Paul Ralston, Profile in Business Vermont Coffee: organic, fair trade coffee for the discerning palate all the way from Bristol

Five thousand pounds of coffee a week, over 100 tons a year. Respectable sales for a Vermont company that opened its doors in January 2002. But hardly surprising, when you consider the owner is entrepreneur Paul Ralston.

After attending the University of Vermont Paul’s first job was with the Nash organic farm, where he was the “milk man”, making home deliveries in the Bristol area. In 1977 he opened the Bristol Bakery on Main Street, learning pastry-making skills on the job. Acquisition of an antique coffee roaster for the bakery launched his coffee career.

Paul sold the bakery in 1983 and enrolled in Trinity College for a course in business management. After graduation he joined Autumn Harp, a small skin care company in Bristol. Rising to the role of president, in five years he helped lead the company to annual sales of nearly six million dollars.

When one of their clients, The Body Shop in England, offered him a chance to serve as their Marketing General Manager. Paul said, “I couldn’t refuse this opportunity of a lifetime.”

Fortunately, for Vermont coffee enthusiasts after three years Paul decided it was time to return to Bristol. He and his wife devoted a year to roasting coffee in their garage - perfecting the “Dark Roast” blend that is the Vermont Coffee Company’s signature product.

The company’s new 6,000 square foot facility in Middlebury has a neat clean room look. Beans from growers around the world are measured and roasted in the morning, packaged in the afternoon and shipped the next day. A center of activity is the “cupping” room, where regular tasting sessions are held to maintain the quality of the company blends.

Recent additions to the product line are coffees from the Fince Alta Garcia Plantation in the Dominican Republic – owned by Vermonters Julia Alvarez and Bill Eichner.

All the beans used by The Vermont Coffee Company are certified to be organic and fair trade by both the Department of Agriculture’s organic program and by Trans Fair USA, an independent organization.

This increases the cost of the raw material, but Paul commented, “A growing portion of the restaurant and retail market will pay a premium for these specialty coffee products.”

Virtually the entire output of the company is sold to stores and restaurants in Vermont.

Sales in 2007 grew 40 percent. A recently acquired automatic roaster has four times the capacity of the older oven.

With an eye on the future Paul has developed a three-pronged marketing plan: “A new range of coffees’, expanded restaurant marketing and a program to capitalize on e-commerce.”