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Friedrichs Coffee Roasters

Our People

Gary

Founder, Partner

Colleen

Founder, Partner

Malia

Sammy

Andrew

Joshua

Daniel

Kirk

Gary

Gary is Friedrichs Coffee founder. He has been serving and roasting coffee since 1991, after he and his wife Colleen found themselves helping a coffee farmer with his harvest. While backpacking through Costa Rica, by happenchance, they tented in the backyard of this farmer. This was the beginning of his romance with the bean.

Gary lives in the same house that he and Colleen raised their 4 children along with 2 Doodles, Lily and Charlie, a few bunnies and a possum that lives under their deck. His hobbies include travelling, hiking, fishing, cycling and loving on his grandchildren.   

Colleen

Colleen is grateful to be part of this family business from its beginnings in beautiful Costa Rica She loves coffee culture and the people who are part of it, especially coffee shops . However, her main passion is tea. She has created recipes for several of the unique tea blends offered by Friedrichs, though she is most proud of Friedrichs Chai and Ginger Lemon.

She loves being Nana to 3 bright-eyed, adorable, fun-to be -with, and inquisitive grandkids

Outdoors is always magnetic- cycling and walking their dogs, Lil and Charlies and hiking and snorkeling when available, hosting avocado curry dinner nights, watching ‘the Chosen’ , and playing games with family and friends.

Malia

Some are born with great coffee, some achieve great coffee, and some have great coffee thrust upon them; in Malia’s experience, all three have proven true. Raised in a family of entrepreneurial aficionados, she grew up attending specialty trade shows and cultivating her barista craft until transitioning to a position at the Roastery where she manages wholesale accounts and warehouse operations.  

After her morning cup of black coffee, Malia enjoys exploring the (suburban) outdoors and practicing amateur yoga.  

Sammy

Sammy started in the coffee world at a young age, going to San Francisco at 5 years old with his dad to buy a new coffee roaster. He grew up walking to the Urbandale location during the summer with his friends to get smoothies, where he first began working as a barista. He transitioned to the roastery, where he learned the craft of roasting green coffee. Since then, Sammy has become a master coffee roaster, oversees and facilitates Friedrichs’ retail operations with innovative design, and brews a mean chemex.

Outside of coffee, Sammy is a family man; he has a wife Kailee, and their three children, Macson, Calen and Shiloh. They love planning trips, going to music festivals, and going on walks with their dogs Mila and Bowdie. 

Andrew

Andrew was born and raised in a family that is crazy about coffee. His first experience with coffee came when he got a job as a barista in high school. Since then, he graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with degrees in finance and real estate. As time went on, his interest in Friedrichs Coffee grew, and he now has many roles from retail management to marketing innovation.  

During his free time, he enjoys traveling and anything that brings him outside.

Joshua

Joshua has lived most of his life in the Des Moines Metro area. Starting his career at Friedrichs Coffee in 2007 as a barista, he quickly became manager where he led their largest café through several successful years before being incorporated at a permanent position at the roasting headquarters in 2015. He performs a variety of roles including training and technology support.  

Josh met his wife working as a Friedrichs barista, and they now have three kids. He enjoys pursuing his interests in technology, movies, and coffee. 

Daniel

Growing up around the first Friedrichs location in West Des Moines, Daniel was always acquainted with the café scene. His first job was at Friedrichs on 86th Street, where he learned the ins and outs of making espresso drinks. He enjoyed making beverages, but only started to love coffee when he needed a caffeine boost for late night crams at Iowa State University. After graduating and started working at the Friedrichs roastery full time, black coffee quickly became his drink of choice.

Daniel now manages the office coffee department at Friedrich’s and roasts coffee for its many customers. Outside of work, Daniel might be volunteering at church, playing video games, or hanging out with his fiancé.

Kirk

Kirk got into coffee mainly to impress a girl, but eventually fell in love with the atmosphere of shop life and precision of specialty coffee. He quit his job as a mechanic to work in coffee and applies his skills by repairing coffee equipment and wearing many other hats. He roasts many of Friedrichs’ single origin coffees, and finds the precision and craft required for creating profiles rewarding. When a roast meets and exceeds the requirements, he feels especially happy knowing that he’s producing something for others that he himself enjoys.

Kirk enjoys coffee, long walks on the beach, vinyl, emo music and bringing broken things back to life (or tearing them apart).

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At Friedrichs Coffee Roasters we are committed to provide freshly roasted whole bean coffees of the highest quality with exceptional service to each of our valued customers. Your success as a purveyor of Specialty Coffee is top priority to us.