The other local Joe

Almost 15 years ago, John Melancon moved forward with a risky idea: to start a new coffee company in a city with a dominant local brand. Melancon figured consumers needed more choices in coffee flavor, and he believed there was room for another product with a homegrown feel. He named the company River Road Coffees, in homage to the grocery store his grandfather Stanislaus Melancon had operated near the Sunshine Bridge in the 1800s. Today, the company roasts and sells about 115,000 pounds of coffee a year—largely in Baton Rouge—through retail sales and corporate coffee service. With a staff of about six, including Melancon’s wife Sheila and son Ian, River Road Coffees is hands-on from start to finish. The team imports high-quality beans from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Tanzania and Nicaragua, which they blend and roast in small batches at the company’s production site off Siegen Lane. Once cool, the beans are ground or left whole, then poured into signature metallic gold bags. The team makes sure they’re on local shelves or in offices through personal deliveries. The turn-around time from roaster to shelf is never longer than a week or two, says Ian Melancon, River Road’s chief taster. Click here to read more about the little coffee company that could.—Maggie Heyn Richardson