Kaladi Bros. Coffee's Gravel

ANCHORAGE, AK-Throughout most of the US, Starbucks has the market cornered when it comes to coffee. But in this city of 280,000, locally owned Kaladi Brothers, which operates 11 locations throughout Southeast Alaska (it also has a Seattle store), more than holds its own. Kaladi, founded out of a coffee cart in this city’s Downtown in 1991, now has two types of customers, traditional coffee-drinking consumers and many independent stores in the area to which it sells its roasted beans. It also sells its products to two Costcos in the area, hotels and other venues, and roasts about one-million pounds of beans a year. Named after a mythical goat herder who is said to have discovered coffee, the chain’s logo is a noticeable red goat that many mistake for a reindeer. But the animal probably won’t travel to a locale near you. Despite the company’s success, it is not planning a large ramp-up of stores or aggressively entering any more non-Alaska markets. Tim Gravel, co-owner of the chain, spoke with GlobeSt.com about his business and expansion plans.

GlobeSt.com: What kinds of sites do you like best for new-store openings?

Gravel: We definitely like in-bound traffic, there needs to be a decent amount of parking and we try not to position ourselves too close to any of our customers. Sometimes its hard not to do that depending on the situation. We have a certain amount of stores we’d like to see open in each town we’re in, and we have to be somewhat competitive in getting those spots when they open up. But there isn’t a big plan of where stores are going to go; it’s more of an opportunistic deal.