Credit: Courtney Haas
Credit: Courtney Haas
Namesake does not operate a storefront, but its coffee beans are available at several locations throughout the Dayton community.
When asked why the company does not run its own café, co-founder Michael Beans said the decision was intentional.
“Running a café is its own full-time operation. That’s a completely different focus. If we did that, that would be the whole thing,” Beans said.
“That model made more sense for us long term. We didn’t want to build something that depends on foot traffic every single day,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t love coffee shops. It’s just that what we’re building is different.”
“If we serve other businesses, we’re helping them succeed too,” he added. “It’s bigger than just one storefront.”
The couple relocated from Denver to Dayton in 2014 after Jessica was recruited by a local organization to serve as its Marketing Director. Upon landing in Dayton, they realized the opportunities available to them.
Jessica Beans said the transition from Denver to Dayton changed how they viewed their role in the community.
“The difference between living in Denver vs. living in Dayton is there’s way more room here to do stuff,” she said.
Jessica said one of the biggest differentiators is access.
“I think it’s the difference between Denver, where we were consumers, and Dayton, where we’re contributors,” Beans said. “Once we came here, we were like, ‘Oh, we can actually build something. We can actually contribute something. There’s room.’ We don’t feel like we’re catching up to an impossible dream to open a small business here.”
“We love Denver, but there you don’t have access to the local business networks that you have here,” she said. “Like the circle of people we know. The networking — everything’s just so much more accessible here to get involved in.”
A more accessible landscape
When the couple arrived in 2014, downtown Dayton felt more barren than it does today. Several organizations were offering incentives to attract businesses. They explored some of those opportunities but were not ready to take advantage of them at the time. Still, seeing what was available through local support organizations, including educational opportunities at the Entrepreneurs’ Center, gave them assurance that building something in Dayton was possible.
Now, nearly a decade later, the landscape looks different.
“I will say it feels way less accessible now — in a very good way,” Michael Beans said. “There’s tons more business down here. It’s way more expensive than it used to be, so trying to find a roasting space or somewhere we can move into is more of a challenge than it was back then.”
Namesake’s 10-year anniversary is this month.
“It was kind of nuts because we didn’t have an influx of cash. We had no investors. We weren’t people who quit our jobs and went all the way in from day one,” Jessica Beans said. “We’ve kind of just been hands open. Meet good people. Be good to others. See what this leads to. Get involved in the city. Have fun.”
Michael Beans transitioned into the business full-time in 2021. The company now has one additional full-time employee.
“We want it to be something that we’re really proud of,” Jessica Beans said. “We’re not rushing into anything that we do really.”
“But it’s kind of been a wild ride, and I think Dayton is the place,” she said.
Michael Beans said entrepreneurship did not come naturally.
“I say I’m not a business owner, and I’ve learned how to try to be a good business owner,” he said. “It’s not intuitive to me. Doing the actual work and making a good product is intuitive to me.”
Many of Namesake’s partnerships grew organically through community relationships.
“I think almost all the clients or partners we have are people we either met at an event or, even more so, people we went to their restaurant and ate there so much it came up in conversation,” Michael Beans said.
“Salt Block — we would just go there all the time, talk with Justin. He used to vacation in Michigan. I grew up in Michigan. It just came up in conversation. For some reason, we were talking about coffee, and we mentioned we were roasters and he was like, ‘Oh no way, I’ve been looking for a local roaster.’ It was like we just ate there a lot,” Jessica Beans said.
Credit: Courtney Haas
Credit: Courtney Haas
“Val’s, we did a pop-up with and got to know,” she added.
“We want to be partners with good people who do good things,” she said. “When someone is doing something good in Dayton — they have a restaurant, a space, a shop — they are already doing something cool, and then they want to work with us too. That’s all we want.”
Writer Anne Kane may be reached at anne@gopara.co.
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For more information, go to namesakecoffee.com.
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