Submitted by the City of Olympia – Olympia Coffee Roasting is expanding their flagship location on Cherry Street in Downtown Olympia into the neighboring building located on 4th Avenue, directly across the street from Olympia City Hall.
Founded in 2005, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company is an award-winning, boutique coffee roaster that sources and roasts coffee in small batches. With three locations in Olympia, the expansion of the Cherry Street location provides increased space for the roasting and production facility. The facility will include a brand new roasting works anchored by a refurbished 23-kilo Gothot roaster from Germany along with training, cupping, and quality control lab facilities and offices for Olympia Coffee’s growing team.
“Receiving the Grow Olympia loan gives us the ability to expand our facility and meet the growing demand for our coffee while supporting our company mission of improving the quality of life for our coffee farmers, staff and customers. Our Grow Olympia loan affords us the ability to grow while remaining vigorously independent so we can continue to do what we love; obsess over the details of sourcing, roasting and brewing coffee to release the most captivating flavors possible in the cup.” Said Oliver Stormshak, co-owner of Olympia Coffee Roasting.
Stormshak and co-owner Sam Schroeder received a loan from the Grow Olympia Fund for a portion of the financing. This loan is the first loan to close from the newly created loan fund, a partnership between the City of Olympia and the National Development Council’s Grow America Fund that provides lower cost financing to small businesses in Olympia, helping local businesses grow and create jobs.
The City of Olympia provided support to the nonprofit National Development Council (NDC) to launch the Grow Olympia Fund as another economic development tool that can provide access to capital and strengthen the technical assistance options available to local businesses.
“Congratulations to Olympia Coffee Roasting Company and to the City of Olympia,” said John Palyo, President of NDC Grow America Fund. “The Grow Olympia Loan Fund provides a local small business with the capital it needs to grow and it is expected they will add 11 new jobs to downtown Olympia over the next two years.”
“Small businesses are what make our community strong,” said Mayor Stephen Buxbaum, “I am delighted that we were able to assist the Olympia Coffee Roasters realize their expansion goals. That’s what the Grow Olympia Fund is all about; partnering with small businesses to create jobs and develop a more vibrant downtown. This is a great start for what I believe will be a very important part of our downtown development strategy.”
About the City of Olympia’s Grow Olympia Fund
The Grow Olympia Fund is part the Olympia City Council’s continuing efforts to support small business. The fund will provide small businesses in Olympia with loans to grow their businesses. Businesses that receive a Grow Olympia Fund Loan can buy machinery or equipment, make improvements to leased space, refinance an existing loan or buy property.
About National Development Council and NDC Grow America Fund
Founded in 1969, the National Development Council (NDC) is a national non-profit organization that has evolved into one of the most progressive and innovative community and economic development organizations in the country. NDC’s Grow America Fund (GAF) is a Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) licensed under US SBA preferred lenders program (PLP). GAF focuses on providing flexible and patient expansion loans to existing small businesses, manufacturers and distributors. www.ndcgaf.org
About Olympia Coffee Roasting Company
Olympia Coffee Roasting was founded in 2005 and sold five years later to Oliver Stormshak and Sam Schroeder in 2010. While both owners gained their initial experience in other coffee shops, they have taken coffee roasting to new levels. In the past five years they have built up their business by investing in the quality of their coffee, increasing their staff to 30 people and expanding their business by over 100%. The Grow Olympia Fund monies will help them to triple the foot print in their flagship location downtown at Cherry and 4th Avenue by offering an expanded café, barista training center and storefront for wholesale activity. For more information, please visit: www.olympiacoffee.com
Photo: Sam Schroeder and Oliver Stormshak
