Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/799437
V O L . X X I I I N O. V I M orning Glory Natural Foods in Brunswick sells several Maine-made coff ee brands, but the runaway favorite is Wicked Joe, roasted in nearby Topsham and sold in colorful new packages prominently displaying the product's organic and fair-trade status. "Wicked Joe dominates our coff ee sales," says co-owner Craig Urquhart. "It's a solid product with a local pedigree." e pedigree belongs to Bob and Carmen Garver, the husband-and-wife team behind Wicked Joe Coff ee and Bard Coff ee in Portland, and winners of the 2017 Mainebiz Business Leaders of the Year in the small-business cat- egory. Before moving with three young daughters to Maine in 2003, they ran an organic coff ee-roasting business in Santa Cruz, Calif., and set out on a similar path here. "We chose Maine not because Maine has the most developed business climate, but because it was where we wanted to raise our children," says Bob."While organic was not a huge category then, our sense was that this would be the kind of com- munity that would embrace those sorts of things." at sense was spot on. More than a dozen years after Wicked success Bob and Carmen Garver have built their organic coffee business into a commercial hit while staying loyal to local customers and fair- trade principles B Y R e n e e C o r d e s P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 20 Bob and Carmen Garver, founders and owners of Wicked Joe Coffee, have shown leadership in the craft coffee sector, attaining B Corp status and MOFGA certifcation. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 2 ยป SMALL COMPANY Bob and Carmen Garver Founders and owners, Wicked Joe and Bard Coffee