Business Profile: Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company

Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company (CBRC) has a simple, yet meaningful, statement written across the showroom wall at their Crofton location, "Taste the difference. Making a difference."

The company, established in 2002, works to provide a quality coffee brand and help preserve the condition of the Chesapeake Bay at the same time.

"We're striving to get our customers to become supporters because of what we're all about and what we're doing. They're supporting the product [and] they're supporting the idea," said Neil Cooper, vice president of sales and marketing for CBRC.

Located in the business park on Concord Boulevard, just off Maryland Route 3, the coffee company has seen a quick rise within their dual mission.

The coffee brand found its way into a single Whole Foods Market back in February 2010. By December 2011, it could be found in 13 different Whole Foods locations. The company's products are now available in all 42 Whole Food Markets regionally.

A goal of the company is to keep the Chesapeake Bay, and its surrounding watershed, clean and preserved for the life it effects and supports.

"We've been doing it from the beginning. We were doing it before it became the thing to do," said Tom Erber, vice president of operations at CBRC. "We believed it from the gate."

In 2009, Erber created the H20 Initiative, where CBRC gives 2 percent of sales back to companies that help restore the Chesapeake Bay.

"We're focused on being an important company that supports the communities in which we do business," Cooper said.

According to Chris Paladino, CEO of CBRC, the H20 initiative resulted in $12,600 of donations in 2011. Paladino said CBRC has $20,000-plus saved up for donations to be made in 2012.

All that work was validated when the Washingtonian Magazine awarded CBRC the Green Award for 2012.

"We're proud of what we do and we really want the community that surrounds us to be proud of us as well," Cooper said.

The H20 Initiative is just one of many changes or actions taken by CBRC to help preserve the Chesapeake Bay.

"Every company has the opportunity to make the same business choices. [Like use] an eco-friendly roaster or utilize a can or a non-recyclable bag, but the choices come at a much more significant expense than the non-green alternative. Most companies just aren't willing to make that choice," Cooper said.

CBRC will host an open house on Wednesday from 4 to 7:30 p.m., at 2100 Concord Blvd., Suite J. Visitors will receive a tour of the location, get a chance to try some coffee and refill their CBRC coffee can for $10.

Have you tasted coffee from the Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company? Tell us in the comments.