Ole Smokes Coffee (Facebook)

By Liam Verster

Community

Grande Prairie coffee roaster hopes smokey techniques fuels Dragon’s fire

Oct 28, 2019 | 3:28 PM

A local coffee roastery is making a pitch on Dragon’s Den.

Ole Smokes Coffee is appearing on the CBC show, where the owner Tim Sanford, is looking for some national recognition, and to potentially make a deal with a Dragon for a strategic partnership.

The company started in Grande Prairie in 2017 as a coffee bean roaster, and their technique set them apart from the competition.

“In the smoke roast, we use actual wood to roast with, and our conventional roasting is done over a fluid airbed. There’s a lot of technicalities, but coffee nowadays is roasted either in drums, a drum roaster, or an outside roaster, they don’t use wood anymore. We actually developed our roaster so the wood smoke would filter through the beans while it’s roasted.”

Sanford adds that he doesn’t know of anyone else who roasts coffee with wood smoke at the same level as Ole Smokes.

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In 2018, Ole Smokes expanded, and now has a coffee shop in Grande Prairie, one opening in Hythe, and one in Ontario. Sanford says they are also shipping coffee across the country and down into the United States. He says he hopes this exposure will help expand his franchise, and his company’s reach across the country.

Sanford couldn’t share details of how the deal went down within the Den, saying the public will have to wait until Wednesday, October 30, to see him deal with the Dragons. Sanford says the clip will not aired on television, it will only be released online.

“You can go to CBC and go onto Dragons Den, and watch their web exclusive videos.”

He adds that the video will also be shared on Ole Smokes Facebook page.

Sanford says he’s excited for the exposure and chance to promote his company on the national stage, and hopes people will tune in and see him deal with the Dragons.