Empowering Farmers, Redefining Roasting: Citizens and RoasTronix Alliance
Amidst the bustling city streets of New York City, Citizens offers solace through their exquisite breakfast menu and community-focused approach to service. The trailblazing café brand, celebrated for their decadent breakfast offerings, has recently elevated their morning meal by collaborating with RoasTronix, an innovative way-finder in sustainable coffee roasting solutions, to bring their coffee flavors to a new level.
While RoasTronix is primarily known as the U.S. distributor of Stronghold electric roasters, the organization has recently expanded its operations by offering warehouse space for several coffee farmers to store their green coffee. Once a business selects a coffee to roast, RoasTronix then connects the client to the producer directly, allowing them to develop a transparent relationship.
Through this partnership, coffees and roast profiles are first selected by the Citizens team then roasted to order by RoasTronix in their co-roasting facility. This shift in how Citizens sources and roasts its coffees a glimpse into a new approach that emphasizes connection between producers, restaurants, cafés, and consumers.
Sustainably Sourced, Ethically Crafted
As part of this unique alliance to commit to sustainable farming practices, Citizens is sourcing the majority of its coffee beans from specialty-focused farms in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Panama. Typically, specialty coffees in these regions are sold at a lower price and blended with coffee from neighboring farms, making authentic single-variety coffees elusive. With the support of RoasTronix, Citizens can directly access single origin coffee varieties such as Caturra, Catuai, Pacamara, and Geisha.
“This alliance allows Citizens to connect directly with some of the finest coffee producers in the world, ensuring we deliver a superior product while positively impacting the communities we work with,” said Justin Giuffrida, Co-Founder & CEO of Citizens. “We’re thrilled to take this step toward greater sustainability and an enhanced customer experience.”
RoasTronix’s mission is to bridge the gap between businesses in the coffee value chain and farmers, empowering both through meaningful collaborations. By forming these relationships, consumers receive high quality coffee, and in return, farmers receive equitable compensation for their products.
“By working with Citizens, we’re not only improving farmer revenues and reducing environmental impact but also enabling businesses like Citizens to achieve their vision of delivering exceptional coffee to customers,” shared Arash Hassanian, CEO of Roastronix. “We aim to replicate this model for hundreds of businesses globally, fostering long-lasting relationships and sustainability.”
On Citizens’ end, the benefits to their business model are tangible: better coffee offered consistently enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, the collaboration provides benefits to the sustainability of the specialty coffee industry by producing increased revenue for farmers and reducing carbon footprint through sustainable roasting.
Roasting Excellence with Roastronix’s Co-Roasting Facilities
At the RoasTronix HQ in Houston, TX, roasting partners are drawn to ease of use and performance of Stronghold Roasters, cutting-edge electric roasters from South Korea, to reach a new level consistency and development for their coffee. While traditional drum roasters rely mainly on gas input and airflow to control heat, Stronghold Roasters offer several heat controls to precisely adjust conductive, convective, and radiant heat application. The latter is achieved using quartz halogen lamps and provides unparalleled evenness during coffee roasting profile replication.
By utilizing RoasTronix’s tech-forward co-roasting facility, Citizens can effortlessly elevate its coffee craftsmanship. Small-batch roasting, tailored to Citizens specific flavor profiles, ensures that coffee represents the care that farmers put in while meeting strict consistency guidelines.
Citizens plans to decentralize its roasting operations by establishing local roasting facilities in each market it serves. This initiative, paired with RoasTronix’s 100% electric, gas-free roasting technology, will drastically reduce emissions, cut transportation costs, and align Citizens’ operations with global climate action goals.
“Our technology allows businesses like Citizens to cut their carbon footprint while achieving unparalleled control over their roasting processes,” added Hassanian.
Citizens’ CPG Program
As part of their commitment to delivering world-class coffee experiences, Citizens is expanding its Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) program to bring the premium signature flavors of Citizens coffee to homes across the country. With their plans to integrate coffee roasted through RoasTronix facilities into its CPG lineup, Citizens aims to deliver unmatched quality and sustainability in every bag sold.
“Our CPG program allows us to extend the Citizens experience beyond the café, enabling our customers to enjoy our coffee at home while maintaining the same commitment to quality and sustainability,” said Giuffrida. “Through this alliance, we’ll be able to bring responsibly sourced and expertly roasted coffee to a broader audience.”
Citizens’ Growth Plans
Poised for rapid growth, Citizens currently operates vibrant cafés in major urban hubs, such as New York and Houston, with plans to open new cafés in Austin, Dallas, and other key markets in the coming year.
“This alliance with RoasTronix strengthens our growth strategy,” said Giuffrida. “The ability to locally source and roast coffee will streamline our supply chain, support local economies, and ensure the freshest coffee experience for our customers.”
A Vision for the Future
Citizens and RoasTronix share a united vision: sustainability without compromise.
By decentralizing roasting, adopting electric roasting technologies, and fostering direct relationships with farmers, they are setting new benchmarks for environmental and social responsibility in coffee production.
Together, Citizens and RoasTronix are shaping a greener, more innovative coffee industry while delivering world-class coffee experiences to customers worldwide.
