Denis Vaden — State 5 Coffee and their recent acquisition
With Denis Vaden — State 5 Coffee and their recent acquisition
In short
Denis Vaden talks through State 5 Coffee's acquisition of Coffee Cafe — the country's biggest mobile coffee company, bought on 15 November with 40 units — plus cold brew, an alcoholic rooibos iced tea, and his Scryb meeting journal. Alongside the business detail he is unusually candid about panic attacks, a lifelong hatred of money, and the stubbornness that keeps him going. The one takeaway: State 5 acquired Coffee Cafe, its franchise and 40 mobile units, on 15 November, and is rebranding them as State 5 Coffee Cafe.
What does a typical day look like for Denis Vaden?
He wakes around 4.35 or 5am to train, and is at work by half six or seven. He has moved from CrossFit to running with a half Ironman goal by mid-year, swims a kilometre or two at midday to revitalise himself, and sleeps early — usually by half eight or nine.
How did he stop letting work define him?
By making a conscious effort and building a team. He used to do everything himself, from calls and deliveries to invoicing, working until midnight daily. His office has a goal wall carrying only personal goals for the ten-person team; one of his own was to stop working late at night and become a human being.
What did State 5 actually acquire?
Coffee Cafe, described as the biggest mobile coffee company in the country, bought on 15 November from a mom-and-pop operation. It comes with 38 franchisees plus two of their own units — 40 mobile franchises trading at events including 702 Walk the Talk, park runs and the Rand Easter Show.
Why is cold brew central to the mobile plan?
It balances out seasonality — mobile operators make fortunes in winter and struggle in summer, so a cold offering fills the gap. Cold brew involves grinding beans, steeping them in water for about 24 hours, then filtering. It has double to triple the caffeine of normal coffee and a distinctive dark chocolate flavour.
How will franchisees get weekday income rather than only events?
State 5 is finding permanent sites — schools, office parks — so franchisees trade Monday to Friday and keep events at weekends. A campaign in development offers free coffee in perpetuity to anyone who refers a viable permanent site, for as long as the cart stays there.
Is Denis as relentlessly upbeat as he appears?
No. He says he sits at home at night having panic attacks he doesn't know how to deal with, unsure whether to drive himself to hospital. His personal failures would fill three books or an encyclopedia. What carries him is what he calls stubbornness, stupidity and perseverance — the working title of a book.
Why did he spend years hating money?
Because money was the one thing his parents fought about, despite loving each other deeply for forty years, and his father went bankrupt early. He grew up seeing money as the devil and profit as a dirty word, which he now recognises as self-sabotage. Only recently did he conclude he deserves it.
What is Scryb and how did it come about?
A structured meeting journal Denis designed for himself after finding his many meetings had no structure. It has an index, records who he met, objectives and actions for both sides. Launched in April last year, it has drawn corporate orders from MUA Insurance Underwriters and Famous Brands on roughly five hours a week.
What matters most in whether a business succeeds?
Timing, then the jockey, then the idea. Denis cites a TED talk analysing a thousand businesses, from Apple to a corner cafe, which ranked those three factors in that order, with operations, cashflow and investment below. Cold brew took almost four years of taking errors on the chin.
In their words
This sounds weird, but I'm probably working less now than I've ever worked in my entire life.
You're trying to be the best rugby player, a fantastic gymnast and a great ballerina at the same time.
I sit at home at night often having panic attacks on my own that I don't know how to deal with.
So I grew up with money being the devil.
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna allow my glass to fill completely and I'm gonna donate the overflow.
Key takeaways
- State 5 acquired Coffee Cafe, its franchise and 40 mobile units, on 15 November, and is rebranding them as State 5 Coffee Cafe.
- Pairing weekday permanent sites with weekend events turns a mobile cart operator into an actual business.
- Sleep is what makes early starts sustainable — Denis calls it his superpower and doubts he could have built the business without it.
- Chasing opportunity outside your core business, often driven by cash pressure, is like trying to be a rugby player, a gymnast and a ballerina at once.
- The people who appear consistently upbeat may still be having panic attacks alone at night; the difference is getting up the next morning anyway.
- Filling your own glass first and donating the overflow is more sustainable than giving everything away at half full.
Show notes
On this episode I chat to Denis Vaden about State 5 Coffee and their latest acquisitions and making State 5 mobile. Denis is a great guest and well worth a listen he shares some of his secrets to success and how he achieves work, life balance.
Frequently asked questions
Are State 5 mobile franchises available?
Yes, but Denis says he is more interested in finding sites and locations at present. There are already several interested franchisees and he intends to be very picky, preferring to pair a franchisee with a site.
What is Miss T?
An alcoholic rooibos iced tea served on tap, currently in about twelve outlets. A planned rollout into 600 taps fell away when the partner company sold its taps to a competitor, so the product is being canned for restaurants and bottle stores.
What is cold brew and tonic?
Cold brew topped with tonic, and a little vanilla syrup if you want to get dirty. Denis says drinkers taste sweet, fruit and bitter simultaneously and their brains can't compute it — he wants to run a campaign called tonic face.
Where can Scryb be bought?
From scryb.me, spelled S-C-R-Y-B.me, which now has e-commerce running. Denis is also building an app to track meeting time and whether meetings were successful, priced at around ten rand a month, expected in roughly three months.
How do you contact Denis?
By email at denis at state5.co.za — Denis spelled with one n, and state5 written as the word state followed by the number five.
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