Big plans brewing for Charlotte coffee brand: First Walmart, then a cafe spot too!

A Charlotte-based coffee roaster has big moves brewing, including landing on the shelves of retail giant Walmart.

Pure Intentions Coffee is available at 68 stores — 37 in North and South Carolina and 31 in Georgia, according to a company news release.

It’s an indication the specialty coffee industry is growing, Pure Intentions owner Matt Yarmey told The Charlotte Observer Tuesday.

Pure Intentions’ sales at Walmart are up 200% over the last two weeks since the rollout into stores started late last month.

“I’m really excited for the momentum we’re gaining,” Yarmey said. “I think people are just excited to be able to go to a place that they do all of their other shopping and get local products.”

Pure Intentions Coffee in Walmart

Two Pure Intentions Coffee blends are sold at Walmart:

▪ Porchlight medium roast, Pure Intentions best-selling coffee, that is a “smooth and easy drinking medium coffee.

▪ Twilight dark roast, a full-bodied rich coffee with no bitterness.

A 9-ounce bag of whole beans or ground coffee costs $9.99, according to Walmart’s website.

Yarmey said he was contacted in March to see if Pure Intentions could handle the distribution load for Walmart stores. The roaster was able to print new bags, hire a delivery person just for Walmart stores, and handle all of the logistics and planning.

“Luckily, we have a great deal of experience working with larger retailers,” Yarmey said.

Other grocers and places selling Pure Intentions Coffee

Walmart isn’t Pure Intentions’ first grocer. Seven years ago, Whole Foods partnered with the Charlotte roaster, selling its coffee bags and cold brews, in the southeast region Yarmey said.

“We had to figure out how to service a really large scale vendor that ordered a lot of coffee all at once instead of our normal wholesale providers,” Yarmey said.

Two years ago, Matthews-based Harris Teeter picked up Pure Intentions Coffee selling it at 240 stores on the east coast.

“We were lucky to have been accepted right when COVID hit as everybody was doing their grocery shopping from home, we were a new product on the shelves,” Yarmey said.

In June, Pure Intentions topped last year’s revenue, which was its best year yet.

“And, we’re on track to do significantly better, likely 50%,” Yarmey said.

Strategic partnerships have allowed the small team to do things that make it seem like a larger business, Yarmey said. An example is teaming up with NoDa Brewing to distribute Pure Intentions’ cold brew.

“We’re building relationships with distribution that allows us to operate like we’re a much larger business,” Yarmey said,” so we’re able to get in more places.”

About Pure Intentions Coffee

Yarmey’s coffee roasting career started as a hobby 12 years ago when he bought a $500 half-pound roaster and green coffee beans. At the time, in his late 20s, Yarmey was a financial data analyst.

“I couldn’t get enough of it,” he said. He started taking professional coffee roasting education from larger companies in Minnesota and Oklahoma.

He upgraded to a commercial roasting machine the next year and started handing out free samples in Charlotte neighborhoods like NoDa and Plaza Midwood.

“We were able to do 12 pounds at a time in that machine, and now we’re doing 200,000 pounds a year,” Yarmey said.

In 2011, Pure Intentions landed wholesale for local businesses like Sunflour Baking Co., Amelie’s French Bakery and Lincoln Haberdashery.

In 2016, he went full-time roasting investing his life savings into the new roasting company.

“Six years ago, I cut my tie off and came to do this full time,” he said.

Three years ago, Pure Intentions Coffee moved into its 10,000-square-feet food manufacturing facility for its roasts and cold brews at 2215 N. Tryon St., and now has 15 full-time workers.

The warehouse also offers a training campus for wholesale partners.

“Luckily, it was large enough and flexible enough that as we’ve grown in the last six years, we were able to increase our capacity, change our processes and add staff to be able to take advantage of opportunities like this when they come,” Yarmey said of the Walmart sales.

What’s next?

Pure Intentions plans to enter a new market by opening its first coffee cafe in 18 to 24 months. Yarmey said he’s looking in the uptown area.

“Uptown is coming back after the COVID impact and there are a lot of events happening there,” he said.

Selling directly to consumers is “the biggest gap” as a wholesaler, Yarmey said, not being able to see customers enjoy a cup of Pure Intentions’ java.

And, Pure Intentions also will have a coffee bar during the President’s Cup Sept. 20-25 at Quail Hollow Club, alongside Sunflour Baking Co.

Yarmey’s goal: “Create a sustainable business in our community that impacts and pays our employees as much as I can.”