Taylor Maid Farms coffee sold to Healdsburg investment firm

A Healdsburg investment firm announced Friday it has purchased Sebastopol’s Taylor Maid Farms coffee, entering a rapidly consolidating and changing marketplace dominated by the behemoth Starbucks and fast-charging Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

InHouse Ventures has purchased the business from Chris and Terri Martin, who bought 100 acres of property on Taylor Lane in Occidental in 1991 and two years later started roasting organic coffee beans for the wholesale market in an old barn on the farm. Financial details were not revealed.

“We have found a little diamond that has deep values and a long history,” said Ted Robb of InHouse Ventures.

Taylor Maid has grown as coffee lovers sought a more premium product, increasing to 38 employees and annual revenues of almost $4 million last year. In 2013, it moved into The Barlow center, increasing foot traffic for its retail location as well as providing more space for a new roasting facility.

It also was one of the first locally to introduce cold, nitrogenated draft coffee to local residents; now that product has become ubiquitous across the Sonoma County coffee-drinking landscape. The company is exploring producing packaged coffee drinks for the retail market, something that will continue under its new ownership, Robb said.

InHouse Ventures is an offshoot of InHouse, which is a brand-building and design firm that has done work with regional food producers in the area, such as Amy’s Kitchen of Santa Rosa and Clover Stornetta Inc. of Petaluma.

The company is located in an old stone building on Hudson Street in Healdsburg, near the Russian River and Old Roma Station wineries. It was formed by four partners, including Susan Backer, former vice president of Traditional Medicinals in Sebastopol, Ryan O’Halloran and Brandt Mandrier. They began in Oakland in 2002 and moved up to Healdsburg in 2011 as the team saw more opportunity to cultivate business with Sonoma County’s artisanal culinary scene and farm-to-table movement.

InHouse owns a stake in InHouse Ventures along with other investors. It was formed so it could take advantage of business opportunities in the growing food and beverage sector. Taylor Maid is its first purchase but it plans more, said Robb, who serves as chairman of both businesses.

The sale comes as there has been considerable activity in the sector, epitomized by the owner of Peet’s Coffee of Emeryville purchasing coffee pod pioneer Keurig Green Mountain Inc. of Vermont, and also Stumptown Coffee Roasters of Portland, Oregon, within the past year. In addition, No. 1 coffee shop Starbucks Corp. announced this week it will open a series of premium stores called “Reserve-only” across the country.

“Increasingly, health-conscious consumers are driving demand for higher-quality coffees, a counterweight of sorts to fresh ground coffee pods, while similarly demand for organic coffee is also on the rise. Organic coffee caters for both consumer interest in premium quality as well as a healthy lifestyle,” a March note by market research firm Euromonitor International stated.

Taylor Maid, however, will continue to grow on more of a local scale, Robb said, focusing in Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties. It is already available in 200 locations around the Bay Area, such as supermarkets and office buildings.

“We are going to be focusing on keeping it here and in our community,” Robb said. The company will examine where to set possible other locations, new retailers as well as partnering with community groups, he said.

Taylor Maid shares the same business ethos as its buyer, both Robb and Chris Martin said. The InHouse Ventures website notes it wants to “provide a balance of healthy financial return and meaningful social and environmental impact.”

Rob Daly, who serves as general manager, will stay and be named chief executive officer for Taylor Maid.

In an interview, Daly said he believes Taylor Maid has an advantage in the marketplace over its competitors because it is ahead on farming practices as well as being committed to giving back to the community. For example, it has already started sourcing beans from a biodynamic farm, where crops are grown without synthetic chemicals in an attempt to balance the farm’s entire ecosystem.

The sale also will allow the Martins more flexibility to pursue other business opportunities.

Chris Martin said he was pleased that the sale will make the business sustainable into the next generation, as he was looking for an investor before Robb suggested buying the company whole.

“We really shared similar values. We sort of felt that he could take on this local business and help with expansion,” Martin said.

The purchase will allow Martin, 63, to concentrate on his other businesses, such as the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental and Loring Smart Roast Inc. in Santa Rosa, which produces premium coffee roaster machines.

He also intends to purchase the old Altamont Hotel building in Occidental from his mother-in-law and refurbish it. Martin said he doesn’t know what would go into that space, but said it could be a retail facility similar to that of Healdsburg SHED.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.