WICHITA, Kansas -- C.R. Hall and the Prestige Coffee/Coffee Time Co. have announced the new name and unveiled the logo for PrairieFire Coffee Roasters, the company said. When C.R. Hall, president and owner of Hall's Culligan Water, acquired Coffee Time/Prestige Coffee in mid-2007, the company was distributing coffee under three names: Coffee Time, Prestige Coffee and Riffel's Coffee Co. Coffee Time/Prestige Coffee has been a coffee service provider for convenience stores, restaurants, coffee shops, businesses and institutions in the Midwest since 1960. It also offers other hot and cold beverage [image-nocss] and food products.
Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, they service customers throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, Arkansas and South Dakota.
The overlapping coffee brands were becoming confusing, he said. The company sought a brand name that would build on the efforts of Sam Riffel, its founder and the first commercial coffee roaster in Kansas. Coffee Time grew from a one-man operation with Riffel delivering brewed coffee in thermal urns to Wichita businesses to Prestige Coffee serving eight states. In the mid-1980s, Riffel decided that it was time to roast the beans himself, selling his dark-roast Riffels Roast coffee.
The company's new name needed to suggest that history and "excitement" of a company whose reach radiates out from the Kansas prairie into many surrounding states. "The name 'PrairieFire Coffee Roasters' virtually ignited," said general manager Jeff Deitchler. The logo features a coffee farmer holding a burlap coffee bag, strolling through the prairie, with stylized flames rimming the hills. The name and logo will be features on all vehicles, signage, packaging and marketing materials.
"We are excited about having a single name and logo that not only ends some of the confusion, but also reflects the quality of the coffee that we roast. Our employees are especially excited that we now have one brand that they can build and promote, said Deitchler. "it also allows our customers to enjoy the same brand of…coffee whether it's delivered to their office, served in their favorite restaurant, sold by the cup in their neighborhood convenience store or ordered online.
PrairieFire roasts more than a million pounds of coffee beans each year, it said.
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