Stray Cat Coffee Finds a Home in Baker City, Oregon

Stray Cat Coffee bags on display. All images courtesy of Stray Cat Coffee.

A new roasting company in Eastern Oregon’s Baker City called Stray Cat Coffee is scratching its way into homes and local businesses.

Inside a purpose-built 300-square-foot home addition, Stray Cat Founder and Roaster Kent Virtue keeps a Coffee Crafters Valenta 7 fluid-bed roaster purring like a kitten to supply customers online, at a Baker City Farmers Market stand and through a gradually expanding wholesale business.

Virtue launched the company late last year, following his 15-year passion as a home roaster and his retirement after 32 years in the grocery industry. Yet don’t expect any Stray Cat coffees to be perched on any large grocery shelves anytime soon.

Stray Cat Coffee Founder Kent Virtue loading the Valenta 7 machine.

“No grocery at all. That’s part of the business model,” Virtue told Daily Coffee News. “We’re a small company growing our business in an organic way through word of mouth, online presence [and] exposure in food- and beverage-focused boutique-type establishments. Growth is the goal; we just want it to be smart growth without ever compromising our coffee quality, brand and maintaining a work-life balance.”

Shelf space in small, independent stores, however, is part of the plan. The coffee brand has established an early relationship with health-conscious Baker City eatery Sūnn Juice + Decor, a restaurant and lifestyle goods store, which features drinks made from Stray Cat coffees, bagged beans and Stray Cat cold brew.

“Sūnn was an early adopter, and it’s almost become where when you think of Sūnn, you think of Stray Cat Coffee,” said Virtue. “And people know that if they can’t get it online or I’m not at the market, they know that it’s available at Sūnn, so it’s been a really great relationship, especially in this small town.”

To this point, Oregon-based Coffee Shrub has been Stray Cat’s green coffee seller of choice. Virtue aims to maintain a selection that includes the safe, chocolatey flavors favored by offices and specialty coffee newcomers, as well as coffees from some less ubiquitous places of origin such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Bali, Indonesia.

“What’s really amazing is how well the customer base up here is adapting. They’re approaching some of the wild stuff, some of the wet hulled, some of the dry processed coffees,” said Virtue. “You’re seeing customers grow with us. Right now, I’m buying 50-pound bags, so there’s times where I have to change direction relatively quickly, and I have some customers who are reaching out, saying ‘Hey, what’s next?'”

Screenshot

Stray Cat leases a space inside local business incubator and office space Launch Pad Baker, where local online shoppers can pick up orders in person. Stray Cat Coffee also provides a portal on its website for donations to local animal rescue organization Best Friends of Baker City, and raises funds for feline-focused initiatives through raffles at its Baker City Farmers Market booth.

As the business waits for the markets to relaunch in the Spring, sales are likely to stay close to home.

Screenshot

“We have some surrounding communities that we have not penetrated yet,” said Virtue. “I’m a firm believer that you just don’t go out there and have a lot of accounts. I believe there needs to be a relationship aspect of it.”

Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter. 

Related Posts