Initially, the space will serve as a by-appointment pick-up location for Hawthorne Hill Coffee’s customers. But ultimately, “Our end goal is to evolve the roastery into a full-service coffee bar,” Chris Dearth told this news outlet.
“At this point our main focus is on roasting quality coffees,” Dearth said. “We look at District Provisions as the perfect location to organically grow our business” alongside District Provisions owner Chip Kennedy’s vision of establishing the facility as a European-style marketplace. Cafe 1610, a locally owned vegan restaurant, is scheduled to open inside District Provisions this Saturday, Sept. 5.
Dearth said he and his wife founded the coffee business as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
“Prior to COVID, I had a daily ritual of stopping into local coffee shops to grab a great cup of coffee,” Dearth said. “Now that myself and others have had their work commutes removed in favor of working from home, the need to make great coffee at home sparked a desire to provide just that. With many of us now schooling our children through remote learning, we find ourselves with even fewer opportunities to leave the home to grab that luxury cup of coffee.”
Hawthorne Hill provides “premium specialty coffee in whole-bean and select-grind finishes to match a customer’s brewing preferences,” Dearth said. The coffees are sold in a variety of bag sizes and can be ordered on the company’s web site, hawthornehillcoffee.com. Coffees are also available at Omega Music in the Oregon District and at Grind House Coffee in Huber Heights. Hawthorne Hill also offers nationwide shipping, free local delivery and soon will offer free local pickup at the Wayne Avenue location, Dearth said.
“Our goal is to provide full transparency into our coffee from cultivation to cup,” Dearth said. “We roast to order ethically sourced, organic, fair-trade, and direct-trade coffees. We will be offering a ’watch-your-roast’ experience where coffee clients can make an appointment to actively participate in the roasting of their coffee at our Wayne Avenue location and then take with them the freshest possible bag of coffee and a unique experience along with it.”
Hawthorne Hill Coffee Co. has established partnerships with Dayton-area non-profit organizations — including the Autism Society of Dayton and Clothes that Work — to create special blends that help raise money for the agency.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
“Dayton offers so many great resources through non-profit organizations, many of which I believe go unnoticed or often under-utilized simply out of lack of visibility and awareness,” Dearth said. “We look to partner with non profits that directly impact the Miami Valley.”
Dearth said there is “a great coffee culture and community in Dayton, and I want to play a role in creating opportunities for community stewardship. Proceeds to every bag of our non-profit partnership coffees go directly to the local non-profit. We also cross-promote to create awareness of the services that these organizations provide Dayton.”
Both of the company’s founders have careers outside of the coffee industry. Dearth grew up in Tipp City and moved to Kettering as a teenager, graduating from Fairmont High School, and later from Wright State University. He works full time as an account manager for a Portland, Oregon-based legal software company. Carrie Snider-Dearth grew up in the Cincinnati area, and graduated from the University of Dayton, where she was a standout athlete on UD’s women’s volleyball team. She later earned a nursing degree from Wright State University and now works as a registered nurse at Miami Valley Hospital.
For more information about Hawthorne Hill Coffee Co., go to hawthornehillcoffee.com. To follow developments of the District Provisions venture, check out the company’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HawthorneHillCoffee.
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