Fidalgo Coffee Roasters CEO Darryl Miller loves to talk about two things: coffee and people. I sat down with him at the main roasting facility in Burlington to find out more about this ubiquitous but quiet local brand.
Photograph courtesy of Fidalgo Coffee Roasters
“I’m really proud of the company and what we do, and that we put such a focus on making it as good a product as possible,” Miller says. We’re in the small meeting room adjacent to the retail store at the main roasting facility. The vibe is unpretentious and friendly.
Fidalgo Coffee started out as an Anacortes coffee shop founded by Gary Sawyer in 1992. Sawyer ran the company in Anacortes, and later Burlington, until 2007 when he sold it to the current partners David and Derrick Evans. The brothers knew they had what it took to expand Fidalgo’s reach, but they needed a third partner who knew the coffee business inside and out. Enter Darryl Miller.
Miller’s life in the hospitality industry started at 19 when he and a partner founded the Maltby Café in Snohomish, which became famous for its cinnamon rolls. After selling that business he moved to Bellingham, where he worked first as a sales rep for a food purveyor then took over as the head of sales at Tony’s Coffee, where he spent a decade developing the brand and product, including spearheading the Fair Trade coffee program.
It took the Evans brothers 18 months to woo Miller, but he eventually joined Fidalgo as a partner and together the three started to expand in earnest. Now, almost 20 years later, you can find Fidalgo Coffee in most major retailers, including Costco Puget Sound, Haggen, and PCC Community Market.
And Fidalgo doesn’t fall down when it comes to civic engagement. They whip up a special souvenir coffee blend to promote the famous Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, participate in Tierra Nueva Farm’s program to sustain Honduran coffee farmers, and collaborate with Underground Ministries to produce their Underground Coffee line.
For those who do not know, Underground Ministries assists former prisoners in finding meaningful and steady employment after incarceration, as well as providing crucial re-entry support. Fidalgo Coffee was one of the founding partners of this program, and 5% of Underground Coffee sales still go directly to the organization.
As Miller describes the trajectory of his career, I can’t help but notice that every time he says a person’s name he tells me a little story about them—just two or three sentences, but this attention to detail and willingness to connect authentically with people shines through every minute of the conversation. Over and over it becomes clear what Miller and his partners are all about: care, craftsmanship, community, and coffee.
On my way out, I ask Miller if there’s anything he’d like me to make sure I mention, expecting him to add one more prominently successful local business venture to his long list of accomplishments.
His answer?
“I really like playing the bass,” he says with a bright smile “I’ve played my whole life and it’s important to me.”
You can find Fidalgo Coffee in many retail outlets across the Puget Sound region or, to order directly, go to fidalgocoffee.com
