According to the St. Louis Business Journal, Evans was one of the many people who lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. During that time, he brainstormed new ways to generate income. He then dusted off an old idea and invested in a Japanese cookie vending machine.
“I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that in Japan there’s something like two machines for every human, and you can get anything out of a vending machine. So, I contacted a builder in Japan, and I said, ‘Hey, this is my idea, this is what I want it to do and this is how I want it to be designed,’” Evans explained to the St. Louis Business Journal.
The business was a success because he earned $40,000 from his first vending machine and then expanded to a storefront.
Customers in St. Louis can now enjoy delectable classics like chocolate chunk, oatmeal raisin, sugar, and more unique flavors like double chocolate mint, pumpkin spice, and deluxe apple pie, among others, at Alibi Cookies.
“Cooking is something that I’ve always been good at,” Evans said, according to St. Louis Business Journal. “I remember just watching my mom at a young age while she’s over the stove cooking, and I’d just sit there watching her, seeing what she’s doing and asking questions. I wasn’t always the best baker, though, because baking is so precise. I consider myself a good baker now. We have a recipe that we can do across all the stores, and we do it extremely well.”
Alibi Cookies now has three storefronts, with plans to open two more in St. Louis and three more vending machine locations.
Evans, 33, has no intention of backing down. He intends to open nine stores in 2023 alone, with an annual revenue of more than $1 million.
The little boy from the north side of St. Louis would undoubtedly be proud of the journey ahead.
“I was an inner-city kid, faced with the challenges of being Black and being in the city and, I’m not going to lie, it was hard,” Evans expressed to the outlet. “It’s crazy to me that some of the people I went to school with that got straight A’s and went to college – they’re not on the same level as me now. They don’t own their own business. That’s something I think about all the time. People say, “Oh, you gotta go to college,” and “You didn’t go to college, so you’re not gonna be anything.” And I’m just like, “I’m some inner-city Black kid, and I’m doing this.”