Business partners Allie Commons and Chris and Stefanie Dillow are opening their new venture, RIVET Coffee Roasters, in stages. Although the café portion of the business won’t open until spring of next year, coffee fiends can still get their caffeine fix.
The company’s roastery, attached to the same building the café will open in at 337 Jersey St., is currently open.
Chris Dillow left the business world as the CTO of a major car company and wanted to turn his coffee-roasting hobby into a business venture.
“We found a place in Westfield and moved in there in the beginning of August of this year,” Commons said. “We were looking around to see where (RIVET) might fit, and if we could have the building and have the roastery with it, the whole idea was to encompass the roasting in with the café because it starts there and ends up across the counter to someone.”
Commons and the Dillows found a bungalow in downtown Westfield and converted the garage into a roastery. The roastery includes a windowed garage door, so customers will be able to watch the roasting process. RIVET currently sells bags of coffee to individuals and restaurants, and next year it’ll open the café side.
The bungalow sports a new wrap-around deck, as well.
“I think we have more outside seating than we do inside,” Commons said.
Commons and the Dillows both live in Carmel. Chris and Stefanie Dillow serve as the roasting team, and Commons will organize and manage the café portion of the business once that opens.
Until the café opens, those looking for their caffeine fix can visit rivetcoffee.com.
And although the café isn’t open yet, Commons said she’s open to visitors so she can talk about coffee and explain how to brew the best cup.
RIVET was served at Rail, a restaurant in downtown Westfield that closed last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is available in local Good Earth stores and Bovaconti Coffee in Fountain Square. It also ships around the world.
To roast the beans, the team orders green coffee beans and sources beans that are in season.
“We are a specialty coffee roaster, so we only purchase the top 10 percent of the best beans available,” Commons said. “A lot of different stores do bulk beans, and if they over roast, it doesn’t matter with the flavor, but we really want to bring out the flavor of the bean, so we are buying the best beans and finding the right flavor profile for that bean.”
Commons and the Dillows are pleased with what they’ve discovered in Westfield.
“I feel like Westfield is up and coming, and it’s got so much to offer,” Commons said. “We really love the fact we could be in this location and really be around a lot of different businesses. There’s good foot traffic, so we want to be there to support the community that way.”
Commons and the Dillows are working with Bob Beauchamp for the coffee shop’s development. Beauchamp owns several properties in downtown Westfield, including RIVET.