The Buzz Is On

Gaps exist everywhere. The trick is to find one that you can take advantage of given your skill- set and resources. But identifying a coffee shop as a gap while firefighting — and then using Bubba the bear who chose to come lumbering through a campsite as their mascot — now that’s a gap story.

And that’s exactly how the Calgary Heritage Roasting Company (CHRC), headquartered in the funky brick C.C. Snowdon heritage building in Ramsay, began. The story goes that there they were in 2015 — old university mates, Jamie Parker, BKin’15 and Mike Wenzlawe — roasting green coffee beans in a cast-iron pan over a camp stove in northern Alberta, aiming to perk up their work teams.

“It’s amazing how a good cup of coffee could be such a morale booster for our crew,” explains Parker. “I used to bring my own hand grinder . . . we’d stoke up a little fire, roast our beans and brew up a pot. When you sleep in a tent, night after night, for an 18-day stretch, little things like a good cup of coffee can make such a difference.”

Adds Wenzlawe: “It was in those remote camps where I realized that coffee can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like. And that’s the vibe we wanted to create in a coffee shop . . . something that was inviting, down-home and grassroots. We wanted to create something that we felt spoke to what Calgary and Alberta are all about.”

In fact, so simple and back-to-the-land were their motivators, that the duo wanted to call their brand “cowboy coffee,” but the name was taken which is why they opted for Calgary Heritage Roasting Company. Using beans from as far away as Guatemala to Papua New Guinea, Parker describes their coffees as “smooth and easy drinking.”

Despite their dream of opening up a coffee shop after spending summers in the smoky wilderness, the duo realized that a bank wasn’t likely going to lend them “money for an idea,” and with no cash flow but plenty of dreams, they pivoted.

That’s when they decided to move in together (in the basement of one of their parents’ homes), save some money and launch an e-commerce website. After building a website, learning to code, taking photos, creating product spots and a business plan, the duo finally launched the site in 2015 and soon after began hustling their beans at farmers’ markets and mom and pop joints. That exposure led them to distribute through the Co-op grocery chain, health-food stores such as Planet Organic, Sunterra and finally their dreamy seven-table shop on 11 Street S.E.

As for all the other schmos out there who have fantasies about opening up a sweet little space, Parker says unless you have a relentless passion for something, the hours, the cash-flow issues, and staffing matters will likely cause it to fizzle.

“You need to have a wolf inside of you,” stresses Parker, “who never sleeps.”

“And he’s always hungry,” adds Wenzlawe. “Always . . . in fact I’d say our passion, our wolf, is even hungrier now than when we started. I think successful entrepreneurs have that wolf inside of them.”

Wolves and wilderness, maybe — but who, exactly, is Bubba? Turns out Bubba was an 800-lb. grizzly bear that wandered into their camp in the Willmore Wilderness area. He didn’t charge the party but left them in awe . . . just like they hope a cuppa joe at CHRC leaves you.

As for the skills Parker learned as an UCalgary student, he says, “fend for yourself, take initiative and make lots of friends which is just another way of networking.”

Wenzlawe, who began his studies at UCalgary but transferred to MRU, suggests you ignore the social tags that run alongside a faculty or a prospective job and “follow your interests or passion.”

Best book for wannabe entrepreneurs? “Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight,” both buddies reply. In unison, of course.