Onyx Coffee Lab

Jon and Andrea Allen formed Onyx Coffee Lab in 2012 after spending time from high school and beyond in the coffee business. They met working as baristas at Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters in Fayetteville, and not only did their relationship bloom, so did their passion for coffee.

“My wife and I, we have both worked in coffee, I mean all through high school and beyond from starting out as baristas where we both worked in Fayetteville. We’ve always been infatuated with it,” said Jon.

Andrea managed two coffee cafes when she was younger, while Jon studied micro roasting and traveled through Central and South America as well as East Africa to learn the coffee trade.

Now in their early 40s and having more than a decade of experience as coffee entrepreneurs under their belt, the Allens have taken Onyx to dizzying heights. Onyx Coffee has developed into a diverse revenue model that includes retail shops, business-to-business (B2B) coffee sales, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales.

The B2B and D2C business has been experiencing record-breaking growth, but don’t discount the retail side of their company.

Onyx is set to open three new retail cafes in April, which will bring their retail establishments to seven. Two of the shops will be on the new Walmart campus in Bentonville, and another is part of a big buildout in downtown Springdale on Emma Avenue that will feature a major chocolate operation.

There are also plans to open an Onyx Coffee at Northwest Arkansas National Airport and on the Fayetteville Square. The Allens also hint that another Bentonville location is on the drawing board. That would quickly take 13-year-old Onyx Coffee from four to seven to 10 locations. 

“In our cafes, our goal is that you feel welcomed, seen, and heard and that whatever coffee or pastry you choose fits what you’re looking for,” according to the company’s website. “It’s the service at the very end that completes the supply chain. There’s an art to it. We want our cafes to be full of people from our community working, reading and having conversations.”

Price transparency is another tenet that grounds Onyx Coffee Lab. Each coffee they serve is accompanied by its pricing and trade data, meaning you can see what they paid for it, what it scored, and from whom they bought it.

Editor’s note: This company is a finalist for the Northwest Arkansas Outstanding Business Awards — Large Business category. Winners will be announced at a luncheon on April 9.