Today we’d like to introduce you to Carew Halleck.
Hi Carew, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2003 I began Mugby Junction Coffee, which eventually grew into two locations, one a cafe and the other a drive through, in Winona, MN. In 2016 I began roasting my own coffee. In 2024, I took on a business partner, Mike Calhoun, and together he and I split off the roasting business, and founded Pool Six Coffee Roasters (named for the section of river between dams 5a and 6 on the Mississippi River). While Mugby still existed, and was one of primary customers of Pool Six, we founded and designed Pool Six to be a wholesale business, serving regional coffee houses and drive throughs.
In 2025, once my wife’s and my youngest of five children graduated from college, I sold Mugby Junction Coffee, and I now focus solely on wholesale coffee roasting. Because I sold Mugby Junction Coffee to my roasting business partner, Mike, it is still closely related to Pool Six, but I have no continuing ownership at all in Mugby.
In two years, we have grown our customer base to include cafes from western Minnesota to northern Wisconsin, and many points in between. We not only roast on a large scale for cafes and drive throughs, but we also roast on a smaller scale, for restaurants, churches, and even for individuals looking to buy in 5 lb quantities.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having been in the coffee business a long time, I knew most of the pitfalls, but opening a wholesale operation is not the same as a retail operation, as the licensing and inspection process is quite different (meaning more expensive!).
It took us about a year to find the right space, and another several months of build out to get the space ready. We had to pay a lot of attention and stay on top of the details, but with the new space, we’re humming right along now.
Our biggest issue is coffee prices, as a result of the tariffs. Since there is no such thing as domestically grown coffee (with the exception of a very small amount grown in Hawaii), prices are rising on the coffee itself, on shipping, and on packaging. This has been a real challenge to find a price point that is competitive, but still making worth our while to even be in business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
To begin with, there are a lot of coffee roasters out there. Coffee is popular, and as the consumption of alcohol declines, the consumption of coffee and other non-alcoholic beverages is increasing. When we founded Pool Six Coffee Roasters, we knew we’d have to do something to rise above the noise.
First thing we decided is that we wanted to be wholesale only. A lot of coffee roasters who begin as wholesale only selling in 5 lb quantities and greater end up opening retail stores, and selling their coffee in 1 lb and smaller quanties, thus directly competing with their own retail customers. Mike and I decided we did not want to do this. We have made a commitment to our customers that we will never compete with them directly in their own markets. This just seems like bad business, and a bit rude!
The other thing we do is, because of our experience in retail, we know how hard it can be to make ends meet., We really do want to help our customers succeed, because if they don’t succeed, we don’t succeed. Sometimes this means that a customer will have a coffee emergency, in which they didn’t order enough. Friday rolls around, and they realize they’re not going to make it to the next delivery day. Mike and I refuse to leave the customer high and dry in these situations. This has meant that on occasion we’ve even fired up the roaster at the end of the week, and met the customer halfway to personally deliver more coffee to them. Because these kind of things happen, we want to make sure we’re there to help them out of a jam when they get into one. This kind of relationship is the most important thing to us.
Our prices are also competitive. As I’m sure many people have noticed, some whole bean coffee prices, especially in urban centers are out of control. You don’t have to look hard to find 10.5 oz bags of coffee going for $18 per lb. You would think at this price point the coffee would come with three wishes. Mike and I focus on roasting excellent coffee, with a great deal of attention to detail, and we sell it at a reasonable price to our wholesale customers so that they can make a living as well.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Our understanding of the struggles of running a retail coffee business. We have been there, and with 23 years of retail experience, I know exactly what that feels like to struggle with low sales because of a cold snap or a big snow storm, or just what January and February feel like, when you worry that sales will never go up again and you wonder how you’re going to pay the bills, or you pray that the deposits from the weekend will cover the checks you wrote on Friday. These are the realities of running a small business. We don’t judge, we listen, and we work hard at helping our customers stay in business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://poolsixcoffeeroasters.com/
- Instagram: @poolsixcoffeeroasters
- Facebook: Pool Six Coffee Roasters
