Alaska USA Business Spotlight article on SteamDot Coffee Roasters

“We are a coffee lover’s coffee company,” describes Jonathan White, owner of SteamDot Coffee Roasters. “We have a dedication to finding the highest quality raw materials. I spend a lot of time in other countries meeting the different farmers, finding the best ingredients, and getting it all the way back here to Alaska. Then we find what makes that bean taste the best. In everything we do, we ask one question: how is this making the coffee taste better?”

Before making it his profession, Jonathan had a very romantic notion of the industry. “I always had a passion for coffee,” he remembers. “What fascinates me the most is that the amount of work it takes to get that cup of coffee is staggering. To think that these little beans come from some of the farthest flung places on the planet, and that they made it all the way through this journey to your cup is really somewhat of a miracle.”

Jonathan eventually found himself going through a career change, making it the perfect time to explore his passion. “I was a lobbyist, so one career ended and I sort of found myself working with a local coffee company. Next thing you know, I’m running SteamDot,” he says. “It was scary. But I spent a lot of time researching whether this was a good thing to do, and I determined there was a need in this market for the kind of coffee company I wanted to create.”

The first café opened in 2009 in a freight shed located in the Ship Creek area of Anchorage dubbed the “Scare House.” Named after the shed’s position on an old railroad network map marked with a big red dot, SteamDot was to be part of an effort to breathe new life into the area. “The Alaska Railroad was working on a project to revitalize Ship Creek,” recalls Jonathan. “We were going to be a part of that. Although the budget didn’t work out, they helped us find where we grew into our own.”

While the company moved into their current location across town in O’Malley a year later, Jonathan will always appreciate where they started. “There was doubt whether this was going to work, there were trains running by, we didn’t have a lot of customers, and we’re in this big, vacant warehouse. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything because it gave us a humble beginning that’s important to remember.”

After four successful years, Jonathan looked to expand SteamDot. To do that, he turned to his long-time financial institution, acquiring a working capital line of credit and equipment line of credit. “A major turning point was taking on our first loan. We were able to build most of the company without getting institutional financing, though when it came time to choose a partner to do that with, Alaska USA was the easy choice.”

As the company grew, so did their insurance needs. “When we were a young business, the broker taking care of us was great for our needs, but we didn’t have many.” To protect his people and resources, Jonathan took advantage of commercial auto insurance, workers compensation, property insurance, and general liability, explaining, “We needed a more robust, personal outfit, and Alaska USA Insurance Brokers came along at the perfect time when we started adding cafés, vehicles, and equipment.”

SteamDot has come a long way since its start in the Scare House. Now with two cafés and another on the way, the company shows no signs of slowing down, and Jonathan is excited about the opportunities in the years to come. “The best part is that I don’t really have a specific blueprint. I guide the company, but where we go is driven largely by what our customers want from us and where our employees want to take us. Usually those two things meet in a nice place and our company grows naturally.”

Whatever the future brings, Alaska USA will continue to be a part of the journey. “Right now we’re moving our entire relationship – our checking, our loans – over to Alaska USA. We’re currently going through the largest growth period in the company’s five-year history, and Alaska USA has been essential to that growth.

​“I really do consider myself one of the luckiest guys,” says Jonathan. “It’s not every day you get to have a dream and get to the point where you feel like you’ve achieved some of it, much less all of it. We have a long way to go, and it’s challenging, but I don’t think there’s anything more gratifying in a professional career.”