Alakef plans first retail location

A local coffee company is planning their first retail store location marking a major foot step in the growth of the company and their brand presence.

Alakef Coffee Roasters will open a new kiosk called the "Alakef Cup" inside the Super One Foods location at the Kenwood Shopping Center in Duluth come this summer. The location will fill 420 square feet of space that formerly was a children's play area. The space will feature a few tables and chairs but will be largely built for the customer "on the go".

A variety of their Alakef Coffees, which are made with their fair trade and organic beans that are roasted right here in Duluth, will be offered at the kiosk. The space will also feature foods by some of the areas best local restaurants such as Duluth Grill and Amazing Grace. Of course there will also be other coffeehouse favorites such as lattes, mochas, and smoothies.

Above: Progress on the new Alakef Coffee Roasters kiosk space at Super One Foods in the Kenwood Shopping Center

The Duluth News Tribune wrote on the matter today along with a controversy surrounding the new kiosk as neighboring Perk Place Coffeehouse is said to have exclusive coffeehouse rights to the shopping center. We'd like to focus our efforts shedding some light on the success of another local family run business that is thriving. There's one thing that's for sure in this world and that is that people absolutely love coffee so in our eyes the more the better.

Alakef Coffee Roasters began in the early 1980s and was born out of "a passion for coffee and [the] search for the "perfect cup" of coffee according to their website. Daughter Alyza Bohbot (pronounced like "rowboat" but with a B) took over the family business in January. Her parents Nessim and Deborah ran Alakef for the 25 years prior laying the foundation for what has become an extremely successful business.

"Retail has actually been something that we as a company have been thinking about for years" owner Alyza Bohbot stated. Bohbot's background is in retail management and breaking into the retail world was a direction in which she had been wanting to take the company in for quite some time.

Alakef's success is attributed to their care for the coffee beans in which they roast . The company makes sure that before any coffee is actually purchased that it has been sampled by everyone on their staff.

Above: Alakef Coffee Roasters headquarters and roasting facility on Superior Street in Duluth.

Focusing on the purchasing of "quality organic, shade-grown and certified Rainforest Alliance or Fair Trade" coffees Alakef has found great success within the coffee market. The company services other businesses at wholesale cost meaning their coffee is served at numerous coffeehouses within the Midwest along with being sold at a number of shops and retail locations like local grocers Cub Foods and Super One Foods.

Alakef has stated that if the kiosk store does well (which we whole heartedly believe it will) that the company would be interested in opening additional retail outlets with one possibility being at their corporate headquarters and coffee roasting facility on Superior Street in Duluth.

We here at CDINDULUTH absolutely love Alakef's coffee and couldn't be more excited for them as they open their first retail location. It's great to see that another local Duluth business is successful and thriving, something that we truly believe Duluthians can be proud of.