MILWAUKEE — The nickname “Brew City” applies to more than just beer, as coffee culture continues to pick up steam in Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin. 

Colectivo Coffee played a part in that.

What You Need To Know

  • From one small coffee shop in Milwaukee to 20 different locations in two different states, Colectivo has seen impressive growth over the past 30 years

  • Colectivo started as Alterra in 1993 by two brothers, Lincoln and Ward Fowler, and their friend Paul Miller

  • In 2017, they opened their first café in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Now, there are five Colectivo locations in the Chicagoland area

  • Colectivo’s main roasting facility on Humboldt Boulevard has vintage roasters that date back to the 1930s and 1950s

From one small coffee shop in Milwaukee to 20 different locations in two different states, Colectivo Coffee has seen impressive growth over the past 30 years.

“If I were to sort of make an analogy of our company being like a human body, this would be the heartbeat,” said Joe Picchetti, as he showed off Colectivo’s main roasting facility on Humboldt Boulevard in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

Picchetti has been working for the company for almost 10 years. He said he loves showing people the vintage roasters that date back to the 1930s and 1950s. All the machines are manned by local workers who closely monitor each batch of beans.

“What’s always been important to us is freshness and local ingredients,” said Picchetti. “We import all the coffee from all over the world, but all of it is made in our facility, and it’s made every day.”

Colectivo started as Alterra in 1993, when two brothers, Lincoln and Ward Fowler, and their friend Paul Miller, who loved coffee, started roasting it themselves. The timing was perfect, as it coincided with the coffee shop boom of the 1990s.

Within four years, they opened their first stand-alone shop on Prospect Avenue. Fast forward to today, and there are 12 Colectivo Coffee shops in the Milwaukee area and three in Madison.

In 2017, they opened their first café in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood — a risk that paid off. There are now five Colectivo locations in the Chicagoland area.

“You could call it a risk,” said Picchetti. “We are a Wisconsin-based company, and here we were coming into an entirely new state, and entirely new city, and entirely new market. We didn’t know how it would go, and very quickly, those fears were put to side as Chicago embraced us as one of their own.”

The company has been embraced by its customers and by its workers, who went through a long negotiating process to join the largest café union in the country.

From the employees who do the roasting, to the ones who work behind-the scenes cleaning the equipment, and the front-of-the-house baristas, they’re all passionate about good coffee.

“We wouldn’t be there without them,” said Picchetti. “We really take great pride in keeping that communal and small business feel as we still continue to grow.”

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