Meet Scott Conary | President, Carrboro Coffee Roasters

We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott Conary and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, what do you attribute your success to?

As trite as it can sound, the People are the most important part of what we do & how we do it…

This ranges from the coffee Producer-Partners we work with in all the coffee growing origins, and the many hands along the way that get that coffee from the tree to our Roastery, and then extends to all of our passionate employees in both the wholesale roastery & the retail cafes, and ultimately to the clients & customers themselves.

Everything we do only becomes a reality because at every stage people believe in what we are doing and want to be part of the team that makes it happen – become part of the process that leads to something better and bigger than we are as individuals.

Our Farmer Direct Relationship Program was started with this very thing in mind – connect directly with the people actually doing the work and find out the best way to support those efforts, in a truly sustainable, long term manner.

Directly connected to the idea that any success we see is because of people believe in what we are trying to accomplish, is the need to truly listen to these passionate individuals to find the best path forward. This is equally true whether they are coffee farmers, exporters, coffee roasters, Baristas or customers!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Carrboro Coffee Roasters, and their Flagship retail locations, were created with the intention of shifting paradigms in the specialty coffee industry. The hope was to restore some equity in the system and find a path that led to a more truly sustainable approach to harvesting/process/transport/roast/prepare coffee that was cohesive across the entire spectrum of industry and impacted those most in need.

This is a major undertaking and not one that allows for quick or major shifts all at once. Our goal was to implement these reforms internally, fine tune them as we moved along and, beyond our own impacted sphere of influence, serve as a template for others to show what is possible to do & still be financially viable.

It is important to note that this is a 20+ year effort to date, with enough success to offer as proof of principle, but is an ongoing and ever changing endeavor. It is also very important to understand that these concepts were the driving principle for the existence of this company and requires buy-in from every facet along the way for it to be successful.

So we can point to success of these ideals because people believed our method of personal Relationship building with coffee farmers was important – that they wanted to see & hear the stories and impact this has on families and communities around the world.
People appreciated our expert approach to specifically dialing in each roast in reaction to each unique coffee – letting the coffee tell us how it should be best roasted, creating unique flavor experiences.
There was appreciation for how we crafted unique experiences at the retail level – each Cafe offering something special, beyond the internationally recognized level of quality in each hand-crafted beverage.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Too many to list – so unfair!

You can always visit the Orange County/Chapel Hill Visitors Center for anything I have (undoubtedly) left out….

We are blessed with amazing outdoor spaces here with so many trails, like the ones at the Carolina North Forest that is easy access from downtown, and places to escape like the UNC Arboretum that has a separate location outside downtown and also on the beautiful UNC Campus itself.
There is a great paved Bolin Creek Greenway trail that connects the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill and allows for recreation and also a short walk on the Teahouse Trail of Caffe Driade for amazing coffee and more in a magical wooded setting.
We are also fortunate to have James Beard awarded chefs and restaurants all situated in a very walk able town:
The Lantern for Asian fusion
Vimala’s for authentic Indian cuisine
Glass Half Full for unique bistro delights
Tandem for middle eastern inspired dishes
Carolina Coffee Shop ( celebrating their 100th anniversary!) for breakfast, brunch and more
Award winning chef Brandon Sharp has both Bluebird (French inspired) and Hawthorne & Wood for an intimate night out.
Mercato is the place to go for mouthwatering thin crust pizza and more
Mediterranean Deli – has more amazing food to choose from than you can handle in one setting and will keep you coming back!

Open Eye Cafe is the neighborhood cafe that also just happens to be internationally acclaimed.
Perennial is actively elevating the art of coffee by creating unique seasonal beverages including coffee-centric mocktail like beverages not found anywhere else (besides the more standard coffee menu, expertly done.)

We have the Crunkleton for artful cocktails, as well as Belltree Speakeasy ( you may need help finding the door), and Orange County Social Club if you want to hang with the hip locals.

All Day Records & Schoolkids for your music fix and Cats Cradle, the Cave & Local 506 if you want to catch a live show.
Also we have an amazing Artscenter that is a makers space but also hosts live music,plays, etc.

All of this is easily accessible by walking AND the buses are free for those a little further out!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
So much of what we have been attempting to accomplish of the past several decades in terms of shifting the paradigm the coffee industry finds itself in concerning equity & sustainability has been mirrored by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, and more specifically their Cup of Excellence program. We have been able to work in tandem and often overlapping ways to further the work and message we were already working toward, and therefore have a broader and more long-term impact in shifting where our industry goes and how it grows.

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all rights Carrboro Coffee Roasters