Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon and Nicole Wells.
Brandon and Nicole, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It was the first cup I ever drank that captured my imagination. My grandmother invited me (Brandon) over for a visit. What followed was a coffee ceremony. I quickly learned that coffee was not merely a beverage to consume, but a ritual to enjoy. What happened around coffee mattered as much as the coffee itself.
Eighteen years ago, when Nicole and I were married, we adopted this ritual. However, it was wildly transformed when we were given a home coffee roaster. Prior to this, neither of us had given much thought to where coffee came from. But, roasting on our own machine sent us on a quest to learn as much about coffee as we could. What followed was a class to Boot Coffee Camp in California, participation in our industry’s annual expos, an origin trip to Colombia and Nicole’s certification as a Q-grader.
We began to see our love for coffee and the ritual around it come together, when the following Christmas we shared our fresh roasted beans as gifts under the brand “Wells Roast.” We were having such a good time and wanted people in our town to taste better coffee. We launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2013 and thanks to its success, Wells Coffee Company was born. With the funds raised through the Kickstarter and the support of dear friends, we bought our first commercial roaster, linked up with a newly opened cafe in Boca Raton, hired our first f/t team member and began sharing the coffees we love with the neighborhood. In 2016, we acquired our own space in downtown Fort Lauderdale to expand our operation. Most recently, we opened our brick and mortar to the public where we are able to spread our passion to see more and more people (as we like to say) Drink Deeply.
Has it been a smooth road?
Pursuing a dream is anything but a smooth road. Before 2013, we had never owned a business. What has followed is an MBA crash course with three wonderful daughters in tow. Staying the course has taken grit and guts and perseverance; three things that don’t always come naturally to us.
Pursuing and maximizing the capital needed to grow the business, fostering good family culture in the madness and scaling for the growth have been among the greatest challenges we have faced.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are wholesale specialty coffee roasting company and retailer. Our best partnerships are formed with any person or establishment that is interested in elevating their coffee program.
We specialize in sourcing and roasting only specialty coffees. We have a wide range of offerings that include handcrafted blends, choice single origin coffees, a nitro cold brew keg program and if you come into our retail location you can try our house made horchata cold brew on draft.
We think, we’re known best for roasting high quality coffees and hosting people around them. We’re most proud of the skillful team that we get to work with and their shared commitment to offer something unique to our community.
What sets up apart from others is what sets them apart from us. We can’t be another company anymore than another company can be us. We bring who we are to all that we do.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
We think, Fort Lauderdale is a wonderful place for a business like ours. We believe we have been uniquely positioned in the heart of a growing city to be a harbor to the community and a specialty coffee provider.
South Florida has been late to catch on to specialty coffee compared to a lot of other larger US cities, but we love seeing people’s interest growing. This makes Fort Lauderdale fertile ground for starting new business. The best thing to us, is when small businesses choose to set up shop in our city.
Our hope is that as entrepreneurs risk for this city, the city will do everything they can to support local businesses like us.
Contact Info:
- Address: 737 NE 2nd Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 - Website: www.wellscoffees.com
- Phone: 954-982-2886
- Email: info@wellscoffees.com
- Instagram: @wellscoffees
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellscoffees/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wells-coffee-co-fort-lauderdale
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