Quists Coffee is Melbourne’s first coffee roaster, established in 1938 from a growing need to service the coffee cravings of an increasing European migrant community. 

Jim Baruta is the current managing director of the third-generation family enterprise. Given its history, Jim still describes himself as the “new guy” despite being in the business for more than 33 years. 

“Back in 1938, Mr. Quist was brought out to Australia from Denmark because he was a qualified coffee roaster in those days,” Jim says.  

“The original shop is still there: Little Collins Street, number 166. We had three other shops in the city operating at the same time over those years but the original one is still there. 

“When the business started, my father-in-law was brought into the company. Over time, he eventually owned it himself. Then he asked me if I'd come along and work for him and try it. 

“That was in 1989. I was working in electronics at the time and I thought, ‘let's try this. This is something different’. I tried it and really liked the job. 

“I mean, we needed to upgrade everything, all the equipment was very old. But I thought ‘we can improve all this and upgrade all the equipment, spend some money and just grow this business’.” 

Quists is a long-term member of the Victorian Chamber and has benefited in a number of areas. 

“They assisted us with our export documentation, which can all be processed online and is super-fast, which is fantastic,” Jim says.  

“We now use the Victorian Chamber for our human resource needs. It's worked very well for our business.” 

The Victorian Chamber visited Quists roasting plant in Research, capable of processing hundreds of kilos of coffee per hour, and producing for many other businesses. 

“This one here we started in 2003. We upgraded all our machinery and now we have all the latest technology in computer-controlled roasting. We find it it's more consistent and better quality. 

“We have a capacity of 300 kilos an hour and we can actually step that up to 600 kilos an hour. That's roast, blend, packed and and into cartons onto a pallet. 

“We do our own roasting under our own brand and then we do contract roasting for other companies. We do private labelling for cafes and chains of cafes. There's a demand for all that these days.” 

The key to Quists longevity is its dedication to tradition, Jim says, with a core focus on quality and consistency of product. 

“We have a very neat operation,” he says. “People like tradition, people like consistency, people like knowing what they're going to get.  

“We roast all the coffee individually, and then we blend and balance the coffee flavours the way I believe it should be done. We stick to the traditional ways of making coffee.  

“I was taught this in Italy. I learned a lot going over there. Every two years I go to Italy just to keep up to date with these things. 

“We have trends coming and going all the time. They come in waves – depending on where you are in the world is where you are in that wave of trend.  

“But we have never gone down those tracks of super trendy unroasted beans, sour taste and under-developed coffees. That's not what we do.” 

Like many businesses, Quists took a hit during COVID-19 but is slowly bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels. Online orders during lockdowns helped keep the business operating. 

“At that time, everything slowed right down and a lot of cafes really suffered. We shut our main shop in the city for a couple of months. It was tough for everybody,” Jim says. 

“Production slowed down but then our online orders sort of took off more than what it was before. So we just kept going through it.”  

Buying coffee is as much social as it is transactional, and one of the most rewarding aspects of the role for Jim is the interactions with staff and customers, many of whom stay loyal after many years. 

“It's a very good business to run and to be involved in. You're around people who are happy with your product and keep complimenting you,” Jim says. 

“We're all friends. Even our staff, they're like a family.  

“And the customers feel like that with the staff, too. They know when they're there and they know what they're drinking.  

“It's nice having a friend there that's doing this for you. The care is what's important, I find, because when someone cares about making you a coffee, it comes out good. 

“When you get into some places where no one cares, the coffee is always terrible.”