Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelley Baker.
Hi Kelley, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My husband, Mitch, and I founded Pink Elephant Coffee Roasters in 2014 when we moved from Ohio to Utah. We got married at the courthouse in our hometown, loaded the car with all our belongings, and moved west the next day.
Roasting coffee began as a hobby and quickly grew to a business, first selling at farmers markets and small groceries, then finally opening, opening a cafe and roastery in the heart of Park City. We’ve lived near Park City for almost 10 years now, which was the realization of a dream. We always thought we wanted to move west for the mountain lifestyle and a ski trip to Denver made us sure of it. We found the right fit when we visited Park City. We’ve loved every minute of it since.
Since then, we’ve adopted two dogs, grown the business, and started a family with the arrival of our daughter, Genevieve. We’ve fallen in love with the west’s access to camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, biking, climbing, you name it. That’s why we’ve made preserving and protecting the west’s wildlife and open lands a big part of our mission with contributions to local charities and foundations supporting those ends.
We believe in wandering far and roaming free, and support those causes whenever possible.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As with any growing business, we’ve had our fair share of hurdles to overcome, from being down to our last dime a number of times to figuring out how to be both a husband-wife team and business partners at the same time – then add a baby into that mix.
I think the ups – and especially the downs – have helped us grow as a company and as people. Life would be boring without a few challenges now and then.
As you know, we’re big fans of Pink Elephant Coffee Roasters. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
At Pink Elephant Coffee Roasters we source responsibly grown green coffees with a focus on fair trade and organic farming and importing practices; We roast those beans to order in our German-built Probat drum roaster and deliver them fresh to our customers.
Pink Elephant’s roasting metrics are to produce high-end single-origin coffees and espresso blends that are striking, remarkable, and delicious. We take great care in the sourcing of our green beans and roast to highlight each origin’s unique characteristics. We’ve recently upgraded our packaging to a beautiful, durable box that is 100% recyclable with a compostable inner bag. This was a longtime goal of ours since most coffee packaging ends up in landfills.
In 2016, we opened a coffee shop in Park City at 509 Main Street inside the building that also houses Prospect Clothing Store, Billy’s Barbershop, and Land Juicery. It’s a bit of a hidden gem location, you have to go through the store and up the stairs to find our shop – but it’s worth the search.
Here we highlight our coffee with a full espresso menu, pour-overs, cold brew, and more, with homemade baked goods and cold-pressed juice to go with it.
What makes you happy?
Beyond loving good coffee, the thing that drives us is our passion for preserving and enjoying public lands.
There’s nothing that we love more than sipping a cup of coffee while surrounded by vast public lands, wild places, and native wildlife — whether we’re sitting by a campfire, hiking up a mountain, wading in a river, or simply enjoying the view. It’s our happy place.
We’ve always joked that we measure our success not in profit margin but in our ability to do the things we love – walking our dogs on the local trails, ski days, road trips to southern Utah, making coffee over the fire in the desert, camping under the stars. These are the things that drive us.
Contact Info:
- Email: orders@pinkelephantcoffee.com
- Website: www.pinkelephantcoffee.com
- Instagram: @pinkelephantcoffee
Image Credits
Life Wild Media and Pink Elephant Coffee
