Luciano, February 13th, 2020
San Francisco’s oldest independent coffee roasting company, Graffeo Coffee, has a new owner.
Walter A. Haas III, 40, a scion of the family behind Levi Strauss & Co., is the new proprietor of the 90-year-old North Beach staple. He bought a majority stake in the company a few months ago, joining longtime owner and chief roaster Luciano Repetto, 80, who will remain a part of the company.
The new owner hopes to steward Graffeo into the future while honoring the company’s legacy, he told the Chronicle. SFGATE first reported on the new owner. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently.)
Haas, a sixth-generation San Franciscan, is a Silicon Valley marketing specialist and former merchant and marketer for Levi’s. He is also the grandson of the late Walter A. Haas Jr., who was president of Levi’s. Like many San Francisco residents who walk by Graffeo’s handsome green tile facade at 735 Columbus Ave., Haas was always interested in the coffee inside. When he brewed Graffeo’s beans at home for the first time a few years ago, he said he experienced “a revelation.”
“It was the coffee profile I’ve been seeking my whole life,” he said. “It wasn’t an esoteric or a challenging thing, it was a premium expression of the coffee I’ve wanted,” he said.
After selling his startup company, the social shopping platform Gist, just over a year ago, Haas was looking for his next project. Graffeo was on his mind, and a shared acquaintance connected him with the coffee roaster.
Now Haas has a grand vision for the company: to make Graffeo synonymous with excellent coffee everywhere. “It’s all condensed in our slogan, ‘Simply the world’s finest coffee.’ It may sound arrogant, but I’m a full believer,” he said. The words are emblazoned in gold letters on the shop’s windows and printed on each bag that leaves the store.
Graffeo is served at San Francisco favorites including Zuni Cafe, House of Prime Rib and Lazy Bear, but the brand still maintains a relatively low profile. Haas hopes to change that, but his adjustments have been modest so far. The first thing Haas did on his first day on the job was install a coffee maker in the break room: Graffeo’s storefront famously doesn’t serve coffee drinks, and is instead focused on selling retail coffee by the pound and shipping orders.
S.F.’s oldest coffee roaster is a ‘well-kept secret.’ A new owner wants to change that
Greg