In the late hours on Monday, April 25th, a fire broke out at Regalia Roasting Collective, a family-run, minority-owned co-roasting space in Long Island City, New York. Firefighters arrived quickly to the scene to put out the fire, but unfortunately much of the damage had already been done, and Regalia has had to temporarily close their doors. To help in these efforts, the team at Regalia have created a GoFundMe seeking $80,000 to help their business rebuild.
Started in 2017 by husband and wife team Paolo and Chisato Maliskiโalong with author and roasting instructor Scott RaoโRegalia is a one-stop shop for individuals and businesses looking to break into roasting without shouldering the burden of the rather significant up-front costs (profiled here in Sprudge). Along with renting out roasting time, Regalia offers green coffee to roasters, green storage, QC equipment in their tasting lab, and classes on everything from roasting to sourcing. โThe mission is to lower the barrier into entry into roasting,โ Paolo, a member of the 2021 Sprudge Twenty cohort, told Sprudge back in 2019.
This has all been put on hold now due to the fire. Per the GoFundMe, the damages to the space are โprofoundโ, with the accompanying images backing that up. Though the full scope of the damages is not yet known, Regalia is as of now hoping to raise $80,000 to defray the rebuilding costs. These funds will help to โhire electricians and plumbers to get our utilities repaired and fully operational, replace fixtures, repair damage to roasting equipment, limit damage to our flooring, and replace lost inventory.โ In just over a dayโs time, the campaign has raised nearly $30,000.
The damage done by the fire isnโt limited to Regalia. Over 30 companies, some of them restaurants but most of them coffee companies, used the coroasting space to create their products, and without a place to roast, find themselves in a difficult position. A full list of businesses that used Regaliaโs services can be found on the GoFundMe, should you be able to support them as well.
For more information or to donate, visit Regalia Roasting Collectiveโs GoFundMe page.
Zac Cadwaladerย is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.
