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Martin Coffee on East Bay Street. The storefront served as an office while the vertical roasting and packaging operations were spread out over two floors. Image courtesy of Martin Coffee Company.
By the 1980s, operating a roasting facility on East Bay Street had become difficult. The space was cramped and shipping and receiving items by truck, meant moving them by hand from the street to the back of the building. In 1987, the company relocated to a larger facility at 1633 Marshall Street, near Talleyrand Avenue. Historically, this neighborhood has been known as the community of Fairfield. Originally, a separate city, the City of Fairfield was annexed into Jacksonville in 1887.
Today, 25 years later, the company remains a fixture in the Jacksonville community. The company's website proudly proclaims that over 750 million cups of Martin Coffee have been served since 1957, including daily cups for the last seven governors of Florida. We also discovered there was a Metro Jacksonville connection when Johnson told us his dad, Harold Johnson (second generation roaster), said to tell Stephen Dare hello. Evidently, Stephen's 1990's era Fusion Cafe in Riverside/Avondale's Five Points was a company client.
Allowing us to enjoy a freshly roasted cup of coffee, Johnson, a third generation roaster, mentioned the 12-employee company maintains coffee, tea, beverage equipment and espresso/cappuccino relationships with 400 customers within a two hour drive of Jacksonville. Many are well known local businesses such as The Fox, Matthew's, European Street Cafe and Peterbrooke Chocolatier. One thing at stood out upon our visit was the family atmosphere, working environment and long lasting client relationships that have been formed over the years. For example, St. Augustine's famed Santa Maria Restaurant has been serving Martin Coffee for over fifty years. During Martin's early years, Milligan's Beefy Burgers, Florida's first fast food hamburger drive thru chain, was a loyal client. When owner, Richard Milligan, decided to close the business due to competition from rapidly expanding national chains such as McDonald's, he was hired by Martin Coffee Company and was employed there the rest of his career. In the roasting plant, we were also delighted to meet another employee, Willie Deas, who had been with the company for over 40 years.
Next Page: A Look Inside the Martin Coffee Company's Roasting Plant
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JeffreyS
March 21, 2013, 06:56:46 AMGreat people at Martin Coffee they roast all of our private label coffees. Ben is the best consultant you could hope to find if you want to run a coffee shop or have a coffee component to your business.
PeeJayEss
March 21, 2013, 08:25:53 AMIs this place set up in such a way that they could do public tours? That would be a pretty cool little amenity.
jaxlore
March 21, 2013, 09:13:13 AMa nice peek inside.
JeffreyS
March 21, 2013, 09:38:23 AMI like this graphic of theirs.
Jason
March 21, 2013, 11:15:16 AMVery cool! I had no idea they even existed.
Wacca Pilatka
March 21, 2013, 12:21:15 PMGreat article and great photos. I really like the shot of Bay St. on the first page. I don't think I've ever seen a historical photo of Bay from that perspective.
blizz01
March 21, 2013, 12:42:07 PMOur friends from out of town decided recently that a coffee cup from The Fox with the Martin logo on the opposite side was the perfect Jacksonville souvenir...
coredumped
March 21, 2013, 12:59:34 PMI usually get a bag or 2 from them for Christmas gifts when I travel out of town. You can go in the front and they'll sell you a bag just like you'd get of Maxwell at Publix. Very friendly people.
Bativac
March 21, 2013, 03:28:14 PMHow's their coffee? Is it comparable to, say, Bold Bean? Or closer to Maxwell House?
Cheshire Cat
March 21, 2013, 05:29:12 PMVery cool. I will ask my son to pick some up for us. Nice article too guys!
JeffreyS
March 21, 2013, 06:50:03 PMmbwright
March 22, 2013, 08:52:34 AMTours of the place and how it works would be cool, especially since Maxwell House refuses to do so. I think it is great that smaller companies can be successful.