Meet Luke & Kiki Dennison | Owners of Snake Oil Roasters

We had the good fortune of connecting with Luke & Kiki Dennison and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Luke & Kiki, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
There are several layers to this, and it actually serves as a great segue. At the shop level, we try to be as conscious as possible, even to the detriment of our profits. What this means is that all of our cups, lids, spoons, straws, coffee bags, etc. are either recyclable or compostable. We’re a 100% vegan cafe, so our lattes aren’t contributing to global warming on the scale that dairy drinks are, and we aren’t causing animal suffering and mistreatment just to serve a cortado. Our merch is all printed locally and on sustainable gear. We also seek to establish relationships with coffee producers around the world to ensure transparency throughout the process and make sure that they are being compensated adequately for their time, energy, sacrifices, and coffee. Again, all of this comes at a cost. I am often paying more for green, unroasted coffee than what most of even some bigger, regional roasters are charging for a bag of coffee. But these are the reasons we started Snake Oil Roasters – to do coffee the right way, not right for our profits, but right for the industry and all of the folx involved.

But I think maybe even more than all of this, our business has led us to create a non-profit, Collective Mess, which has as its mission a simple aim: to provide, healthy, vegan meals to all who are hungry, regardless of their ability to pay, and without question or religious prerequisites. There is just too much inequality, and the focus on coffee, for us, wasn’t allowing us to address that as poignantly as we wanted to.

What should our readers know about your business?
It wasn’t easy at all. We started with a small 2-kilo roaster in our garage in Indianapolis, and pretty quickly decided to sell our home (and most valuable belongings) and build a live/work space in Southwest Michigan to get the roastery off the ground. We spent 6-months building our “barndominium” in the woods, driving up after work on Fridays and heading back down to Indianapolis every Sunday night. And that was just the beginning. Owning a small business is constant work, with constant and ever-consuming sacrifices and demands. Then we had the opportunity to open the cafe, and we knew we might not get another chance like that, so we jumped into it, and that first summer almost killed us. We finished the buildout (both working full-time jobs this whole time) and opened 2 days later on Memorial Day weekend of 2022. We thought it’d be a slow summer, what with being a new shop, and the new kids in town, and a completely vegan cafe in a pretty meat-and-potatoes area. But we were wrong, and pretty quickly were absolutely slammed, with just the two of us doing everything – continuing to build the brand, roasting the coffee, managing the inventory and the shop, making the lattes, doing the bookkeeping (though Kiki get’s 100% of the credit for that. If it weren’t for Kiki, we wouldn’t be here. At best I’d be illegally selling coffee out of the garage) – and both working jobs outside of that. That first summer, we had lines out the door most weekends, and we’re just barely treading water. They may or may not have been a breakdown or two, and a few difficult conversations about throwing in the towel. The thing about a small business – especially a cafe – is that your margins are so small, so even though we were busy and were barely able to keep up, we were’t raking in the dough. We were putting everything back into the business. We didn’t (and still don’t, in fact) pay ourselves. We both still have side-hustles – though a transition did happen: whereas Snake Oil was the side hustle to our full-time jobs, Snake Oil is now front and center to our side hustles. We’re proud of that; proud of having built something that we can call our own, that others love and are excited about, that is the first fully vegan cafe in this part of Michigan (state, even?). We’ve learned a lot along the way – about ourselves, about coffee and the industry, about capitalism and the inherent, irreconcilable flaws of that system that we live within, and perhaps most importantly what we want to do with our days, our time, our lives moving forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We’ve had this idea for a while now about making a little local attractions pamphlet, Snake Oil Does SW Michigan, that highlights the things in the area that we love, believe in, and support. For us, a lot of that means supporting people and business that we not only believe in, but believe that they are doing it right: treating their employees well, serving their communities not just their product, but also supporting the community, and doing what they do with integrity. When friends come to visit, here’s what we do:

– First of all, in the summertime we spend a lot of time at the beaches in and around South Haven. North and South beaches have very different vibes, so if we’re want to be surrounded by sunbathers and have peek people watching, we’ll hit North Beach. If we want something a little more casual, a little less crowded, we might hit South Beach. If we want to be one of only a dozen or so beach-goers, we’ll head to Covert Township Park. And if we want to do some rock hunting, or take the dogs, we’ll hit Pilgrim Haven (and you can’t skip the Narnia-esque fireplace-in-the-woods – just follow the trail! In winter, you can find solace at any of these beaches, but Pilgrim Haven and Deer Lick are truly gems.

– We are also pretty likely to hit either the Kal-Haven or Van Buren trail for a little (or long) run. The Kal-Haven is pretty shaded in full sunshine, so it’s a go-to for summer strolls.

– If we’re feeling hungry and are down for a bit of a drive, Emma Hearth & Market in Bridgman is hands-down our absolute favorite place to go. They’ve got super solid vegan options, have an amazing staff, and the owner, Steve, is one of the most authentic, genuine people you’ll meet – plus, he’s always there working right alongside his crew, and you can tell by the rapport that there is mutual respect. They also have a great beer and wine list and a killer outside dining space, so they’ve set the bar pretty damn high.

– Root Cafe is another joint in Fennville that is worth a visit. They’ve got a slew of vegan-friendly options and a cute back patio to while away some time over friendly conversation and great food.

– Waypost Brewing Co. in Fennville is another gem. They’re a farm brewery, so you can enjoy the sunshine in the back beer garden among the ranging chickens. Hannah is brewing up some of the best beer in the state, and is always experimenting with unique flavors and additives, often grown on the farm.

– Eagle Street Market and Murphy’s are two antique shops in South Haven that never let you down. There are always cool things to explore and find inspiration in.

– If there are dogs in tow, you can’t skip out on Decadent Dogs. They’re you’ll find not only great people, but great dogs milling about, as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh, gosh. How long can this section be? Our families have been incredibly supportive of Snake Oil Roasters. My dad helped build our roastery and our cafe; Kiki’s dad hand lettered our signage and restored the vintage fridge you see front and center at our shop. Almost all of my siblings signed up for our monthly coffee subscriptions and have spent hundreds on our merch. My mom spends most summer weekends behind the bar serving customers. My little brother and sister have both slung lattes alongside us. Early on we hosted a Kickstarted campaign, so everyone that donated then deserves a shoutout. Both of our parents – and grandmas, in fact – loaned or gave us money somewhere along the way to pull something off that pertained to Snake Oil. Eastwood Recovery Center – a center of hope and sobriety in Kalamazoo – was our first wholesale account. One customer, Rich, gave us $500 when we told him we were saving up for a larger roaster. Arclight, Waypost, and Three Blondes have all used our coffee in one of their beers. Rudy grows a lot of our coffee in Honduras. Steven (co-owner of Shuv Coffee in Indianapolis) has been an absolute well of knowledge, support, and encouragement. Shaun (formerly of Zen/Kodachrome Coffee) has given me invaluable insights into roasting and building out a cafe, and our espresso machine and roaster both came from his joint in South Bend. 168 people have given us our 5-star rating on Google. And we simply wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for all of our patrons.

Website: https://www.snakeoilroasters.com/

Instagram: @snakeoilroasters