November Food Battle Winner

Rob Webb and his wife, Emily, already had a loving family complete with a daughter, son, and a dog named Bennet, but in 2009 they felt a calling to adopt. So in 2009, Rob boarded a plane that would take him to Ethiopia and to his new daughters. Little did he know that the experience that would not only change his life, but the lives of so many others.

Having heard the stories of sacrifice and determination by other adoptive families and feeling the financial strains that come with an adoption journey, the proverbial light bulb went off in Rob’s mind and a new business concept took root. He would build a business that would be dedicated to using hand-roasted coffees to help others whose passion was to, well, “just love.”

With little more than concept in mind, Rob took on an 800 square foot space, installed a small roaster, developed a few roasting profiles, setup a simple e-commerce storefront, put word out on Facebook, and waited. Soon the orders started coming in and Rob, with the help of family and friends, got them packed to the post office for delivery. For Rob those first orders were proof that the concept would work. It probably seems crazy to most people that someone would start a for-profit business that was bent on giving a portion of its profit away, but that’s exactly how Just Love Coffee Roasters launched. In fact, within its first year, the company was able to give back nearly $100,000.

From that pivotal flight to Ethiopia, Rob built a business that continues to expand. Whether through online sales, wholesale distribution channels, or development of its franchised coffee shops, Just Love Coffee shows no signs of slowing down and no signs of giving up the mission of helping others. Has it been the easiest of businesses to build? No, but it has been the most rewarding because it is truly a business built on, you guessed it, love.