At first glance Thomas Hammer resembles a poet or artist instead of the traditional MB A-credentialed CEO. But then again, he understands the artistic, image-driven concept of branding. His Spokanebased company, Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters, founded in 1993, has established itself in the West Coast coffee niche. The business provides jobs for over 50 full-time and part-time people as it spreads its brand of “cool” throughout college campuses and cities around the Northwest.

Hammer, age 38, has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. In the late 1980s, while still a senior at Shadle Park High School (class of 1987), Hammer was hired as a barista to oversee the coffee bar at Nordstrom’s in downtown Spokane.

“The one thing about that time for me was that it was the purest form of espresso making – the equipment we had, what was available in syrups, the cup sizes,” he says. “It was about making the perfect espresso. Everyone who hung out at the coffee bar was cool – artists, musicians, the ‘fringe’ of Spokane. I don’t think there’s another coffee puller in this city who’s been in the industry as long [as I have]. Those were cool times – cool people, a cool vibe.”

Indeed, the young Hammer had xposure to various definitions of cool.” His older brother lived in Los Angeles, and Hammer visited him a few times every year. “I give credit to that for opening my eyes as a teenager,” he says.

And as a young barista, he also had his own ideas for how to run a coffee bar. “I didn’t like working for someone. I’ve always wanted to work for myself,” he says. “I think you know you’re going to be an entrepreneur.” Although he enjoyed the challenges, he soon realized he “could do it better” if all the decisions were under his control. As owner and president now of his own company, he says, “I know what’s on the line and enjoy that pressure.” He also likes the creativity and “unbounded energy” that entrepreneurship requires. “You can call the shots,” he says.

After high school, Hammer attended Gonzaga University to pursue an undergraduate business degree, while working for Four Seasons Coffee Company. Then after graduating in 1991, he stayed at Gonzaga for two more years to earn a master’s degree in business administration. At that point he was ready to consider himself “retired” from the coffee business. “I didn’t go to grad school with a [specific] career in mind,” he says. “I believe that there’s not a lot [someone] can’t do as long as you’re competent and educated.”

But it was difficult to find a job in Spokane in 1993, he says. And although he interviewed with Nalley’s Fine Foods, that post-MB A “dream job” wasn’t coming along quickly. In the early 1990s, he says, an MB A wasn’t as valued by employers as it seems to be today.

Then the coffee business reemerged in his life when a franchise in Northtown Mall was going out of business. Here was the opportunity to acquire all the equipment and infrastructure for starting his own coffee shop, with plenty of foot traffic for his marketing plan.

Hammer acquired the shop and equipment with partner Bud Barnes, professor and dean of the business  school at Gonzaga, and Thomas Hammer Coffee was born. With a retail location in the mall, the new business was “instantly credible,” says Hammer. Walk-by customers allowed the business to cover the rent. “We only almost went bankrupt twice,” he says.

Today, Barnes is still Hammer’s mentor and “strategic partner,” says Hammer, as well as an equal investment partner. Barnes was more involved in company operations early on, but has since “stepped back” as the company gained more momentum and stability, according to Hammer. Additional Thomas Hammer Coffee retail locations were acquired as money allowed and the opportunities presented themselves. In 1995, a location was acquired on Eastern Washington University’s Cheney campus, followed by the downtown Spokane store on Wall Street.

“We didn’t do a whole bunch until 2002,” Hammer says about that first decade of being in business. The first major steps for growth were hiring three key employees, establishing a wholesale division and running that simultaneously with the retail side of business. Those three employees are still with the company today: Dave Rier, roast master and green coffee buyer; Deborah DiBernardo, wholesale sales
manager; and Janet Williams, director of retail operations.

“The goal was to hire three career people to take the company to a new level that I couldn’t do if I was by myself,” Hammer says. And the second major step was preparation for expanding their product into grocery stores.

“We wanted to do it our way. We wanted to control our quality and pick the stores ourselves,” he says. “[But] we realized the brand we had was not going to work. What got us where we were at was not going to get us to the next level. I knew the company needed a new brand and a new look.”

To accomplish this goal, they interviewed three branding and design firms to assist them. Although they decided on a company, and a new look and brand concept were in development, Hammer still didn’t feel completely confident about the new direction.