Over the last 15 years, Kickapoo Coffee built a brand name based on the Kickapoo River Valley in the city of Viroqua, Wis., where the company keeps its headquarters. The name of the river is a tribute to the Kickapoo tribe who once called that area home, and the coffee company wants to keep that name sacred. Over the next few months, the company, including their café in the Third Ward (232 E. Erie Street), will officially become Wonderstate Coffee.
Lester Randall, chairperson of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, was invited to a community event Wonderstate co-hosted last December in Viroqua to help educate members of the community about where the name of the river came from.
"It's been a great experience to engage in the learning of the history of the name," says Scott Lucey, Milwaukee cafe co-owner. "It was a surprise to see that despite the fact that so many have a strong connection with the Kickapoo name, as a river, there wasn't as strong of connection with the history or actual origins of the name.
“We had actually started an internal dialog months earlier, initiated and facilitated in large part by one of our staff members, Shizue Roche Adachi. We had indeed had people over the years who asked us if we were affiliated with the Kickapoo Nation, but those inquiries were not what ultimately drove us to change the name."
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Courtesy of www.kickapoocoffee.com
The owners of Kickapoo Coffee see an opportunity to not only preserve the legacy of the Kickapoo name, but also to rebrand themselves with a more accurate title. After calling in an agency to help and going through a long process to really find the identity of the brand, the company chose the name Wonderstate. The explanation on a page of their website dedicated to the name change announcement states: “When you chance upon something good and find yourself awed: that’s the Wonderstate.”
In 2015, the company became the country’s first solar-powered roastery. At their core, the company is committed to making coffee better and making it better for all parties involved. They are members of Coop Coffees, an importing cooperative that allows the company to work directly with farmers. Each year they source coffees that win awards for quality and respect to the micro-climates that produce them. They’ve been farmer focused since 2005.
All branding and packaging will be updated to mark the change in August of 2020.
