Valente Family Coffee was the brainchild of Doug and Odine Valente. Doug works in high-tech and previously owned Cougar Mountain Winery in Washington State. Odine is a classically trained chef who works for the Four Seasons.
This adventure started out as a way to teach our 5 kids about geography, social studies, and entrepreneurship. We have a laminated world map on the wall of our living room with pins added when we would receive new varietals of green coffee beans. They learned about how coffee was grown, harvested, and processed as well as about the people who are involved in all aspects of the coffee chain.
Our kids have an ownership stake in the company and are involved in decision making for all aspects of the business, from cost structure and pricing to logo design, and marketing. We have regularly scheduled business meetings where the kids are encouraged to have a voice and participate (meeting notes written by an 8 year-old are hilarious).
We currently roast coffee from our mobile roasting trailer at the Issaquah Farmer's Market from May through September. In the off-season, we are busy filling order from our home roastery for both our local friends and coffee lovers in the US via mail-order.
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