Northern Ontario coffee company looking to expand further

A northern Ontario company is expanding throughout the province, taking on big brands with their coffee.

Espanola Coffee Roasters is making its mark one cup of coffee at a time.

Stephanie Bond and Dan Massicotte of Espanola Coffee Roasters. March 7/23 (Ashley Bacon/CTV Northern Ontario)

In an effort for better, fresher, locally-sourced coffee, Dan Massicotte set out to create Espanola Coffee Roasters in 2016 and now, around 1,200 pounds of coffee beans get processed every month.

"I decided to step it up and buy a small commercial roaster and I had a garage where I set it up and started roasting, selling it at markets and it just kind of grew from there," Massicotte said.

As it kept expanding, Massicotte moved into a bigger space and in 2021, Stephanie Bond joined the company to help with the growth.

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With a decade of experience in the industry, she brought with her a lot of knowledge.

"I really wanted to get involved into the roasting end to it. Just happened another person in Espanola was roasting coffee, so it really worked out," said Bond.

The pair source their beans from a distributer in B.C. and from there the roasting, packaging and distribution all happen here in the north.

Espanola Coffee Roasters beans are roasted, packaged and distributed in northern Ontario and can be found in grocery stores. March 7/23 (Ashley Bacon/CTV Northern Ontario)

His products are now available all over the north in many grocery stores as well as online.

Massicotte said it’s important to be as sustainable as possible.

"You’re trying to eliminate as much of the 'middle man' as you can so that the farmer can get the most profit out of it," he said.

Bond said it’s important to have local options on supermarket shelves.

"It's really nice when you’re out at the grocery store and you’re stocking the shelves and we’ve got our Espanola toques on and just having people come by and say that they buy it and they enjoy it and it's nice and it keeps us going," Bondsaid.

With their continued growth regionally, they’re looking to expand the business even further. 

Last December, CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca weather specialist Katie Behun featured local makers in a countdown to Christmas. Read more about that here and here.