Afterglow’s coffee packaging — designed by co-owner Alison Maves’ sister, Richmond magazine contributing illustrator Rachel Maves — is inspired by 1960s-era psychedelia.
Afterglow is defined as the light or radiance remaining in the sky after the sun has set, or the feeling that lingers following a pleasurable or successful experience. It also marks the name of the city’s first employee-owned coffee cooperative; set to open in early March, the effort was undoubtedly sparked by the latter definition.
Maves roasting coffee beans
Following a combined tenure of almost 40 years with Lamplighter Coffee Roasters, a group of former employees is launching its own caffeinated collective, Afterglow Coffee Cooperative. Moving into the Summit Avenue cafe once occupied by Lamplighter, taking on its wholesale clients, serving as their main roaster, and remodeling the space, it’s a significant yet natural evolution for everyone involved.
Alan Smith, who started with Lamplighter as a barista and became head roaster during his decade of service there, says he found himself wondering about his next step.
“I kept thinking, ‘There has to be a way for me to get a stake in ownership or buy-in … and there have to be creative ways to give people more,’ ” he says.
The discussion surrounding workforce possibilities started between members of the Lamplighter crew and owners in 2019, but when the pandemic hit, brainstorming paused as the business was forced to enter survival mode. In the two years that followed, Lamplighter’s main roastery shifted into the primary drop-off center for Mutual Aid Distribution Richmond, its Morris Street location was shuttered, and the Addison Street outpost shifted into a takeout-only operation.
The team entered a period of reset and reflection, and eventually the conversation resumed.
(Clockwise from top left) Afterglow Coffee Cooperative co-owners Allison Maves, Alan Smith, Eric Mason, Aimee Makiand Julius Delacruz
“Every catastrophe presents opportunity; it’s just the people that are present to capitalize on that opportunity are usually not us,” Smith says. “We thought, ‘How can we capitalize on the opportunity to create a more equitable way of working?’
Smith with a fresh-brewed latte
“We formed a core group and said, ‘OK, let’s make an offer,’ ” Smith says of approaching Lamplighter’s owners — who had taught him how to roast coffee — about purchasing the business.
In January, Aimee Maki, Julius Delacruz, Allison Maves, Eric Mason and Smith took over Lamplighter’s 1719 Summit Ave. lease, also adopting the company’s roasting equipment and its wholesale clients.
“I’ve been thinking about my own cafe or shop or roastery forever, but I helped build that business, and I don’t want to compete with Lamplighter,” Smith says. “I love them — they brought me into all of this. It was the only thing I can envision to keep us here and in the industry. The relationship has really been beneficial for everyone to focus on one thing.”
The feeling of loyalty to one another and to the business — particularly in an industry where turnover rates are high — paired with the idea of building a future from a place that provided a foundation was echoed both by Smith’s fellow workers and Lamplighter’s owners.
Lamplighter co-owner Noelle Forest describes it as a rebirth.
“When this opportunity came up to transition, that part of it was along the lines of what we would like to see happen anyway,” she says, noting that this shift will help test the business model. “Instead of building things back to the way they were, how can we pivot and reshape?”
Lamplighter now operates solely out of its original Addison Street location. Forest says of streamlining the business, “It’s where it all started, and having that be the one place that has stayed with us is amazing, and we want to see that location bloom in the future.”
Forest says that when she started Lamplighter in 2009 with a small and scrappy squad, the intention wasn’t for massive expansion but to build a coffee community. However, she adds, over time the company grew into more of a traditional business — three cafes and almost 80 employees — a shift that was not necessarily aligned with their ethos.
Currently in a phase of “dreaming and scheming,” plotting renovations and discussing long-term goals for Lamplighter, Forest is excited to do less and see how, in turn, that could lead to more. No longer roasting, Lamplighter will source its beans directly from Afterglow, and Lamplighter’s namesake coffee blend will only be available directly at its Fan shop.
Delacruz packaging beans
“It’s the same coffee we want, roasted how we want, by people we know and trust on the same equipment,” Forest says. “All the same great things from that team, but now [we] can focus solely on this.”
Smith and his Afterglow co-owners are looking forward to exploring what’s possible.
Afterglow’s dark roast blend
“I’m excited about collaborative coffee sourcing and buying,” Smith says. “Everybody has to figure this out with me — consensus-building, the best and hardest part about a cooperative venture. I like the freedom to be able to experiment and be creative; it’s a really freeing concept.”
Each partner at Afterglow will own an equal share of the company and receive the same pay. They will work four days a week, five if needed. There will be no clocking in and out, and no set time requirements.
“We all trust each other, we’re all working towards the same goals,” Smith says.
The aim is for everyone not only to have their basic needs met, but also to be able to thrive. And while the empowerment and ability to shape their own futures may sound like an idyllic way of working, they believe it can and should be the way it always is.
“For us, this is how we would like to see the world operate more,” Forest says. “People should have a say over how that work gets done. While they may not have been shareholders in Lamplighter, they absolutely created value and created a lot of what it was, so for them to then be able to transition to taking ownership of that [roasting] operation felt like, for me, a great next step.”
