WE SHOW OUR LOVE THROUGH EVERY CUP OF COFFEE WE SERVE

Words by Katherine Tweed |

Freshly roasted coffee beans. Freshly baked pastries. Freshly cracked eggs.

Cozy place for a cup of coffee. A regular place for business conversations. A place where students study and stay awake.

All of this at Dunn Bros Coffee in Fargo. At either the 45th Street and 18th Avenue location, or the 25th Street and 13th Avenue location, you will find yourself in a relaxed place.

The woman behind both shops is Meghann Poku, who also happens to be raising six children with her husband, chocolate entrepreneur, Isaac Poku.

She retired from the corporate world after 13 years so she could be an at-home wife and mom – and an entrepreneur, too.

“Corporate America is great, however, when you do want to be a mom, it’s tough,” Poku said.

Saying she loves to have the coffee shops is an understatement. “I love owning them. One of the reasons I opened them was for our community and to bless others. We are continually involved in things like donating for churches, non-profit organizations like the American Diabetes Association, womenbased groups and others,” she said.

Saying she is proud of her product is also an understatement.

“Roasting of the coffee beans is our prime differentiator from other shops. Now our freshness in both coffee and food is unmatched. We roast coffee daily in our stores. It is always with a week old from the roaster. You can smell the difference when you walk in,” she added and continues her shop talk with:

“Our new food menu is outstanding. Our ovens have no microwave elements. That’s right. Everyone near us that has similar ovens and says ‘baked daily’ has microwave elements in their ovens.

“Dunn Bros Coffee has worked with Chef Andy Revella to develop an amazing oven with no microwave elements.

“Our eggs are cracked fresh, not poured. We have gluten-free and friendly options like our salads, gluten-free bread, energy bars and more.

“Our meat has no fillers. It’s real ham, turkey, whatever. We have no funny ingredients. We use real cheese, like cheddar and Swiss, no cheese products.

“Our pastries are baked daily. Customers will eat most things the same day products are baked. No pastry is ever more than 48-hours old.”

Poku grew up in New Town, N.D., what is now the heart of oil country. Her grandpa owned Independent Grain & Lumber back in the ’70s-’90s. She learned her business acumen from him. “You were always welcome at his elevator. People got to know one another. He was humble, honest and loved the Lord.” And her other grandpa ran the General Store in Trenton, N.D., during the first oil boom.

Another influential man in her life is her husband, Isaac. “He never stops coming up with ideas for his chocolate business. His passion is cultivating Africa one step at a time. He is a third generation cocoa farmer whose Pride of Dakota business is Chipperz ™,” she said.

Africa plays a significant role in Dunn Bros coffee. The Dunn brothers, Minnesotans Ed and Dan, were passionate about coffee roasting. About 25 years ago, they decided to change the coffee consuming world. Their first coffee connoisseur shop opened in St. Paul.

They cared about fresh roast. Too many shops ground their coffee and packaged in advance so the coffee sat on shelves. They concentrated on the artisanal, in-house craft of roasting.

That’s why when you walk into Poku’s Dunn Bros coffee shops, the fresh aroma of freshlyground beans from around the world smells so enticing. The coffees are from growers who are adhering to high standards of sustainable agriculture.

Dunn Bros learned of severe drought conditions in a trip to Kenya. They provided the community with an “aquapulper,” a device that allows farmers to use only a tenth of the water they would traditionally use to process coffee.

This fall she’s adding a new line of exquisite teas to her shops.

Giving back is what Dunn Bros does.

Giving back is what Poku and her crew at the two coffee shops do, too.

Poku’s 14-year-old niece says it all – “It’s just delicious.”

AMANDA WOOD manages both locations in Fargo. Her first job was when she was 15 and a barista. She fell in love with coffee and connecting with people over a cup of coffee. Almost two decades later she is still doing what she loves and grows every day as a leader in the shops, the community and as a mother.

MEGHANN POKU and Isaac “embrace me as part of their family. That is the same treatment we extend to our baristas, roasters and guests. We hope to make an impression on them for life lessons of kindness and respect.”