Scottsdale - Arizona wasn't ready for Ric Brecheisen's coffee roasting business when it opened 20 years ago in the Scottsdale Airpark.
The family-owned business started off selling a few hundred pounds of coffee out of a 2,500 square foot Airpark building. Today, Coffee Roasters sells thousands of pounds of coffee a week, plus blended teas and all the equipment and supplies a shop needs to brew a good cup of joe.
The company is now in its fourth Airpark location. It also stores thousands of pounds of coffee beans from around the world in a San Francisco warehouse.
Most of Coffee Roasters' business is in the Phoenix area, but they also serve restaurants and coffeehouses around the country.
A half dozen family members and ten other workers keep the business brewing.
Brecheisen said he got the idea for Coffee Roasters during a seven-week tour of Europe in 1979, traveling in a Volkswagen microbus with his wife, Judy, and their three children. He saw the popularity of coffeehouses in Europe and believed Americans would catch on to drinking better coffee.
The Airpark company has grown steadily the past decade as a result of being known to have the best coffee and ongoing support.
