It’s not just the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon — the frequency illusion when you see something more often once you become aware of it. 8th & Roast coffee really is around more than it used to be. This year, the South Nashville-based coffee brand is projecting to roast more than three times the amount of coffee it did in 2023. The company’s number of wholesale partners has increased from 10 in 2017 to more than 350 today. Part of that growth comes from the 2024 acquisition of Nashville roasting company Good Citizen Coffee Co. and sister brand Common Voice.
And part of the increased visibility of 8th & Roast is due to high-profile partnerships and strategic growth that will soon make it a household name in the Nashville homes where it isn’t already.
Last week, the Tennessee Titans named the family-owned 8th & Roast Coffee Co. the football organization’s official coffee partner. The deal took about nine months to finalize, and included offering cupping events for the Titans and talks of future visits to some of the farms 8th & Roast works with. Even then, 8th & Roast CEO Ed Reed says he was skeptical that a small company like 8th & Roast was going to land such a big deal.
8th & Roast’s roasting process
“I can’t find anyone of our size who has partnered on something like this level, with the Titans or NFL franchises, whatever it may be, a company of our size,” says Reed, admitting he’s a little nervous. “It’s a lot of responsibility. They saw the value of partnering with someone based in Nashville because the Titans have become very entrenched in the community. It’s humbling. I’d never expected our coffee company to grow like this.”
This multiyear deal means 8th & Roast will supply fans with coffee in the current Nissan Stadium and in the new stadium when it opens as well. The Roaming Bean, a new mobile coffee business, serves 8th & Roast and is part of the partnership.
“The Titans do a lot of amazing things really well,” says Cris Piper, owner and founder of The Roaming Bean. “But coffee wasn’t necessarily their strength. So when the 8th & Roast team told me they got that contract, I was so excited for them. I was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to have some great coffee at the stadium.’ But then they said, ‘Piper, that’s not the reason we’re calling. We’ve got a partnership opportunity for you.’”
The Roaming Bean
Piper says The Roaming Bean is currently serving coffee outside the practice facility and will be on the main level of the stadium near Section 146 on game days.
On her frequent travels through Europe, Piper — who was born in Germany — became enamored of the mobile coffee businesses serving customers in picturesque piazzas and wanted to bring that experience to Nashville. She also became enamored of the Piaggio Ape, a three-wheeled electric vehicle built on a moped frame. Piper says The Roaming Bean is the first such three-wheeled espresso cart in Nashville. Because it is small and electric, it can fit in many elevators and can be operated inside at a convention or special event.
Piper is passionate about coffee — she’s had Miele coffee machines built into two different houses. When she moved to Nashville seven years ago, she began searching for her new favorite local roaster. “I had my first cup of 8th & Roast coffee when I got here, and I fell in love immediately,” she says. In her previous career, which she quit to launch The Roaming Bean, she traveled frequently, and the 8th & Roast location at the Nashville International Airport was a regular stop — so she knew she liked to drink their coffee. But when she met their barista trainers and saw the process they use to help train their wholesale partners, she knew 8th & Roast was the business she wanted to work with. She founded The Roaming Bean earlier this year.
When Hannah Schneider decided to bring back her beloved Kettner Coffee company, it was 8th & Roast’s training program and the company’s understanding of the hospitality industry — in addition to the good coffee — that convinced Schneider and her partner Giselle Ruggeberg to use 8th & Roast in the relaunch. Ruggeberg owns Jade & Clover, a plant bar in the Gulch, where Kettner Coffee opened earlier this year as an ongoing residency. Kettner was once located in East Nashville next to The Bookshop, though that location was sold in 2022 and rebranded as Hanna Bee Coffee. In addition to a traditional cup of coffee, the new Kettner serves strawberry foam matcha and pistachio latte, plus vegan and gluten-free pastries.
“We really wanted to stay local, hyperlocal, for this,” says Schneider, who has worked in Nashville hospitality for years — including launching marketing firm BRND House, which she sold in 2023. “Originally, I opened Kettner, simply for the experience of a coffee shop that felt friendly, nice and focused on hospitality. When we met with 8th & Roast and their team, it felt like hospitality was the core of what they did.”
Kettner Coffee
Reed owns 8th & Roast with his brother Sam and Q Taylor, who was a childhood friend of the Reeds. Sam Reed is a registered lobbyist for Tennessee Football, Inc., the company that owns the Tennessee Titans*. According to Ed Reed, Sam is not involved in the day-to-day operations at 8th and Roast and was not involved in negotiating the Titans deal. The Reeds and Taylor acquired a majority stake in the company in 2016, and took complete ownership in 2017. The trio also owned Sinema, the beloved restaurant that closed last year after a decade in Melrose.
When Sinema shuttered, the owners kept the closing culinary team — executive chef Shelby Briggs and pastry chef Caleigh Collins — on board to revamp and oversee the culinary program for the brand’s coffee shops and its catering efforts. The result is a menu of signature items, including cheddar-bacon-and-chive scones, breakfast burritos and vegan brown sugar-streusel coffee cake. That menu has helped raise the profile of the brand’s coffee shops on Eighth Avenue, Charlotte Avenue and in Midtown. The brand also has a couple of shops it doesn’t manage, including at the airport and inside Canopy by Hilton Nashville Downtown.
8th & Roast’s roasting process
8th & Roast’s services — in addition to selling coffee — include menu development, consulting on equipment selection and installation, staff training, full shop buildout, and ongoing maintenance and quality control. The company has also just launched a “white label” partnership. Jaime Bacalan wanted to open a coffee shop inside Rooted, his boutique clothing and shoe store, which expanded to a larger location in the Gulch this year. Everything in the shop is branded as Café Rooted, and 8th & Roast is the well-advertised coffee supplier.
“It’s not only a revenue vehicle, but it’s something comfortable and conversational, allowing guests to have something in hand while spending time in the shop,” Bacalan says.
8th & Roast co-owner Taylor was a customer of Rooted, and that relationship helped open the doors to the deal. “Their team was instrumental in helping us get started, and they’ve stayed closely connected and available,” Bacalan says. ”From wholesale to training to visibility, they make everything easier for us.”
For all the growth and new projects, Reed is staying focused.
“I just want to first become the best coffee in Nashville,” Reed says. “And be known as that, or at least be in the conversation for that, which I think we are.”
*Update: The Scene has updated this story to reflect that Sam Reed is registered lobbyist for the Titans and to include a comment on whether he played a role in negotiating the deal with 8th & Roast. We apologize for not reporting the connection between Reed and the Titans sooner.
