Dak Coffee Roasters

Overview

Two Montreal-born expats, Louis-Philippe Boucher (finance and venture capital) and Veronique Lagarde (marketing), founded Dak in Amsterdam in summer 2019 after years of traveling Europe to visit cafes and roasters. The name means "roof" in Dutch — the idea was hatched on the roof of Louis's home. Operating originally with no brick-and-mortar, Dak built an export-led business via online retail and wholesale across Europe (UK, Ireland, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia) on the strength of distinctive gender-neutral illustrated packaging and funky-experimental coffees with names like Candy Crush and Lychee Lassi. The Barde vanVoltt–designed DAK Showroom was longlisted for the 2025 Dezeen Awards.

Known for

• Distinctive illustrated packaging by an unnamed artist (deliberately gender-neutral)
• Funky, experimental processing — Mossto carbonic maceration, anaerobic naturals
• IMF convection roaster, light roast profile
• Strong international wholesale across Europe
• DAK Showroom (Barde vanVoltt design) longlisted for Dezeen Awards 2025

Why it matters

Dak proved a roastery could build an international specialty audience on branding alone, with no cafe footprint to lean on. The packaging work has been widely imitated, and their willingness to lead with high-priced, hard-to-process micro-lots (rather than gateway-friendly origins) shifted what newer European roasters thought they could sell online.

Production

roaster machine

IMF convection

Café

This roaster operates a café.

Sources

• https://www.dakcoffeeroasters.com/about
• https://typica.coffee/en/narratives/roasters/dak-coffee-roasters/
• https://www.coffeeinsurrection.com/dakcoffeeroasters.html
• https://www.kofio.co/dak-coffee-roasters/about-us
• https://www.localspecialtycoffee.com/specialty-coffee-place/dak-showroom-amsterdam