internet connectivity to operate an iPad-based kiosk.
The kiosk will promote V(max) Coffee’s other programs, which include investment opportunities in coffee farms, flying tours, and retail coffee sales.
V(max) coffee is not cheap.
“This won’t displace Starbucks or other mass-market coffee,” continued Cummiskey. But similar to an “expensive bottle of wine” for special occasions, he hopes pilots, and non-pilots, will enjoy the occasional “authentic specialty coffee.”
Cummiskey is a high energy Alaskan who fell in love with Colombia — so much so that he moved there and married a local. He also moved his 1946 Globe Swift from Alaska to Colombia.
Cummiskey is a veteran of multiple start-up businesses funded by Microsoft, Qualcomm and Sprint, so it is interesting to hear his ideas as they relate to the aviation marketplace. An industry so firmly rooted in traditions and regulation that it must appear an anachronism when viewed in a certain way.
So, if your FBO could use a fresh-up to its coffee offerings, you might want to point them toward V(max) Coffee.
For more information: VmaxCoffee.com
