WUFT | News and public media for north central Florida
Q&A: Coffee stand founders, Tim and Suzanne Underwood
By Laila Mayfield
March 20, 2026 at 4:00 AM EDT
Tucked beneath a mint green canopy tent, Tim Underwood carefully pours a cup of cold brew. His wife Suzanne Underwood leans over and tops off the beverage with a cloud of fluffy cold foam, just before he drizzles a dash of honey.
The exercise feels more like a work of art than preparing a cup of joe. The process is collaborative and intentional — and all happens within the confines of a bicycle cart.
Two years ago, Tim Underwood quit his job as director of environmental services at University of Florida Health to operate Honey Nitro, a coffee-serving bicycle, with his wife. Now, Honey Nitro is one of the only pop-up coffee businesses in partnership with the University of Florida.
In addition to serving the community at local farmers markets and events, the couple sets up their coffee stand at different UF campus locations almost every day.
The Underwoods spoke with WUFT about Honey Nitro’s beginnings, growth and unique place within the Gainesville community.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
Mayfield: What was your career background like before starting Honey Nitro?
Suzanne Underwood: I guess our background in coffee is that I love coffee, and I drink tons of it. But I’ve never worked in a coffee shop. My background is in sales. When we moved to Gainesville for Tim’s job, we got connected with a church and fell in love with it — so much so that we became youth pastors. And we were hosting this big event with a bunch of young people, so I wanted something fun with energy drinks or cold brew, but we struggled to find coffee shops willing to show up for events.
And we joked about starting our own coffee business but eventually did some research and found out that there actually weren’t many places in Gainesville focusing specifically on nitro cold brews. Then we got to looking and found this cool coffee cart from L.A., and we just decided to order it. We started out selling with just one drink on the menu — the Honey Nitro cold brew.
A line forms in front of the Honey Nitro coffee stand outside the Harrell Medical Education Building. This is a frequent pop-up location, Tim Underwood said. (Laila Mayfield/WUFT News) (5652x3402, AR: 1.6613756613756614)
Tim Underwood: We decided that all-natural, local raw honey would be our niche. So we use honey suppliers in the community and make coffee and cold foam ourselves.
We started selling at the Alachua County Farmers Market on Saturdays while I was working 50-60 hours a week at UF Health. And we didn’t know anything, but after about three months, people were telling us that our brew was really good. And our client base started to grow. People wanted more of us, but I was in charge of about 500 employees at UF Health. I couldn’t do more. So I had to make a decision: Do I give up my coffee company or reinvent my career?
In March 2024, I resigned from my position at UF Health.
Mayfield: Honey Nitro is one of the only pop-up businesses currently in partnership with the University of Florida. What inspired you to pursue this relationship?
Tim Underwood: Well, it’s very hard to get onto UF’s campus. But after we started doing weekly farmers markets and other events, we knew that if we wanted to do this full time, we’d need to do more. It was working, but it was barely working.
Getting on campus doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger. It takes time, and a lot of work. We did a lot of free events to show off our wares, knowing that if we proved ourselves, we could have an opportunity to serve on campus. The whole process ended up taking about a year. We’ve been partnering with UF since May.
And we want to be partners with UF, not just beneficiaries. The best thing about a coffee cart is that we don’t use square footage. We use a 10-by-10-foot concrete path. Honey Nitro can go to the lawn at the Plaza of the Americas or Gator Corner or the Health Science Center. We can be a dining solution for students.
Mayfield: What do you think sets Honey Nitro apart from other small businesses?
Tim Underwood: Number one, you’re going to get a good product. But number two, and it’s hard to explain, but our customers aren’t our customers. They’re a bit more than that. Being a youth pastor has helped. I had young people confiding in me then, and they do the same thing here.
I have seen people come to me in tears because they think they just failed an exam. Sometimes I want the line to move faster, but I also understand that it's long because our customers, especially the students, need that 30-second interaction. We want people to feel important. And we see a lot of repeat customers, so I think it’s working. I even know some of them by their first names.
Tim Underwood has a conversation with a customer outside the Harrell Medical Education Building. “We’re just appreciative of customers that pick our coffee,” Suzanne Underwood said. “So, we like to take a minute to listen to them.” (Laila Mayfield/WUFT News) (5609x3529, AR: 1.5894020969113063)
Suzanne Underwood: I think Honey Nitro is more of a coffee experience than a coffee business.
Mayfield: And how has your relationship impacted your business?
Suzanne Underwood: Having a background in sales, I feel like we work well together because I’m making connections with people while he’s running the cart. We’ve been married for 29 years, and we’ve been in business for about three years now, so we’ve gotten the hang of working together. It helps that we both really have a passion for this, though.
Tim Underwood: She makes the promises to customers. I make them come true.
Mayfield: How do you see Honey Nitro growing in the next few years?
Tim Underwood: We have a lot of changes happening in the next month or so. I purchased a new cart that will allow us to have two lines, which will hopefully shorten the wait time.
Suzanne Underwood: We’re also hiring, so we can always have at least two people working at once. Right now, we’re turning a lot of invites down. If we had another cart and could hire more people — another team — we could have a lot more opportunities for work.
But our biggest goal is to eventually have a brick-and-mortar shop on campus. People always ask us if we’re going to open a permanent place, and we’d love to in the near future. It would be such a help, especially if our coffee cart ran out of coffee and we could just go over and get another keg to fill it up.
