Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: Shawnee Mission North senior Ben Cloud learns business skills at North and East to run Cloud’s Coffee Company

They’re finally here. 

Ground and whole coffee beans arrived at his front doorstep like gifts wrapped in three one-foot-by-one-foot packages. To anyone else, it was July 19, 2021. But to third generation entrepreneur and Shawnee Mission North senior Ben Cloud, it was Christmas.

“When I held the [coffee] bag in my hands, I swear to God it was hot,” Ben said. “I just didn’t even have words. I was so excited.”

Ben’s childhood dream of owning a business was now in reach. After twelve months of extensive Google searches, sleepless nights to make legal deadlines and hundreds of coffee samples, this marked day one of operating his first startup — Cloud’s Coffee Company.

“All the hard work was [in the bags],” Ben said. “It was tangible. I could feel it. I could see it. I don’t think I stopped smiling for the next couple days. It was seriously one of the happiest moments of my life.”

After founding the company in April as an S corporation — a company exempt from income taxes — Ben could finally sell his first product: Bali Blue, a specialty grade coffee bean he orders from Bali, Indonesia. Ben established himself as the CEO and sole owner of the company’s stock. In one year, he’s sold over 2,500 12-ounce bags of coffee beans.

Cloud’s Coffee is available in whole bean or ground 12-ounce bags online at cloudscoffeecompany.com or through sporadic pop-ups at local shops like Made in Kansas City.

But his company is ready for its next step: investing.

After taking Entrepreneurship, Business Management and Marketing Principles at North, Ben enrolled in East business teacher Kevin Wiesner’s Investing class to help take Cloud’s Coffee to the next level. 

North didn’t have enough student interest to offer the class, so Ben travels to East three times a week for second hour. Learning about the stock market and investment opportunities, Ben sees the class as his “extended research” to fuel Cloud’s Coffee’s short-and long-term goals.  

In the next year, Ben hopes to increase the volume of wholesale customers overall by targeting larger clientele that may buy the 12-ounce bags in bulk to sell on their shelves or the grounds too prepare as a cup of coffee in a cafe setting. 

Alongside his five-year plan of establishing roots in the community with larger wholesale customers, Ben hopes to use his knowledge from Weisner’s Investing class to invest his profits in the stock market. After saving his profits, he wants to open a cafe or public roasterie.

“My class could help him start forward thinking more,” Weisner said. “Thinking not just a year from now, five years from now, 15 years, 30 years… because with people his age, that’s what you need to be thinking about: how can I set myself up long term and make sure [I’m] financially secure long-term?”

North business teacher Cody Fothergill has taught Ben in three classes since the research stage of building a company. In January and February of 2021, Ben brainstormed business ideas — like a clothing line or bamboo products — while Forthergill acted as a facilitator and guide. But, once he found the specialty grade coffee market through hours of google research, he knew his business plan.

In his sophomore year Entrepreneurship class, Fothergill guided Ben on running a business, including “the details” of the distributional process and legal aspects. In Business Marketing class, Fothergill taught him that entrepreneurship means managing employees, not just himself. This year, in Marketing Principles, Ben already knows much of the details of business management and marketing strategies, according to Fothergill. 

As a 17-year-old CEO, Ben is still learning about the business world, including mutual funds and Roth IRA investment accounts. But for a teenager, Ben has proven his keenness for entrepreneurship through his professional presence and extensive business knowledge, Fothergill said.

“From a business perspective, Ben’s always seemed like an older person,” Fothergill said. “He just understood what it would take. He knew it would be incredibly difficult, and he was able to make his business venture a priority. There aren’t a lot of high schoolers that would or could do that.”

Ben spends weekends at his wooden desk in Blip Roasters, a roasting company in downtown KC, stamping each coffee bag with its roast date and ensuring orders are shipped the same day they’re roasted. But on weeknights, Ben huddles by the lamplight on his bedroom desk, googling investment opportunities and managing his 12 person team for Cloud’s Coffee. This diligence is what makes Ben a successful business owner, Forthergill said.

“Ben has done it all,” Forthergill said. “He can get unmotivated or procrastinate on some other things, but when it comes to his xbusiness — it’s part of the expression — but he’s all business. He knows it inside and out.”