- Although efficiency is rightly the biggest priority when designing a roasting space, more and more coffee professionals are ensuring their roasteries can be customer-facing.
- This can be important for several reasons: roasters may regularly bring customers in for tours, host educational events, or convert their roasters into environments that double as cafés.
- As consumers continue to become more educated, designing a space where they can observe the roasting process and enjoy coffee adds significant value to a business.
- Creating unique, visually-appealing spaces has become increasingly a requirement for many roasters, but workflow and health and safety remain paramount.
Designing a roastery that also serves as a showroom or café is about more than simply placing a coffee roaster in the corner of a retail space.
It’s about creating an environment where production and hospitality coexist, allowing customers to see behind the curtain and understand how their coffee becomes the product they know and love.
When done well, these spaces blur the line between roastery and café, inviting guests to experience the process up close while still delivering the comfort and polish of a specialty coffee shop.
I spoke to Greesha Kagan, the owner of Sputnik Coffee Company, to learn how he worked with IMF Roasters to design his roastery.
You may also likeour article on transitioning from small-batch to large-scale roasting.
Why showroom roasteries are becoming more popular
For years, many roasteries operated in hidden warehouses or industrial parks – spaces focused almost entirely on production efficiency. However, as margins become tighter and customer expectations rise, more coffee businesses are seeking ways to differentiate themselves.
Enter the showroom-style roastery. It’s a model that borrows from other industries – viewing galleries in chocolatiers or large windows in patisseries and Viennoiseries, for example – tapping into the demand for transparency.
Roasting is a fascinating aspect of the coffee supply chain for many consumers; the technical aspect is unfamiliar enough to draw intrigue, but close enough to brewing to connect guests with coffee as they know it. When customers get to see, hear, and smell coffee roasting, it gives them a window into why specialty coffee is worth the higher price.
Starbucks Reserve roasteries are a case in point. In addition to serving premium coffees and signature drinks, utilising different brewing methods, and offering more attentive service, customers can experience the roasting process up close.
“Customers want to see the magic,” says Greesha, the co-founder and owner of Sputnik Coffee Company in Chicago, US. The company opened a 2,000-square-foot roastery and café in October 2024, complete with a 60kg-capacity IMF roaster and six white silos visible through a 25-foot glass wall.
“Similar to the TV show How It’s Made, people want to see the process behind the coffee they love,” he adds. “Roasting equipment intrigues curiosity and leads to questions and positive interaction with staff.”
In an era where coffee prices are soaring, offering guests more insight into why it’s worth the price is increasingly necessary.
“Companies that can show off a clean production facility stand apart from the competition,” Greesha explains.
For many businesses, the showroom model isn’t just about aesthetics; it can also be a smart financial decision. Instead of renting or maintaining two separate spaces (a café and a roasting facility), a hybrid design consolidates both operations under one roof. This means lower rent, fewer utilities, and a streamlined workflow between roasting and serving coffee.
Additionally, green coffee storage, packaging, and wholesale operations can often be integrated into a single building. While this requires careful planning to ensure the space supports efficient workflow, it ultimately minimises overhead and helps a roaster make the most of their footprint.
As a result, this model generates multiple revenue streams from a single location, including retail drinks and wholesale production. For smaller or mid-sized coffee roasters, the space efficiency can be the difference between making ends meet and maximising funds for future growth.
Why roastery design needs to match function
The appeal of an open roastery is obvious, but building one is far from simple. Unlike a warehouse roastery, showroom spaces must be designed with both the customer and the roaster in mind. Every decision – from layout to lighting – must strike a balance between the efficiency of production and the customer experience.
One of the primary considerations is maintaining the balance between aesthetics and functionality. Not only does the facility need to be able to roast coffee, but it also must serve as a viewing gallery and café.
This can be difficult to achieve; however, coffee shops have been doing this for years, and it’s possible to apply the same intentionality in roasteries. For years, cafés used shelves, storage units, and other available space behind the bar to fit everything in. Modern specialty coffee shops, meanwhile, often think more deeply about storage and build cabinets, shelves, and functional compartments into the design itself.
Not only are the aesthetics of the space on display, but the roastery employees and systems also become visible to guests. This makes it all the more necessary to implement proper standards for hygiene, detailed processes, and well-functioning systems.
From the business perspective, putting this level of intentionality into the design of a roastery that doubles as a café has clear benefits:
- Transparency builds trust: If you can show someone how you prepare their coffee in a way that showcases pride, they are more likely to keep returning.
- Customers engage more deeply with your brand: The more someone can see into your process, the more they will feel connected to your brand and its values.
- Storytelling opportunities expand: On every corner of a roastery is another opportunity to invite someone into the world of specialty coffee. When used intentionally, this can become a powerful tool for retaining customers.
- Employees work in a thoughtfully designed environment: Just as baristas benefit from working in visually appealing specialty coffee shops, roastery staff can also experience the same level of intentionality, which is often reflected in their work ethic.
At the same time, challenges come with the territory. Roasteries are industrial spaces – loud, hot, and messy – where chaff flies, beans spill, and boxes pile up. While some equipment is aesthetically pleasing, such as the roaster itself and burlap sacks, other tools are often decidedly not, like plastic totes, heat sealers, and pallet jacks. The hard part is creating a space that looks polished without sacrificing efficiency.
IMF, a manufacturer known for customising roasting equipment and facilities, can help businesses strike this balance. The company will exhibit at booth D24 E23 in hall 18 at HostMilano from 17 to 21 October 2025, showcasing its range of coffee roasters, complete plant services, and innovative roasting and storage solutions.
“The minute we sent out our floor plan, they got to work,” Greesha says. “Their knowledge of requirements, clearances, and working distances enabled our architects to create the ideal space.
“After several phone calls, we had a CAD design that we could fine-tune together. They accommodated every change.”
The result of this type of intentionality is a space that functions as both a café and a production facility – a place where customers can experience the roasting process without feeling overwhelmed.
So what do roasters need to know?
When considering creating a showroom-style roastery, several important distinctions should be factored in during the planning stage compared to a traditional roastery.
Beyond aesthetics, the key is intentionality. Every piece of equipment, workflow element, and design choice has to serve both function and presentation.
Some often-overlooked factors include:
- Cohesive equipment: Old or mismatched equipment should be restored or upgraded.
- Cleanliness: Everything is on display, so there’s no back room to hide equipment in bad condition or disrepair.
- Education: Customers won’t automatically understand what they’re seeing. Labels, signage, or even staff storytelling are crucial.
- Engagement: Can the roasting process be made more interactive, rather than static?
Working with experts like IMF helps avoid costly mistakes.
“Construction changes are expensive and sometimes impossible to fix,” Greesha explains. “You need a partner with experience to guide you before breaking ground; IMF has installed countless roasters and plants worldwide.”
If you’re considering building one of these spaces, some key starting points include:
- Speak with architects, engineers, builders, and roasting experts from the outset.
- Select equipment that balances both function and aesthetics.
- Design clear sightlines into the roasting space.
- Build in storage solutions to minimise clutter.
- Prioritise airflow, noise control, and safety clearances.
- Consider storytelling through signage, live demos, or guided tastings.
Showroom-style roasteries aren’t just about looking good. They’re also about inviting customers into the coffee supply chain, creating a sense of authenticity.
When executed well, they can transform a roasting plant from a hidden warehouse into a place where consumers can connect more deeply with coffee.
“Anything that brings the customer closer to each batch will bring them back,” Greesha concludes.
Enjoyed this? Then readour article on how to design a complete coffee roasting facility.
Photo credits: Sputnik Coffee Company
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