Tim Underwood: I can make one thing certain, though. Even if we open a brick-and-mortar shop, we’re never getting rid of the cart.
The exercise feels more like a work of art than preparing a cup of joe. The process is collaborative and intentional — and all happens within the confines of a bicycle cart.
Two years ago, Tim Underwood quit his job as director of environmental services at University of Florida Health to operate Honey Nitro, a coffee-serving bicycle, with his wife. Now, Honey Nitro is one of the only pop-up coffee businesses in partnership with the University of Florida.
In addition to serving the community at local farmers markets and events, the couple sets up their coffee stand at different UF campus locations almost every day.
The Underwoods spoke with WUFT about Honey Nitro’s beginnings, growth and unique place within the Gainesville community.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
Mayfield: What was your career background like before starting Honey Nitro?
Suzanne Underwood: I guess our background in coffee is that I love coffee, and I drink tons of it. But I’ve never worked in a coffee shop. My background is in sales. When we moved to Gainesville for Tim’s job, we got connected with a church and fell in love with it — so much so that we became youth pastors. And we were hosting this big event with a bunch of young people, so I wanted something fun with energy drinks or cold brew, but we struggled to find coffee shops willing to show up for events.
And we joked about starting our own coffee business but eventually did some research and found out that there actually weren’t many places in Gainesville focusing specifically on nitro cold brews. Then we got to looking and found this cool coffee cart from L.A., and we just decided to order it. We started out selling with just one drink on the menu — the Honey Nitro cold brew.
A line forms in front of the Honey Nitro coffee stand outside the Harrell Medical Education Building. This is a frequent pop-up location, Tim Underwood said. (Laila Mayfield/WUFT News) (5652x3402, AR: 1.6613756613756614)
Tim Underwood: We decided that all-natural, local raw honey would be our niche. So we use honey suppliers in the community and make coffee and cold foam ourselves.
We started selling at the Alachua County Farmers Market on Saturdays while I was working 50-60 hours a week at UF Health. And we didn’t know anything, but after about three months, people were telling us that our brew was really good. And our client base started to grow. People wanted more of us, but I was in charge of about 500 employees at UF Health. I couldn’t do more. So I had to make a decision: Do I give up my coffee company or reinvent my career?
In March 2024, I resigned from my position at UF Health.
Mayfield: Honey Nitro is one of the only pop-up businesses currently in partnership with the University of Florida. What inspired you to pursue this relationship?
Tim Underwood: Well, it’s very hard to get onto UF’s campus. But after we started doing weekly farmers markets and other events, we knew that if we wanted to do this full time, we’d need to do more. It was working, but it was barely working.
Getting on campus doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger. It takes time, and a lot of work. We did a lot of free events to show off our wares, knowing that if we proved ourselves, we could have an opportunity to serve on campus. The whole process ended up taking about a year. We’ve been partnering with UF since May.
And we want to be partners with UF, not just beneficiaries. The best thing about a coffee cart is that we don’t use square footage. We use a 10-by-10-foot concrete path. Honey Nitro can go to the lawn at the Plaza of the Americas or Gator Corner or the Health Science Center. We can be a dining solution for students.
Mayfield: What do you think sets Honey Nitro apart from other small businesses?
Tim Underwood: Number one, you’re going to get a good product. But number two, and it’s hard to explain, but our customers aren’t our customers. They’re a bit more than that. Being a youth pastor has helped. I had young people confiding in me then, and they do the same thing here.
I have seen people come to me in tears because they think they just failed an exam. Sometimes I want the line to move faster, but I also understand that it's long because our customers, especially the students, need that 30-second interaction. We want people to feel important. And we see a lot of repeat customers, so I think it’s working. I even know some of them by their first names.
Tim Underwood has a conversation with a customer outside the Harrell Medical Education Building. “We’re just appreciative of customers that pick our coffee,” Suzanne Underwood said. “So, we like to take a minute to listen to them.” (Laila Mayfield/WUFT News) (5609x3529, AR: 1.5894020969113063)
Suzanne Underwood: I think Honey Nitro is more of a coffee experience than a coffee business.
Mayfield: And how has your relationship impacted your business?
Suzanne Underwood: Having a background in sales, I feel like we work well together because I’m making connections with people while he’s running the cart. We’ve been married for 29 years, and we’ve been in business for about three years now, so we’ve gotten the hang of working together. It helps that we both really have a passion for this, though.
Tim Underwood: She makes the promises to customers. I make them come true.
Mayfield: How do you see Honey Nitro growing in the next few years?
Tim Underwood: We have a lot of changes happening in the next month or so. I purchased a new cart that will allow us to have two lines, which will hopefully shorten the wait time.
Suzanne Underwood: We’re also hiring, so we can always have at least two people working at once. Right now, we’re turning a lot of invites down. If we had another cart and could hire more people — another team — we could have a lot more opportunities for work.
But our biggest goal is to eventually have a brick-and-mortar shop on campus. People always ask us if we’re going to open a permanent place, and we’d love to in the near future. It would be such a help, especially if our coffee cart ran out of coffee and we could just go over and get another keg to fill it up.
Tim Underwood: I can make one thing certain, though. Even if we open a brick-and-mortar shop, we’re never getting rid of the cart.