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Oakland · United States

Red Bay Coffee

Since 2014 · Keba Konte, Rachel Konte

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Overview

Red Bay was founded in early 2014 by photojournalist and visual artist Keba Konte, who taught himself to roast on a Whirley Pop in a converted garden shed at his Fruitvale home — what he called the 'Coffee Dojo' — after years operating Berkeley's Guerilla Café (2005, with wife Rachel and partner Andrea Ali) and San Francisco's Chasing Lions Café. Konte built the company explicitly around hiring people of color, formerly incarcerated people, and people with disabilities; women hold roughly 65% of leadership positions, and the brand's motto 'Beautiful Coffee to the People' draws directly from the Black Panthers' 1966 Oakland slogan.

Known for

  • Black-owned specialty roaster pioneering 'fourth wave' inclusion
  • Fruitvale public roastery as community and arts venue
  • B-Corporation certified
  • Wholesale to Facebook, Salesforce, Twitter, Airbnb
  • Series A funding led by David Drummond, Richelieu Dennis, Suzy Jones, Don Thompson

Why it matters

Red Bay is the most prominent Black-owned specialty roaster in the U.S. and helped force the third-wave conversation about who specialty coffee actually serves. Its public roastery doubles as a community arts venue, and the company's hiring practices have become a template referenced across the industry.

Production

destoning
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head roaster
Alicia (Director of Coffee)
color sorting
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roaster machine
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filter equipment
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cupping frequency
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roastery location
Fruitvale, Oakland, CA (~6,000 sq ft public roastery)
espresso equipment
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annual volume tonnes
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Café

3098 E 10th St, Oakland, CA 94601 (Public Roastery flagship)

Recognitions

  • Certified B Corporation
  • Entrepreneur magazine cover (July/August 2020)

Sources

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