Red Bay Coffee Roasters – Maria Fernandez

#017 – Today we talked to Maria Fernandez from Red Bay Coffee Roaster. Red Bay was founded in 2014 by Keba Konte, a renowned artist and successful food entrepreneur with deep roots in the Bay Area specialty coffee and hospitality industry.

In reflecting on why Keba started Red Bay, Maria said:

“I think what really resonated with him as far as the coffee business is that there was an opportunity to open up. When you look at some of the old cafes, people gather to be creative and there’s artists and activists and this whole wonderful community and place to feel included.”

Before the Pandemic, Red Bay’s office coffee program was about 60% of their business. Those accounts stopped ordering within a couple of days. What came next was a pivot to e-commerce. Once they were selected for Oprah’s Favorite Things, business took off.