At Onit Coffee, a coffee truck in Elk Grove, you can get a great cup of coffee. You also can benefit local nonprofit organizations. “For me, it’s much more than just a coffee company,” says Onit CEO Shadi Khattab. “Our motto is ‘Impacting lives, one cup at a time.’”
This past March, Onit Coffee donated $1 from every drink sold that month to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, raising $1,000. Later, Onit donated roughly $1,300 to My Sister’s House, a local nonprofit that serves Asian and Pacific Islander women and children impacted by domestic violence and sex trafficking. Khattab also partnered with Sacramento Street Medicine, gathering warm clothes and blankets and serving fresh coffee to unsheltered folks battling winter.
Like many business owners, Khattab has had to change his plans because of the pandemic. He originally wanted to launch Onit as a drive-thru a few miles away from his alma mater, Sacramento State. Instead, he sells coffee, milkshakes and smoothies from his mobile truck. To enjoy a red velvet latte or a plant-based protein shake, customers flock to the parking lot of Precision MD Cosmetic Surgery Center at 9250 Big Horn Blvd. Khattab has 16 employees who serve up to 3,000 customers a week, and he looks forward to opening new dine-in and drive-thru locations in Elk Grove as well another drive-thru off Howe and Marconi this summer.
A Syrian-American immigrant, Khattab notes that “Syrians are very big on coffee and tea. It’s one way we bond as a family, as a community. When I was a kid, my uncles, my cousins, we’d come together and bond over tea or coffee.” Now, he says, “we really put our heart and soul into treating our customers like family.” Open daily 7 a.m.–10 p.m. (916) 616-0106; onitcoffee.com.
