Brewing Sustainability: How Hal's Coffee Blends Planet-Friendly Practices with Premium Brews

When life closes one door, sometimes it opens a coffee trailer. That's what happened to Hallie Dantzler, founder of Hal's Coffee, who pivoted from healthcare to entrepreneurship after unexpectedly losing her job. What emerged was not just another coffee shop, but a sustainable, mobile coffee experience that's redefining how we think about our daily brew.

Hal's Coffee began as a trailer on wheels but has since expanded to include a permanent café near CSU's veterinary hospital and a versatile indoor catering cart. What sets this business apart is its unwavering commitment to sustainability – running entirely on battery power, from the truck pulling the trailer to the equipment itself. They've embraced comprehensive composting practices and chosen glass over plastic, proving that mobile businesses can be environmentally responsible.

Behind every $8 latte is a story most consumers never hear. Hallie sources beans from small family farms and co-ops worldwide, ensuring fair compensation for growers. From quality cups and specialty syrups to the ice in your cold brew, each component represents an investment in both quality and ethics. As Hallie puts it, "We never sacrifice quality for quantity." This philosophy extends to her personal life too, where she homesteads with gardens, chickens, and beehives – embodying sustainability beyond her business.

Ready for coffee that comes to you? Whether you're planning a wedding, conference, or just want to visit their café at 2350 Gillette Drive on South CSU campus, Hal's Coffee delivers exceptional experiences on wheels or in their storefront. Follow them on social media @halscoffeenoco or visit halscoffeenoco.com to discover how coffee can be both delicious and planet-friendly. Your taste buds – and the environment – will thank you.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of an amazingcoffee place that's on wheels
and has a stationary location?
It's highly rated and it caresabout the planet.
It's called Howe's Coffee ratedand it cares about the planet.
It's called Hal's Coffee andI'm happy to introduce Hallie
Dantzler of Hal's Coffee todayto talk about her business.
Hallie, how's it going?

(00:33):
Good, how are you?
Excellent?
Tell us all about your business.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, so I own Hal's Coffee, which started as a
mobile shop on wheels and grewinto a cafe and is growing into
a cart as well.
But we attend events all overthe state, from weddings to
retirements, to graduationceremonies, to fairs, festivals
literally anything you canimagine that coffee should be at

(00:59):
.
We are there.
It's focused on sustainability,so I run on batteries.
My whole system is batterypowered, from the truck that
pulls it to the trailer itself.
We compost as much as we can.
We have to use glass instead ofplastic, all of the the whole
nine yards for composting andjust being sustainable.

(01:21):
We try to practice that.
So, between being a mobile shopwhich you don't typically think
of as being sustainable, beingon wheels, and moving around the
state everywhere, but we bringthat thought to life and we
never sacrifice quality forquantity, serving good coffee
all over the place.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Hallie, how did you get into this business?

Speaker 3 (01:44):
coffee all over the place.
Hallie, how did you get intothis business?
So kind of a funny story I got.
I was, I have three degrees inhealthcare and I got a phone
call one morning that was likehey, your job no longer exists.
And I was like, oh, okay, whatdo I do now?
And because of my degrees Iniched down so far that I wasn't
falling into a job easily.

(02:04):
So I, after eight months,decided I wanted to work for
myself.
So I, after eight months,decided I wanted to work for
myself.
What did I want to do?
I wanted to work with coffee,because coffee put me through my
undergrad and my master'sprogram in more ways than one
and I felt passionately aboutcoffee and thought you know,
this is kind of where I belong,and I've always belonged in the

(02:24):
service industry.
So I just kind of floated rightinto it and it seems to be
exactly where I was supposed tobe in life.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Hallie, tell us some myths or misconceptions in
coffee.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
The price.
Honestly, everybody thinks likecoffee should be cheap.
It's a simple drink that you'resupposed to have every day not
supposed to, that depends on whoyou talk to but that you can
have every day.
That you know.
Everybody can brew it at home,it's super easy.
But really in the background, tobring quality coffee to you we
are paying a significant dollaramount for the beans and, like,

(03:01):
the beans that we get from myroaster are all from small
family farms or co-ops from allover the world.
So making sure that we can payfair price for those beans
through the roaster, so thatthose family farms are getting
quality income and not justscraping the bottom of the
barrel, but really all of thebackground costs, from cups to

(03:25):
lids, to syrups, to the beans,to heck even the ice that you
put into ice drinks.
It all costs so much and to beable to bring that to people is
just it's an insane amount inthe behind the scenes that when
you're not on the consumer sideit's very like it's kind of a
sticker shock, almost so themyth that coffee is cheap or

(03:49):
that it should be a cheap drink,or you know, everybody says I'm
going to go get my eight dollarlatte to treat myself.
It's eight dollars for a reason, so that myth is just kind of
big to me.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Right, right and it's not going to Starbucks Right.
Kind of big to me, right, rightand it's not going to Starbucks
Right.
Who are your target customersand how are you attracting them
now?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Sure.
So my target customers with thetrailer is really anybody that
goes to any events or anythingthat the host for the trailer
event wants to bring in.
So I'm super flexible on thatand I don't really have a
preferred audience for thetrailer, I should say.
But for the cafe being on SouthCSU campus right by the vet
hospital, my target audience ismostly the students and the
doctors and anybody traveling infor veterinary care for their

(04:41):
animals.
But really we're open to thepublic.
Anybody and anyone is welcome.
Nobody's going to get turnedaway unless you're having a
really bad attitude that wecan't fix.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
The catering cart is really interesting to me and
that's unique.
Maybe or maybe I just haven'theard of it and other people
have heard of it all over theplace, but I haven't have you
ever thought about doing yourown podcast to spread the word
about your catering aspect?

Speaker 3 (05:13):
I've thought about podcasting.
I hadn't had any idea how toget into it or anything like
that.
The cart is a little bit of aunique option.
Just mobile coffee in general,whether it's in a trailer,
trailer, a truck or cart is kindof a newer concept.
But being the cart, I can offerindoor events in the winter,

(05:35):
like hotels or conferences,instead of having the trailer
parked out in the parking lotthat everybody has to come to.
But it's all.
It's all just kind of a uniqueproject from start to finish.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Outside of work.
What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3 (05:50):
I homestead, so I've got a large garden, I've got
some chickens, I've got a duck,I've got two beehives that are
currently empty for the year,I've got a couple of dogs.
I usually have a fish.
I just kind of DIY everythingwhere it's a lot of fun to me to
just be sustainable in my ownhome.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
That's awesome, Hallie.
Please tell our listeners onething they should absolutely
remember about Hal's Coffee.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
That we never sacrifice quality for quantity,
you'll get the best serviceevery time.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
And how can our listeners learn more about Hal's
Coffee in all of the ways,including the old-fashioned way.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah, so you can pop into the cafe, which is South
CSU campus 2350 Gillette Drive.
It's like two buildings behindthe vet hospital.
You can find me on Facebook atHowl's Coffee LLC.
Instagram howlscoffeenoco, youcan find the website which we
just redid.
I'm super thankful for that.

(06:51):
It's howlscoffeenococom.
Or you can text me, email me,call me, pop by and see me.
I mean the trailer's in mydriveway, so you're going to see
where I live if you drive by.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, hallie, we really appreciate you being on
our show and we definitely wishyou and house coffee the very
best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Thanks, Nick.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Thank you for listening to the good neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNP FortCollinscom.
That's GNP Fort Collinscom, orcall 970-438-0825.