Gabriel Chavez and Noe Lopez opened Resident Coffee Roasters to bring incredible coffees from around the world to the people of Gainesville.
Gabriel was born in Ecuador and always imagined starting something new in the United States. He received his bachelor’s degree in Education at the University of Florida. His passion for coffee bloomed when he was hired by Stephen DiMare, the owner of the Hyppo, to build his new venture, Wyatt’s Coffee. After the café was built in 2016, Gabriel became an elementary school teacher.
While he was teaching third-grade students, Gabriel received a phone call that would change his career forever. Stephen asked him if he would accept the position of General Manager at his new Wyatt’s Coffee location in Downtown Gainesville.
“This idea of getting started on this brand new project was alluring to me so I took a leap of faith,” Gabriel said.
In 2018, Gabriel said goodbye to his students and became the General Manager of Wyatt’s Coffee. A year later, Gabriel became the owner of Wyatt’s Coffee. Today, he focuses on providing the ultimate café experience for guests. Wyatt’s Coffee team members strive to live by the shop’s three missions: to create remarkable experiences for guests, to serve absolutely amazing coffee, and to love the Gainesville community and each other.
“Over the first two years, I started working to transform what was a very basic baseline mission of what coffee service could be, to what I consider now to be one of the best coffee experiences you have in Gainesville,” he said.
Noe Lopez grew his expertise and passion for roasting coffee in Dallas, Texas. He worked for years at Starbucks, a couple of other cafés in the area, and a specialty coffee roasting company where he managed the café’s coffee roasting program.
In 2016, Noe moved to Gainesville with his wife to start a family. He worked at an insurance company until this past August with his same dream of pursuing coffee. He began researching what it’s like to create a roasting company, and he purchased a roaster to begin roasting from home. He was ready to bring a new roasting company to Gainesville.
Gabriel and Noe connected at a local latté art competition. Gabriel connected with Noe on social media after seeing strengths in him that could add value to Wyatt’s Coffee. Their friendship began to grow, and they realized they could create magic if they worked together.
They started Resident Coffee Roasters this year to bring specialty coffee roasting to Gainesville. They serve five types of coffee from around the world and online. Through their aligned values, they have used their partnership to create a remarkable coffee experience.
“It’s all about the experience, how can we make sure people feel loved, how can we make sure we have the right experience for everyone, not just one kind of person,” Gabriel said.
Listen to the 128th episode of the WHOA GNV podcast to hear more about Gabriel and Noe’s journey to starting Resident Coffee Roasters.
