by Mary Bailey and Curtis Comeau Photography
Part Three: The Roasters | Part Two: The OG | Part One: The Independents
This four-part series has been an homage to the ordinary people who decided to take an everyday beverage—something that had been commodified and lost its soul—and bring it back to where it belongs. In their cafes, in their subscription clubs, in the way they do business with customers, coffee growers and suppliers—there’s a word that comes up over and over. Community. Though their stories are, in some cases, radically different, they all end in community.
In part four we talk with two couples who are building legacy businesses, and the original iconoclast of YEG coffee.
The Colombian owners Santiago Lopez and Kristin Panylyk.
The Colombian Coffee Bar & Roastery
Kristin Panylyk de Lopez and Santiago Lopez.
They met in a dance class and now run a fledgling coffee empire.
“I met Santiago 16 years ago,” says Kristin. “We both danced on performance salsa teams. We were friends first and now, we’ve been married for 11 years.”
When I catch up with Kristin on the phone, Santiago is training at the new café in Saskatoon, their sixth.
“Santiago’s story is pretty incredible, what resilience,” says Kristin. “He was born in Colombia, his family escaped from the violence with the guerillas, and he spent most of his youth in Atlanta. He made his way to Edmonton; he had a family member here.
“We drank coffee, but we were not into coffee in any big way—I am a teacher and Santiago was a general contractor with a small construction company. But his uncle Felipe (the Edmonton family connection) had gone back to Colombia and bought a coffee farm. He asked Santiago if he could help him bring the coffee to Canada.
“We were curious. Santiago hadn’t been back to Colombia in 20 years, we thought; let’s go check this out. It was my first time there; that was nine years ago.
“My dad came with us; we went to the farm, we met a lot of different producers, Felipe’s neighbours and we learned a lot. We fell in love. So many pieces and so many hands. It was exciting, and it felt like something we could get behind. But we knew if we wanted to do it properly, we would have to roast the coffee here, at home.”
They did not know how to do that. Nor did they know anything about importing coffee beans.
Despite this, they took all the money they had, found a small second-hand roaster in Vancouver, drove out to pick it up and taught themselves how to roast coffee in a space they found off 118 Avenue.
“We burnt a lot of coffee. Our family and friends didn’t hear from us for a while. But we learned so much—and our coffee got better. We ended up doing over 200 farmers’ markets and craft shows that year. The reception we got was amazing. We started to get regulars, and we started to create a community of coffee.”
It was the end of the season.
“We didn’t know how we would make this into a sustainable year-round business.”
They decided to keep Kristin’s consistent teaching job and close the construction business. They could concentrate on coffee, yet still have a steady income of sorts. Then, Santiago met some fellow entrepreneurs at a coffee event. They helped us. Gavin Fedorak (Fuge Sausage) helped Santiago create a business plan, other business owners shared contacts and eventually we were able to get a small business loan.”
“We opened Glenora on a shoestring in 2018. We opened our second shop in the French Quarter during the Pandemic. It was frightening, I remember feeling that we could lose everything, house, vehicles, the business, everything. I will tell you that it pushed us in ways we never imagined, and we made changes we’ve kept to this day—delivering coffee, curbside ordering—ways we could still serve people. Edmontonians were unreal—they said we’re going to support you and they did. The worst thing turned out to be ok—we did not close one day of the pandemic.
“We learned to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And I’m grateful for that.”
The experience built resiliency; and it helped them understand what they needed to do in order to grow.
“We learned that our business had to be based on transparent values: we are a team; we are coffee professionals, and our purpose is to make people feel special through simple yet extraordinary hospitality.
“We had four members on our team when we opened Glenora. Now we have 74 people.”
They opened Parkallen in 2022, Mill Creek in 2014, Forest Heights this year, along with Sherwood Park and their first location in Saskatoon. Santiago’s experience as a general contractor has come in handy with the build of every café.
“We have pretty big growth plans,” says Kristen. “We have seen how coffee shops bring vibrancy, we provide a gathering place for communities, a place in the neighbourhood. And we are making an impact in coffee-growing communities.”
“When we first started, we were purchasing just three 70kg bags at a time”, says Santiago. “Today, we’re buying 1,000kg bags. This gives our producers in Colombia the confidence that we’ll continue to purchase from them year after year.”
Kristin still works as a teacher; she says that helps when they apply for the small business loans through the bank.
“We don’t want outside investors. We want to be able to grow without the risk of our own vision getting lost.”
The Colombian
Glenora, 10340 134 Street
Forest Heights, 8204 106 Avenue
French Quarter, 8816 92 Street
Mill Creek, 8905 99 Street
Parkallen, 6529 111 Street
Sherwood Park,11 Athabascan Avenue
The Coffee Mule mobile coffee truck
Saskatoon, Nutana, 902 Victoria Avenue
thecolombian.ca
Square 1 and Anecdote Coffee owners Jonathon and Brandy Brozny
Square 1 Coffee and Anecdote Coffee Roasters
Brandy and Jonathon Brozny
Brandy and Jonathon Brozny wanted to make changes in their lives. Why not open a coffee shop?
“Back in 2015 I was a stay-at-home mom with six kids. Jonathon was in finance,” says Brandy. “He was getting tired of that paperwork. We were in our mid-30s and thought, well, if we don’t make changes now, when will we?
“We were sitting drinking coffee and I said, ‘we should open a coffee shop.’ We had no experience, had never done any front-facing, service-type jobs before.”
From that crazy idea, they have built a thriving coffee and pizza business.
“That was in April 2015. We fell in love with the space on Fairway Drive. It was a Mediterranean restaurant and a pizza place, and popular in the neighbourhood. The pizzeria didn’t need much work and we were able to reopen as Stone and Wheel Pizzeria in November. But, for the coffee shop, we were doing most of the renovation work ourselves. We opened Square 1 in May 2016.
“There was something in the air around coffee at that time. Credo and Transcend were happening and we opened right after that.
“Our second location was in the Premium Outlet Mall. We signed for two years, but didn’t renew the lease. West Block (the complex) had had a rough start but we were able to open in February 2020.
“Then Covid.”
Number three is in the Creative Hive in Mayfield. The Windsor Park location followed soon after and the Sherwood Park location opened this August.
Opening new shops means there is progression, baristas can become managers and roasters.
“Not everyone wants to be a barista forever. We have room for people to grow,” says Brandy.
I asked Brandy what it was like having six kids and managing a growing family business.
“Our kids are now aged 16 to 27 and they are still tight, my oldest is the other mom. They have all worked with us in one capacity or another. In the early days, they moved around as a clump of hooligans, folding pizza boxes, washing dishes, that kind of thing. They always talk about it and say they are glad we did it. We have no regrets, we love what we do.
“Jonathon and I have complementary personalities; we see things differently. He is good with numbers, I’m the people person.”
“We had no intention of roasting coffee at first. We worked with 49th Parallel out of Vancouver and were happy, but one day I met their coffee sourcer and thought ‘oh I’d like to do that.’ Once we started meeting with coffee farmers and developed a better understanding of the business, we realized we wanted to source directly. It’s another way to help people grow—we can have a direct impact in coffee-growing countries.
“We ordered our roaster right at the beginning of Covid, from California. It took almost a year to get here. Jayce Van Der Linden, our head coffee roaster, has been with us for six years. He wanted to roast coffee, he’s passionate about it, has been to roast school and goes on sourcing trips.”
How did you decide on a house style?
“When we got in the coffee business I liked sweetened flavoured coffee. I grew to notice the difference, but as a coffee company we wanted to roast coffee for every demographic. We wanted to roast from light to dark and do it well with good coffee beans. Anecdote has six Genres (Fable, True Crime), it might be Columbian or Ethiopian, or sometimes a blend, but it’s a certain style, the profile doesn’t change. The single origin coffee is identified by a different colour label.
We started the subscription business during Covid and we also sell wholesale, you can have Anecdote Coffee at Box Car and at Nuestra. “
Why Anecdote?
“It took us a long time to come up with the name: Anecdote, a true story about real people,” says Brandy. “It’s kind of our story.”
Square 1 Coffee
Aspen Gardens 115 Fairway Drive
Glenora 14055 West Block Drive
Mayfield 16819 111 Avenue (Creative Hive)
Millwoods 7319 29 Avenue
Sherwood Park 115 Tisbury Street
Windsor Park 11727 87 Avenue
square1coffee.ca
The interior of Iconoclast.
Iconoclast Coffee
Ryan Arcand
Whimsical tables at Iconoclast
In 2009, Ryan started roasting coffee out of a space on Alberta Avenue, slowly and painstakingly building up a legion of followers. The coffee world loves its iconoclasts, the people who march to the beat of their own drummer, and in Ryan, they found a kindred spirit.In 2013, Iconoclast Koffiehuis opened on 105 Avenue, with a ping-pong table, a record player, a bar built out of reclaimed pallets—minimalistic, rustic, a fun hang—a place to meet friends, play games and enjoy great coffee.
The entrance of Tiny‘s Cheese Shop
Ryan’s latest move? Opening Tiny’s Cheese Shop with Blair Lebsack of RGE RD and a restaurant called Lovesong Farm. This may look like a complete left turn, but Ryan has plans—a grow room in the basement and raised beds on the rooftop to have fresh greens for sale in both the cheese shop and the bistro.
Iconoclast Coffee Roasters
Oliver Exchange, 12021 102 Avenue
LeMarchand Mansion, 11523 100 Avenue
Lovesong Farm ,12015 102 Avenue
Tiny’s Cheese Shop, 12017 102 Avenue
iconoclastcoffee.com
well-known Canadians.
