Allegro Coffee leaving Boulder for Thornton

BOULDER – After a three-year search for manufacturing space in Boulder, Allegro Coffee Inc. has decided to move its operations to Thornton.

The organic coffee manufacturer, which has teeter-tottered on the relocation issue since it started looking for space in 1997, will leave Boulder County and take about 50 employees with it in September, says Wendy Goldner, Allegro Coffee’s senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Allegro, which will occupy space at 1500 E. 128th Ave. with its sister company, WholePeople.com, will double its space with the move, Goldner says. The company also expected to add about 80 people to its staff.

Not too long ago, officials said the company was staying in Boulder. But Allegro’s building at 1930 Central Ave. wasn’t really suited for manufacturing. Goldner says the company just made it work.

“We had a long discussion with Whole Foods, and we agreed that we wanted to stay in Boulder,” Goldner says. “They told us that was fine, and we could stay, but part of that whole decision was what we wanted and what we needed was to build a training facility – just world-class for baristas, and equipment service and roasting. We just wanted to have a great facility here.

“Fortunately after we made the decision that we could stay, we found that we couldn’t do that in our current building (at 1930 Central Ave.), There just wasn’t the room and we didn’t have the opportunity to expand.”

On the bright side, the move might be of benefit to some of Allegro’s employees, many of whom commute to Boulder from Westminster and Broomfield and might face less traffic on U.S. 36. Goldner also says Allegro is working on carpooling and bus pass program to ease the economic and emotional burden of commuting. For the company, finding employees in the service and manufacturing sector, the area they hope to expand, also might be easier in Thornton than in Boulder.

On the downside, Goldner says marketing opportunities might be “more difficult” because Boulder has become renowned for its healthy lifestyle, a natural match for a company producing organic products.

If only space was available in Boulder, she says.

“Of course, everybody wanted to stay here in Boulder,” Goldner says. “We’ve been here 20-some years. It’s definitely our home.”

— Claudia Hibbert-BeDan