Dear friends,
Thank you to everyone who came out last weekend to celebrate three years of Holm. Seeing the roastery full, drinks flowing and bodies dancing right left and center, was such a fulfilling way to celebrate. The night was a success but was made especially exceptional by our friends: DJ Naga on the decks, Chef Alice and her incredible canapees, Rowan the bar Guru slinging drinks and Keefer, our exceptional manager, doing it all. It was a night to remember. We felt deeply supported by our community in Revelstoke, and very aware of how fortunate we are to be doing this work here, with you.
Reaching our third birthday has given us a natural moment to take stock.
For most of these past years, we’ve been deep in the business, learning by doing and responding to whatever was in front of us. When we first opened Holm, we were earnest and well-researched, but also wildly inexperienced. We had a direction, but so much unfolded that we couldn’t have imagined at the start. Big ideas — like offering every coffee as a pour-over or running workshops — were put on paper without yet understanding what a busy morning actually feels like, or how much people rely on consistency in hours, menus, and pricing to feel at ease in our space.
Running a business has a way of stripping away illusions.
Over time, we’ve come to understand what we actually have time and energy for, where our limits are, and how much attention we can realistically give without something else giving way. The local success of Holm was not achieved by chasing growth, but from putting in the hours and refining its foundation. There’s a human side to this too. The push and pull between work and personal life is constant, especially when you’re building something together as a couple and as business partners. Learning when to slow down has taken practice. Accepting that we can’t do everything — and staying in our lane — has allowed us to focus on doing a few things well and to build a small team that we can genuinely support.
This past year, things have felt different for us.
The seasons move more smoothly now, without the same sense of constant triage. Holm today is a coffee shop and a roastery with rhythms we trust: regular time with our staff, cupping and tasting together, and returning again and again to the basics of quality, consistency, and care. We feel grounded and excited for what’s to come.
As we enter this next year, we’re especially excited about offering a larger variety of special single-origin coffees. Making space for this has meant reworking our roasting schedule, scaling back some batch sizes, and taking a few calculated risks. This category of coffee represents only 10% of our weekly roast load, but that number has doubled over the past year. It’s showing us how much more passionate our clientele is becoming and we love to see that enthusiasm. It’s pushed us to deepen relationships with importers, refine our quality control, and rethink how we share these coffees through tastings, gift packs, and smaller formats. This work connects directly to what we love most: flavour, supply chains, service, and trust.
Three years in, we’re content to be right here, showing up each day, paying attention to the daily cup, and letting the next chapter reveal itself at its own pace.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us,
Simon and Izzy
