Coffee Roaster Revs Up Demand

November 2018

It’s been probably 25 years since Jamie Nichols and I connected. For many years he was a graphic artist at the local newspaper, and he always had the most infectious smile and a competence whenever we’d work together.

After some time away from the city doing many things including mapping in such exotic locations as Yellowknife (he loved it there), Nichols returned to the city a few years ago and began selling roasted coffee at Sweet Escape Bakery and Lakehead University.

Nichols is one of those local success stories you just love to hear about and he genuinely enjoys what he does. Since returning to the city, his company Rose N Crantz Roasting Co. has grown to supply coffee to over 21 coffee shops and retailers in the city.

“I didn’t want to own a coffee shop, I just wanted to focus on roasting”, says Nichols.

This year, he made the big jump of moving to a dedicated roasting and production facility in the old Oriental Foods location on North Cumberland Street, a large space that is clean and well suited to his vision. The centerpiece of the facility is a shiny new roasting machine that has helped him keep up to the demands of his rapidly growing business.

The freshness of the coffee is important to Nichols who dates each package of his roasted beans and never leaves bags on the shelf more than two weeks so you can count on a fresh taste when you bring it home.

Each package of his Rose N Crantz coffee is labeled by origin, such as Rwanda, Peru and Columbia.

As a member of the Thunder Bay Country Market he now operates the coffee booth where he brews his signature coffee and sells his roasted coffee beans by the bag.
Nichol believes coffee is the new wine, and by the variety of coffee shops and roasters now operating in the city – he may just be right.

To find out more about Rose N Crantz Roasting Co. go to www.rnccoffee.ca.

Bill Wrightsell is a marketing consultant and regular contributor to Bayview Magazine. Email him at wrightselladto@rogers.com

Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.