We recently connected with Samuel Kjellberg and have shared our conversation below.
Samuel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
It was a simple concept from the beginning…we found that the truest way to honor the farmer, place, and process was to focus entirely on single origin micro lots. And that’s what we set out to do! Slowly, we realized there was a corner of the market in the Twin Cities to explore super rare, highly original nano lots. It is so exciting to experience the immense flavor potential!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
SK Coffee is a roastery with two cafe locations that focuses entirely on single origin micro lot coffees. We work tirelessly to showcase the farmer, the place, and the process. We have sourced and roasted some of the rarest coffees in the region: fruit inoculated fermentation, rare varieties, koji fermentation, etc.!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
During the pandemic we had our first coffee shop set to open March 2020…needless to say, that didn’t happen. So, we essentially re-pivoted back to our entirely virtual existence, leaning heavily on virtual events and experiences. When the world started to reopen, our cafe began to thrive, so we pivoted again to focus on retail expansion; we will be opening our second shop in February 2023.
How’d you meet your business partner?
Nate Broadbridge, my cofounder, is the husband of my friend’s sister. I was originally a classical musician/conductor. Looking to get out of that industry and into “business,” I asked around to friends to see if I could get connected. It was serendipitous that Nate was also looking to start a venture, but from the finance perspective.
Contact Info:
- Website: skcoffeeplease.com
- Instagram: @s.k.coffee
- Facebook: @skcoffeeplease
Image Credits
SK Coffee