MICRO ROASTER OF THE YEAR

Metropolis Coffee Company

WITH A MISSION to roast the best coffees, continually improve and build relationships and offer great customer service, it may sound like any one of the many specialty coffee roasters across the country. But for Metropolis Coffee Company this mission only scratches the surface.
     Respect is at the core of every business transaction father and son co-owners, Jeff and Tony Dreyfuss make, whether it is at the farm level, within the company, or at the consumer level. As a result, this young company has accomplished what other, more established companies only dream of achieving.

Young But Focused

There is no doubt that Metropolis is making a name for itself—locally, nationally and internationally. In the three years since Metropolis opened, they’ve forged successful relationships with farmers at origin, gained respect in the roasting community, and carved out a solid community of customers in their home market of Chicago.
     Metropolis has garnered several awards including Best Latte outside of Seattle by Chicago Magazine, as well as being named one of the top 14 cafes/coffeehouses in the U.S. by Food and Wine Magazine. They’ve been featured on ABC, NBC and on public television, and have been written up in several Chicago newspapers, the NY Post and in the American Airlines on-board magazine.
     Accolades aside, the true heart of the business rests in the belief that “you must respect and truly understand everyone you work with,” explains Jeff Dreyfuss. And that is something that was with Jeff long before he entered the coffee business.
     As a professor of linguistics who traveled the world living in other cultures, Jeff gained a thorough understanding of the language and the people of various nations. At the same time, his son Tony, who traveled with him, gained this same sense of understanding, learning that there is so much more to a person’s story than simply the words spoken.
     This “education” in other languages and cultures is what Jeff believes is essential in the coffee world. “I want to speak with the farmers not just to improve the quality and make the coffee as good as it can be, but to listen to the needs and concerns of the people as well,” he explains. “I hope that my experience in language and living in many different cultures throughout the world will help our company address larger needs than just growing coffee. Because this business must be friendship based.”
     Both Jeff and Tony are sure that their current role in the coffee industry is one that is ideally suited for their personal philosophies. But, as Tony points out, “We kind of fell into the coffee business.” Tony came to coffee only after pursuing a philosophy degree and working at various jobs that included being a cab driver and an ice cream truck driver. It wasn’t until he started working at Peet’s Coffee in Portland, Ore., as a floor sweeper and at the bean counter, that he realized coffee was his passion.
     Coincidentally, 200 miles away in Seattle, his father was having the same realization. Jeff became entranced with coffee during his daily visits to his neighborhood Caffé Vita. There, he befriended the head roaster and coffee buyer and was eventually invited to the back room to cup coffee.
     The conversations Tony and Jeff would have on the phone would quickly turn to coffee. “Some fathers and sons have sports,” explains Tony, “we have coffee.” Eventually the two decided they should turn their joint passions into a business.

Foundations for Success

After much research, which includes travel to coffee growing communities, Metropolis opened its doors in 2003. This micro-roaster currently serves Chicago’s North Side community and is nurturing a burgeoning wholesale business.
     Never content with their current success, Jeff and Tony are in a constant quest for perfection. Jeff is continually dedicated to understanding each farmer’s needs and works with them personally to better the quality of coffee they offer, better the communities in which they work, and build a lifelong relationship that is based on respect.
     “What is truly wonderful about the coffee industry,” explains Tony, “is the realization that although it is a big world, we can have a place in it bringing people together—at source as a buyer, and then with our retail store in the community.”
     It is the effort they take towards creating relationships that Tony feels is an essential part of their business. Tony is often the first point of contact with many of the customers—both retail and wholesale, and makes himself available at all times, even providing wholesale customers with his cell phone number in order to maintain personal contact.
     “Dad and I hate bureaucracy,” Tony explains. “We try to cut that out at all levels. At the farm level, we want to speak with farmers directly to discuss needs and concerns, and at the wholesale level we encourage direct dialogue with us if there is a problem.”
     Additionally, Tony is hands-on with training the baristas. “I want our employees to realize that the owners are accessible. It is incredible how inspired people are when they get one-on-one time with the owner to discuss things about the company. I encourage every one of our employees to offer suggestions for change, especially since they are the ones dealing with things day to day.”
     The ability to remain hands-on and entrenched in the day-to-day of the business is a result of the size of the company. Both Jeff and Tony believe that there are a lot of advantages of remaining small. One example Jeff is quick to offer up is their ability to discover certain coffees that perhaps larger roasters might not consider.
     “We can buy small lots ranging from 10 to 60 bags, which large roasters often aren’t interested in—unless they’re a Cup of Excellence lot,” explains Jeff, who noted that he recently received a sample for an AB Kenyan, a grade most larger roasters wouldn’t consider. “And the sample blew us away,” he adds.
     “I think that when it comes to larger companies, there is a lot of momentum to institutionalize many of the practices,” Jeff says. “Too often when companies get larger, the people running those companies tend to get locked into narrower ways of looking at the future and have more formulaic answers. As a small roaster, we have a strong sense of community both here in Chicago and at the farm level.”

