Startup Royal Loyal sells to Wichita coffee company
December 6, 2016 | Meghan LeVota
Royal Loyal, which created an app to encourage loyalty at convenience and retail stores, sold to Wichita-based Prairie Fire Coffee, Royal Loyal CEO Babir Sultan said, declining to offer a monetary value.
Royal Loyal’s app allows users to save money and earn free products at various gas stations, fast food and retail stores. The application brings small businesses together who are looking for a more modern technique than punch cards, but can’t afford to build their own independent app.
Sultan said that Royal Loyal had been working with Prairie Fire on a trial basis for the past year. After pitching the technology to several other coffee companies, Sultan said he was thrilled that Prairie Fire Coffee saw the value in his firm.
“The sale makes me feel so relieved,” Sultan said. “In addition to the money, I think the main value is the experience that I gained through Royal Loyal.”
Before founding Royal Loyal in 2014, Sultan for years owned and operated a handful of convenience stores. Seeing the popularity of QuikTrip’s app and the Hy-Vee gas card, Sultan wanted to make his local gas station chain, FavTrip, stand out.
In addition to the loyalty app, Sultan added that Prairie Fire Coffee was attracted to Royal Loyal’s data analytics tool, helping the firm better learn about its customers.
Sultan will continue working with Royal Loyal for the next few months to ease the transition process. In the near future, he plans to continue operating FavTrip — but on the horizon, Sultan plans to give back to the entrepreneurial community.
Sultan said he owes his success to area resources — Royal Loyal received funding and guidance from Digital Sandbox KC and SparkLabKC and Sultan is an E-Scholars graduate— and local mentors.
“I’ve been reaching out to incubators thinking about how I could pay it forward,” Sultan said. “Being able to fund somebody else’s idea would be the most rewarding experience for me right now, and I am looking forward to exploring that.”
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