Vallejo coffee roaster business turns 25
As Moschetti Artisan Roaster enters its 25th year in business in Vallejo, it does so with the launch of a new product and plans to expand and create a cafe and retail shopping area, owner Fabrice Moschetti said in a recent interview.
Locals know you can follow your nose to the aroma of roasting coffee at Moschetti’s, which is tucked away right off Curtola Parkway at 11 Sixth St., where it also recently launched a new website and web store (www.moschetti.com), and expanded its retail offerings. Company officials also announced the completion of a short documentary film about the business, shot by award-winning local film director Jazmin Jamias.
“We also have more artwork done in collaboration with local, award winning photographer and graphic artist Stephen Jacobson,” Moschetti said. “And beyond our Community Coffee Tasting Event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, more events will be announced on our Facebook page throughout the year.”
It’s been a long and sometimes difficult road for the French native who lives in Napa with his wife and children.
“I have some regrets,” he said. “When I see my competitors finding success with trends, you question if we should have gone that route. On the other hand, I’ve seen other competitors disappear. There’s luck; there’s timing — all of these are factors.”
People’s taste in coffee, and the amount of attention being paid to coffee-related detail, has undergone a profound change in the 25 years since Moschetti began finding and roasting more than 40 different types of coffee beans, he said.
“People are really into their coffee now,” he said. “Back then, they didn’t care. Coffee was coffee. Now, people want to know where it comes from, the process it goes through. Now, we must educate our customers.”
Also, the world has shrunk in the past quarter century, he said.
“The world is smaller now, with modern technology, better production is possible in a much smaller space,” he said. “We showcase the farm. When you have good beans, it’s easy to make good coffee.”
When Moschetti first set up shop, the Mare Island Naval Shipyard was still operating, and it was a different time in Vallejo, Moschetti said.
“I recall people fighting the base closure,” he said. “There were these stickers that people would put on their dollar bills, to show how important the shipyard was to the economy.”
The base closed, nevertheless in 1996, leaving Vallejo without its main employer and struggling to figure out what the city wanted to be, after more than a century as a Navy town.
Having ridden out the base closure and survived the more recent Great Recession, Moschetti says he has some exciting plans for his place and his business.
“I’m trying to shake things up, to not be complacent,” he said. “I’m trying to do some of the things I always wanted to do.”
This includes growing the firm’s retail arm.
“This is our new mission — to double the brand on the retail end,” he said. “I’m planning a two-story extension to create a cafe which will create jobs and create a venue space with a conference room upstairs, and outdoor seating. It’s been a longtime vision and dream for years.”
Moschetti office manager Julie Voice, of Vallejo, said plans for this, and a new cold-brewed coffee with a special milk from a Sonoma County creamery, are already under way.
“We hope to present the plans to the city within a few weeks or months,” she said.
A new partnership with Sonoma’s Saint Benoit Creamery has made possible the launch of a new cold-brewed coffee beverage which is gaining popularity, Moschetti and Voice said.
Moschetti and St. Benoit founder and owner Benoît de Korsak, who stumbled upon each other by accident, found they shared, besides a national origin, a desire to create healthy, gourmet, artisan products.
Moschetti’s nitro-brewed cold coffee products are now found in a growing number of outlets like Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl as well as retailers in Texas, Los Angeles and elsewhere, they said.
“This may be the only beverage that’s both Fair Trade and organic. But, we can say that,” Moschetti said.
After 25 years in business, Moschetti’s “bread and butter” remains the many restaurants and cafes all over Vallejo and the region that use his coffees, but, at 50, Fabrice Moschetti says he never stops working to improve.
“When people say, ‘man, that was the best cup of coffee,’ — that’s what makes me happy,” he said “It makes me feel good — I’m proud of the product. It reenergizes me.”
Call Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at 707-553-6824.
