About Us

While founder and owner Nicole Norris was nearing the completion of her bachelor’s degree at the University of Akron, it was announced on March 10th, 2020, that all classes would be moved to an online platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the unique challenges that came with attending remote classes full time was staying awake and alert through the monotony of online lectures and coursework. Nicole stumbled upon the latest pandemic craze of whipped coffee and gave it a try in hopes it would be the pick-me-up she needed. 

Dalgona coffee became popular in January of 2020 when a clip of South Korean actor Jung Il Woo trying the coffee in Macau was uploaded to YouTube. Viewers compared the whipped coffee to dalgona candy, a popular Korean street food, giving it the name "dalgona coffee". Dalgona coffee is a smooth vegan real coffee concentrate that is prepared by whipping rather than brewing. Foregoing the brewing process ensures that the coffee maintains a rich and full body flavor without creating added bitterness or acidity. Traditionally, the whipped coffee is dolloped on top of hot or cold milk and is designed to steep into the milk with occasional stirring. Like many others, Nicole experimented with the time consuming process of making whipped coffee and was delighted with her final product.

Over the next couple of weeks, Nicole's talent in the kitchen allowed her to perfect her own unique whipped coffee recipe, which she shared with her close family and friends. She took the traditional dalgona coffee recipe and not only made it her own, but turned it into a versatile product that can be enjoyed by everyone in a seemingly endless variety of drink and flavor combinations. Pictured is a folder Nicole used to brainstorm with notes and ideas as she created her business model and performed research and development with her dalgona coffee recipe. She decided to name her coffee "Whippt" as a play on the name "whipped" coffee. The original Whippt logo was created with her own handwriting from these notes, as were the famous hashtags #getwhippt and #heaveninacup.

With the encouragement of her family and friends, her 35 years of sales experience, and an unmatched entrepreneurial spirit, Nicole decided to create the business that would bring this unique coffee concept to the masses. Nicole posed the question on her Facebook page asking if anyone would be willing to purchase her coffee for delivery.

On April 20th, 2020 Nicole Norris founded Whippt Dalgona Coffee at her home in Wooster, OH and made a delivery to her very first customer. 

From that day forward Whippt Coffee was a hit and delivery orders were being placed daily. Nicole delivered to Wooster, Orrville, Smithville, and surrounding areas by request. Providing exceptional service with quality products while accommodating customers’ individual needs was built into her business model from the beginning.

She began working closely with the Wayne County Health Department as a home based business on April 27th, 2020, and throughout the summer pioneered the regulations to professionally distribute a never before seen coffee product to the public. As a part of this collaboration the product "Whippt Frozen" was born, which is our dalgona coffee concentrate that is stored in the freezer and can be enjoyed with a spoon like a sundae. This pandemic friendly product allowed customers to purchase dalgona coffee with assorted flavors and toppings in bulk, that could then be enjoyed on its own or prepared as a drink with the hot or cold milk of their choice at home. "Whippt Frozen" is still a part of our menu today and is now called, "Just Whippt". In September of 2022, Nicole worked with our menu designer and changed the name to help customers further distinguish the dalgona coffee concentrate as a stand-alone product.

Whippt Frozen and Whippt Coffee were not enough for her customers, they wanted more. Nicole added Whippt Shakes to the menu the first week of business for those who wanted to enjoy a coffee-free hand-crafted specialty drink. Although they were enjoyed by everyone, Whippt Shakes were created with kids in mind and quickly became "kid approved". 10% of Whippt Shake sales on April 28th, 2020 were shared with the child who helped develop the recipe that same day. Whippt Shakes were the catalyst to the large menu of specialty drinks we offer in the store today. From the beginning, Whippt's menu was designed to be inclusive accommodating personal tastes, allergies, and dietary restrictions. Over the past four years this menu has grown to reflect trends in the beverage industry, customer requests, and the creativity of the Whippt Team. Today Whippt's menu has both hot and cold drinks available: House Blend and Decaf Dalgona Coffee, thirteen specialty drinks, thirty plus flavors, and six extra add-ins with monthly and seasonal specials on rotation.

As the brand and business grew, Nicole began creating merchandise for her customers with the original logo and hashtags.

On May 6th, 2020, Whippt was registered with the State of Ohio as a for profit LLC and was ready to conduct business on a larger scale.

In May of 2020, Nicole completed her bachelor's degree in Organizational Supervision and graduated from the University of Akron School of Applied Science and Technology.

From May to July of 2020 the demand for Whippt became overwhelming and Nicole realized it was time for a storefront. On July 21st, 2020, Nicole obtained the storefront at 135 West Liberty Street, the former site of the H. Freedlander Company. This was a full circle moment for her as a former employee of Freedlander's, as well as honoring her late grandfather Charles Lee Norris. Mr. Norris owned one of the first Black businesses on Liberty Street in Downtown Wooster, a barbershop that was inclusive to all who needed his services. He is pictured here with Nicole in Downtown Wooster in 1972. Nicole decided to honor her time at Freedlander's as well as her grandfather's legacy by mirroring the experience they provided to their customers. Whippt is a unique and personalized dalgona coffee and specialty beverage experience with quality products and excellent customer service set in a welcoming and inclusive environment.

Nicole worked closely with late Sign Design Owner Ken Stiffler to come up with the name of her storefront, "Whippt Coffee Bar", as well as design a professional logo. The drink over the "i" in Whippt was replaced with the heart at the end of the logo, symbolic of Nicole’s love and passion for her product, as well as having a philanthropic and inclusive approach to running her small business. Ken enthusiastically gave helpful suggestions and supported Nicole on her journey to further develop her unique brand. Together they came up with this original design, complete with the hashtags #getwhippt and #heaveninacup.

On September 10th, 2020, Nicole opened her debt-free storefront, "Whippt Coffee Bar" at 135 West Liberty Street Downtown Wooster, Ohio. Ken was so excited to share with Nicole that on her opening day her storefront design broke his Instagram record for engagement, and they vowed to continue to break records from then on. Nicole went on to design the inside of her storefront with the most up to date COVID-19 precautions in mind, expecting to still operate as a takeout and delivery service for quite some time. In July of 2021, Nicole decided to rebrand the name of her storefront to "Whippt Dalgona Coffee" to better reflect her unique coffee brand and product offerings. Ken Stiffler is dearly missed, and we continue to enjoy working with his family at Sign Design.

On September 10th, 2020, the Whippt Coffee Bar storefront opening was the end of Nicole's home based business journey, but the beginning of her unique brand taking off as a business that would professionally prepare dalgona coffee and provide it to the masses.