Numerous Thetis Island residents are still suffering withdrawal symptoms after the Pot of Gold Coffee Roasting Company closed at the end of April.
They’re missing the great customer service and camaraderie provided by Nan Beals in the execution of her duties, selling the coffee beans to keep customers fueled up. Beals, for her part, is missing the service she provided, too, but simply decided it was time to retire.
One last open house on the Mother’s Day weekend gave everyone a chance to drop by and reminisce and see the eco-friendly machine that turns the roaster’s smoke into steam.
The farewell open house was an emotional time for many. People like Thetis Island Volunteer Fire Department chief Jeannine Caldbeck have appreciated everything Beals has done as a loyal and faithful business person.
“She has been a long-time fantastic contributor to island events, kept the fire department stocked with coffee, is on the fire department auxiliary that comes out to long duration scenes to feed and coffee us, and a great employer of locals for her business,” praised Caldbeck.
The stories Beals can tell after many years of great customer service, fantastic coffee, a couple of roaster fires, the loss of the co-founder – her husband – and countless pounds of fresh roasted beans donated to community events, not to mention a monthly supply of beans to the volunteer fire department.
“Nan Beals has kept the business going through thick and thin, employing locals and mailing coffee to loyal customers for decades,” added Caldbeck. “My daughter was one of the kids who used to colour in the Pot of Gold coffee pot emblem with a yellow crayon on the black and white Thetis Island Quarterly newsletter, the only colour in the publication. This is about 30 years ago and the kids took their pennies in chocolate covered coffee beans.”
Beals is in the process of putting the business up for sale as she gets used to the idea of retired life.
“We actually never served coffee drinks at all, just sold the beans,” she explained. “We roasted the coffee in batches for the mail orders every two weeks and then also sold by the pound to islanders and summer visitors.”
Beals was born in Stockton, California and Nan is her real first name, not a nickname or a grandmotherly reference.
“My mom liked the name Ann, my dad liked the name Nancy so they compromised,” explained Beals.
After leaving California, she moved to Carson City, Nevada and attended the University of Nevada, specializing in home economics and business.
Beals later returned to California in Fresno and went to work for the Raisin Advisory Board.
“There’s a lot of advisory boards in California for agriculture products,” she pointed out.
During her two years there, Nan met her eventual husband Gene Beals. That’s when they first got into the coffee roasting business and kept the roaster after the store went bankrupt.
“He had an active gourmet food store,” she indicated. “When the store closed, we moved it out to an old farm and roasted for old customers.”
And that led the Beals to Thetis Island in 1982.
“We immigrated,” said Nan. “It took nine months to get our immigration papers. We started roasting at the marina that summer.”
The rest, as they say, is history. People would fill out subscription type orders to have the coffee beans mailed to them.
“That really started to work out for us,” said Beals. “It was a repeat business.”
After renting the first eight years, the Beals bought their own place in 1990. “It’s been a cottage industry ever since where you work from your own home,” Nan explained.
Beals’ husband died in 2005. She maintained the business on her own after that, but now at 74, “I’m ready to rest a little,” Beals confided.
“It’s been wonderful, just phenomenal support – so loyal,” she emphasized. “The Thetis people have been so instrumental in spreading the word about the coffee.”
And Beals is grateful for the company’s wonderful employees. “Our great coffee roaster and three super ladies had a combined almost 75 years of work here,” she indicated.
They always roasted fresh and to order and people appreciated that. And with 20 different varieties, “we had a lot of choice for people,” said Beals.
She admittedly feels bad about closing, but conceded it’s time for younger people with fresh ideas and youthful eagerness to take it on.
“I’ve also not really said goodbye to it, I’ve got so much book work to catch up,” Beals chuckled. “It’ll be goodbye when I see the machines leave the place.
“It’s something I identify my whole being with. I think it was the perfect decision. I’m getting older, it’s time.”
