About Us
Read about the origins of Red Bay Coffee and our founder, Keba Konte, in Entrepreneur.
About Red Bay Coffee
Red Bay Coffee Roasters was founded in 2014 by Keba Konte, a renowned artist and successful food entrepreneur with deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area specialty coffee and hospitality industry.
Red Bay Coffee is at the forefront of what we believe is the fourth wave of coffee—a firm commitment to ensure coffee production is not only high quality and sustainable, but a vehicle for diversity, inclusion, social and economic restoration, entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability. We are foodies, artists, activists, community folk, and innovators who love, love, love what we do.
Red Bay seeks to create unity by hiring and serving people of all backgrounds, striving to be diverse and inclusive of those who have traditionally been left out of the specialty coffee industry, especially people of color, the formerly incarcerated, women and people with disabilities.
Stories–
Below are select stories people have shared about our mission, vision and values.
- Oakland coffee roaster brews inclusivity (SF Chronicle)
- East Bay Cafe serves up more than just Coffee (Kron4)
- Red Bay Coffee: Building For The Future In Oakland (and Beyond) (Sprudge)
- Bart Operator announces Red Bay Coffee as he pulls up to Fruitvale Station (ABC 7)
- Behind the success of African American-owned Starbucks alternative (Mercury News)
- Keba Konte: Serving coffee with color, social justice (Berkeleyside)
- Bridging the gap between African farmers and the Bay Area coffee industry (SF Chronicle)
Key highlights of Red Bay Coffee include–
- Founded in 2014 by renowned artist and food entrepreneur Keba Konte.
- In 2019, Red Bay Coffee celebrated five years of bringing beautiful coffee to the people.
- In 2019, completed a Series A led by pioneering executives David Drummond, Richelieu Dennis, Suzy Jones and Don Thompson with participation from existing and new investors.
- Team fostering an evolution of specialty coffee culture. Red Bay Coffee at the forefront of the fourth wave of coffee. Customers are looking for a coffee experience that's more inclusive and more deeply connected to the community. Specialty coffee industry presents an opportunity to correct several inequities.
- Red Bay Coffee public roastery in Oakland serves as a community hub hosting events, including food popups, concert residencies, magazine releases, panel discussions, and self-care festivals. Select events include; Michael Orange’s MATATU cinematic releases, series like “Creative Mornings”, “You Had Me at Black”, “Celebrations & Conversations post Black Panther premiere,” “Queer Soup Night” and “Okkon Japanese Street Food,” as well as live performances by artists such as Saul Williams, Martin Luther and Alonzo King Lines Ballet.
- A rapidly growing roster of wholesale accounts and retail stores (e.g. Facebook Inc. selects Red Bay Coffee as the primary coffee supplier for it’s Menlo Park HQ).
- Red Bay sources directly from countries with the unique combination of climate and elevation required for high-grade specialty coffees. Red Bay seeks to empower and support local growers entry into specialty coffee.
- Unrivaled employment and training practices–prioritizing approachability and creating opportunities for celebrating diverse and inclusive communities rather than just tolerating them. Welcoming into leadership those historically marginalized within the specialty coffee industry, especially people of color, the formerly incarcerated, women and people with disabilities.
- Red Bay Coffee to scale its community ownership model through crowdfunding campaigns encouraging broad ownership and participation of non-accredited investors in Silicon Valley startup investing.
Inquires: