They Believe in Irmo: Local coffee roaster looks back on first 10 years, place in community

Posted 1/25/23

10 years later, the Irmo roaster that started with a humble drive-through kiosk stands as one of the most recognizable coffee brands in the Midlands.

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They Believe in Irmo: Local coffee roaster looks back on first 10 years, place in community

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10 years later, the Irmo roaster that started with a humble drive-through kiosk stands as one of the most recognizable coffee brands in the Midlands.

Loveland Coffee, which opened a sparkling new coffee shop and roasting facility in Irmo in the fall of 2020, will celebrate its first decade with a party there this weekend. The festivities will include live music, free food and giveaways. 

Taking time to look back during an interview with the Chronicle, married owners Beach and Jessica Loveland emphasized the importance that community holds for them and their business.

“We built relationships with our customers over two or three minute reactions in the drive-through over time,” Beach said of the kiosk, which still operates in a shopping center parking lot at 7001 St. Andrews Rd. “We were very happy that we were able to grow that community there for the eight years leading up to this.”

The proper brick-and-mortar operation, which occupies a heavily renovated building at 7475 Carlisle St., furthers this emphasis on community, with Beach, certified as a roastmaster by the Specialty Coffee Association, offering regular “brew school” courses on the ins and outs of coffee and the shop opening itself to Irmo with live music and trivia nights, yoga and journaling classes, among other offerings.

“The goal was what you see now,” Beach said, sitting in the coffee shop’s reservable conference room, “What we envisioned working towards was a place where the community embraced, ‘This is the meeting place in Irmo.’”

Finding and emphasizing that community in Irmo specifically has been big for the Lovelands. The lifelong residents of the town emblazoned the outside of their long-gestating brick-and-mortar shop with a mural that proudly proclaims, “I BELIEVE IN IRMO.”

The couple said that as Beach’s reputation as a roaster grew, they received offers to move the operation to spots in downtown Columbia, which they admitted would have been easier than building their own spot in Irmo.

“We want to draw other businesses to want to be here, too, to see how special it is here and how great the community can rally around business,” Beach said. “Especially when you come in and do things right and treat the community right and want to do the best you can for them.”

The coffee landscape in the Midlands has grown exponentially since the Loveland roasting operation began 10 years ago, with several new, locally owned shops opening in spots throughout the area, including another Irmo shop, Tribal Coffee, which opened in 2021.

Beach said he’s happy for the part he’s played in helping his community learn more about the nuances of coffee, adding that it’s important to meet people where they are and not make them feel lesser based on their coffee preferences.

“If they’re drinking it cream-and-sugar, we’ll make you the best coffee you’ve had with cream and sugar,” the roaster said. “But then maybe the next time like, ‘Hey, we've got this natural-process coffee that, if you brew it, it's very sweet naturally, and you might want to just try it,’ and then give them a little sample and they kind of work their way up.”

Beach and Jessica said they have no plans to part with the kiosk they started with, emphasizing that keeping a drive-through — which most other local coffee shops lack and most local Starbucks have — remains a benefit.

“If sales were horrible, then we would reevaluate,” Jessica said of the kiosk. “As a mom, I have three little kids, and I am not getting out of the car to take my three kids to get a coffee. So for the convenience factor, it’s crucial.”

Unsurprisingly for a coffee business that took eight years to open its first proper shop, the Lovelands say they will remain intentional as they look at possibilities for future growth. The possibilities are on their mind — they talked about refining processes so that everything isn’t “100%, top-down” dependent on them, and they credited their staff for helping them in this regard — but they didn’t mention any specific plans. 

The most important thing is to maintain excellence in their products and connection with the community. Whatever growth becomes possible from that, they’ll take in stride.

“We want to do it as well as we can,” Jessica said, “and not just go, like, ’And then we’re going to open over here!’”

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