California Roaster Taylor Maid Farms Acquired by InHouse Fund

Taylor Maid Farms at The Barlow in Sebastopol.

Longtime California organic coffee roastery Taylor Maid Farms has been acquired by InHouse Ventures, a boutique investment fund extending from the Healdsburg, Calif.-agency InHouse, which specializes in branding in the natural foods industry.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, although InHouse said in an announcement that it plans to leave all Taylor Maid employees and company leadership in place, including current CEO Rob Daly. 

“Our fund is focused on acquiring businesses that can have strong environmental and social impact,” said David Cooper, Managing Partner of InHouse Ventures. “Taylor Maid Farms was a perfect fit for our group, as they share our values around taking care of people and planet. We are extremely excited to continue building on the foundation that the Martins started nearly 25 years ago.”

Taylor Maid Farms was founded in 1991 by Chris and Terry Martin, becoming one of the first coffee companies to focus on sourcing organic coffees exclusively. The Martins launched the coffee business in the barn of their 100-acre family farm at the urging of Mark Inman, who directed the company’s coffee operations for 18 years, becoming the president and partner in the business. In 2013, the company reopened its flagship retail location at the 12.5-acre market The Barlow in Sebastopol.

“For the past nine months, I’ve worked closely with the InHouse Ventures team,” said Taylor Maid CEO Daly. “When you consider their strong background in building brands, and national consumer products, we feel there is a lot of opportunity in front of us.”

As a creative agency, InHouse’s previous work includes the design of Blue Bottle Coffee‘s milk-box-style New Orleans cold coffee, branding for Allegro Coffee, and numerous other projects in the specialty foods realm, including dairy, nut milks, coffee and cheese.

“InHouse Ventures plans to focus on building Taylor Maid Farms into a leading organic specialty coffee brand in Sonoma County, and the larger Northbay market,” the acquisition announcement stated.