Born and raised in Kenya, Purity and Martin found each other in the U.S. through Kenyan coffee and have made a name for themselves locally through Growers Alliance. I had the pleasure of chatting with Purity about their journeys, both separately and together, and the amazing things they are doing for their Villages in Kenya and locally here in St. Augustine.
What inspired you and Martin to get into the coffee business?
I’m originally from Kenya, from the region of Embu. It’s located at the foot of Mount Kenya less than ten minutes away from the equator. I never realized the meaning of the equator until I came here to America. When I was 23 years old I came to the U.S. on a cultural exchange program through Disney and drove the safari trucks in the Animal Kingdom for six months. During that time, I wanted to get my degree in Hospitality Management in Orlando at UCF, but soon realized that many people in the U.S. love drinking coffee. Knowing that Kenya grew the best coffee in the world, I decided to learn more about the coffee industry here in the U.S.
I went to trade shows and learned about the different qualities of coffee beans and where the beans came from. When I learned that they mix the beans from Kenya to bring up the quality and taste of coffee beans from other countries, I realized I needed to bring people 100% Kenyan coffee to the American people and that’s when I started my company in Orlando. I began importing raw coffee beans from Kenya, I didn’t know how coffee was roasted, I didn’t know what it is supposed to look like during the process, I had to learn all of this. At the same time, Martin who I hadn’t met yet, was doing the same thing in Jacksonville with his parents.
Martin grew up in a Village that was less than three hours from where I grew up and came to the U.S. on a Green Card Program with his family. When he was washing dishes at Panera Bread in Jacksonville, he also realized how much people love coffee here and was shocked that people would line up for it. That’s when he and his family started a Kenyan coffee company in Jacksonville.
How did the two of you meet?
Both of us, not knowing each other were researching the coffee industry, going to trade shows, learning about the expectations of the American consumer, and how to work around international trading. We met at a trade show in Seattle and started working together on several projects through the Specialty Coffee Organization of America, they are the organization that puts the trade shows together. Martin and I had spent a lot of time together working on various projects for the organization and had gotten to know each other more and more and here we are today with a son who is turning 12 next month.
Are you a big coffee drinker?
We may grow the best coffee in Kenya but because we were colonized by the British, people in Kenya drink tea. If you ask for coffee at a five-star hotel in Kenya, you would get a cup of Nescafe (instant coffee). I only started drinking coffee a year ago since we opened the coffee shop. That is when I started to appreciate gourmet coffee and the difference a good cup of coffee makes. Before that, if you walked into my house, there would always be tea on the stove.
When did you and Martin start Growers Alliance?
We both dissolved our companies to start the business together in 2007 and started researching branding and what we should do to make ourselves different. In 2008 Growers Alliance started packaging coffee.
How was it when you first started?
We actually started at the Amphitheater farmers market in a small 10x10 booth and a table that would collapse on us. We would brew coffee and travel with the pots which would spill in the car whenever we stepped on the breaks and then the table we bought at Walgreens would collapse when we placed the coffee pots on them. Coffee would spill everywhere; I think we spilled more coffee than we sold. It was a rough start for sure.
We would come to the market with ten packages of coffee, which would be all we had. People would drink it and notice the difference and stand there with their mugs for more. We received really great feedback on what people were looking for which helped us fine tune the product, including the packaging which was a disaster when we started. There was definitely a learning curve for us.
When did you open the coffee shop?
It was a long process and it all started one day when we were walking by this closed up building that used be an oil change service station. We thought this building was perfect and it took us two years, four months, and eight days to renovate it. It was the hardest thing I have ever done! Then, right before we were set to open, hurricane Matthew came and we lost all of our equipment. We had 15 inches of water in here and had to start all over. We finally opened last year in January 2017.
What made you chose this neighborhood for the coffee shop?
We opened the coffee shop in this location because the Farmers Market is where Growers Alliance began. It’s the reason we chose St. Augustine as our home, and we never wanted to be far from it. When we first started the business, we were doing 7-10 farmers markets and for some reason the St. Augustine market felt different, we felt at home here. That is why we decided to make this our home last year. Before this, we were in Julington Creek for 11 years and to be honest I would open 10 coffee shops here in St. Augustine before I would go anywhere else.
Do you roast the beans here at the coffee shop?
We have a warehouse in Jacksonville where the Kenyan coffee beans arrive raw and then we have someone doing the roasting for us. We roast it as we need and we package it here in our warehouse off of Rt 207.
What types of things are you doing to make Growers Alliance more than a coffee shop?
We want to give back to our Villages in Kenya, so we give 10% of everything we do to them. When I was growing up I would walk for many miles looking for clean water, so we started digging water wells in my village. Between both mine and Martins families we know many people with kidney failure, so we knew dialysis was needed. We partnered up with local dialysis provider, DaVita and they have helped us get refurbished dialysis machines here in the U.S. to take to Kenya. We rented some space and have recently obtained four acres of land to build a huge hospital in Martins Village. It’s not only going to take care of dialysis but hypertension, dental care, eye care, and mammograms. We went from nine dialysis stations to a twenty-five station clinic. This will take us from seventy-five sessions to over two hundred sessions a week. These are the types of things we are doing in Kenya.
In St. Augustine, we realized it’s not easy for us to do it all, so locally we joined hands with other local businesses and started Community Friday where we work with various local non-profits such as St. Francis house or Betty Griffin Center to give the non-profits some exposure, help people to learn more about what these non-profits are doing, and maybe get involved through volunteering or donations.
With the big homelessness problem in the area, we wanted to help out and do what we can to get people back on their feet. The non-profit will screen a candidate that is ready to go back to work and the local businesses come together to help; Debbie’s spa will do a makeover, Betty Griffin will give them clothes for two weeks, Black Fly will give them gift cards and the Lion hotel will offer a couple of nights free stay. Growers Alliance will give them gift cards and donate a bicycle. Any cash donations received will go directly to the non-profit. I know of three candidates that are back on their feet. They have gotten jobs, apartments, cars, and they come back to visit and show a sense of pride now.
We are a coffee shop, but we want to be more, we want to be a place for the community.
We have our own challenges for sure but the love for this community has been far greater than we ever anticipated. Lots of hugs and lots of laughter. There is so much love here!
What else do you have going on at the coffee shop?
We do Reggae Sundays with a DJ and people come and dance. On Mondays, we have a Drum Circle and it’s a lot of fun. We are planning to do Yoga on the patio during the drum circle as well. We are also going to have African Soca music here soon.
There are many groups that come here to meet, Political Groups, Charities, and Student groups come here to study.
We want this to be a place where people can come and gather. A true place for the community!
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