New Pocatello coffee shop selling locally sourced products with community benefits
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POCATELLO — A new coffee shop in downtown Pocatello sells locally sourced products, with a portion of every sale going to regional non-profit groups.
Glean Coffee is named after the company’s primary concepts. As co-owner Emma Theander explained, coffee gleanings are the leftover coffee beans that are not collected during harvest and are later gathered to be used for the benefit of a community.
At Glean, each sale has a charitable donation built into the price.
“Consumers and patrons can know that everything they buy here is being poured back into the neighbors, supporting their neighbors,” Theander told EastIdahoNews.com. “The concept here is that we’re taking gleaning from every bag of beans sold and every cup of coffee, and we’re pouring back into the community.”
Having just donated 2,000 meals to the Idaho Foodbank, Glean is now working with the PTSD Veteran Athletes Foundation — an organization that provides outdoor sporting equipment and qualified training to veterans as treatment for PTSD.
Additionally, Theander explained when purchases are made locally, 70 cents of each dollar spent stays in the community. With that in mind, Glean has worked a deal to get its dairy products from Reed’s Dairy. Pocatello-based companies Round River Baking and Murphy’s Charcuterie will soon provide food to be sold at Glean.
Coffee beans are roasted in the lobby. And the syrups for the drinks are made in-house. Right now, Gleans seasonal blends include an apple-cinnamon, made with real apples, and pumpkin spice, made with pumpkin puree and fresh-ground nutmeg.
“We wanted to be as local as possible,” Theander said. “We’re just excited to be here, we’re excited to grow with Pocatello.”
Glean is the brainchild of two local couples, Jonathan and Emma Theander and Billy and Amanda Chaddock. They started by roasting beans in their garage and selling those beans at the Pocatello farmers market this spring.
When they decided to look for space to grow the business, they found Dude’s Public Market and its owner Jim Young.
Dude’s, located at 240 South Main Street, was designed to be a public gathering place, Theander explained.
While Glean fills the front of the building, the back is a vast open area filled with nothing but tables and chairs. Theander said that the plan going forward is to add even more tables and chairs — and potentially a stage for live entertainment.
For now, the building includes two separate atmospheres: the expansive area in the back, which Theander said is perfect for gatherings and meetings, and Glean in the front, which also has space, like a standard coffee shop, for people to sit with a cup of joe and study, work or surf the internet.