Milwaukee-based café chain and coffee roaster Stone Creek Coffee Co. has doubled its revenue since 2020. In continuing its growth, the company is launching a new website and a line of compostable coffee pods in April. Between the relocation and expansion of its Whitefish Bay café, and its steadily increasing sales from its e-commerce division,
Milwaukee-based café chain and coffee roaster Stone Creek Coffee Co. has doubled its revenue since 2020. In continuing its growth, the company is launching a new website and a line of compostable coffee pods in April.
Between the relocation and expansion of its Whitefish Bay café, and its steadily increasing sales from its e-commerce division, the company's revenue has more than doubled with over $15 million in annual revenue in 2024, up from $7.5 million in 2020, according to Stone Creek's director of development and co-owner Drew Pond.
In 2020, the company was operating eight locations across Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs. After topping its 2020 revenue in 2021, Stone Creek began working on its new Whitefish Bay location after closing its first established location and moving operations to a much larger space, formerly occupied by a City Market cafe. While construction was underway, the company began expanding its e-commerce offerings and baking its pastries and various other menu items in-house at its factory location at 422 N. 5th St in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.
Today, the Whitefish Bay location is open and contributing significantly to its annual revenue. Both its online sales revenue and bakery production have tripled since 2020. The transformation of its business and its now nine operating cafes across southeastern Wisconsin are driving growth for the business in 2025.
As part of its push to grow its online sales, Stone Creek signed an advertising deal with Atlanta, Georgia-based golf podcast "No Laying Up," its only paid advertising deal to date. Pond’s interest in the game and a connection with the podcast's hosts presented an opportunity to expand the company’s footprint from Wisconsin across the nation. Stone Creek’s online sales have jumped from $200,000 annually in the years before COVID, to over $1.3 million before starting the partnership with "No Laying Up," Pond said. Through its partnership, the company has earned an additional $300,000 in revenue from its online sales. In total, online sales supplement roughly 10% of Stone Creek's yearly revenue, which is significant relative to other coffee roasters in the region, Pond said.
While Stone Creek is expanding its online offerings and growing its out-of-state presence, it has no intention of franchising outside of the state.
“We could open a lot more coffee shops successfully in this area and there are places that are still underserved,” Pond said.
[caption id="attachment_609524" align="alignleft" width="300"] Stone Creek roasts roughly 600,000 pounds of coffee each year. Submitted photo[/caption]
On April 3, the company will roll out its new website utilizing Shopify for online purchases. On April 17, the company will launch its line of Keurig-compatible coffee pods called “Escape Pods,” which feature 70% more coffee than the average pod and compostable packaging.
More growth is planned for the company in the coming months as well. New coffee products with adjustable caffeine levels are in the works as well as plans to expand its roasting operations beyond its Third Ward factory facility. The company roasts roughly 600,000 pounds of coffee each year sourced from Costa Rica and Guatemala, among other South American countries, and is hitting its capacity in its current facility, Pond said.
Stone Creek is also focusing on “remarkably caring” for its employees, Pond said.
“We’re craft-passionate folks,” he said. “It’s natural for coffee companies to make great coffee, but it may not be as natural for them to create a good organization.”
Stone Creek is focused on its guiding principle: the ability to operate and be truly sustainable. Understanding risks and creating an employment experience that satisfies its workers is at the forefront of the company’s forward-looking vision for success, Pond said.
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Here is a list of Stone Creek's cafes across southeastern Wisconsin:
