Wholesale Coffee and Café Support in Chicago
Common Friends Coffee provides wholesale coffee, equipment sales and service, barista training, private-label development, café consulting, specialty beverage products, and ongoing support for hospitality businesses.
Great coffee is only one part of a successful beverage program. You also need dependable equipment, well-trained people, consistent recipes, reliable products, and a partner who answers the phone when something goes wrong.
That’s why Common Friends Coffee was built to be more than a wholesale coffee roaster. We help cafés, restaurants, bakeries, hotels, offices, and other hospitality businesses create better beverage programs—and keep them running smoothly.
Request Wholesale Pricing & Samples or contact us to schedule a tasting and talk through your coffee program.
Wholesale Coffee Roasted in Chicago
We roast coffee for the way your business actually serves it, from busy neighborhood cafés to restaurants, hotels, bakeries, offices, and high-volume foodservice operations.
Our wholesale coffee programs include:
Espresso and house blends
Batch-brew and drip coffee
Light, medium, and dark roast profiles
Single-origin and seasonal coffees
Decaffeinated coffee
Whole-bean and ground coffee
Wholesale bags, retail bags, fractional packs (soon!), and bulk formats
Custom blends developed for your business
We work with each client to choose the right coffees, formats, recipes, and pricing for their operation. The goal isn’t to sell you the most complicated program—it’s to build one that tastes great, works for your team, and makes financial sense.
Custom Blends and Private-Label Coffee
Your coffee program should feel like an extension of your business. We develop private-label and custom coffee programs for restaurants, cafés, bakeries, hotels, retailers, and hospitality groups.
Depending on the project, we can assist with:
Custom blend development
Roast-profile development
Espresso and drip formulations
Five-pound foodservice bags
Retail-ready coffee bags
Fractional and portion-pack coffee
Packaging and label coordination
Production planning
Inventory and fulfillment support
Whether you need a signature espresso for one restaurant or a complete branded coffee collection for multiple locations, we can help take the project from initial tasting through production.
Commercial Coffee Equipment
We help clients select equipment that fits their menu, volume, space, workflow, utilities, and budget. Our goal is to recommend the right equipment for the job—not simply the most expensive option.
We sell and support equipment from leading manufacturers, including:
La Marzocco
Nuova Simonelli
Bunn
Fetco
Curtis
Mazzer
Mahlkönig
- Eversys
Our equipment services include product selection, equipment packages, utility planning, water-filtration guidance, installation coordination, setup, calibration, and staff onboarding.
We can support a single brewer or grinder replacement, a complete espresso-bar buildout, or an equipment package for a multi-location operation.
Equipment Repair and Preventative Maintenance
A coffee program is only as reliable as the equipment behind it. Common Friends provides ongoing technical support for the equipment we sell and service.
Our support includes:
Espresso-machine repair
Brewer and grinder service
Equipment troubleshooting
Grinder calibration
Preventative maintenance
Water-filter replacement
Parts sourcing
New-equipment setup
Emergency support when available
Service options can be built around the size and needs of each account, with additional technical support available for qualifying wholesale coffee partners.
Barista Training and Quality Control
Even the best coffee and equipment need a well-trained team. We provide practical, approachable training designed around your menu, staff, and service style.
Training can include:
Espresso dialing and recipe development
Grinder adjustment
Milk steaming and drink preparation
Batch-brew recipes
Coffee-to-water ratios
Equipment cleaning and daily maintenance
Beverage consistency
Workflow and speed of service
Staff education and coffee fundamentals
Opening and closing procedures
We offer opening training, new-hire support, refresher sessions, and ongoing quality-control visits. Our job is to help your team feel confident—not overwhelmed.
Cold Brew and Ready-to-Drink Programs
Common Friends can help businesses develop cold brew and ready-to-drink beverage programs in several formats.
Services may include:
Bag-in-box cold brew concentrate
Cold brew dispensing and dilution systems
Portioning-pump installation and setup
Private-label canned cold brew
Canned coffee and oat milk lattes
Canned matcha and specialty beverages
Recipe development
Packaging and label coordination
Co-packing and production management
Canned and ready-to-drink products are produced with trusted manufacturing partners, allowing us to support projects beyond what we roast and package in-house.
Matcha, Chai, Oat Milk, Filters, and Café Products
We curate products that we genuinely like and feel confident serving. Instead of carrying multiple versions of the same thing, we focus on a thoughtful selection of dependable products for professional beverage programs.
Our growing wholesale portfolio includes:
Barista oat milk
Chai concentrate
Matcha
Specialty café powders
Coffee filters
Brewing supplies
Other essential café products
This makes it easier for our clients to consolidate purchasing while maintaining a high-quality, intentional beverage menu.
Café Openings and Beverage-Program Consulting
Opening a café—or rebuilding an existing program—requires hundreds of decisions. We help clients work through those decisions with practical guidance based on real hospitality and coffee experience.
Consulting services can include:
Coffee-bar and equipment planning
Menu development
Coffee and beverage selection
Recipe development
Product costing
Equipment specifications
Workflow planning
Staff training
Cleaning and maintenance standards
Standard operating procedures
Opening-week support
Evaluation of existing coffee programs
We work on new café openings, restaurant coffee programs, hotel beverage programs, office coffee solutions, and existing operations that simply need better systems or support.
Delivery, Fulfillment, and Ongoing Account Support
Our involvement doesn’t end after the first order. We provide local delivery throughout the Chicago area, coordinate larger pallet and freight orders, and help clients manage ordering, inventory, and changing seasonal needs.
Most importantly, you’ll have a real person to call. If your espresso is running strangely, your brewer goes down, your team needs another training session, or you’re planning a new location, we want to be part of the solution.
Small Batches. Big Hospitality.
Common Friends Coffee was founded on a simple idea: wholesale coffee should feel more like hospitality and less like a transaction.
We roast great coffee, but we also show up. We help solve problems. We learn how your business operates and build a program around what you actually need.
If you’re opening something new, looking for a better wholesale coffee partner, or simply want to improve your current beverage program, we’d love to work with you.
Let’s build a better coffee program together. Contact Common Friends Coffee to schedule a tasting or request wholesale samples.
Ready to improve your coffee program? Request Wholesale Pricing & Samples or contact Common Friends Coffee to schedule a tasting and discuss your needs.
Wholesale Coffee & Café Support FAQ
Why choose Common Friends as your wholesale coffee roaster in Chicago?
Common Friends roasts coffee in Chicago and supports hospitality businesses with more than bags of beans. We pair wholesale coffee with equipment, training, technical service and beverage-program support, with local delivery throughout the Chicago area. The goal is a coffee program that works in the real world for your team and your guests.
What does Common Friends provide besides roasted coffee?
We support cafés and hospitality businesses with commercial coffee equipment, repair and preventative maintenance, barista training, private-label development, cold brew and ready-to-drink programs, plus matcha, chai, oat milk, filters and other café products. That lets operators consolidate more of their beverage program with one partner.
Can Common Friends help me open a new café or restaurant?
Yes. We help with café openings and beverage-program planning, including coffee selection, equipment, workflow, training and the supporting products behind the bar. We can work with new concepts as well as existing businesses that want to improve or expand their coffee program.
Do you sell and service commercial coffee equipment?
Yes. Common Friends sells commercial coffee and espresso equipment and provides technical service and preventative maintenance. We work with brands including La Marzocco, Nuova Simonelli, Bunn, Fetco, Curtis, Mazzer, Mahlkönig and Eversys.
Can you help develop a matcha, chai or specialty beverage program?
Yes. Coffee is only part of the program. We can help hospitality businesses source matcha, chai, oat milk and other café products and build them into a practical beverage menu alongside coffee.
Do you offer private-label coffee?
Yes. Common Friends develops custom blends and private-label coffee for hospitality businesses and other partners. We can help shape the coffee and format around how you plan to serve or sell it.
Do you provide barista training and technical support?
Yes. Training, quality control and ongoing technical support are part of our wholesale program. We want your team to be able to serve the coffee consistently, not simply receive a delivery and figure out the rest.
How do I request samples and wholesale pricing?
Start with our wholesale application and tell us about your business, current program and what you’re building. We’ll use that information to start the conversation around coffee, pricing, samples, equipment or broader beverage support.