Pour it on: Coffee business is steaming

Retailers find plenty to celebrate at annual Seattle trade show

By DAN RICHMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Coffee is good business and getting better, not just in Seattle but throughout the nation and abroad, said roasters, suppliers and retailers gathered Friday for the opening of Coffee Fest.

More exhibitors and attendees are expected at the three-day trade show, which convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, than in the show's 14-year history, said assistant manager Marni Heilbrunn.

And many of those attending reported unprecedented success.

"It's growth, growth, growth," said Keith Hayward, vice president of Dillanos, a Sumner supplier of roasted coffee beans.

The 42-person company's revenue grew by more than a third in each of the past two years, with roughly half its new business in Western Washington but the fastest growth in the nation's South and Southeast, Hayward said.

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