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| Visitors at Storyville Coffee participate in a cupping |
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Kate Bode is unlike many other connoisseurs who appreciate a very good cup of coffee: She just couldn’t find the right decaf that didn’t taste bitter. But when the Action Now Property Management Co. manager discovered Storyville Coffee, located just a couple of miles from her Bainbridge Island office, her search was over.
“We fell in love with it, we had to have it,” she says. “They (the company) are really passionate about what they do… It’s a breath of fresh air for Bainbridge.”
The passion comes through not only in the great care taken to deliver fresh and high-quality coffee beans, but also in the company’s philosophy and its image, from the unique marketing approach to the hip facility called the roasting studio.
Located in the Sportsman Business Park, the Storyville Coffee studio is a 6,500-square-foot, two-story building with an artsy contemporary décor that includes leather chairs, lime-green upholstered stools, and commissioned art.
“Our thought was that coffee is like wine, and we wanted this place to feel like a winery,” says company President Scot McCracken.
The “conference room” is an open seating area with comfy leather chairs and high-tech projection screens that, when not in use, showcase original art — like a computer screen saver in motion that flows from one image to the next. The so-called office is one giant cube on the top floor with desks separated by contemporary metal-like partitions.
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Head roaster Randy Evans checks
the morning’s roast |
On Tuesdays and Wednesday, this space is pretty much vacant, as almost everyone’s involved downstairs with the roasting and order filling process. The rest of the week, the roles of those same employees shift to marketing, sales and planning.
“We all wear many hats in this business,” McCracken says. “…There is no one working here that’s not highly skilled in one area but doing many things.”
According to McCracken, what makes the Storyville story different from other roasters is its emphasis on freshness. Each half-pound bag is stamped with the roasting date using large font, with the recommendation to brew within 12 days. Coffee is only shipped within seven days of the date stamp, and any surplus is donated to local nonprofits.
“We believe passionately in the idea that freshness matters more than anything,” McCracken says.
Each new customer receives a booklet with brewing instructions and information, as well as a seven-minute classy DVD that weaves a narrative about the company with a humorously acted discussion about “Big Coffee” and its conspiracy to hide the truth from consumers about sacrificing quality to pad their pocketbooks.
McCracken says the company uses high-end beans and approaches coffee roasting as an art form. “We’d like to think through the company we can support artists, and ultimately the development of culture,” he says. Which is why the company has paid for concerts and has hosted art shows, and promotes music through its Web site.
“We believe that coffee represents interaction, people getting together and talking,” McCracken says. “We love the idea that with each cup of coffee, there can be a story told.”
Storyville, owned by Seattle resident John Phelps, is only a year old. Like any startup, it still has many challenges as it grows. McCracken says educating consumers about high-end, fresh coffee is the biggest challenge, coupled with locating the right market. But Storyville’s story is unfolding nicely. The roaster ships to 40 states already. Recently, the company expanded into wholesale markets, and is going to great lengths to educate wholesalers about coffee and train them to brew the perfect cup each time.
“Once we find a customer, they’re crazy loyal,” he says. “Our focus continues to be figuring out how to find an audience with the people looking for what we do.”
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