{"id":304206,"date":"2026-06-11T19:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/304206\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T19:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:03:26","slug":"this-week-in-jacksonville-business-edition-haymakers-founder-on-hard-work-pivots-and-rapid-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/304206\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Jacksonville – Business Edition: Haymaker\u2019s founder on hard work, pivots, and rapid growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville entrepreneur who once managed money on Wall Street is now helping build one of Northeast Florida\u2019s fastest-growing coffee brands.<\/p>\n

Eun Cho, co-founder and CEO of Haymaker Coffee Company, told This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition that his drive to build a company traces back to his family\u2019s immigrant story\u2014and the example set by his parents after moving from Korea to the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was eight years old. So when we got here, I started first grade again. Couldn\u2019t speak the language and my parents didn\u2019t speak the language, so it was kind of tough growing up,\u201d Cho said.<\/p>\n

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Cho said he learned business\u2014and grit\u2014watching his parents start from scratch, eventually becoming business owners. \u201cWhen we came here, my parents didn\u2019t speak the language. They didn\u2019t have a college degree, nor a high school education,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dad pumped gas\u2026 Eventually my dad bought a gas station with the money he was able to save.\u201d<\/p>\n

That work ethic helped shape Haymaker\u2019s identity: coffee for people chasing big goals.<\/p>\n

The company name and logo were built to reflect that. Cho explained the boar\u2014complete with boxing gloves\u2014is intentional: \u201cIt looks rugged\u2026 What that boar represents [is] all the hard work people are putting in to pursue their dreams,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re going after your dream every day, you\u2019re fighting for your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the \u201cHaymaker\u201d part? \u201cWell, you gotta throw some haymakers to knock out the chip one day,\u201d Cho said.<\/p>\n

Haymaker launched during the pandemic and initially tried to grow as an e-commerce business\u2014an approach Cho says nearly ended the company. \u201cInitially, we started out as an e-commerce company\u2026 [That] strategy was going to lead us to bankruptcy,\u201d he said. So the team regrouped, got directly in front of customers at markets and events, and refined the brand and product.<\/p>\n

A major break came when Haymaker landed an opportunity at Jacksonville University, Kent Justice\u2019s alma mater. Cho said once the campus switched to Haymaker, \u201cthe satisfaction, the consumer joy for the coffee went through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

That JU success helped open doors elsewhere\u2014sometimes unexpectedly. Cho recalled sending samples to campuses until the right person tried it. \u201cThe food service director at Clemson was there,\u201d Cho said. \u201cSo he saw my bag, he tried a cup of coffee, and I got an email\u2026 \u2018Would you mind coming up to Clemson and having a discussion about that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Haymaker is on multiple campuses and aiming bigger. \u201cWe think that we\u2019re gonna be a national brand in the next two or three years,\u201d Cho said. \u201cWe\u2019re in seven colleges right now. We\u2019re gonna probably be in another 25, 50 in the next three or four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cho also said the company wants to keep investing locally as it grows\u2014supporting efforts like Duval County\u2019s Teacher of the Year program. \u201cWe want to be a company that have a positive impact in the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville entrepreneur who once managed money on Wall Street is now helping build one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7364,116,118,117,7363],"class_list":["post-304206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-business-edition","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-this-week-in-jacksonville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}