I happened to be in a small VA town today and while there decided to take a look at the roasting facility that a local franchisor has. A couple of their stores told me they do their own roasting for all their franchises at that location.
Well, I found a roaster but it wasn't for that chain. I stopped in anyway and they were very friendly and gave me a tour of their facility. They had two Sivetz commercial fluid air bed roasters (30lb batch capacity) (for you home roasing guys, that’s a really, really big FreshRoast or IRoast!), three Probat L12 (25lb batch capacity), a Probat L5 (12lb batch) and a huge Probat G120 (264lb). Each of these machines is capable of doing up to 4 batches per hour. All were running while I was there with the exception of the Sivetz machines which they only use when doing flavored coffees. They also had some other cool equipment like weigh/fill machines for bagging and a couple of Ditting grinders, similar to mine but larger, that can grind 6 lbs a minute at a medium setting.
Being a roaster myself, naturally I had many questions. The guy that gave me the tour was very helpful and honest with his answers. The coffee industry tends to be that way. Kind of its own brotherhood even amongst competitors. I was upfront with them about what I do and, of course, I’m no threat to them at this point.
Some things I learned about them while there:
The founder/owner of the company is from India by way of Kenya and his family has been in the coffee industry for years. He started here as a small roaster supplying a couple local stores and grew the business into what it is today. Quite an accomplishment.
It turns out that their Master Roaster started out as a home roaster and fell so in love with the craft that he decided to pursue it as a career.
They roast as much as 6000lbs a week and import all of their own coffee.
They are not part of the franchise as I had been told, but rather are a private label roaster who does the roasting for a number of chain stores and some independent shops.
When I asked about that franchise, the fellow told me that they, and some other outfits, like people to think they do their own roasting. Get this: all the signs on the roasters and on the building are removable, either magnetic or screwed on. When the franchise wants to give a tour, they switch all the signs to the franchisors name and viola! They have their own roasterie! Too funny!
All in all, it was very cool and an awesome thing for a home-roaster turned small retail roaster to see.
Well, I found a roaster but it wasn't for that chain. I stopped in anyway and they were very friendly and gave me a tour of their facility. They had two Sivetz commercial fluid air bed roasters (30lb batch capacity) (for you home roasing guys, that’s a really, really big FreshRoast or IRoast!), three Probat L12 (25lb batch capacity), a Probat L5 (12lb batch) and a huge Probat G120 (264lb). Each of these machines is capable of doing up to 4 batches per hour. All were running while I was there with the exception of the Sivetz machines which they only use when doing flavored coffees. They also had some other cool equipment like weigh/fill machines for bagging and a couple of Ditting grinders, similar to mine but larger, that can grind 6 lbs a minute at a medium setting.
Being a roaster myself, naturally I had many questions. The guy that gave me the tour was very helpful and honest with his answers. The coffee industry tends to be that way. Kind of its own brotherhood even amongst competitors. I was upfront with them about what I do and, of course, I’m no threat to them at this point.
Some things I learned about them while there:
The founder/owner of the company is from India by way of Kenya and his family has been in the coffee industry for years. He started here as a small roaster supplying a couple local stores and grew the business into what it is today. Quite an accomplishment.
It turns out that their Master Roaster started out as a home roaster and fell so in love with the craft that he decided to pursue it as a career.
They roast as much as 6000lbs a week and import all of their own coffee.
They are not part of the franchise as I had been told, but rather are a private label roaster who does the roasting for a number of chain stores and some independent shops.
When I asked about that franchise, the fellow told me that they, and some other outfits, like people to think they do their own roasting. Get this: all the signs on the roasters and on the building are removable, either magnetic or screwed on. When the franchise wants to give a tour, they switch all the signs to the franchisors name and viola! They have their own roasterie! Too funny!
All in all, it was very cool and an awesome thing for a home-roaster turned small retail roaster to see.
