When you walk through the door of Café le Torréfacteur in Lévis, after you have breathed in the incredible aroma of coffee, what you notice next is the smiles. The smiles of clients, of course, but also of the team behind the counter. You can feel their enjoyment in being there, both from owner Nancy Labbé and her young team.
“I’m still pinching myself,” Nancy Labbé says. “I can’t believe that my job is to make coffee and make people happy. I used to have a management office job, but now I get up every morning and get to introduce people to incredible coffee. It’s unbelievable!”
Roasting coffee came into Nancy’s life early one morning when she was shopping for a new coffee maker online. “I was looking to replace my coffee maker that had stopped working, and I happened to come across a machine for roasting coffee at home. I bought it on a whim! It was in the middle of the pandemic, and while everyone else was baking bread, I thought it would be fun to make coffee!”
A source of entertainment quickly became a passion. “I discovered a whole new world!” she says. “That’s all I did: roast, smell, and taste. I would watch videos online, and I would try things. In just three days, I had emptied three one-kilo bags of coffee! So, I contacted the coffee supplier, and we got to talking.”
“I learned a lot about the quality of the coffee bean, the taste variety, and production. It is as wide and wonderful a world as that of wine! I like to say coffee is breakfast wine.”
Her kitchen was soon turned into a coffee roasting zone. Friends and families got to taste her efforts. And everyone wanted more.
Nancy decided to pursue it.
Torréfacteur comes into being
“In June 2020, I registered my business and designed a transactional website to take orders. From the outset of my research, I was clear that I wanted to work only with producers who offer an equitable, organic, and environmentally responsible bean. That is where you get the best quality and taste. By working with small producers and micro batches, taste stability is preserved, and I can be sure I am offering my wonderful clients exactly the same product they love, every time.”
Demand soon outgrew Nancy’s kitchen.
She moved into a new space for roasting. And she decided to sign up for online training in marketing, time management, online stores, and more.
“I learned a lot, which helped me position my offer on the market, identify my target clientele, and ramp up sales.”
Gradually, word spread, and people were stopping by her roasting workshop to get coffee on site. To respond, Nancy added a store space. Then clients started asking to sample the coffee on site and buy coffee to go.
“At that point, the space next to mine opened up, and I saw the opportunity to set up a business to serve my coffee and share my passion with people. I had loyal clients who made me believe it was possible.”
Team management
Café Le Torréfacteur opened on June 4, 2022. Nancy took on a team of young students for her first summer of operations. At the time, she also hired two employees with reduced mobility. “People are central to my priorities, and I believe in everyone’s potential.”
Nancy leans into trust, flexibility, and latitude in her management style.
“From the outset, I listened to clients, and that drove my business. I have the same approach with my team, and people respond to it. My employees are in school, and their activities outside of work are important, so I am flexible and adapt schedules accordingly. A happy employee is a winning proposition for me and my clients. Employees often figure out scheduling changes themselves, without me having to intervene. Since our doors opened, I have never had to deal with a staff shortage.”
Nancy also regularly consults her team and gets them involved in certain decisions. “The team told me that it would be great to sell bubble tea. So I got team members involved in the research, decision-making process, and purchasing. We added it to the menu, and it’s all their doing! Employees are really invested in the success of the business. I feel privileged; I am proud of my team.”
As for what comes next, Nancy wants to keep developing the roasting workshop and increase online sales, particularly by selling monthly subscriptions.
“I know I have an outstanding product; clients often tell me so. I want them to discover as many products as possible. I want people to know a good quality coffee when they taste one and choose products with their eyes open, respecting the environment and producer. That’s my mission!”
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Thanks to the engagement of invaluable partners: Économie Québec, through its agent Investissement Québec, the Government of Canada, National Bank, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Fondaction, Evol has a large envelope to support, through conventional loans, businesses with inclusive, diversified ownership that generate positive social and environmental impacts in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG).
