Our family thanks you!
Our Story
A mother and daughter business! We are a Canadian family with a combined professional background in entrepreneurship, hospitality, customer service and health care. Almost everything we know about specialty grade, sustainable coffee came to us by first being a consumer. We took courses and seminars in Canada and the real education began once we had our feet planted on the dusty ground of Santa Teresa while operating The Roastery Coffee. Like sponges, we absorbed education and knowledge from experienced coffee roasters, our coffee grower (who also roasts commercially and has been in the business for over 30 years), and a visiting professional coffee grader and buyer. We are committed to continued education in our industry and continually evolving accordingly.
We believe in the phrase “once you know better, you do better.” We put that phase into practice upon buying The Roastery in September 2019 as an established business. We thereupon immediately implemented positive changes. We hired more employees to provide better service and build team morale, we increased employee wages, We reduced our environmental impact with changes to bio-degradable products. We then worked on creating a local supply chain using local produce growers, bakers and vendors who also wish to create community economic sustainability by supporting each other.
We have a passion for keeping Costa Rica’s best quality coffee here, in this beautiful country, so that locals and visitors can taste what other people around the world know and love about Costa Rican coffee. We train our baristas to know about coffee and espresso-based beverages. No other café in this region buys direct trade, sustainably grown coffee. No other café roasts their own coffee. No other café offers 7 types of milk, perfectly foamed to that milks capacity. At The Roastery we strive to provide a meaningful experience for everyone: our customers, our staff and our providers.
Our People
Our employees are the backbone of our business. We hire people who embody our values, and have a proven ability to maintain excellent quality standards and amazing customer service. Most of all, they are all so very passionate about serving the best coffee. However you identify yourself is fine with us. You will be treated with the same respect. Come as you are! You are beautiful.
FAIR PAY // we pay above minimum wage and above industry standards.. Owners and management will never participate in the sharing of TIPS. 100% of tips go to the employees. We encourage and support our staff to develop other skills and interests.
FAIR TREATMENT // we encourage and support our staff in pursuing other interests and skills. We work together in creating flexibility in our scheduling so they have the opportunity to invest time in those activities.
TEAM BUILDING // we believe that if your staff feels valued and invested they will excel in their role.We make every effort to have each team member participate in planned group activities outside of the business so we can be ourselves and let our hair down.
Respect & Community
We believe the business community has a responsibility to support local charities in the capacity that they can. Action and Financial contributions are equally valuable. We offer our support to the following groups and organizations: Pet Rescue Santa Teresa (who are staffed by volunteers and funded solely with private donation), Santa’s Anonymous, Adopt a Teen, The Red Cross. In addition, we are members of IWCA (International Women’s Coffee Alliance), Kiva.Org ( Micro lending Group), and Nicoya Peninsula Waterkeepers. We are a SAFE ZONE. All people, regardless of gender, age, race, religion, or sexual orientation can expect to be respected and valued. We believe it is a human right to live free of violence in all of its forms.
Reducing Environmental Impact
is of a continuous importance for us
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When we purchased the Roastery, we changed all disposable take-out packaging to proven - biodegradable products.
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Implemented an internal recycle program and reached out to a local environmental non-profit group (Nicoyan Waterkeepers) encouraging them to place a recycle box in the area for others to use. In the high season of 2020 they placed a recycle station across the street from us at Plaza Carmen.
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We have organized a yearly beach clean up and combine our efforts with other like minded businesses so we can clean up on the same day to make a bigger difference in a shorter time frame. (As individuals we are always picking up trash, outside of our business plaza, on the street and the beach but our “BIG” combined community efforts are to increase environmental awareness to the locals and visitors of our human impact in a sensitive eco area)
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We close our business on our beach clean up day’s so that all of our staff can participate. We pay our staff for this day and offer complimentary coffee at the beach to encourage our customers and community to participate.
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We changed menu items and recipes so that we could use local growers, producers and suppliers which reduces our carbon footprint and supports other like minded business owners.
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We encourage the use of reusable dishes and to request take-out only if you are actually leaving the premises. We will only sell retail items that can be reused.