As Blueprint Coffee continues to grow, we’re proud to announce some exciting changes to our leadership and HQ staffing. This January, members Nora Brady and Mike Marquard began transitioning into different leadership roles — and some of our existing team members were promoted into new positions.
Nora, formerly Director of Wholesale, is now Director of the Roastery. Mike, formerly Director of the Roastery, is now our first Chief Financial Officer. Blueprint’s other active members — Kevin Reddy, Director of Retail, and Mazi Razani, Production Manager — remain in their current roles.
Taking the helm at the roastery, Nora now manages each department at HQ — leading the roastery staff, overseeing coffee selection, directing design & marketing, production & fulfillment, and supervising sales channels including our web store, wholesale, and third-party platforms.
As CFO, Mike tracks our company’s financial health, mentors other leaders to support their success, and tackles special projects to assist with the company’s growth and stability. Mike also continues to lead our sister company, STL Coffee Equipment Service (STLCES), offering equipment installation, maintenance, and repair services to coffee industry partners throughout the St. Louis region.
This leadership change created an opening in our sales and wholesale department — and we’re proud to announce that Laura Therina is stepping into this role. Laura has been a member of our team since last year; previously, she worked on our Production team as Fulfillment Lead. Laura comes to us with a wealth of experience in the St. Louis food and beverage industry, including at Side Project Brewing and 2nd Shift Brewing. In her new role as Wholesale Account Manager & Sales Representative, Laura will serve our current partners as well as manage incoming partnerships and sales inquiries.
The STLCES team has also seen recent growth with the addition of Marija Lajsic as our newest Equipment Technician. Marija has been an integral part of our fulfillment team since 2021; last year, she started work as an apprentice to STLCES, working with Mike and undergoing technical training to learn the trade. The addition of Marija to the team has enabled STLCES to offer more timely preventative maintenance, and increased availability for emergency repairs and service.
Mike and Nora have been business partners since 2013, when — along with 4 other co-owners — they opened Blueprint Coffee on the Delmar Loop. The group has remained close friends and colleagues, growing up alongside each other and the company as Blueprint expanded from a single coffee bar with the roaster in the back, to our current footprint that includes three cafes and a dedicated roasting headquarters. Since Blueprint’s earliest days, we’ve also dedicated ourselves to building a robust wholesale program, and we’re immensely proud of our dozens of partnerships that span all corners of the country.
In 2024, we moved our production and administrative operations — including our coffee roaster — to a dedicated company headquarters. This step launched us into a new phase of Blueprint Coffee — one that requires even more diligent attention to financial health and sustainability as we continue to grow.
We couldn’t be more excited for the future. Looking ahead to the next year, we’re moving to increase accessibility of our products: exploring additional distribution channels, onboarding new-to-us e-commerce platforms, and creating new opportunities for marketing. We’re engaged in our community — diving deeper into industry participation, developing skills among new and existing team members, and continuing to tighten our company’s budget with a laser-focus on labor spending and cost of goods, as we plan for future expansion of our HQ building. This evolution of our leadership is an exciting step for Blueprint Coffee as we continue to mature into new phases of growth.
