Jody Wolfanger roasts coffee beans in his small home production facility. Photo provided.
AVON, NY — Jody Wolfanger’s home in Avon looks like many others in his neighborhood.
A building in his backyard, however, is a different story.
From here last month, he launched Evening Star Coffee Roasters, an independent company which uses quality beans and hand-crafted techniques. The building could be a small corner of any major food processing plant in America. The floors and work surfaces are immaculately clean. Tools are stored neatly in place. His inventory is carefully labeled and organized.
Wolfanger and his family are the company’s only employees. They handle roasting, packaging, shipping, delivery, sales and quality control. His wife Christine an illustrator by trade, designed the labels on all 26 varieties Evening Star Coffee Roasters sells.
“We’re going to follow these same high standards as we grow, get a much larger facility, and hire more people.”
Wolfanger’s attention to detail comes from his ten year of experience as a senior manager in the food manufacturing industry. He was production supervisor for the Kraft processing plant in Avon — then plant manager at Associated Brands, a private label manufacturer in Medina.
Meanwhile, Wolfanger began sampling quality coffee around the world on his vacations, and dreamed of opening a coffeeshop. “I would be sitting in cafés trying coffees I had never heard of and making notes in my notepad.”
In 2004, while working 60-70 hours a week a Kraft managing 300 people, Wolfanger took a night job at Starbucks in Henrietta — serving drinks, mopping floors and learning everything he could about the business.
By 2006, his research led him to conclude that the market has been saturated with coffeeshops. He turned his attention to production instead.
Wolfanger works with coffee farmers across the globe where he recieves “single origin” beans from growers in Kenya, Ethipoia, El Salvador and a handful of other countries. These beans are hand-picked at the point of ripeness — not shaken from trees by industrial harvesters. The result is a more even quality bean free of disease and pests.
Evening Star is also strictly a “roast-to-order” company. “We don’t carry an inventory of roasted coffees to ensure freshness for our customer base.”
Wolfanger donates a portion of his profits to two charities: Teresa House hospice and Lollypop Farms animal shelter. He plans to identify a charity for each of his 26 lines of coffee
Wolfanger has been promoting his coffees at local events like the Wadsworth Haunting.
He’ll be at the following upcoming events:
- Golden Benefit Charity Holiday Arts and Crafts Show and Sale on Nov. 21 at the Quality Inn in Geneseo.
- Artful Holidays through the Genesee Valley Council of the Arts in Geneseo on Nov 5–7.
- Oak Hill Country Club on Dec. 1 from 6:30–9:00 p.m.
Evening Star supplies individuals, coffee shops, restaurants, retailers, florist and gift shops, and local offices. Products include roast-to-order coffees, gift packages and baskets, coffee subscriptions, gift certificates, wedding/party favors, and wholesale coffee equipment and supplies.
You can also shop online at www.eveningstarcoffeeroasters.com.