Nick Bayer is the first to tell you that when he maxed out his American Express card to create Saxbys Coffee in 2005, he didn’t know much about running a business. He also wasn’t much of a coffee drinker. He did know he wanted to fuse the intimate, community spirit of a local coffee shop with the consistently delicious product of a big name coffee brand. And he did know he wanted to work with outgoing, detail oriented, and disciplined (O.D.D.) people dedicated to making life better.

Saxbys has since grown from one café in Atlanta to a 30-unit, hospitality business with a mission: Make Life Better. (Nick has also grown into a daily 4 shot iced Americano drinker.) Fueled by coffee and O.D.D. team members, Saxbys is headquartered in Center City Philadelphia with a presence in 10 states and on a number of college campuses — and growing fast (30% a year fast). Saxbys has frequently been named “Best Coffee” and “Best Coffee House” in many of the markets it serves, including Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Dallas. In April 2015, Saxbys opened its first experiential learning cafe. The product of a partnership between Saxbys and Drexel’s Close School of Entrepreneurship, it’s the nation’s first entirely student-run café where students earn credit through a University cooperative education (co-op) program. 

A consummate team captain since Little League (and twice for Cornell University’s baseball team), Nick loves empowering his team members and encouraging everyone he meets to believe in the Saxbys mission and core values. Nick is currently the Entrepreneur in Residence at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and faculty member at Drexel University, where he teaches a course in entrepreneurial franchising. He serves on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters SEPA and has been a Big Brother for seven years. He is a native of Chicago and resides in Center City Philadelphia with his wife and son.