Brewing Adventure in Alaska: Uncle Leroy’s Coffee Builds Their Brand With BeFunky
It all began with a 1968 bus, converted into a mobile coffee bar equipped with a two-burner camp stove for pan-roasting beans. In 2015, a group of coffee lovers launched Uncle Leroy’s Coffee with a mission to bring high-quality, micro-brewed coffee across Alaska. Roasting small batches on the road, they offered more than a caffeine fix – they delivered culture and community you wouldn’t find in a typical coffee shop.
“We mainly traveled to Anchorage area farmer’s markets and local food truck gatherings. However, that first summer, we made the epic road trip down the Seward Highway to sling pour-over coffee to youngsters camping at Salmon Stock – a multi-day music festival in Ninilchik, Alaska that was initially formed as an ‘ask’ to protect our local salmon populations”
Named for Uncle Leroy, a miner from Hope, Alaska, the brand embraces the spirit of frontier adventure, pairing it with carefully sourced ingredients to make every cup worth the wait.
From the Road to Brick-and-Mortar
After three years of serving coffee from the bus – with winters limiting mobility – Uncle Leroy’s opened its first year-round café in Anchorage. A second location followed, along with continued appearances at local markets in the original bus.
As the business grew, co-owner Austin Schwartz knew their social media presence needed to keep up. He turned to BeFunky for professional-looking designs without the steep learning curve.
“I consider myself a graphic design enthusiast, but am no means a professional in this domain, as my major in college was nothing close to marketing. BeFunky is very easy to use.”
Designing a Distinct Look With BeFunky
Schwartz uses BeFunky’s Graphic Designer to create branded social media content. He often starts with a blank template, applies the Isolate Subject tool to cut out people or products from photos, and layers them over on-brand backdrops. Finishing touches include their signature typewriter-style font for captions.
The result? A dynamic, recognizable feed that reinforces their brand identity.
When asked about his favorite feature, Schwartz doesn’t hesitate:
“I absolutely love using the Isolate Subject feature. At this moment, I’m using it to remove backgrounds from subjects that are generally people or items from stock imagery. As a small business with limited resources for lets say, professional photo shoots, the library of stock images in BeFunky’s Image Manager tab provides us with the ability to use high-quality photos and content that we can customize to our shop.”
Despite the challenges of being a small business, Uncle Leroy’s Coffee sticks by the principle that it’s important for a business to find consistency in their social media graphics, especially if they are undertaking it on their own. Using BeFunky, Uncle Leroy’s has found a perfect workflow to curate on-brand social media graphics every time, while sticking to their culture of craftsmanship and quality.
“A mission and company’s values should be messaged throughout marketing and advertising efforts. Staying on brand is key to upholding the integrity of your small business. We are grateful for the folks that visit our shops as those are the people that sustain our business. We also hope that more people will learn about our efforts and mission, “More Than Coffee” so we can one day thrive.”
Brew Up Your Own Brand Story
Inspired by Uncle Leroy’s Coffee’s unique, on-brand social media presence? Explore all the tools you need for custom designs and professional photo edits with BeFunky. Whether you're creating with professionally designed templates, easy one-click image optimizations, or drag-and-drop collage layouts, our platform makes it simple to create posts, flyers, menus, and more – no design experience required.
Whether you’re telling your story from a 1968 bus or a brick-and-mortar shop, BeFunky gives you everything you need to share your brand’s personality and mission with the world.
