Publik Coffee Roasters

What Publik Coffee Roasters does

Publik Coffee Roasters is a privately held small batch specialty coffee roaster founded in 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah, by entrepreneur Missy Greis. The company operates four neighborhood locations across Salt Lake City — Publik Coffee Downtown (the flagship café and roastery at 975 S West Temple), Publik Coffee Avenues (a quiet work-friendly café), Publik Kitchen (a full-service breakfast and lunch restaurant at 9th & 9th), and Publik Ed's (a casual café near the University of Utah) — and a fifth business unit, Publik Space, an event venue located inside the working roastery. The company employs 51–100 people and generates revenue across five streams: in-café beverage and food sales, e-commerce whole bean coffee shipped nationwide in 12oz retail bags ($23–$28 by origin), wholesale coffee to other cafés, restaurants, and offices, full food service at Publik Kitchen, and event venue rentals.

The company's core technology is its Utah-only solar-powered roastery, built from sustainably sourced or repurposed materials and equipped with 65 solar panels and an oxidizer filtration system that captures 96% of particulates from roasting. The roastery received the 2015 AIA Utah Honor Award for architectural design. Coffee is roasted in small batches to order, minimizing inventory time and supporting freshness as a value proposition. The customer base spans specialty coffee enthusiasts, remote workers and students, brunch diners, wholesale B2B buyers, and event hosts. Marketing is primarily organic — Instagram, newsletter, and earned media coverage in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Daily Coffee News, and Utah Business — with no venture capital or private equity backing disclosed. Distribution is omnichannel: four company-owned cafés, an owned e-commerce storefront, wholesale accounts, a working-roastery event venue, and select third-party delivery.

Name

Publik Coffee Roasters

Legal name

Publik Coffee Roasters

Website

https://publikcoffee.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Publik Coffee Roasters is a privately held small batch specialty coffee roaster in Salt Lake City operating four neighborhood cafés, a roastery (Utah's only solar-powered), a DTC e-commerce bean business, wholesale accounts, and the Publik Space event venue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Coffee Roasting & Cafe

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920), Beverage Manufacturing (3121)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAFADAE

Coffee Roasters with Cafe (Roastery Cafes)

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Cafes & Coffee Shops

SECONDARYAFAFADAB

Coffee Roasting & Grinding

Agriculture & Food Production/Beverage Production/Coffee & Tea Processing (Roasting, Blending, RTD)

SECONDARYAFAFADAJ

Specialty Coffee & Tea (Single-Origin, Micro-lot, Premium) Processing

Agriculture & Food Production/Beverage Production/Coffee & Tea Processing (Roasting, Blending, RTD)

Keywords

• Specialty coffee roasting
• Cafe and restaurant operations
• Wholesale coffee supply
• Direct-to-consumer coffee retail
• Event venue hosting

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Cafe Operations: In-house roasted specialty coffee and espresso drinks served at four Salt Lake City locations. Menus include espresso drinks, pour-over, batch-brewed drip coffee, cold brew, and seasonal specialty lattes.
2. Whole Bean Coffee Sales: Freshly roasted whole bean coffee sold at cafe locations and online for shipping anywhere in the United States. Retail bags are 12oz.
3. Wholesale Coffee: Wholesale coffee supplied to cafes, restaurants, and offices.
4. Food Service: Full-service breakfast and lunch restaurant at Publik Kitchen, casual cafe food at Publik Ed's, and light bites at Downtown and Avenues cafes.
5. Event Venue Rental: Publik Space event venue inside the working roastery available for weddings, corporate events, private parties, and meetings with on-site barista service.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Publik Coffee Roasters is a small batch specialty coffee roaster that roasts all of its coffee in-house at Utah's only solar-powered roastery (65 solar panels with 96% particulate filtration) and serves it across four Salt Lake City cafe and restaurant locations. The company also distributes freshly roasted whole bean coffee through an e-commerce store shipped nationwide, supplies wholesale accounts to other cafes, restaurants, and offices, and operates Publik Space — an event venue located inside its working roastery.

