Childress was inspired by similar bar takeovers led by La Marzocco, whose U.S. offices are based in Seattle, and hoped to create something similar for the coffee community in the Midwest. “We feel that we’re not competing for the same wholesale customers, we are both competing as specialty grade roasters to win over those accounts that are still serving commodity grade coffee. Specialty grade is still a small percentage of the roasted coffee industry. “This event is helpful for the industry because we’re getting the customers really excited about specialty grade coffee. As consumers develop the expectation for specialty grade coffee, places like grocery stores, dinners, restaurants and breweries will either make the switch or lose sales.

Source: Ethiopian News August 10, 2017 20:15 UTC