COVER STORY
A perfect
Blend
Successful entrepreneurs Leena and Gustavo Castelar run Firebat Coffee Roastery in Oakville, Ontario, sourcing beans from their native El Salvador and selling to cafes and households across the GTA. By Lisa Evans
W
hen Leena and Gustavo Castelar first considered immigrating to Canada, the idea of moving to a new country and chasing another corporate career didn’t appeal to them. They are now the co-owners of Firebat Coffee Roasters in Oakville, Ontario, roasting beans from their native El Salvador and distributing coffee to local cafes and households across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The couple immigrated to Canada in June 2016. As a mixedrace family (Leena is originally from Finland and Gustavo from El Salvador), the couple felt Canada would be a welcoming place for the next phase of their lives and to raise their young children, then aged 2 and 4. The decision to start a company was in part the result of wanting a career change. In El Savador, Gustavo was an airports director, overseeing airline operation to 13 different airports across North America and Leena was a project manager in strategy and business development. The couple didn’t just want a new scenery; they wanted a new life. “I imagined what it would be like here looking for jobs, working, maybe getting fired,” says Gustavo. “I’d rather bet on us.” Leena was more apprehensive about becoming an entrepreneur. “I thought who moves to a new country with two tiny kids in tow not knowing anyone to start a new business. This goes against everything we learned in business school,” she laughs. They also felt an ethical call to stay connected to their home country. “Coming from a country you foresee is going into
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CANADIAN IMMIGRANT Volume 17 Issue 1 | 2020
trouble, if my economic activity would help me to slow it from falling into that place, I had to do it,” says Gustavo. “To come here and get a job and forget about El Salvador felt a bit traitorous to me.” Gustavo had started learning about roasting coffee as a hobby and knew that there was a market in North America for good quality coffee. For two years before making Canada their home, Gustavo spent every weekend driving up to the mountains in El Salvador visiting farmers and learning everything he could about the coffee production process and roasting, with the intention of bringing that knowledge to Canada to start Firebat Coffee Roasters. When they arrived in Canada, the couple felt the pressure of a tight timeline to get the business off the ground. They had already ordered the roasting equipment from the Netherlands and it was ready to be delivered, but they didn’t have an address to ship it to. After delaying the roasting equipment company for several months, they finally rented a house in Oakville and gave the company their home address to ship it to, knowing they would have six weeks while it was in transit to find a location for the business and be able to accept the delivery. “We couldn’t have it delivered to our house of course, but we had to give them an address,” says Gustavo. With a little bit of luck, they were able to find a space in an industrial location in Oakville with affordable rent and the right amount of space and by the end of September, Firebat Coffee Roasters had a home and a brand new roaster.
