More than 50 years ago, in an A&P store in Long Island, New York, a young Bob Johnson found himself completely captivated by the aroma of freshly ground coffee. In 1991, after a successful 23-year career in finance, Bob pursued his childhood dream and opened Coffee Time coffee house in the Cumberland Mall.
Coffee Time moved to a Landis Avenue location in 1993 and transitioned from a retail coffee house to a wholesale coffee roaster, becoming Kaffe Magnum Opus in 1996. By 2001, Kaffe Magnum Opus had moved into a 5000 square foot location in Millville.
Today, Kaffe Magnum Opus occupies a 16,000 s.f. facility on Wade Blvd in Millville and employs 21 full time workers and up to 20 temporary workers based on the season. A typical day includes the roasting, packaging and shipping of over 6,000 pounsa of coffee from growing regions all over the world.
Kaffe Magnum Opus literally translates into “a great work of art in coffee”. Its specialty coffees are roasted and shipped everyday to a customer base of over 500 hundred coffee shops across America.
In August of 2015, Kaffe Magnum Opus installed a single serve cup machine and introduced “k-cups” to its product line. Having sold nearly 10 million cups to date, the installation of a second machine is currently in the works and over 26 SKUs will be manufactured. The success of single serve manufacturing has allowed for expansion into grocery, a category that will be a major area of focus for Kaffe Magnum Opus in the coming years. This spring, Kaffe Magnum Opus, entered an agreement to work with Widener University as the coffee roaster of record for the WuBrew and CARES-21 consortium initiative that the University has established with the Las Lajas coffee farm in Costa Rica. This is a program that promotes educational awareness of sustainable farming and practices and one that Widener is encouraging other educational institutions to become involved in.
Kaffe Magnum Opus is proud to be a member of the socially and environmentally conscious coffee community. From its “Clean & Green” Loring coffee roasters, the recycling of burlap and coffee grinds, and the donation of produce from the KMO employee garden to area food pantries, KMO is actively advancing its sustainable business practices.
Today, Kaffe Magnum Opus is proud to be a member of the local Millville community and to be celebrating its 25th year in the coffee business which it has achieved by forging relationships with fellow local businesses that include Carlisle Machine Works, GM White Electric, GE Mechancial, Sun Bank, Brunozzi Trucking, Mints Insurance, Cavallero Design, SNJ Today, the accounting firm of Linda Avena and many, many others.
Kaffe Magnum Opus’ success is a true testament to the talents and expertise that exist in our community.
Kaffe Magnum Opus
A Great Cup of Coffee
Since 2006, Kaffe Magnum Opus has been developing its commercial line of coffee products and sells several brands, including -- Grande Kaffe, Market & Main, Kaffe Exotica, Café Reserva, Babette’s Pantry and KMO Joe -- into national department stores in the United States, Canada and, most recently, into Europe.
Bob Johnson, founder of Kaffe Magnum Opus, receives the 2016 Economic Partnership Award - Large Commercial Category - from Chamber President Larry Malone, right, and Executive Director Earl Sherrick.