The Bridge Between Producer and Consumer

Whereas Jeff is focused on building relationships at origin, and Tony is dedicated to bringing all aspects of the business together, resting somewhere in between is Chris Schooley, head roaster.
     Schooley also joined Metropolis after several divergent careers, which included a phlebotomist at a plasma bank and an assembly-line painter of Halloween masks. In between jobs, Schooley always found himself working at a coffee house. Eventually he became interested in roasting and realized that this position was well suited for him.
     “I find it very invigorating when you’re creating something all day long,” he says. “It is extremely inspirational to me that I am working with a product—coffee—which has a scope that reaches throughout the world.”
     When it comes to roasting, Schooley is on a continual quest to learn. “I am constantly exposing myself, building relationships and sharing ideas and thoughts with the roasting community,” he says. “I also speak with manufacturers to better understand the mechanics of [roasting] machines and how they can be different.” Whenever he has the opportunity, he tries new equipment to see what limitations—positive or negative—they may have. “As I get more exposure to different equipment, I have a better understanding of the broader picture of roasting,” he adds.
     With his main job to find great coffee and prepare it in a way that showcases its best qualities, Schooley follows the more straightforward approach to roasting. There is the belief at Metropolis, that by simplifying roast profiles, they can create repeatable roasts that maximize the best characteristics of each coffee or blend. Using a 24K IR-24 Diedrich machine, Schooley can remain hands-on with the roasting process, instead of relying on computerized roast profiles. The smaller machines, which are affected by humidity and drum temperature changes, among other things, require the hands-on sensory evaluation of the roaster, which is exactly how they want to manage it. After all, “The roaster’s hands, eyes, nose and mouth are a part of every roast,” says Jeff.
     Schooley roasts in full view of customers, behind a glass window, in the cafe. “I truly feel the connection with customers, and realized quickly that customers were the other side of the bridge, with the farmers on one side, me in the middle, and customers on the other end,” he says.
     He adds, “Our community is a large part of our business. It is a diverse community and we are dedicated to reaching to all branches of them.”

Creating Community

Jeff and Tony strive to give something back to the communities in which they work, whether it is at source, with their employees, within the coffee industry or with their customers.
     Jeff has traveled to many coffee-growing nations, and has a definite desire to help these communities create a more sustainable quality of life. They often help teach cupping, roasting, grading, and guidelines for organic farming—all practices which will ultimately lead to higher coffee prices and a more sustainable way of life for the farmers.
     Currently, nearly 80 percent of coffees Metropolis offers are organic, and 56 percent are Fair Trade organic. “Together with direct relationships, which can help foster sustainable growing practices, we hope to become 100 percent organic and fair trade as quickly as quality and availability permits,” explains Jeff.
     By providing direct contributions, Metropolis has helped build schools, dig wells, and even help set up a system of micro-loans that will enable individuals in coffee growing areas to remain small and sustainable. “By helping these communities develop several different revenue streams, it will help during the times of the year that coffee doesn’t provide income to these areas,” says Jeff.
     Back in Chicago, everyone at Metropolis is involved in cupping coffees, whether they’re in production, delivery, sales or a barista. Every employee is also aware of what happens during the roasting process and many participate in barista competitions or other industry-related groups. “As we are a relatively new business,” explains Jeff, “Tony and I’ve been trying to stay focused on achieving what we hope are really good products and the best staffing practices.”
     In the few short years Metropolis has been part of the neighborhood, they have captured a place in the heart of the community. Customers who frequent the Metropolis café are quite diverse, representing 68 different ethnic groups. To further engage this diverse community, “We promote many cultural events, and we try to tie those events, whenever possible, to coffees and the people who grow them,” explains Jeff. Recently, Metropolis was a driving force behind a rummage sale that raised nearly $4,000 for a local family who lost their home.
     To further bring current and potential retail and wholesale customers to a greater awareness of what Metropolis sells, shelf-talkers give customers a sense of where the coffee comes from, what the characteristics are of each coffee, and what food and wine pairings might be considered with that particular coffee.
     Additionally, Jeff is working on developing brief descriptions of how language and culture influence how people work together in different coffee-growing regions and how culture plays an important role in the way indigenous people conduct business.
     As for the wholesale side of the business, “it is relatively small, but growing,” says Tony. However, with only a handful of accounts, Jeff and Tony are content with their rate of growth, which is manageable.

Jeff and Tony have the confidence that even though they’re a micro-roaster, they can bring about positive change throughout the world. “I think you can learn without intending to,” explains Jeff. “If you focus too much on a particular set of objectives, you can miss some of the other stuff that can contribute to the quality of coffee and quality of life. As a micro-roaster, we have the possibility of being less rigid. And we are confident that we will be able to maintain our core philosophy of respect and help build a future for all the communities in which we work.”