The cup of coffee that gets you through the day may be the product of an ISU alumnus.

Danny O’Neill, nicknamed the “Bean Baron,” is the owner and founder of The Roasterie, Inc., the brand of coffee available in eight different locations on campus.

He graduated from Iowa State with a double major in international studies and political science 10 years before beginning his journey in the coffee business.

O’Neill spoke about the beginning of his career Wednesday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

O’Neill began the lecture by expressing his love for Iowa, not only as an Iowa native, but as an experienced world traveler. He spoke fondly of his childhood on the farm in Denison, Iowa, remarking that he was driving tractors by the age of 5.

O’Neill’s passion for coffee stems from a high school trip to Costa Rica, where he was a foreign exchange student seeking fun experiences. It was in Costa Rica when he first went coffee picking.

“Sometimes when you’re going through things you know it’s a turning point,” O’Neill said regarding the experience.

After graduating college he began work in sales. The corporate job didn’t prove to be the course of life O’Neill wished to follow, causing him to think back to coffee.

“I couldn’t shake it,” O’Neill said of coffee. “I started dreaming about it.”

Initially, he told his boss he was taking a year of absence, although they both knew he wasn’t coming back.

“I felt liberated and then I could go off and do what I needed to do and that was roast coffee,” O’Neill said.

For months in the beginning, O’Neill went around day by day attempting to sell his coffee.

“Every single day, I was just absolutely scared to death,” O’Neill said.

He built his company by copying the model used by Ben and Jerry’s, the popular ice cream company. Slowly, he accumulated more and more sales, hired employees and built up the company.

The company wasn’t created without hardships, and O’Neill lamented on not being able to pay himself or employees for months at a time. During this time he came within three days of having his home repossessed. 

O’Neill cited his fear of both his father’s disapproval and embarrassment as what kept him going through these tough times.

He encourages failure in children, so they don’t experience it for the first time later in life, claiming that those who experience failure as young adults aren’t able to handle the situation with no prior experience.

The Roasterie, Inc. is now a highly successful company, servicing espresso bars, coffee houses, fine restaurants, high-end grocers, offices and retail accounts. It also includes three Roasterie Cafés.

“The biggest success factor for a company is hiring happy people,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill puts a huge emphasis on hiring employees who are not only happy but who also display good judgement, make good decisions and are curious.

“You’ve gotta be curious,” O’Neill said. “If you really want to get along in any endeavor, you have to be curious.”

As for the future of the company, customers have a say in what will come next. O’Neill factors in customer satisfaction about decisions on new products.

“We’re going to meet the customers where they want to be met,” he said of one of the company’s newest endeavors — drive-through coffee bars.

His level of success inspired students at Iowa State like Eliza Sibley, freshman in pre-graphic design.

“Listening to [O’Neill’s] campus lecture really showed me that hard work and perseverance can really pay off in the end,” Sibley said. “That sometimes things don’t work out how you want them to, but, if you stick with it, it can turn out better than you originally thought.”