The dream of twin brothers, Vova and Greesha Kagen, has finally come to fruition – once roasting coffee in their kitchen, to now roasting coffee in their new 28,000 square feet building. After receiving a $1,750,000 construction and permanent loan from CCLF, they bought a building in the Brighton Park neighborhood that was slated for demolition, gutted it and created a premium roastery.
The inspiration for roasting coffee came from one brother who brought coffee he roasted at home to the office. His colleagues enjoyed it and wanted more, but roasting coffee at home for the office became overwhelming. From this, an idea was hatched.

The journey to a roastery and this new location was not easy. After acquiring their original location on 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood from a friend (a small vacant space that was 600 square feet and unoccupied for 20 years), they began their foray into a real coffee business, where there was a lot of on-the-job training – like learning how Chicago’s permitting process works and how to do stock orders – jumping in and learning by trial and error.

Once they finally got the hang of what they were doing, they opened their coffee shop (that was not sustainable alone) and sold bags of coffee to grocers for about seven and a half years, building the grocery distribution business. “We just started going store to store with our little bag of coffee asking ‘hey, you want to try this?’” explains Vova Kagan, co-founder of Sputnik Coffee. “The first store is always the hardest. And then the second store, you get to tell them that someone else is carrying your product and every time it gets a little easier.”

The grocery distribution has evolved into Sputnik Coffee in 350 to 400 stores, just about every grocery store in the Chicago region except Whole Foods. Their coffee can be found in Jewel, Mariano’s, Pete’s Fresh Market, Woodman’s Market, Cermak Fresh Market, and Fresh Thyme Market, which is in 10 states.
Because they felt strongly about having a café that serves delectable cuisine that compliments their coffee and it being a community space, they made sure that they created a large space to give that whole café vibe. “What we have now is a real café. People can enjoy bringing their families for the weekends, share a sandwich, share a waffle with a cup of coffee. We have people getting groups together for meetings, for community meetings, and that is what a coffee shop should be. So now we can run an actual café that serves as a meeting spot for the community, which is great,” says Greesha Kagen, co-founder of Sputnik Coffee.

“Vova, Greesha and the Sputnik team are roasting and brewing some of the finest coffee in Chicagoland. We are so excited to see them utilize their new roasting equipment and café space to bring fresh and delicious products to the market. We look forward to seeing their creativity infuse with the community to create new blends for years to come,” explains Aaron Akers, Senior Asset Manager, Chicago Community Loan Fund.

The brothers are very particular about the sourcing of their coffee beans. Their blends are 50% Brazilian and 50% Columbian. This is what goes to grocery stores in the bags. For expresso-based drinks in the café, that’s all Brazilian along with their other blend.
Having such a larger facility allows trucks to bring large containers they can store, and they are looking at sourcing more directly and possibly bringing more coffee from other countries.
On the horizon, the brothers are planning for coffee in cans in addition to their bagged coffee as well as creating a cold brew, an expanded food menu, and eventually, an event space for weddings and corporate meetings.

Even though they are in a new location, they have retained many of their regular customers (the new space is 5 minutes from its original location in the Back of the Yards neighborhood) and will likely gain many new customers because they are near businesses, the new Chicago Park District headquarters and directly across the street from a school.
Named “Best Coffee” by Timeout Magazine for its market niche, Sputnik Coffee has established itself as one of Chicago’s notable roasters.