Coffee Company Brewing New Digs on Peacock Hill

Those who drive Peacock Hill may have wondered what’s happening at the former Scandia Gaard location. 

Come early May, workers at ’Ohana Harbor Coffee said they will be moving in to its new headquarters building.

The company, which has operated out of Gig Harbor since 2007, is currently located at the Olympic Executive Suites on Olympic Drive.

“We saw a really great opportunity for a beautiful piece of land, which is hard to find,” said Stephanie Schreiner-Sagle, who helps run the family-owned business. 

In addition to two 5,000-square-foot office buildings, Shreiner-Sagle said the company plans to store some inventory at a 5,000-square-foot warehouse on the site.

Despite the new building, the company has no plans to expand for any retail operation or shipping activity out of the new headquarters.

“We’re a small family operation,” she said. “It’s interesting how many people have come knocking looking for jobs, but we’re small and we want to keep it that way right now.” 

The company has seven employees, which include owners Ronna and Steve Schreiner, Shreiner-Sagle’s parents; her husband, Coby Sagle; and her sister Kristina Hatley, who does part-time IT work. The Schreiners are longtime residents of the Peninsula and have lived in Gig Harbor since 1998. The late Charles Schreiner, Stephanie’s grandfather, was the rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church. 

To get into the coffee business, the family combined passion with serendipity. 

“We loved to vacation in Hawaii, and there was an investment opportunity to own a vacation property and produce one of our family’s favorite things, which is coffee,” she said. 

The family owns three farms in the Kona coast of Hawaii. Only coffee grown in that region can be labeled and certified as Kona coffee. “It’s kind of a buyer's market, but we’re not purchasing any more farms right now.” 

Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that produces coffee, and the big island features only a small number of coffee farms. 

“We are very lucky that we’ve won so many awards with our coffee. It’s special, not only because of where the farms are located, but also because of the elevation.” At 2,000 feet, the conditions are perfect for coffee growing, with shade in the morning and sun in the afternoon, Schreiner-Sagle said. 

“The average Kona Coffee farm is only an acre, and currently we’re harvesting 21 acres. We’ll harvest another 41 acres beginning in early summer,” she said. 

But ’Ohana Harbor Coffee sells 80 percent of their harvest “green” to coffee importers. “We are currently selling 20 percent on the retail side. We do roast it, but because it’s such a high-profile commodity, we take the time to handcraft each batch.” 

For its mainland distribution, ’Ohana roasts its coffee with locally owned Cutter’s Point at that company’s facility on Hunt and Wollochet. Cutter’s Point also fulfills ’Ohana’s web-based sales. 

“We do have a roasting facility in Hawaii, but because roasted coffee doesn’t keep the flavor as long, we like to ship the beans green and roast it right before we sell it,” she said. 

For its new facility, the company is making a special effort to construct an attractive building that will fit into the area, adding elements such as rock siding, natural hues, native landscaping and an overall Northwest character. 

“We’re trying to stay away from the look of industrial building. We are below the maximum [building size] Gig Harbor would allow us," Shreiner-Sagle said. "We look forward to being an aesthetically pleasing part of the community.”