GUELPH, ONTARIO – Steve Zago and Adam Wright had made a career as airline pilots. Their mutual passion for aviation drove these two lifelong friends to become business partners and create the Lost Aviator Coffee Company.
“There are few things that beat the beauty of soaring about the earth at 40,000 feet,” Steve said. “It gives you a different perspective of the natural beauty of the world and it is often accompanied with a cup of coffee in hand.”
After losing their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic, these two friends branched out to find a new passion in coffee roasting. As they are professional pilots, Steve and Adam ran with this idea to create a variety of aviation themed products, such as the Constellation Medium Roast and the Red Eye to Rome Espresso Blend. They use our Artisan XL coffee roaster for their product line.
“After the pandemic grounded us, we wanted to start our own business,” Steve said. “One night while discussing options, Adam threw out coffee roasting as an option. I had the concept for ‘lost aviator’ in my head as a microbrewery for years, but there are quite a few of them in my area. So the idea kind of stuck. We both love cooking things from scratch, brewing our own beer and nerding out of stuff like that so there was an instant draw to coffee roasting.”
In the short time since launching the company, Lost Aviator Coffee Co. has reached a large and growing number of people in not only the aviation industry, but in the local community as well. Steve says the number of people who have reached out or stopped by just to chat has been “incredible.”
“It’s a tangible link to a profession that is staffed by very passionate people the world over who have found a connection through our product,” Steve said. “one particular story that we were blown away by was a local woman, whom we both knew, had recently lost her elderly father. He was a pilot in the Air Force in his youth and they insisted that Lost Aviator coffee was served at his funeral.”
Lost Aviator Coffee Co. has used the power of branding to drive their sales and find new clients to sell coffee to. These guys are the perfect example of how with the right branding, you can gain customers and then let the quality of the product keep them coming back.
“I always said we could sell anything to pilots and aviation lovers by putting a picture of a plane on the bag,” Steve said. “But, if the coffee is sub-par, they wouldn’t be back for seconds. We’ve built up a loyal customer base in a short period of time by having strong branding, communicating honestly with our clients, and ensuring our bags aren’t just nice to look at, but are filled with high quality specialty coffee.”
You can find more information on Lost Aviator Coffee Co. and their products by using the following links:
Website: https://www.lostaviatorcoffee.com/
