Photo courtesy of Bullet Coffee
Bullet Coffee owner Brantley Visser said the Greystone shop will have some of the same drinks as his other business, Red Mountain Expresso in Homewood, and the same general concept of emphasizing speed and face-to-face interaction.
Brantley Visser knows coffee and is on the brink of bringing something new to the industry.
Before becoming the owner of Red Mountain Expresso in Homewood, Visser worked at Starbucks for five years, going on to attend culinary school at Jefferson State Community College.
Initially, he was only interested in the food side of culinary art, but after graduating, he was offered the opportunity to manage Red Mountain Expresso alongside owner Chris Zarzur for three years. Coffee soon became his niche.
When Zarzur decided to leave the food industry, Visser took a chance, bought him out and has worked as the owner and manager of Red Mountain Expresso ever since.
Now, having been in the business for 11 years and sticking with his love of coffee, Visser and business partner Sam Plaia are preparing to open a second coffee shop with a similar menu to Red Mountain Expresso, but a different look.
Bullet Coffee will bring a cozy, neighborhood coffee shop appeal to its U.S. 280 location in Greystone, in front of Walmart and next to Lloyd’s and Dairy Queen. Visser said the new shop will have some of the same drinks as Red Mountain, with the same general concept of emphasizing speed, efficiency and face-to-face interaction. He plans to have baristas take orders outside on iPads.
“We want everything to be face-to-face, no speaker box,” Visser said. “That’s kind of what separates us from the big chain, fast food restaurants.”
In addition to serving signature Red Mountain Expresso drinks like “Hollywood” (a caramel, hazelnut and cinnamon coffee), “Broadway” (a caramel and white chocolate coffee) and other popular brews, Visser will be working with the meal prep company Meal-Fit to provide ready-to-eat bistro boxes for customers to grab and eat on the go.
Additionally, Bullet Coffee will feature a different flavored coffee everyday, with a staple being toasted southern pecan.
“I think our specialty drinks are really what separates us, and we do have more of those as well,” Visser said. “We’ll usually carry about six or seven, but we’ll always be rotating different specialty drinks.”
Building a relationship with customers is also an important factor. Visser said at Red Mountain, the baristas know regular customers by name and drink, so they rarely have to order because they’re known by face.
Bullet Coffee’s building is set to be completed by Nov. 13, with an opening date around late November. In creating Bullet Coffee, Visser said he and his team are trying to merge “the three big things”: high-end beverages and food, face-to-face customer interaction and attention to speed.
“We want to be very fast. We want to be the fastest drive-thru in Birmingham and that’s really what we’re going to pride ourselves in,” he said. “Everything is about convenience these days, and how fast you can get your stuff and how fast can you make it, so that’s really where we come in. That’s really what we want to be known for,” he said. “The high quality, speed, but also the quality of beverage as well.”
