2 days Ago
Logan • Walk into Caffe Ibis on a Saturday morning and you’ll find it buzzing — with customers studying or working on laptops, or catching up beneath the community artwork, or just stopping in for the ethically sourced coffee. Now, Utahns who don’t live near this northern Utah college town can pick up its popular Moab Trail Blend. The medium-to-dark roast, made with beans from Central America, is organic, fair trade certified and available on shelves at Utah Costco stores.
“We’ve been a local company with strong community focus,” said Caffe Ibis director of sales and marketing Edie DeVilbiss. “So, seeing our coffee on Costco shelves was a really big moment for us.” The blend is packaged in Logan at the company’s brewing facility.
It gets its coffee from Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and different blends hold various certifications, including fair trade, organic, bird friendly, and grown by women. There are various requirements for each certification, including the environment where the beans are grown. Fair trade standards guarantee a decent wage, humane labor conditions and community improvements.
DeVilbiss said Costco reached out to the small business after seeing strong regional interest in its coffee and noting its long-standing reputation for ethical sourcing. Ibis coffee first hit Costco warehouse floors across Utah in June and is selling well, the roasting company said. The expansion to Costco is an opportunity to build on the business’s values, DeVilbiss said, which encompass environmental stewardship, equity and social justice.
It gives to nonprofits like Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse, commonly referred to as CAPSA, the Bear River Land Conservancy, Planned Parenthood of Utah and the Tracy Aviary, she said. “The more coffee that’s getting out into people’s groceries or getting into people’s cupboards,” DeVilbiss said, “the more organic, fair trade certified premiums are going back to producers.” Lesa Wilson, the current owner of Caffe Ibis, said this collaboration was a long time coming.
“We try to take care of people at Caffe Ibis,” Wilson said, “and it feels like Costco does the same. That’s important to us.” The Logan roasting company has changed and grown over the years.
A major milestone was its partnership with Harmons Grocery in 2011, which Wilson said was pivotal for the company’s expansion. “I think Costco,” she said, “is going to be the same.”.
