Devon McConville is a former day trader who owns First Place Coffee, a Phoenix-based coffee truck. McConville first found success after finding a consistent location for the truck.First Place owes its success to social media and a strong customer following. This article is part of "Unlocking Small Business Success," a series providing micro businesses with a road map to growth.

Devon McConville never set out to be a small-business owner — or a barista. She started her career in finance working at a firm in Phoenix when she discovered her life was missing the human connection she found during her coffee breaks.

In 2015, she took a leap of faith, left her well-paying job, and immersed herself in "all things coffee," she told Business Insider.

McConville started as a barista at a local coffee shop, often working a shift and going home to read and watch videos about the world of specialty coffee.

"I just kind of became obsessed with all of it," she said.

Working in the space felt right to McConville, and soon after starting in her new role, she began brainstorming ways to do something more in the coffee industry.

Now, McConville runs a beloved fixture of the Phoenix drink scene: First Place Coffee, a coffee vendor on wheels.

First Place Coffee serves specialty coffee and espresso drinks from a 1970 Chevy P10 truck that regulars know as "Matilda." Even though the truck only comfortably fits three or four baristas, McConville and her team often stir and shake drinks for lines of customers that wrap around the parking lot.

First Place is one of many small businesses that have succeeded by building a strong community around their products and services.

Devon McConville, the owner of First Place Coffee.




Alexandra Cocca




McConville built her business slowly and from the ground up

McConville got the idea to start a mobile coffee shop after her life partner, Terrence Murtagh, mentioned his friend had a truck sitting idle on their property.

McConville said she wasn't aware of many coffee trucks driving around Phoenix then but knew food trucks were already a permanent fixture of the food-service industry.

"I really had this vision to really create a community around a mobile coffee business," McConville said. "I had no idea how I was going to accomplish something like that, but I knew that was really important to me."

For McConville and Murtagh, the truck was a low-risk way of testing the market for mobile coffee vendors and an easier entry into business ownership. Because the business was mobile, the pair didn't need to rent a storefront or invest in high-cost facilities.

McConville told BI that she and Murtagh self-funded First Place's launch. The pair also didn't take out loans, so getting the business off the ground took nearly two years.

"Everything was completely self-funded by us, so that was a great way to start," she added. "Not having any debt right off the bat was huge."

Even though launching the business took time, McConville said it was worth the wait. She said the experience allowed her to find customers, improve the product, and continue to build on the idea of nurturing a community around the business.

"Entrepreneurship can be challenging enough as it is," she said. "So starting a small business in a way that felt right for me has allowed me the benefit of exploring, making mistakes, and learning along the way without the added pressure of financial loans or investors."

Six years after its first sale, First Place brings in between $1,300 and $1,800 over about four hours, a rough increase of about 550% in sales from the business' opening months, according to financial documents verified by BI.

Things fell into place after building an in-person and online following

The first moment McConville felt her business come together was when she settled on the truck's first consistent location at The Rebel Lounge, a locally owned music venue in central Phoenix.

The spot, like other nighttime breweries and bars whose parking lots are home to First Place, is ideal because the truck can use empty parking spots and quiet off-business hours.

But the key, McConville told BI, was when she parked the truck in the same location each week, and locals returned because they knew where to find the business. "We started getting busier, and I had to hire someone," she said, adding that she brought Elizabeth Chung on as one of the team's first baristas in August 2018. "So that was the first moment where I felt like, 'Oh, OK, this is working, and my vision for creating a community feel around the mobile coffee business is happening.'"

From left: Devon McConville and Elizabeth Chung make coffee for customers.




First Place Coffee

Over the last five years, McConville saw her business grow from 36 sales per four-hour period to over 130 transactions in the same span, documents verified by BI show.

Chung told BI she credits the company's surge in new customers to taking risks on Instagram.

McConville had previously succeeded with the platform by posting photos of customers with their coffees and tagging them. The business grew organically as customers shared the pictures with their followers.

When Chung took over the account, she continued posting photos of customers but also shared high-quality shots of the drinks and designed graphics to make the page stand out. First Place Coffee's Instagram has more than 15,000 followers.

"From a logistical standpoint, it was a great way to get new followers and to draw attention to our page by tagging all of those people," she said.

While social media led to the rapid business growth, having a quality product continues to draw customers in.

First Place sources coffee beans from a roastery in Austin and crafts seasonal menu items to create a place where "quality meets creativity," Chung said. Past flavors have included pistachio, orange-blossom water, and baklava, made with flavored syrups measured to the gram.

The line for First Place Coffee in the morning.




Bella Sayegh/ BI




Building a community can bring in repeat customers

While many customers found themselves at First Place originally for the coffee, Kaytee and Austin Hogland told BI they keep coming back for the community. The couple said they've been coming to the truck regularly for over four years and love being able to bring their young kids on the weekends.

"We fell in love with the actual coffee and continue to come back because of the people," Kaytee Hogland said.

Chung said she believes the mobile nature of the truck is what's allowed it to have such a following. Because there's no seating area for people to work or bury themselves in laptops, First Place has become a spot for people to mingle over a cup of coffee.

"The best thing you can do as a business is to inspire some sort of emotional connection with your customers," Chung said. "We're always together in the same place with the same people, I just think maybe it fosters a higher quality of connection with customers."

Some members of the First Place Coffee team in front of the truck.




First Place Coffee

In the five years she's worked at the truck, Chung said she's seen friendships form, romantic partners meet, and kids grow up and become friends. She and McConville believe the energy they've been able to cultivate on their team and with their customers is contagious — and that's why people keep coming back.

"It seems really small, to own and operate a mobile coffee business, but I think it really has a large effect that radiates out from it," McConville said.