Meet Leticia Hutchins | Owner & Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leticia Hutchins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leticia, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind our success and the success of our brand would have to be transparency. From the beginning, my husband Harry and I knew that Alma Coffee needed to be different in the already very saturated coffee market. Inherently, we are different because my family has been in coffee farming for over 5 generations and we still own our own farms in Honduras. Vertically integrating with out farms and starting to roast that very same coffee we planted ourselves was inherently a very unique factor about us, we call it farm to cup!

Additionally, we wanted Alma Coffee to educate consumers on what it takes to get a cup of coffee; the countless faces, the processes, and all the different steps in the coffee life cycle. Unfortunately, coffee is a commodity that is very hard to track. Apart from being inside a coffee sack that has the year of the harvest and the origin of the coffee, it is impossible to look at a sack of green bean “raw coffee product” and know where it came from. We wanted to take the mystery out of coffee and be fully transparent on where it comes from, the faces behind every step of the process, and all the work that it takes to get that delicious brew into your cup every morning. For this very reason, we have an open door policy at our roastery, M-F 9am-3pm you can walk into our roastery and see exactly where your coffee is being roasted.

With that mindset, we established our 3 key pillars as improving lives, using sustainable practices, and crafting extraordinary coffee. Improving Lives is something that the Alma team practices every day in every community we touch. At our farm, we employ and provide suitable living conditions for over 250 coffee pickers during harvest season. At our roastery, each team member is a member of our family, and we hope to be their lifelong career path or a crucial stepping stone to achieving their career goals. We are constantly in search of more Sustainable Practices, which is why we chose the state-of-the-art Loring Smart Roaster, the first in the state of Georgia! Not only is it USA made out of Santa Rosa, California, but it is the most fuel-efficient roaster on the market, producing 80% less emissions as opposed to other conventional roasters. Extraordinary Coffee is the fruit of our labor. With so many options in the specialty coffee industry, we distinguish ourselves by being able to control the quality of our coffee from the time it is planted at our farms until the moment you drink your perfect cup. When you make the choice to drink Alma Coffee, you make the choice to directly support coffee farmers and make a positive impact on the industry we all love.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Alma Coffee, is an online retailer, wholesaler, and cafe focused on crafting the freshest farm to cup coffee. Our family has been in coffee farming for over 5 generations and today we source from those very farms we own in Honduras. We are proud to represent coffee in every stage of its life cycle from our farms to your cup. We ensure a fresh cup of coffee because we roast fresh every single day and to order. Additionally we are proudly Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and Women Owned.

Starting a business is no easy task. My husband Harry and I were 24 when we left our corporate careers in Chicago to pursue our dream of starting Alma Coffee. We were entering a very saturated market known for being low profit. It was definitely passion that drove us to take that leap of faith. Every day we are faced with challenges in different shapes and forms but we always focus on the positive and the things we can control. At the end of the day we feel blessed that our 2 year old start up is thriving amidst a global pandemic.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We are big foodies, so a week visiting Atlanta with us would consist of mainly eating! Atlanta is a must for its diversity in cuisines and popular tourist attractions. We love to takes guests to our area as well and walk around Downtown Woodstock and Downtown Canton. Both areas are very different but have their own unique charm.

Reformation Brewery in Woodstock is a must. Not only are they dear partners of us here at Alma Coffee but they have some of the best beer I have ever had! Going a little further north, I love stopping over at Chateau Meichtry in Talking Rock. Family owned with the most amazing wine, its the perfect day trip to get away on a beautiful day in North Georgia.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
100% our shoutout has to go out to our Alma Familia. We took a giant leap of faith to start Alma Coffee and we had no idea how we would be received by coffee consumers. We have been so blessed to have been accepted in Cherokee County with open arms. Especially when the COVID19 pandemic first hit, we had no idea if Alma Coffee would survive to see another day. We did everything we could to avoid asking for help, but when revenue dropped to $0 overnight, we had no option but to turn to our community and customers and ask for help and they SHOWED UP! Because of YOU, we are still in business and we have been able to employ even more amazing people!

Website: https://myalmacoffee.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myalmacoffee/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/myalmacoffee

Twitter: https://twitter.com/myalmacoffee

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myalmacoffee

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/alma-coffee-roastery-canton

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo0coHnLC8kMlVoJcFrtOsg

Image Credits
Clay & Emily Goswick