The first roast happened in a decommissioned Calgary Transit shelter that Kemi B. bought for $400 and towed to a friend’s yard in Inglewood. It fit one 5 kg drum roaster, a folding table, and — on a good Saturday — eleven customers.

Six years later the shelter sits in the corner of the Inglewood roastery as a break room. The business does 30 to 40 local orders a week, ships to four provinces, and supplies coffee to nine offices on a weekly subscription.

What changed the numbers was not a bigger roaster. It was getting paid the day after a delivery instead of thirty, and letting customers choose between pickup, a courier and Canada Post without leaving the storefront.