Evans Bros. nets honors

SANDPOINT — The number of local businesses earning national-scale honors keeps growing.

Rick and Randy Evans of Evans Brothers Coffee have recently returned from San Francisco, Calif., where they accepted a 2013 Good Food Award for excellence in coffee roasting. The honor brings Evans Brothers Coffee in line with other local businesses earning national attention and honors, a trend most recently set by TransluSense’s Last Gadget Standing victory at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show.

“We’re really excited about this,” Rick Evans said. “We haven’t submitted to a lot of these awards, so to win was really encouraging for us.”

According to Evans, this is likely the biggest thing to happen to the business since its inception. As a major event for retailers of wholesome and responsibly-produced food goods, a Good Food Award will help Evans Brothers Coffee introduce its roasts to new audiences around the country. It’s also a major boost for the business’ Internet presence and should help popularize its online store. In fact, Evans said most professional circles regard the Good Foods Award as an important barometer of who matters in the coffee world.

“This will really help us increase our credibility on a national basis,” Evans said.

The award means even more when accounting for the stiff competition. Almost 1,400 businesses around the country submitted products to the program for consideration. In fact, Evans said that many of the competing coffee roasters were inspirational and respected figures to them.

After the judging was complete, only 114 entrees were selected as finalists in the competition over a range of categories, including coffee, beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, cofections, pickles, preserves and spirits. Regardless of the food product, the standards were the same. Of course, the submitted food item had to show exceptional quality in its category. The enrollees also had to exhibit a sustainable, environmentally responsible business plan and show that their product was traceable down to the farm level.

Apparently, Evans Brothers coffee had all the right qualities to make the top-tier cut. Out of the two roasts the brothers submitted, judges selected their Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Birhanu roast as one of the winning entrees. When the Evans were informed they’d won the award, they set about making arrangements to fly to California and accept it in person. Being a fairly sizable honor, Evans said all but a handful of winners traveled to attend the black tie ceremony and receive the award.