"With our current and anticipated growth, our facilities have been under mounting pressure, and will be approaching their maximum manufacturing capability," says Steve Schickler, president of Seattle Coffee Company. "We considered expanding on Vashon Island, as that is the location of our company's heritage, but regretfully our business is growing too large for Vashon to host all of our operations."

The new facility will bring the company's roasting, packaging, distribution and green coffee bean storage all to one location. A new specialty coffee roaster from Italy is on order to be delivered next year as well as additional state-of-the-art packaging and coffee handling equipment. The plant will hold four roasters in all. As a result of the move, the company will be vacating a total of 158,000 sf of space -- a 28,000-sf roasting facility on Vashon Island, a 110,000-sf distribution facility in Renton and a 30,000-sf green bean storage facility at the Port of Seattle.

"We examined numerous supply chain alternatives to support the growth," said Chris December, Seattle's Coffee Company's chief financial officer. "This particular solution will create significant operational savings, provide logistics improvements and allow us to meet customers' needs quickly and efficiently over the coming years."