Kent Justice, News4JAX anchor/reporter
Published:
Kent Justice, News4JAX anchor/reporter
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville entrepreneur who once managed money on Wall Street is now helping build one of Northeast Florida’s fastest-growing coffee brands.
Eun Cho, co-founder and CEO of Haymaker Coffee Company, told This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition that his drive to build a company traces back to his family’s immigrant story—and the example set by his parents after moving from Korea to the United States.
“I was eight years old. So when we got here, I started first grade again. Couldn’t speak the language and my parents didn’t speak the language, so it was kind of tough growing up,” Cho said.
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Cho said he learned business—and grit—watching his parents start from scratch, eventually becoming business owners. “When we came here, my parents didn’t speak the language. They didn’t have a college degree, nor a high school education,” he said. “My dad pumped gas… Eventually my dad bought a gas station with the money he was able to save.”
That work ethic helped shape Haymaker’s identity: coffee for people chasing big goals.
The company name and logo were built to reflect that. Cho explained the boar—complete with boxing gloves—is intentional: “It looks rugged… What that boar represents [is] all the hard work people are putting in to pursue their dreams,” he said. “When you’re going after your dream every day, you’re fighting for your dreams.”
And the “Haymaker” part? “Well, you gotta throw some haymakers to knock out the chip one day,” Cho said.
Haymaker launched during the pandemic and initially tried to grow as an e-commerce business—an approach Cho says nearly ended the company. “Initially, we started out as an e-commerce company… [That] strategy was going to lead us to bankruptcy,” he said. So the team regrouped, got directly in front of customers at markets and events, and refined the brand and product.
A major break came when Haymaker landed an opportunity at Jacksonville University, Kent Justice’s alma mater. Cho said once the campus switched to Haymaker, “the satisfaction, the consumer joy for the coffee went through the roof.”
That JU success helped open doors elsewhere—sometimes unexpectedly. Cho recalled sending samples to campuses until the right person tried it. “The food service director at Clemson was there,” Cho said. “So he saw my bag, he tried a cup of coffee, and I got an email… ‘Would you mind coming up to Clemson and having a discussion about that?’”
Now, Haymaker is on multiple campuses and aiming bigger. “We think that we’re gonna be a national brand in the next two or three years,” Cho said. “We’re in seven colleges right now. We’re gonna probably be in another 25, 50 in the next three or four years.”
Cho also said the company wants to keep investing locally as it grows—supporting efforts like Duval County’s Teacher of the Year program. “We want to be a company that have a positive impact in the community,” he said.
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Kent Justice co-anchors these newscasts on News4JAX: 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Weeknights. He also reports on government and politics, hosting "This Week in Jacksonville," Channel 4's hot topics and politics public affairs show each Sunday morning at 9 a.m.
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