Greenville coffee brand expands store, relocates roasting operations to Travelers Rest

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A Greenville-based national coffee roaster expanded one of its locations and relocated all of its coffee roasting operations and shipping to Travelers Rest.

Methodical Coffee originally roasted its coffee at The Commons at Unity Park, one of three coffee shop locations in Greenville. The owners decided to move these operations by purchasing a nearly 40,000-square-foot warehouse in Travelers Rest at 999 Geer Highway. This warehouse became Methodical’s new production facility and consolidates their roasting, packaging and shipping operations in one place.

Their e-commerce business boomed through the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted the need for more space, said Marco Suarez, co-owner, CEO and chief experience officer of Methodical Coffee.

The move also enabled the company to add more private seating at The Commons. The new facility will not house another retail coffee shop but will feature a range of other businesses.

“The vision for the new location was conceived to not only benefit Methodical but almost 14,000 square feet will be leased to other life-minded businesses to create a collaborative environment and will be referred to as the Methodical Manufactory,” said Suarez.

The Travelers Rest space has an industrial look with metal rafters, brick walls and a concrete floor, and houses a production facility, which will allow for increased production and distribution of their coffees, teas, and ready-to-drink beverages. It also has space for a training lab, a dedicated space used to educate and train barista employees and wholesale accounts in addition to offering coffee and tea classes and hosting public events; offices for running internal operations as well as their e-commerce and wholesale business; and a food coworking DHEC-approved kitchen, which is more than 3,800 square feet of dedicated kitchen and storage spaces for food producers who lack their own brick-and-mortar locations.

Methodical also has an additional 5,314 square feet of space available for another tenant.

Methodical wholesales roasted coffee to more than 100 accounts across the country. Suarez said the wholesale side has been a marketing and business strategy for them.

“By having our bags in other coffee shops, in offices across the country, we are introducing people to our brand,” he said. “It’s also a part of their business strategy by building up a client base you can lean on for recurring revenue.”

Currently, half of Methodical’s business comes from wholesale orders, primarily in the Southeast but also in the West and New England, while the other half is from their retail locations and e-commerce. Methodical Coffee beans at larger local grocery chains such as The Fresh Market and Whole Foods.

“A lot of our growth has been due to wholesale,” said Suarez.

Most of their beans are sourced from Colombia and Ethiopia, he said.

“This process of sourcing beans is very collaborative,” he said. “We look to build relationships we can source from year after year versus bouncing around from farm to farm. Once you have a harvest you have to sell it and move it, so we want to be able to have that relationship with producers where we can depend on them, and they can depend on us and create a stronger supply chain that way.”

What makes Methodical’s Coffee unique? It’s the way the beans are roasted and where they originate, Suarez said.

“We want people to enjoy the life that bean lived and not put too much of our own preference on how it tastes through the roasting process,” he said. “It’s not just about what’s in the bag, but where you got it from.”

So, what’s next for this local coffee brand?

Suarez said the owners are in discussion about expanding more coffee shops outside of Greenville into other areas of the Upstate.

“We are in the early stages of this, but we want to take what has worked from the three locations to create a new concept that we can move forward with, to put our own stamp on the coffee experience,” he added. “We want to lean more into being a place where people engage in their community, (that) serves a good product with great customer service and offers an inspiring experience.”

Founded in 2014 by Suarez, Will Shurtz, and David Baker, Methodical Coffee is a Greenville-based coffee purveyor that has more than 40 employees.