Community Stories: Lost Aviator Coffee

Lost Aviator Coffee was Founded in Guelph Ontario, Canada in 2020 by two longtime friends and career airline pilots, Adam and Steve.

Adam and Steve know that there are few things that beat the beauty of soaring above the earth at 40,000 feet.  With this appreciation for our planet, they founded Lost Aviator with sustainability and good world citizenship at its core value.  Their goal is to ensure you the consumer can drink your daily java comfortable in the knowledge that its ethically sourced and sustainably farmed. 

What inspired you to start your business?

We had to rethink our lives after COVID took away careers as pilots. We were looking for a career change and loved making things from scratch. Next thing you know we were buying a roaster, and Lost Aviator Coffee was born. We had never toasted a bean, so we got to researching, and learned the skills we needed to start roasting. We started roasting coffee in our backyard and giving samples to friends. We didn’t want to release a product until we were proud of the quality.

What problem were you trying to solve?

We wanted our coffee to be clean and eco-friendly. Our roaster produces less bi-product and less smoke, which makes our process much better for the environment. This cleaner process allows our coffee to taste pure and clean. We wanted to have a circular system so any bi-product from our roaster is used as fertilizer.

What helps you to keep generating you new ideas to grow or change your business?

We take one day at a time and focus on measuring our growth. We do little batches of new flavours to test the market before selling large qualities. We’re total nerds, so we enjoy learning new things, and diving into research. We’re also lucky to have a friendship that is open and constructive, so we can bounce ideas off of each other.

What’s a piece of advice you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

The world needs more risk-takers, so if you have a good idea that you believe will work, go for it! Do your research and use the resourced at your disposal. Owning a business is a lot of work, but it is incredibly rewarding.

To get your hands on some delicious, etically sourced coffee check out their online store https://www.lostaviatorcoffee.com/.