Content area
Full Text
Tom Griesemer got his first taste of the coffee business while living in Berkeley some 20 years ago. There, his big brother introduced him to the dark, almost bitter roast that had drawn java junkies to a now renowned place called Peet's. He quickly developed a love for the coffee bean scene.
In 1988, with little more than a modest amount of his own equity and a cupful of dreams, the entrepreneur founded a small retail establishment in Grandview called Stauf's Coffee Roasters. Eight years later, Stauf's has grown into one of Central Ohio's largest wholesalers and retailers of coffees, generating an estimated $1 million in annual sales.
It has also gained recognition from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, which last fall named Stauf's among its Top 25 Microroasters in America, as well as grouping it with the nation's top 100 coffee stores.
"I have not been money-driven. I'm doing what I love to do. I love producing the product, and I love the types of customers that come into a coffee shop," explains Griesemer.
The business
Stauf's has two components to its operation: wholesale and retail. Both are headquartered at 1277 Grandview Ave. Though he wouldn't release percentages, Griesemer says the wholesale operation is by far the largest revenue producer, serving more than 200 customers throughout Central Ohio, the Midwest and South.
The retail operation consists of a coffeehouse that markets more than...