1A Coffee Roasters & Grateful Greens Receive $15,000 Grants for New Equipment

1A Coffee Roasters & Grateful Greens Receive $15,000 Grants for New Equipment

Every year the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services accepts applications from municipalities and nonprofit organizations for capital costs associated with the development of facilities expected to create or retain job opportunities in Vermont communities through their Building Communities Grants Program.

This year’s awards included two relatively new businesses to Windham County: 1A Coffee Roasters located in Wilmington and Grateful Greens located in Brattleboro. Even in just a couple of years, both businesses have already added to Vermont’s reputation for focusing on high-quality, sustainable, and delicious products. The purchase of the new equipment will allow both businesses to increase production and hire new employees.

1A Coffee Roasters is a startup whose primary focus is on wholesale coffee roasting and distribution, but they also operate two retail cafes, one in Wilmington and another in West Dover. 1A Coffee Roasters is the first roastery in Vermont operating 100% on solar power. Their $15,000 grant will be used to purchase a 12 kg. roaster which will increase production by 2.4 times per batch and allow them to scale in the region while maintaining quality.

Grateful Greens is a local, Brattleboro business that grows high quality microgreens that are distributed to restaurant and retail outlets. Because of the spread-out nature of their customer base in Vermont and Northern New England and the short shelf life of microgreens (14-21 days), Grateful Greens will use their $15,000 grant to purchase another delivery van. Adding another van to their fleet will allow them to expand their delivery capacity and meet increased demand for their product.