
It is a cool and rainy morning in New York City, and Cheryl Petit de Mange wants a cup of coffee. Two big, bright Starbucks shops beckon from 200 yards in either direction. But Petit de Mange instead joins 14 other hardy java junkies crowded around what looks like a bright-orange ice cream truck. She’s waiting to buy a 12-ounce cappuccino for $2—$1.68 less than what she’d pay across the street. “It’s not just about price or better customer service,” yells Petit de Mange over the soul music blasting from the truck’s sound system.”Why would you go to Starbucks when you can support a neighborhood business like this?” She has just summed up how a pair of entrepreneurs, equipped with nothing more sophisticated than a refurbished electric-company truck, keep their coffee business percolating despite being sandwiched between two outlets of a popular and respected national chain.
Everything Mud founders Greg Northrop and Nina Berott do is designed to distinguish their business from Starbucks and other national brands. “My profit margins probably aren’t as great as Starbucks,” concedes Northrop, 40, who says he could make a “decent profit” if he weren’t putting so much of his earnings back into the business. Northrop wants to boost sales, which grew to $520,000 last year, up from $293,000 in 2002, the year he added a second truck now on Wall Street.
Excerpted from ‘Beat the Beast: Selling Price’ by Maggie Overfelt. Published in Forbes Small Business, September 2004.












