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COFFEE TALK
MIDWEST COFFEE COMPANIES BREW UP SUCCESS
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By Laurie
Burstein
Roasting and selling high-quality specialty coffee is the business
of three Midwest companies. Ronnoco Coffee Company, Kaldi’s Inc.
and Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters import, roast, blend, package
and distribute their own varieties of specialty coffees. All agree
that today’s consumers want high-end specialty coffee and that the
coffee coming out of Middle America rivals anything found on the
East or West Coast.
Doug Carpenter of Ronnoco Coffee Company at the cupping
table. |
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St. Louis-based Ronnoco will celebrate 100 years in business next
year and was first introduced at the 1904 World’s Fair. The company
is still family-run by third-generation owner/ operator Frank Guyol.
His grandfather bought into the business 85 years ago from the O’Connor
brothers who named the company Ronnoco—O’Connor spelled backwards.
With its offices and roasting facilities in the Central West End,
Ronnoco has 100 employees and serves several thousand wholesale
customers. The company supplies coffee to the hospitality industry,
retailers and offices, as well as assists its customers with the
selection of coffee and equipment and provides training.
“Each coffee we purchase is selected as the best during our blind
“cupping” or taste testing selection process,” Guyol explains. “Every
coffee is individually taste tested three times,” he says. Guyol
adds that Ronnoco’s coffee buyer has been at his craft for more
than 25 years and is the past president of a national organization—the
Specialty Coffee Association of America.
Ronnoco has coffee merchandising centers in area supermarkets like
Dierberg’s and Schnucks to meet customer demand for fresh coffee.
Consumers can choose from 15 varieties, and blend and grind their
own coffee beans right in the supermarket.
Like fine wine, coffee is a culture in itself says Emily Mange,
a St. Louis native and co-owner of Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters
in Chicago. She and her husband, Doug Zell, started Intelligentsia
more than seven years ago and now have two retail locations and
a wholesale operation with 55 employees.
Named for the European coffee culture of yesterday where people
would congregate for lively discussions over fine coffee, Intelligentsia’s
storefronts in Chicago serve as modern day gathering places. In
St. Louis, Intelligentsia’s coffee can be found at Northwest Coffee
Company in Ladue and in upscale restaurants including The Crossing,
Monarch and LiLuma.
Mange and Zell have traveled the globe to places like Costa Rica,
Brazil, and Guatemala in search of the best coffee beans to roast
back in the company’s facility in Chicago. Mange says java enthusiasts
share her passion for the science and the art of making a great
cup of coffee.
“We want to educate people about what good coffee is,” Mange says.
She explains that Intelligentsia has a Training and Knowledge Department
where they teach their own employees as well as their customers
about coffee from how to brew it to how to sell it. “It takes a
lot of training to make a good shot of espresso,” she adds.
Customers can buy Intelligentsia’s coffee online at www.intelligentsiacoffee.com.
The company’s online store offers products like mugs with the company
logo, along with a wide selection of the company’s own coffees and
teas. Customer reviews of individual blends and an online newsletter
can also be found.
In St. Louis, many are loyal to Kaldi’s Coffeehouse, which opened
in the Demun area in 1994. Kaldi’s was started by St. Louis native
Suzanne Langlois when she was just 26, along with co-founder, Howard
Lerner. Both are Washington University graduates who opened their
coffee house because they wanted great coffee.
“My partner and I wanted a place to drink great coffee and couldn’t
find anything we liked. We felt there was a void in this marketplace
and started Kaldi’s nine years ago.” The name Kaldi comes from the
legendary founder of coffee, an Ethiopian goat herder.
Today Kaldi’s has 30 employees, a retail location and recently expanded
wholesale operation at Highway 40 and Vandeventer where they roast
thousands of pounds each day. “Our coffee is roasted daily in small
batches, because “micro-roasting” lets us control the process and
makes the best coffee,” Langlois says.
Kaldi’s roasts and sells more than 60 coffee varieties for hundreds
of wholesale customers including well-known restaurants such as
Cardwell’s at the Plaza, Tony’s, Harvest, Portabella, and King Louie’s
as well as to grocery stores like Straub’s, Wild Oats and Whole
Foods. Kaldi’s is also served at many movie theaters such as the
Tivoli, Galleria Cinemas and Plaza Frontenac Theaters. Kaldi’s also
creates private-label blends for customers.
Kaldi’s offers the largest selection of certified organic coffees
in the Midwest, which means that it’s grown without chemicals or
pesticides.
And Langlois says Kaldi’s is also a certified kosher coffee. “This
means that we have a rabbi inspect our roasting facility to make
sure we meet kosher standards,” she explains.
So what is the latest trend in coffee? Langlois says drive-thru
gourmet coffee supplied by Kaldi’s is available in St. Louis at
places like Hot Shots on Laclede Station Road in Webster Groves.
Now customers can drive off with the latest coffee concoctions like
cappuccinos, espressos, and lattes ordered from the comfort of their
cars.
Laurie Burstein is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer. |
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