Our Story
True North began in April 2001, when owners John and Maine Hofius quit their jobs as software analysts to open a craft coffee roasting house. Originally intent on opening a cafe, Maine was fortunate enough to come in contact with Kent Bakke, CEO of La Marzocco USA, who generously agreed to meet and discuss the ins and outs of the coffee industry. After hearing Kent talk at length about what he called the “romance and mystery of roasting” Maine’s mind and True North’s future course were set.
WHY WE ROAST COFFEE/WHY WE COME TO WORK
“Romance and mystery” aside, our goal at True North has always been to provide craft roasted coffee that is accessible, responsibly sourced, reasonably priced, and above all delicious. We work tirelessly, roasting, blending, sampling our batches, to make sure every bag measures up to our own demanding standards before our coffee ever reaches your cup.
We are always keeping an eye out for opportunities to innovate in our field and find ways of improving our service in ways our customers may have never even known they wanted. True North was the first coffee roaster to add roast dates on each of our bags so our customers could be certain of their coffee’s freshness; offered our coffee at local grocery stores at a time when no artisanal coffee had yet made it to the shelves; and custom-built grinders for our smaller volume clients to make certain they had the same options as larger establishments; to name just a few of our service accomplishments.
Though we are largely self-taught, we owe a great deal to a number of incredible individuals who have shared their considerable knowledge and insights with us along the way: Kent Bakke, John Blackwell, Joe Monahan, Kevin Colello, Scott Reed, Helen Nicolas, David Kastle, Kyle Anderson, Laura Sommers, Sue Rauda, Mark Inman, Colleen Walsh, Laila Ghambari, Jack Kelly, Meg Hagele, Rich Moceri, Tony Perry, Dismas Smith and Bronwen Serna.
We would also like to thank our loyal clients, both wholesale and retail. True North’s team was designed to support and educate all curious and willing members of the coffee community and we thank you in turn for your years of support.
Sincerely,
John and Maine Hofius