Our Story

How do you provide over two million pounds of food to local food banks?  One bag at a time...

Back in September of 2008, brothers Nathan Westwick and Joe Capraro led Wild Goose Coffee’s inaugural flight at the Redlands Market Night, a weekly farmer’s market in our beautiful hometown of Redlands, CA.  We started passing out samples of our fresh-roasted coffee brewed in French Presses, and offering 8 oz bags for resale.

Even at that early stage, where we were all working as a volunteer staff, we maintained our commitment to using the proceeds of the coffee toward making a difference in our local community.  Our local newspaper took notice of our unique mission, and wrote an article in December of 2008—we had hit 250 pounds of food donated just simply by selling coffee at a local farmer’s market, and we were humbled and thrilled all at the same time.

After expanding our services to include a mobile espresso bar, providing great coffee and espresso drinks for events such as the Redlands Bicycle Classic, University of Redlands commencement ceremonies, among many other private events, we were able to grow our wholesale program, searching far and wide for a Probat L12 roaster, and ultimately finding one in nearby La Jolla.  (Given that San Diego is one of our favorite places, it was rough driving down to the lovely beach city for our training sessions from Bird Rock Coffee Roasters—Roast Magazine’s Roaster of the Year in 2012.)

We moved the Probat from La Jolla to Redlands in March of 2011, placing it in a warehouse on what we’ve named “Brewer’s Alley” in honor of the meshing of our passions and that of our next-door neighbors, Hangar 24 Brewery.

Over the years, we've garnered more attention than just from our local Redlands newspaper.  But that's the article that we keep on display in our bagging room - it's a constant (and humbling) reminder of where this journey all began.

And that’s where we are now—importing great coffees, roasting them to perfection, and distributing far and wide to customers and cafes who love great coffee with a great mission into their community.