Independent roastery Kinder Coffee Lab opens in St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD — A few months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke down commerce and closed businesses, three St. Cloud-area residents were revving up plans to open two coffee shops in central Minnesota.

For years, it had been the dream of Taylor Feero, Guytano Magno and Ryan Schoepf to open a local coffee joint and bring the "coffee culture" of the Twin Cities to the region. But uncertainty about the emerging pandemic hampered plans for brick-and-mortar shops. So the trio revamped their business plans to deliver coffee to people's doorsteps through a single-purchase and subscription service.

"Because we had dove in so deep looking into market trends and seeing what our community wanted and needed, we were like, why don't we just pivot a bit and send coffee to where people are going to be for the next however many months?" Feero said. "People still need coffee. People are still working from home. And if you're anything like me, you need the caffeine to get out of bed in the morning."

The pivot required a big investment in roasting equipment — something Feero said the co-owners wanted to do but thought would be years down the road.

In April 2020, the owners opened Kinder Coffee Lab. And this month, after nearly two years of success, the owners opened a storefront and drive-through along Cooper Avenue in St. Cloud.

The company offers roasts named after local attractions, including Munsinger light roast, which honors the beloved gardens along the Mississippi River, and Wobegon medium roast, which pays homage to the Lake Wobegon Trail and Garrison Keillor's fictional town of Lake Wobegon. Also in the lineup is a St. Germain dark roast named for the prominent street in the heart of downtown St. Cloud.

Kinder Coffee Lab roasts its beans in the new storefront — and the shop features a window in the seating area that allows customers to watch the process as it happens. The owners invested in a roaster from California-based Bellwether Coffee, which makes an all-electric, zero emissions roaster.

Ferro compared the craft of roasting coffee beans to brewing beer — a mix of science and artistry that's taken off in the St. Cloud area as evidenced by a growing number of breweries and cideries.

Like most metro areas, the St. Cloud region is home to multiple coffee shops — some independent, cozy nooks and some chain locations often seen with vehicles coiled around the building in the drive-thru lane. But the area has few local coffee roasters.

The St. Cloud-based roastery Muggsy's Beans opened more than 15 years ago and specializes in small-batch roasting for individuals, coffee shops and other businesses, as well as blends sold as fundraisers for local schools or nonprofits. Another local roastery, Adventure Coffee MN, sells coffee products and locally roasted beans in a food truck that sets up shop outside local businesses.

And within the past year, two independent coffee shops — Korppi Coffee + Bakeshop and Second Street Coffeehouse — opened in the area.

"St. Cloud has a growing coffee culture," Feero said. "We wanted to be a part of catching St. Cloud up to Minneapolis when it comes to coffee and coffee culture. We're just excited to be a part of [it] and bringing central Minnesotans better coffee."