8/11/2023 0 Comments Onyx coffee lab locations![]() ![]() ![]() “It’s too hard a crop to grow, ship 10,000 miles away and have a café or diner make a cup of coffee without knowing they paid pennies for that coffee. “You can’t buy a coffee for a dollar and not think that someone across the world is getting taken complete advantage of,” Jon said. Since coffee is not grown in the United States, educating the public about the human element behind how it is sourced and paying a good wage for it is important to the Allens. “We will actually show people what we pay.” “Other companies say they buy ethical coffee, but that is up to whatever they say it is. ![]() Exterior signage for Onyx Coffee Lab is up at The 1907 on East Walnut Street in downtown Rogers. Onyx pays an average of three times more than fair trade for its green coffee, which is sourced in east Africa and South and Central America. That information is published on its website, Jon said. Onyx, which inventories 12 to 20 bags of coffee at a time ranging in price from $15 to $100, is one of the only coffee roasters that is transparent about where its coffee is sourced, what it pays for it and how the coffee is “scored” (the quality of it). The Allens started Onyx in 2012 with the goal of having “the best coffee in the world,” as well as a business model of “transparency, education, high-end quality coffee and treating each person along the way with kindness and respect,” Jon said. “Their attitude was, ‘If you think it’s going to work and you’ve been successful in the past, why don’t you go for it, and we’ll help you out in any way possible.’” On the other hand, the city of Rogers didn’t have “preconceived notions about what a good business is,’” Jon said. The state didn’t understand why someone would want to do it.” “Even having open manufacturing, in a way, broke the rule book. “ didn’t really understand how to reconcile manufacturing, alcohol, retail, restaurant, residential,” he said. Jon Allen said that because the building includes so many different elements, getting state approval was difficult. Inventory storage, offices and the coffee school will be in the basement. A “cupping” room is located on the mezzanine, where Onyx’s quality control team will taste 60 to 80 coffees a day. The 2,500-square-foot roastery at The 1907 will be on full view and will increase roasting output seven to eight times from current capacity to 10,000 pounds of coffee a week. In moving their production from Springdale, the Allens wanted a building large enough to house their full-scale roastery, which employs 12 people, and that would allow the roastery to be visible to the public. Eleven one-bedroom loft apartments, already fully leased, round out the building. Yeyo’s Mexican Grill will offer specialty tacos with indoor and patio seating in a 1,000-square-foot space on the North First Street side of the building, with a planned opening of late May or June. Dry Storage is the name of the event space for a possible dinner series or concerts and can also be rented for private events. The Foreman, an upscale cocktail bar with seating for 40, is also on the mezzanine. Doughp, a wholesale and catering bakery run by chefs Sammy Townsend and Justin Calvert, will supply baked goods.Ĭhef Jason Paul’s The Heirloom At 1907 will offer intimate dinners for around 20 people in a private room on the mezzanine level of the building. The Onyx café will have seating for 100 inside and 40 on the patio. The 30,000-square-foot building will be home to Onyx Coffee Lab’s roastery operations and coffee school. Jon and Andrea Allen, owners of Onyx Coffee Lab, along with a group of local developers are behind the approximately $4 million project. Originally built in 1907 as Rogers Wholesale Grocery, it will open within the month as The 1907 and will house a handful of restaurant-related businesses, anchored by Onyx Coffee Lab, a wholesale coffee business. The 110-year-old red brick building at 101 E. ![]()
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