Product overview

Publik Coffee Roasters is a small batch specialty coffee roaster based in Salt Lake City, Utah, operating as a unified cafe-and-roastery business rather than a platform product. The core offering is in-house coffee roasting at Utah's only solar-powered roastery, with roasted beans sold through four distinct cafe locations (Publik Coffee Downtown, Publik Kitchen, Publik Coffee Avenues, and Publik Ed's), a dedicated event venue (Publik Space), wholesale accounts, and an online shop for direct-to-consumer bean sales. The company operates as a multi-location cafe chain with integrated roasting operations, not as a modular software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Publik Kitchen: Full-service breakfast and lunch restaurant located at 931 E 900 S in the 9th & 9th neighborhood
• Publik Space
• Publik Ed's

Products and services

• Specialty Whole Bean Coffee Freshly roasted specialty-grade whole bean coffee (12oz retail bags) sold at cafe locations and online for shipping anywhere in the United States. Priced $23–$28 per bag depending on the origin. Roasted to order in small batches at the solar-powered roastery for individual consumers and home brewing.
• Publik Coffee Downtown Flagship cafe and roastery location at 975 S West Temple, featuring sustainable materials, a spacious work-friendly atmosphere, and specialty espresso drinks alongside toast and light fare. Hours: MON-FRI 7AM-6PM, SAT-SUN 8AM-6PM. Built almost entirely from recycled or repurposed materials and recipient of the 2015 AIA Utah Honor Award for architectural design.
• Publik Kitchen Full-service breakfast and lunch restaurant at 931 E 900 S in the 9th & 9th neighborhood, serving scratch-made dishes from locally sourced ingredients with seasonal patio seating. Hours: MON-FRI 7AM-2:30PM, SAT & SUN 8AM-2:30PM.
• Publik Coffee Avenues Cozy, intimate neighborhood cafe in the historic Avenues district at 502 3rd Avenue, offering a quiet atmosphere for focused work with free Wi-Fi and loyal local regulars. Hours: MON-FRI 7AM-6PM, SAT-SUN 8AM-6PM.
• Publik Ed's Casual neighborhood cafe near the University of Utah at 210 S University Street, known for breakfast burritos, classic breakfast plates, burgers, beer, and house-roasted coffee. Popular with students and locals. Hours: MON-FRI 8AM-2PM, Closed Sunday.
• Publik Space (Event Venue) Industrial-chic event venue located inside the working solar-powered roastery at 975 S West Temple, available for weddings, corporate events, private parties, and meetings with on-site barista service. No comparable venue in Utah due to the working-roastery backdrop of exposed roasting equipment.
• Wholesale Coffee Supply B2B wholesale coffee supplied to other cafes, restaurants, and offices, providing Publik's specialty-grade roasted beans with sustainability credentials. Wholesale pricing available by direct contact with the company.

Quantifiable outcome

• One of the greenest coffee roasteries in the USA
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ruby Coffee Roasters: Wisconsin specialty roaster with a roasting-cafe hybrid and strong wholesale footprint in the Midwest. Comparable on specialty single-origin focus, direct trade relationships, and roastery-with-cafe operating model.
• Stumptown Coffee Roasters: Portland-origin specialty roaster with cafes, wholesale, and DTC. Now owned by Peet's, but historically the archetypal small batch roaster-cafe comparable to Publik in positioning, scale, and channel mix before consolidation.
• Heart Coffee Roasters: Portland-based small batch specialty roaster operating multiple own cafes. Closely comparable on combined cafe-and-roastery model, DTC whole-bean e-commerce, and values-driven brand positioning around quality and direct trade.
• Verve Coffee Roasters: California-origin specialty roaster with cafes in multiple cities plus national wholesale and e-commerce. Comparable as an independently positioned specialty roaster-cafe with strong sustainability and design credentials.
• La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Philadelphia-based specialty roaster with own cafes, RTD products, and wholesale. Comparable as a specialty roaster-cafe with multi-channel distribution, though materially larger and now partly RTD-focused.
• Intelligentsia Coffee: Chicago specialty roaster with own cafes and wholesale distribution, now owned by Peet's. Comparable as a specialty roaster-cafe pioneer with direct trade programs and barista-driven brand.
• Counter Culture Coffee: Durham, NC specialty roaster focused on sustainability, education, and wholesale supply. Comparable as a specialty roaster built around direct trade, training, and education-driven B2B sales rather than primarily consumer retail.
• Onyx Coffee Lab: Arkansas-headquartered specialty coffee roaster with a flagship cafe and competition-winning brand. Directly comparable as a smaller, design-forward, competition-recognized specialty roaster with both cafe and wholesale channels.
• Stone Creek Coffee: Milwaukee-based specialty roaster with multiple cafes, wholesale accounts, and a focus on ethically sourced coffee. Comparable in mid-sized independent specialty roaster with multi-location cafe and B2B distribution.

Broad incumbents

• Blue Bottle Coffee: Oakland-founded specialty roaster-cafe now owned by Nestle with a large national cafe footprint. Comparable on specialty roaster-cafe model and DTC e-commerce, but operates at significantly larger scale and with institutional backing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/publikcoffee/?hl=en
• Xx.com/PublikKitchen
• Facebookfacebook.com/publikcoffee
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/publik-concepts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Publik Coffee Roasters