Greg Berkowitz (Berk) with 30 years in the electrical industry has a side hobby that has evolved into something much bigger. Berk is the owner of Berk’s Beans, a growing coffee roastery in Concord that has transformed from a garage experiment into a thriving, family-driven business.
Why have a coffee roastery and not a coffee shop?
Berk will tell you because it’s a better coffee experience. Roasteries source their own green coffee beans and roast them in-house to maintain complete control over the roasting process, enabling the creation of unique flavor profiles and ensuring the utmost freshness. Roasting isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. Berk’s Beans will custom roast to the preference of the consumer understanding that different beans require different roast profiles to unlock their full potential.
The story of Berk’s Bean begins in 2021 during the pandemic. Berk was roasting coffee out of his house as a hobby. “My wife had given me a small Behmor roaster oven.” Berk says he’s always loved smoking meat, so with the Behmor, he began roasting coffee. “I was getting that same sensation I get from smoking, meats. I was roasting a ton of coffee, just having fun, and going down this rabbit hole of coffee.“
Since he couldn’t consume as much as he was roasting, he would give it all away to everybody: family, friends and neighbors. They loved it and kept coming back for more.
“I realized then what they were getting was really good roasted coffee, but freshly roasted. That was the difference.” Most commercial coffee is roasted 3-6 months before brewing, well past its prime.
“My kids dared me.to sell it. That’s when I decided I was going to prove you can take a hobby or a passion and turn it into something.” .
They created a name, drew up the logo and launched a website. Within a week and a half, they were officially in business and operating out of their garage.
Through word of mouth and live social media announcements people began putting in orders. However, along the way, Berk’s made mistakes.
“The first order we got was from a friend of mine in New York,” Berk says. “Everything that could go wrong went wrong.” A $100 order had turned into a $300 delivery. It was fixed, but It was a valuable lesson about pricing, shipping, and systems.
During COVID, people were ordering coffee from us and having little coffee bubble parties at their house with four or five friends and we were delivering to their doorsteps.
They would receive orders during the day, and when Berk arrived home from his job, he would roll the two-pound roaster into the front yard and start roasting—two pounds at a time.
Berk’s wife, Lori, would pack them and ship them out the next day or deliver them.
“Neighbors would go for a walk at night and stop by to pick up their coffee or put orders in. It was cool.”
Berk went on to explain the meticulous processes of roasting coffee required to bring out the best flavor of the bean. We discussed type of roast, light, medium or dark roast, temperature, roasting times, the bean variety, listening for the first crack of the roasting bean; it all matters. He explained that beans from different regions have different flavor profiles, be it floral fruity, caramel, earthy , chocolate — it was quite a science lesson.
By 2023, the business had outgrown the garage and they moved to a commercial location in Concord at 1717 Solano Way, #12, where a steady stream of customers came during our interview.
“This is what I love all day long. This is what happens every day,“ he says with a grin.
As for the wholesale side of his business, you will find Berk’s coffee is served by several local places such as Alpine Bakery, Concord Creamery, Brother Sister in Martinez the Hideout in Lafayette to name a few.
Berk’s Beans carries an inventory of 60 varieties. “We’ve got the largest selection of coffee in the country. Nobody offers a larger variety of coffee than we do.”
“We roast to orders, so it’s fresh, and we’ll roast it the way you want it.
Hence, the sales doubled from 2024 to 2025. This year, March was their best month ever. “What began as a daring idea in a garage has grown into a thriving business that continues to honor its humble beginnings. Berk’s Beans Coffee remains committed to delivering small-batch, artisan-quality coffee and building connections one cup at a time.”
Berksbeans.com
