Nov. 2—BEMIDJI — Chad Sutherland started roasting coffee as a hobby three years ago in his garage nestled among the pines just east of Bemidji. He just wanted to make fresh coffee for himself and his wife Jen.
Fast forward to today, and Sutherland has a fast-growing company on her hands.
It’s called Butler Beans Coffee Company and it still operates out of that same garage, but with a lot more equipment, a few friends to help out, and orders coming in from all over the country.
Sutherland, 44, still works full-time as a fiber optic installation manager for Shevlin-based J. Carlson Services. But in the evenings and on weekends you will find him in that garage, where the tantalizing smell of coffee fills the air.
“This was going to be a hobby,” Sutherland said with a smile. “It would just be normal for us to have freshly roasted coffee. It doesn’t matter if it’s my coffee or someone else’s, the fresher you can get it the better. Often in the store it might be six to eight hours. months old by the time you get it.”
Chad and Jen built a new home on the property in 2020, complete with a three-stall garage to make room for a boat and an all-terrain vehicle. But a year later, Chad started thinking about a new hobby that had nothing to do with coffee.
“At first I wanted to learn how to brew beer,” he said. “I started looking at it and realized it required a lot of equipment. So I thought, ‘I wonder how coffee is roasted.’ I decided to go that route.”
He started with a small machine that could fry about half a pound at a time. Then Jen urged him to earn enough to give as a Christmas present.
“After eleven hours of direct burning, I knew I needed a bigger burner if we were going to do this,” he recalls. So he bought one that could do up to three pounds at a time, all the while honing his skills by researching and watching videos online.
“After about six months it was too small,” he said, “so we upgraded to the Roasted Right roaster that can handle 14 pounds.”
That led to the official launch of Butler Beans Coffee Company in April 2022. It started as a cottage food producer and then became a certified commercial food wholesaler, which meant converting the former garage into an enclosed space with proper sinks and a handwashing area. station and passing a Minnesota Department of Health inspection.
Sutherland orders pallets of coffee beans from two main suppliers, Royal New York and Cafe Imports. Butler Beans also offers a variety of teas and chocolate candies.
