The idea for Game Day Coffee Co. came to Ty Taylor one night in October two years ago when he and his wife Tessa Taylor were brainstorming about a potential start-up business. They wanted to start small, and a mobile coffee truck in B/CS sounded unique. “There's already 100 food trucks in town, and at that time, there weren't any coffee trucks,” Ty says.
“We were really excited and passionate about it,” says Tessa, who graduated from Texas A&M University in 2017. “We just jumped in and learned along the way.” Rather than outfitting a truck, they decided to go with a trailer. Ty did most of the trailer conversion himself, adding shelving and electricity to complete the setup. To get down the rhythm of working in such a small space, the Taylors had to learn to maneuver around one another and to find the best arrangement for all the supplies. They had to adapt to making their own hours while building their brand. Previously, Ty was a paramedic, and Tessa worked at a resort. “Being your own boss comes with a lot of responsibility … working every single day, even on your off days,” Ty says.
The entrepreneurs wanted to support local roasters and decided to use coffee beans from Polite Coffee in Bryan and What’s the Buzz in College Station. They served their first cup in June 2020 — right in the middle of the pandemic. “That was kind of tough,” Tessa says. “But there were some outdoor events, and we had more opportunities.” For example, companies that customarily catered food for their office parties, or teams who went out to lunch scheduled outdoor gatherings with Game Day Coffee instead, she says.
Game Day Coffee’s menu includes not only coffee and espresso, with or without flavored syrups, but hot chocolate and teas. A bestseller is the maple cinnamon vanilla latte, and
new additions for the summer are The Champ, an oreo and cream frappuccino and The Cheat Day, a sour gummy worm frappuccino.
In addition to coffee, Game Day Coffee sells lotus energy drinks: the Blitz. “They are really popular up north and not a lot of places have them here. We wanted to be unique,” Tessa says. The Blitz drinks have continued to evolve as the couple plays around with new recipes. “Our personal favorites are the Team Captain, which is pink pineberry, and the Triple Crown which is blue raspberry,” she says.
Game Day Coffee has a partnership with CBS Pros, which enables the company to provide an option for a shot of broad spectrum CBD oil to any drink for an additional cost. Previously, Ty had used some of the CBS Pros products to help alleviate celiac disease symptoms. “We liked the idea of infusing CBD into the drinks to help people who deal with chronic or even occasional pain. One other reason that it mixes great with coffee, or caffeine in general, is because some people get the jitters and anxiety with caffeine, and this helps to counteract those unwanted side effects,” Tessa says. “It's a perfect match so everyone can still enjoy their latte.”
The name Game Day has multiple connotations, according to the Taylors. “We both love to exercise and workout so it has kind of a sports vibe to it,” Tessa says. “But then we also thought that it had a really cool undertone of Christianity and our faith: How each day is game day.” Tessa explains, “To us that means mentally, spiritually, and physically every day, going into the battlefield and putting your game face on,” she says, hence the tagline: “Get Your Game Face On.”
The Taylors started their business with the goal to “provide an encouraging and uplifting experience to the Bryan College Station community,” according to the company website. As the couple fulfills their drink orders, they make it a point to get to know their customers and what’s important to them. A part of their heart is to really get to know people beyond just serving them a cup of java, Tessa says. “We really want to establish relationships with customers and go deeper,” she says. “It can be as simple as giving someone an uplifting word on a bad day to gifting money, services, or drinks to local nonprofits that are working in our community,” she says. “We hope to really make a difference in our community through prayer, giving and volunteering.”
