Community Highlights: Meet Chip Grabow of Radio Roasters Coffee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chip Grabow.

Hi Chip, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2013, I launched Radio Roasters Coffee in an effort to 1) raise awareness about coffee quality and where it comes from and 2) to satisfy, after many years in media and news, my own desire to create a tangible product that customers will taste and give us immediate feedback. We love seeing customers’ reactions when getting their first taste of high-quality coffee sourced and roasted with care. I moved here from the US west coast, where there is an abundance of specialty coffee roasters. I wanted to share that with others in our new hometown.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having a day job I guess makes it smooth as I don’t depend on the coffee business for my income – but it also limits my time and inhibits our growth. Every day is a challenge, prioritizing what to spend time or money on. Our business is just financed by my own savings – we have no investors or partners. It’s just me and a dedicated group of part-timers who love great coffee. I owe much of Radio’s growth and success to the small staff we’ve had over the years. We have an amazing product that we feel not enough people know about.

If anyone has ideas or advice for helping us get our amazing coffee to a wider audience, we’d love to connect with you!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Radio Roasters is focused on sourcing and roasting high-quality specialty coffee. We know coffee drinkers will taste the difference when a coffee company focuses on quality and consistency. We’re known for sourcing coffees from Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, and a little more from Costa Rica and Peru. In most cases, we work with importers who have established strong connections to specific producers in each origin. We’ve been told more than a few times we have the best coffee in Atlanta or even the South. That’s obviously a lovely thing to hear and reaffirms for us that we are doing what we set out to do.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Our focus is on the quality of coffee in the package. It doesn’t matter how pretty the package or branding is; the coffee better tastes amazing. We are always surprised when we taste coffee from another company or cafe that has obviously invested a lot of time and money in its branding and cafe design only to be served a mediocre beverage. So, we are laser-focused on the sourcing and careful roasting of the coffee because that is almost all that matters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.radioroasters.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/radioroasters