SUNBURY, Pa. — Fresh Roasted Coffee in Sunbury has been around since 2011 and moved into the former Sunbury Textile Mills property last spring.
"'Oh, my word, that's too big. I could never pull it off.' And next thing I know, here we are, and we bought it, and we're moving in," owner Andy Oakes said.
Oakes hosted a tour of Fresh Roasted Coffee for officials, including Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator Bob Casey.
"Andy proved, with some help but also some good old-fashioned hard work and sacrifice, that he could not only survive the pandemic but thrive. He was growing," Sen. Casey said.
Since moving into the new facility, Fresh Roasted Coffee has hired nearly two dozen employees. The company has also added 12 new machines, including one which Oakes says will be able to produce 10 million k-cups each month.
"We want to continue to produce all of our own coffee, but now we're actually going out looking for companies that we can co-pack for."
Even so, there have been challenges along the way. Like many other companies, Oakes has had supply chain issues.
"This big k-cup machine that's out here, the new six-lane, that was actually ordered about a year and a half ago, but there were delays in manufacturing, and they couldn't get some of the materials."
Oakes says he has no plans to stop and plans to continue to expand Fresh Roasted Coffee and hire more employees.
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