Bridgehead Coffee facts for kids
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| coffeehouse | |
| Industry | Coffee, Coffee Roaster, Coffee Beans |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Headquarters | 130 Anderson Street Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6T7 |
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Number of locations
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20 |
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Area served
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Ottawa |
| Products | coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, kombucha, bread, granola, baked goods |
Bridgehead is a Canadian company that sells coffee, tea, and food. It is known for its fair trade products. This means they make sure the farmers who grow the coffee beans get a fair price for their hard work.
Bridgehead started in 1981 and is based in Ottawa, Ontario. Besides coffee and organic teas, they also sell soups, salads, sandwiches, and baked goods made in their own kitchen. In 2006, people in Ottawa voted Bridgehead as the city's "Best Coffee/Tea House."
History
How it Started
Bridgehead began in Toronto, Ontario, in 1981. It was first called Bridgehead Trading. Two church ministers and two social activists started it. They were worried about small coffee farmers in Nicaragua.
Bridgehead was the first company to offer Canadian shoppers fairly traded coffee. At first, volunteers sold coffee from church basements in Toronto. The business grew quickly. In 1984, a group called Oxfam Canada bought Bridgehead. Oxfam Canada is a well-known organization that helps people around the world.
Under Oxfam Canada, Bridgehead became a proper company. Oxfam Canada wanted to sell many different fair trade products, not just coffee. This plan did not work out well, and the company started to lose money.
A Fresh Start
In May 1998, a lending group from the U.K. called Shared Interest took over Bridgehead. They held onto the company name while looking for a new owner. In 1999, Tracey Clark made an offer to buy Bridgehead.
Tracey Clark wanted to bring Bridgehead back to its original goal. She wanted it to be a strong fair trade coffee and tea company again. In April 2000, Bridgehead Inc. was officially formed. On June 17, 2000, the first Bridgehead Coffeehouse opened in Westboro, Ottawa.
At first, Clark got money from her family and friends to help the company grow. By 2002, 30 different investors owned parts of Bridgehead. Also in 2002, Clark opened a central kitchen. This kitchen makes all the food products that Bridgehead sells in its stores.
Bridgehead grew a lot. It went from one store in 2000 to nine stores by 2008. Today, it has twenty stores.
Growing and Changing
In June 2012, Bridgehead opened its own coffee roastery. This is where all the coffee beans sold by the company are roasted. Roasting is the process of heating coffee beans to bring out their flavor.
Bridgehead also started offering new drinks. In July 2015, a new Bridgehead store opened at Pinecrest Road and Iris Street. By September 2015, some Bridgehead locations began to offer beer from local breweries. They also started selling wine and special coffee-inspired drinks.
In 2017, Bridgehead began working with Carleton University. They worked with the university's Mass Spectrometry Centre. This research helped them learn more about how coffee beans change as they get older.
In December 2019, Bridgehead announced it was being sold to Aegis Brands. Aegis Brands is also the parent company of the Second Cup coffee chain. In January 2024, Aegis sold the Bridgehead brand to Pilot Coffee Roasters.
See also
- List of coffeehouse chains
