Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways
- Darren Spicer built Clutch Coffee Bar around energy, consistency, and authenticity, proving that strong branding can turn everyday transactions into loyal relationships.
- Spicer left a stable corporate career to sign his first business deal while on his honeymoon.
- From donating proceeds to honor a fallen officer to supporting local nonprofits, Spicer shows that great brands are built by showing up for the people they serve.
Darren Spicer is a sports nut. He hasn’t missed an Oregon Ducks home football game in 18 years.
For most people, that would mean a short drive to Eugene on Saturdays. For Spicer, it means a seven-year bi-coastal commute from North Carolina to Oregon. “I drive or fly back for every home game,” he says. “Eighteen years straight. My family thinks I’m crazy, but it’s my happy place.”
That kind of devotion says everything about how Spicer builds things. He doesn’t do halfway.
Spicer is the co-founder and CEO of Clutch Coffee Bar, a drive-thru coffee company. The name Clutch came straight out of his love for sports. “When a player delivers in crunch time, they’re clutch,” Spicer says. “That’s what we want to be for our customers every day, every transaction.”
The Three Cs of Business
Spicer says he built Clutch on what he calls the Three Cs: Customer, Culture, and Community.
The first C is Customer. Every interaction should feel like a win. “We exist to serve positive energy,” Spicer says. “That is why we are here.”
The second is Culture. In the early days, Spicer and his co-founders lived inside their first stores, training crews, closing shifts, and learning what kind of company they wanted to be. The goal was not just speed but energy, the kind customers feel the second they pull up to the window. “We wanted people who believed in what we were doing,” he says. “Not just people clocking in for a job.”
The third C, Community, is the one that grounds it all.
When an officer was killed in the line of duty near Clutch’s first location, the town didn’t know how to respond. Spicer helped give them a place to start. His team donated 100 percent of sales from a single day, raising more than $8,000. That effort became the seed money for Sheldon’s K9s, a nonprofit that now supports retired police dogs.
“It wasn’t about money,” Spicer says. “It was about giving people a way to come together. That’s what community really means.”
For Spicer, being clutch isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing up for your customers, your team, and the people around you.
Taking The Shot
Before building his own coffee brand, Spicer was working in medical device sales, traveling the country and earning a comfortable living. At the same time, he was managing a Dutch Bros Coffee location in California. That experience, combined with his corporate background, gave him the confidence to take a chance on himself and launch Clutch.
“I didn’t want to have regret 20 years later,” he says. “I was passionate about this industry. I saw the opportunity, but I didn’t want to look back and realize I never had the guts to take the shot.”
His years in sales gave him a front-row seat to the country’s emerging markets. He spent time in the Carolinas and noticed something missing. “There was no real drive-thru coffee presence,” Spicer says. “People were driving miles out of their way to find one. That told me there was room to build something special.”
The West Coast was crowded with coffee chains, but the Carolinas had commuters, growth, and affordable real estate. When two shops went up for sale north of Charlotte, he saw his opening. The timing wasn’t perfect. He was on his honeymoon in Australia. But when the call came in, he didn’t hesitate.
“I signed the paperwork at five in the morning,” Spicer says. “My wife looked at me and said, ‘Can we not do this right now?’ I told her, ‘This is it. This is the move.’”
That moment became the start of Clutch Coffee and a new kind of life. He took an 80 percent pay cut when he left medical sales to focus on the business full-time.
“We figured if we failed, we’d fail fast,” he says. “But I wasn’t going to let fear stop me.”
The risk paid off. Clutch now operates 15 drive-thru coffee locations across the Carolinas. The company hasn’t franchised, a deliberate choice that lets Spicer protect the culture and the brand.
At its core, Clutch is about action. The kind that turns vision into reality. “I tell my team all the time,” he says. “You can’t win if you don’t take the shot.”
The next shot is even bigger.
Spicer envisions Clutch Coffee reaching 100 locations in the next five years, each one built around the same playbook of customer, culture, and community. “We want to own the Carolinas and grow from there,” he says. “But it has to feel like Clutch, no matter where you go.”
About Restaurant Influencers
Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.
Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast.
Key Takeaways
- Darren Spicer built Clutch Coffee Bar around energy, consistency, and authenticity, proving that strong branding can turn everyday transactions into loyal relationships.
- Spicer left a stable corporate career to sign his first business deal while on his honeymoon.
- From donating proceeds to honor a fallen officer to supporting local nonprofits, Spicer shows that great brands are built by showing up for the people they serve.
Darren Spicer is a sports nut. He hasn’t missed an Oregon Ducks home football game in 18 years.
For most people, that would mean a short drive to Eugene on Saturdays. For Spicer, it means a seven-year bi-coastal commute from North Carolina to Oregon. “I drive or fly back for every home game,” he says. “Eighteen years straight. My family thinks I’m crazy, but it’s my happy place.”
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
