(page 46) MARCH 2015
THE REAL DEAL
Names: Kayleigh & Christopher Dixon // Hometown: Rapid City //Age: 29 & 28 // Specialty: Organic Homemade Goods
What other products do you use? C: We make a lot of stuff in house. We make some syrups in house, use all organic materials – sugar and all that. We have vanilla, hazelnut and almond. It’s pretty unique for our industry. We make our own almond milk, too. K: We use local organic nut butter to make [the almond milk]. We make our own vanilla extract. It takes six months. C: It’s going back to home cooking. We make our own whipped cream, too. It’s a lot of work, but the quality makes a big difference, and you can taste it. How did you decide on the location?
DIXON COFFEE COMPANY “It’s a lot of work, but the quality makes a big difference, and you can taste it.”
Dixon Coffee Company, a quaint, modern building in the parking lot of Knecht Home Center was truly a labor of love. Owner/operator Kayleigh Dixon, a barista of nine years, always dreamt of owning her own business doing what she’s passionate about. Her husband, Christopher – an architectural engineer – designed and literally built the coffee shop from the ground up (“with help from friends and family”). Spreading their passion for people, homemade organic goods and fair trade coffee, this couple is getting back to their roots. How has business been since you opened this fall? K: It’s been really good. There’s a big demand in the health industry right now. People are really looking for better options, and that’s where we’re going with this. We want to still serve up some yummy stuff, but have better options. Tell us about what your coffee shop
has that other shops might not. K: For one thing, our coffee beans are all fair trade organic – organic being as little use of pesticides in the beans as possible and fair trade as a global standpoint. C: All farmers get paid equally. They all have kids and are trying to make a living, too. Instead of telling them ‘what are you going to do for us,’ they say ‘what is a fair price for your hard work?’ It’s more about people than actually making dollar bills. Where do you get your beans from? K: It’s out of Washington with a company called Grounds for Change. We started planning this idea a year before we built, and it took us that long to source all of our ingredients and how exactly we were going to do everything. C: We were experimenting in our basement with a little espresso machine [laughed]. We had all these companies sending us beans.
K: We had talked and talked and talked and wondered where the right spot was. One day I realized, ‘Honey, you’re in the location!’” C: It just so happens we work in the same parking lot – I design for Knecht Home. K: He can keep an eye on me, I guess. C: And I can’t sneak out for lunch anymore [both laughed]. What do you have coming up this spring? K: We have great iced tea and a lot of smoothies. We are coming out with new smoothies with less sugar and more protein using fresh fruit. This seems like a great concept with everyone getting more into caring what goes into their bodies these days. K: I like the movement. I like what’s going on. I like to think of our tagline as ‘going back to our roots.’ C: I also think the people are the best part of our business. You make someone’s day by getting their day started right. Check out Dixon Coffee Company 6:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. at 915 Omaha Street near downtown Rapid City. For more info, find them on social media, at www.dixoncoffeecompany. com or call (605) 390-0509.