Community is more than a buzzword for Vancouver, British Columbia roasters Spencer and Annie Viehweger, co-founders of Matchstick Coffee. Since opening their flagship cafe in 2012, two additional cafes and a mobile service cart have been added to their portfolio, but in their growth one thing remains consistent: the importance of building relationships.
โFrom very early on,โ Spencer Viehweger says, โour vision for Matchstick was to build a company where hopefully all the staff and especially a core group of people would genuinely feel like it was their company, too.โ Throughout the years, baristas have blossomed into roasters and managers, carrying out Viehwegerโs vision that a solid team is an investment not only in the companyโs future, but also in fulfilling individual dreams.
Viehweger insists on recruiting people with a shared passion for coffee and providing those team members with a sense of ownership. โTo give them a career position at Matchstick,โ he says, โinevitably means we have to go beyond a couple of stores. Thereโs no real fixed number in our minds, but that would be a primary goal for us to be able to strengthen those relationships internally in our company and to give people that kind of stability weโre all looking for, to ultimately do a job that you really love.โ
Roasting team manager Rafaela Vidinha spent a number of years in the cafe prior to taking on her leadership role. Part of what she loves about her position is becoming intimate with the technicalities of extraction, temperature, and profiles. โThere is so much to learn,โ she says. โSpecialty coffee is relatively young, so thereโs lots of room for innovation.โ
Spencer Viehweger, whom Vidinha credits as โthe spirit of the place,โ splitsย his time between overseeing Vancouver operations and strengthening relationships with growers. Heโs traveled to Colombia, El Salvador, and beyond, but is less focused on the destination than he is on developing long-term relationships. โEstablishing trust is important. When you have trust as a foundation, then you can really start to learn from each other,โ he says. โThatโs our approach in visiting origins and going to producers.โ
Building a rapport with the local community is equally important to Matchstick and starts with serving a quality beverage. โIf you get someone who is just expecting a cup of coffee and theyโre floored because theyโve never had coffee like that before,โ Spencer Viehweger says, โand they come to you and all the light bulbs go off? Then weโve engaged someone in that conversation.โ
Immersion in the community at large has become easier since the launch of Matchstick Mobile. โWe basically put a full commercial setup on wheels,โ Spencer Viehweger says, noting the cart uses nearly as much energy as a regular cafe. โThe only thing it doesnโt have is a high-tech dishwasher and a ton of lights on it.โ The full-service cart is used for private bookings and company events in the region. โA local tech company has done a number of their product launches,โ he says, โand weโll go over there and do coffee service for the day. Itโs really fun. You can bring coffee to places where you couldnโt normally get really awesome coffee, which is the whole point of it in the first place.โ
Also new to the Matchstick portfolio is the Riley Park cafe, which opened in late 2016. Spencer Viehweger has little role in the daily operations of Riley Park, but thatโs part of his vision to share ownership with the team. โThe soul, the beating heart of what Matchstick is supposed to be now, gets to be more than a small collective of individuals,โ he says. โAs the amount of people on our team grows, the more the Matchstick idea is coming from not just the founding partners anymore, which is really wonderful.โ
While growth is an important part of the Matchstick vision, Spencer Viehweger emphasizes size isnโt the only measurement of success. โWe want to keep growing as long as everything is getting better. If the coffee is getting better, if the relationships are getting stronger, and our community is getting stronger as well,โ he says, โand customers are seeing Matchstick as a place to gather and hang outโif all of that is going in the same direction, then I think thatโs healthy growth.โ
Lori A. Mayย is a freelance journalist and travel writer based in the Pacific Northwest. Mayโs work has appeared in The Atlantic, Writerโs Digest, Los Angeles Review, Midwestern Gothic, and many more. Read more Lori A. May on Sprudge.