Cecilia
Our “Roast Mistress” and only female roaster, is KHC’s most tenured employee having worked with Elana and Leo in the “early days”. It is a little known fact that it was actually Cec through a bolt of inspiration (or maybe a flash of heat stroke) that came up with the name for one of our most popular and powerful blends - 454 Horse Power. The undisputed leader of our Social Committee, Cec has made sure that through all the years, on top of managing her own family, no employee at KHC has missed a birthday, without a card, gift certificate or warm wish. Now Cec… when is that next Fun Day?
Holly
Long after the fires of our roasters have extinguished, there is still plenty to do, cleaning, organizing and staging the room for the next day. Holly (our Roasting Support gal) has been a champ, keeping up with all that is thrown her way. Coming to work for Kicking Horse Coffee and reconnecting with her valley roots (after years of living south of the border), she is sometimes hard to find, having crawled deep inside a cooling tray or tucked way behind the 280 oxidizer. It is her giddy laugh however, that usually gives her away as she shares a daily joke with the Steve or Owen or tries to keep up with Joe as they stage the roast list for the next day.
Owen
First joined us from the world of beer; our master brewer come-master roaster has been a great addition to the KHC roasting department team. An avid gardener and dandelion puller (no seriously, I pulled out over 12,000 dandelions from my lawn), and originally hailing from the manufacturing belt of Southern Ontario, Owen has a wealth of knowledge and is secretly scheming to create our first Kick Ass Draught….mmmmm.
Paul
As Tom’s sidekick in roasting and his partner from “pasta days past” Paul, our Roasting Lead Hand has developed a reputation for being quite a character. Following a recent stint as a TV celebrity as one of “Invermere’s Top Roasters” Paul whiles away his time on the new 280K roaster dreaming of the day he will finally “bring in the big one” at Whitetail lake, or how to make his camping spot up their more permanent. A dedicated member of a number of community service clubs, he hopes to work at KHC until his 75th birthday, which Sandy cheerfully tries to point out, is just next year.
Steve
Steveo continues to surprise all of us at how well he has adapted to his new vocation as a coffee roaster. A career as a professional animator for over 20 years has prepared him perfectly for the cast of characters he now finds himself caught up with in the Roasting room. When not “getting up close and friendly” with the 280K roaster, Steve can be found catching up on the latest issues of “ Archie’s Digest” in the lunch room or drawing caricatures of his fellow teammates. Steve is also living proof that it’s not physically possible to laugh or smile too much.
Tom
A veteran of the food industry… this once “King of Pasta” is now one of KHC’s “King of Coffee”. As Head Roaster, Tom continues to raise the bar and push his team (and everyone else in the building) to put out the best dang coffee on the planet. A driven team leader with high standards, Tom balances his passion for great coffee with a love of mountain biking, building trails and listening to killer music. “You can’t possibly clean a cooling tray unless Cracker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, or Pearl Jam are playing at maximum volume!
