Augie’s Coffee Roasters celebrated its 10-year anniversary last weekend in Redlands, Calif., bringing together friends, family and local businesses.
Augie’s 10-Year Anniversary took place on E. State Street in Redlands, squared off in between 7th and 8th street’s. The event began underneath the shaded trees overlapping the block, which was filled with the roaster’s fans, music, pet adoptions, giveaways and other festivities.
Several vendors attended the event, including ice cream parlor A La Minute, The Salted Pig and Riverside’s Arcade Coffee Roasters.
Despite being a celebration for Augie’s, the roaster was generous about sharing the spotlight with other coffeehouses in the area, such as Meekhouse, Hearthwood and Alto cofee that gave out free samples of their espresso.
“That’s been a big thing for us. It’s always the community in the co ee industry. They’re not competition or rivals,” said Austin Amento, owner of Augie’s Coffee Roasters.
Amento said he understands the value in having a strong community within the coffee industry and sees benefits to establishing relationships with other businesses.
“At the end of the day we all help each other out in different ways and it’s great, it’s awesome,” Amento said.
One local organization, Redlands Friends of Sheltered Animals or REDFOSA, has worked closely with Augie’s over the years. Augie’s helped REDFOSA by offering a $50 gift card to each adopter, helping all of the animals find homes, including an 8-year-old, one-eyed Chihuahua named Chico.
“Augie’s invited us out here for the event,” said Heidi Taber, a spokesperson for REDFOSA. “We used to do pet adoptions when they had the old red building.”
The “old red building” Taber speaks of is the iconic red brick building on 5th Street in Redlands, the location of the first Augie’s. While still featured as Augie’s logo, the shop has relocated just a few blocks away to 300 E. State Street. What at first was an unfortunate last minute move turned out to be an excellent opportunity for the coffee house.
“We actually got kicked out,” Amento said. “It was kind of one of those crazy things, but it was a God thing and we ended up moving to this new spot with this outdoor patio.”
The new location is more spacious than the original and equipped with a full patio, allowing room for a handful of outdoor coffee tables.
“It was one of those things where it was crazy when we didn’t know what was going to happen because we had a short time to turn it around,” Amento said. “Once we did it, looking back at it now, the potential here for the next 10 years … it’s so exciting.”
The event concluded with a raffel and cash prize for the winner of the latte art showdown.
The smiles around proved it was a well-coordinated night. Speaking with Party Shoppe Rental, which supplied everything from tables, chairs and balloons, they were pleased with the attendance.
“We knew how big the event was going to be but we didn’t know how many people would show up. Its a pretty good turnout,” said Josh McPeck, owner of Party Shoppe Rental. “They have a lot of fans. They really have a big customer base so we were happy to be a part of that for sure.”
Augie’s Coffee Roasters is open seven days a week with two locations in Downtown Riverside with one at 4205 Main St. and its newest location in the Riverside Food Lab at 3605 Market St.
