Our History
Inspired by the Grand Cafés of Paris, Balzac’s Coffee Roasters was founded on a burning ambition to bring European coffee culture to Canada. Named after the French novelist and famed coffee drinker, Balzac’s had its beginnings at Toronto’s Ontario Place, with a small coffee cart serving freshly roasted coffee to the park’s guests. Soon after, the first café was opened in Stratford, Ontario in 1996, sparking Balzac’s notoriety as a beautiful space to enjoy a great cup of coffee.
Today, Balzac’s has grown to a network of distinct locations across Ontario with a successful consumer packaged goods division bringing our coffee to grocery store shelves and customers across the country. Balzac’s is on a mission to Create More Moments to Savour.
A Timeline
1993
The Balzac’s Coffee cart is opened in Toronto’s Ontario Place.
1996
Balzac’s opens its first cafe location in Stratford, Ontario. All roasting is done on-site in the cafe on a Probat roaster.
2002
The Distillery District cafe is opened, and becomes a popular destination for the Distillery Winter Village Market.
2011
Balzac’s founder Diana Olsen appears on CBC’s Dragon’s Den and obtains funding to open more cafes. Arlene Dickinson remains an important part of Balzac’s today.
2017
With a chain of locations to roast for, Balzac’s opens its new roastery and head office in Ancaster, Ontario. The roastery uses 30 kg and 75 kg Loring Smart Roasters.
2020
Today
We’re on a mission to deliver 3 million moments to savour in our cafes and at home by 2025.
Our Namesake
Honoré de Balzac, the prolific French writer was known to drink copious amounts of coffee that fueled his writing sprees. Balzac mixed himself a blend of 3 rare varietals: Bourbon, Martinique and Moka which he purchased from three different merchants. In honour of our namesake, we based our Balzac’s Blend on this original recipe. We also borrowed, the ”B” and crown motif from his coffee pot for our own logo and graphics. Balzac wrote of his relationship with coffee in his treatise The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee. His most famous quote on the subject has become our company’s personal mantra:
“Coffee is a great power in my life…it chases away sleep and allows us the capacity to engage a little longer in the excersize of our intellect.”
–Honoré de Balzac, 1832