The Med City’s newest coffee drive-thru – Due North Coffee Co. – has a very Minnesota flavor.
Katrina and Scott Pulham started serving coffee on Monday from a custom trailer based on an ice fishing house design. They co-own it with Mariah Mrotek.
The Due North trailer is based at 1607 Highway 14 East in front of their other Rochester business, the Air Insanity trampoline center. It has 15 to 20 employees and is open all day.
The idea for Due North came to them as they were trying to find coffee to serve at Air Insanity.
“We needed coffee for the trampoline park is how it started. Then we started thinking there was a need for coffee for this side of town … One thing led to another,” said Katrina Pulham.
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When the pandemic put the trampoline park on temporary hiatus, the Pulhams started brewing up plans for Due North. Scott Pulham designed the one-of-a-kind trailer from the ground up.
They decided to keep the business as local as possible. That means the milk comes from Chatfield’s Kapper’s Big Red Barn, the honey from Stewartville and the coffee is roasted in Chaska.
All of the coffee blends and drinks have a Minnesota theme with signature drinks like Paul Bunyan’s Brew, Ole & Lena’s Mocha, the 60-below Mocha and the Looney Latte. Due North also serves up a nitro coffee drink that Katrina Pulham says is already very popular with customers. They also have special non-coffee-flavored kids drinks and fruit drinks.
Opening this location is the first phase in their vision for Due North.
“Once we get this one up running, we plan on opening more,” she said. That means more locations in Rochester and surrounding communities. A mobile Due North truck could also be the cards for the future.
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