Over the past few years, we've spent buckets of time doubling down on the values Roast House was founded on. No better way to keep building our roots than to sit down with Deb and hear what started it all!
Q: Why did you get into coffee in the first place?
Truthfully, it was to save my soul. As business developer/manager, I loved creating, expanding the law practice my (then) husband and I had across the state. It was challenging, hard work, long hours and exhilarating! We made gobs of money. Coming from an immigrant family - it was a dream come true. As the business matured, constant travel allowed time for reflection, leading to the realization we were profiteering from people’s worst experiences- that shamed me. I just couldn’t do it any longer. I had to get out, get back to what made me smile, what fed my soul. That has and will always be food and people!
Q: Why did you start Roast House?
With quality ranging from extremely profitable low quality, sun grown to the far less profitable, but exceptional quality of shade-grown, hand sorted beans, I found, including the roaster I worked for at that time, roasters heavily favored cheap and profitable beans over sustainable relationship coffees. They would sprinkle Fair Trade and Organic beans in the mix to build their marketing platform off of.
As one of the Big Four (largest industries causing global warming) I believe coffee business has no choice but to change the model in order to Change the World.
I believed coffee could be ecologically responsible pay producers living wages
support and pay women producers
pay industry professionals sustainable wages
