Focus Drives Massive Growth for Noblesville Coffee Company

Noblesville-based Lifeboost Coffee has seen major growth over the past few years. In fact, the company was last month named the No. 1 fastest-growing company in the Midwest by Inc. magazine, and last year, ranked No. 80 on the publication’s annual Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing companies in the country. Founder Dr. Charles Livingston, a chiropractor by trade, says the company’s coffee is produced from the healthiest beans on the planet and fills a gap in the market for healthy coffee.

Livingston discussed the company’s growth and health benefits in an interview with Business of Health Reporter Kylie Veleta.

The Midwest list ranks companies based on percentage of revenue growth between 2018 and 2020. Lifeboost reported more than 9,100% growth during that period.

Livingston says the growth came down to focus.

“We focused on [direct-to-consumer] only from our website. We didn’t focus on retail and at that time, we did not focus on Amazon either, and we were only focusing on our signature roast,” he said. “We also focused on customer first; that’s honestly our secret sauce is just putting customers first.”

Livingston says the discovery of the health benefits of the coffee came almost by accident.

“As people age, coffee, since it’s acidic by nature, starts to give people acid reflux or bloat them or hurts their stomach; they have digestive issues,” he said. “I noticed that when I drank it, I wouldn’t have the stomach issues that normal coffee would give me, and then I would get tons of testimonials from other customers that would tell us that.”

He says because of that feedback, the company tested the pH levels of the coffee and found it was less acidic than other types of coffee.

The company faced a potential shutdown in 2018 after losing its original supplier of beans in Nicaragua, but Livingston says demand forced him to press on.

“Luckily, we had so many customers that just kept begging for the coffee that it pushed us forward to keep going, and we worked it out. We found some other suppliers. We created a checklist called Trust Pure that allows us to go to any country and find the cleanest beans.”

Livingston says plans are in place to begin selling Lifeboost Coffee in retail locations soon.