Java Joe's Roasting Company, Inc. was not even a twinkle in the eyes of David and Kathy Pagnani when they opened their coffee shop, Java Joe's, in December, 1999. Then, September 11, 2001 occurred which changed many things for many people. In the case of Java Joe's, 9/11 was a beginning. The days following this horrible tragedy, various parcel services greatly reduced their delivery frequency. Because of these reduced services, Java Joe's was forced to use local coffee suppliers, which meant an inferior product from what they had been accustomed. Their customers complained vehemently, and they realized this was an area that needed to be addressed immediately. The only solution was to roast their own coffee.
That fall, David and Kathy attended several coffee trade shows where they met with roaster manufacturers and ordered a 6-kilo drum roaster from a company in California. In March of 2002, the shop roaster was installed and the long process of learning the art of roasting coffee began. The response to the in-shop roasted coffee was tremendous, at which point they realized a new business was about to begin.
During the summer of that same year, they brought in a third partner, Eric Cole, to form Java Joe's Roasting Company, and worked exclusively out of the back of the cafe. The following year, Java Joe's cafe could no longer contain the rapidly expanding business of the roasting company. In November, 2003, Java Joe's Roasting Co. moved into a newly renovated building containing 4000 square feet of manufacturing and office space. With the move to the larger facility they added a quarter bag fluid bed roaster, various pieces of packaging and labeling equipment, as well as a graphics department.