Fulton Yards and Urbana: First Rate Partnership…Third Wave Coffeehouses

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The following is a letter from Fulton Yards founder, Greg Dorr, and his story about his journey with Urbana. It is unedited and unabridged.

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In 2020, amidst the pandemic, my wife Katie, myself and our friends and business partners Gregg and Linda Berry set out to join the ever-growing, entrepreneurial creative class of Cincinnati and open a unique coffeehouse in our neighborhood.  With 35 years of experience in the marketing, education, airline and insurance industries, but none in the coffee world, we knew that to even have a small chance at success our first priority was to find the perfect roaster. 

We did our due diligence and researched and met with countless roasters around the region. When we met with Daniel, Ronald and their team we immediately knew we had found more than amazing coffee roasters, we had found partners who were invested as much in wanting to help us grow our small business as we were. We founded Fulton Yards Coffeehouse and Spirits with the single goal of creating something new that is firmly rooted in the history and legacy of industrious workers who came before us in the East End and Norwood.  We chose to build a business and a brand, from scratch, as opposed to franchising, because the land where we’re situated was originally home to a community of people who built everything from the ground up. It was harder to create our vision this way, but it’s allowed us to make sure that every touchpoint has purpose and was intentionally chosen.  We saw this same commitment and passion in the Urbana team who had been blazing new trails in Cincinnati and across the region for many years. With Urbana Café, we not only forged a strong partnership and arrived at what we believe is a first-rate, third wave coffee program, we made lifelong friends.

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Daniel and his team care about our business and they care about us.  They taught us what a Third Wave coffee program is: custom hand-crafted espresso drinks, manual espresso makers, creative recipes and the finest beans from around the globe. When we had the opportunity to open a second location, shortly after opening our East End shop, Daniel was our biggest advocate; sharing his knowledge of what it means to grow from one shop to two….what the biggest challenges are and how to get ahead of them.

More than just being our daily source of the finest roasts, including several proprietary blends they created just for us…..Daniel and his team are there to offer guidance on everything from grinders to growth strategies. They view Fulton Yards as an extension of the Urbana family and that makes all the difference in the world. Doubling our orders overnight was not an issue for Urbana and they helped us open our second location this summer. With our East End riverboat heritage and the industrious Norwood Factory 52 legacy, our company mantra is “Full Steam Ahead”. With Urbana Café by our side, we know that this is more than a saying, it’s our daily commitment to our guests.

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Greg Dorr

Owner and Partner

Fulton Yards Coffeehouse and Spirits

East End and Factory 52

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