
Growing a community takes a lot of hard work. And it doesn’t hurt when you have a common interest, or a space to share those interests. Calumet’s Keweenaw Coffee Works supplies the Keweenaw peninsula with premium roasted small-batch specialty coffee. Owner Val Baciak says the roastery started in a smaller space before setting up its barista bar, and comfy couches on Fifth Street. Adding its been a wonderful journey along the way, to grow not just as a business, but as a community.
We’re trying to foster being an oasis in our community. This is coined by one of our core customers here, Greg Green. He has a few paintings in here. And I owe him a lot for that terminology. But I think sometimes people, again, forget that we’re roasting coffee here. Because everything else is just so cool, and such a fun place to hang out. – Val Baciak, owner of Keweenaw Coffee Works
Keweenaw Coffee Works was named a company to watch in 2024 by Michigan Celebrates Small Business. The local coffee roaster also makes delicious dishes for breakfast and lunch. The small business has earned the red-hot best breakfast sandwich twice from My North and Traverse magazine. In the future, Keweenaw Coffee Works hopes to provide tours of the roasting room to show the community what it takes to make small-batch specialty coffee in the Midwest.
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