{"id":160251,"date":"2022-02-24T11:39:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T17:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailycoffeenews.com\/?p=160251"},"modified":"2023-01-16T10:40:55","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T16:40:55","slug":"kw-coffee-collective-brings-co-roasting-to-ontario-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailycoffeenews.com\/2022\/02\/24\/kw-coffee-collective-brings-co-roasting-to-ontario-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"KW Coffee Collective Brings Co-Roasting to Ontario, Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"KW<\/a>

Inside the KW Coffee Collective co-roasting facility in Kitchener, Ontario. All images courtesy of KW Coffee Collective<\/p><\/div>\n

A new shared roasting (a.k.a. co-roasting) business called KW Coffee Collective<\/a> has arrived in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, offering small roasting companies and retailers a relatively low-barrier option for launching or scaling operations.<\/p>\n

Inside a newly built-out 5,500-square-foot facility, the KW Coffee Collective boasts two roasting stations equipped with 10-kilo machines from Minneapolis-based Mill City Roasters<\/a>, along with two packing stations, a cupping room, green coffee storage, a classroom\/workshop room, and a water station featuring different water types.<\/p>\n

\"KW<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond all that, the business is notable for being one of the first of its kind to emerge in Canada.<\/p>\n

While co-roasting has always existed in the coffee industry in one form or another \u2014 mostly through private, handshake-based time sharing \u2014 it wasn’t until the launch of the Pulley Collective<\/a> in Brooklyn, New York, in 2013 that a more collaborative, service-driven model for roaster sharing began to emerge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While co-roasting facilities have since popped up in coffee meccas such as Oakland<\/a>, Oregon (Portland<\/a> and Portland again<\/a>), New York (Queens<\/a> and Brooklyn again<\/a>), Seattle<\/a>, Phoenix<\/a> and even Lincoln, Nebraska<\/a>, the model has been slower to take hold north of the border. In Montreal, Quebec, The Canadian Roasting Society<\/a> became Canada’s first marketed co-roasting business in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"KW<\/a>

The water station at KW Coffee Collective.<\/p><\/div>\n

Serving an entirely different provincial and regional market, the KW Coffee Collective was founded by professional geoscientist and Contrabean Roasting Company<\/a> Founder Ron Donaldson. Professional roaster Shelby Merrithew is helping to lead the business as director of coffee. <\/span><\/p>\n

Merrithew said the business is targeted primarily towards cafe owners who want to begin selling their own coffees while engaging staff more deeply in the coffee production process, as well as towards startup roasting-only companies.<\/p>\n

\"KW<\/a>

KW Founder Ron Donaldson and Director of Coffee Shelby Merrithew.<\/p><\/div>\n

“Many of our first members are established small roasters who have seen a rise in their coffee sales, especially during COVID,” Merrithew told DCN. “We see this as a sustainable demand for these small local roasters. Ron\u2019s small roasting business, Contrabean, has seen a 230% increase in sales during COVID. That growth led in part to the building of the shared roasting space.”<\/p>\n

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