Bow Truss Coffee Roasters has only been open for five months, but owner Phil Tadros is already thinking beyond the walls of the East Lakeview location.
Today, Bow Truss launched a contest with local T-shirt retailer Threadless challenging artists to submit original design ideas for the packaging of a new coffee called Threadless Specialty Blend.
The blend features beans from Mexico and Columbia and has notes of dark chocolate, cherry and peach, said Tadros. "It's a really approachable coffee. We figured this blend would cater to most coffee drinkers."
The contest will work similarly to Threadless' T-shirt production process, in which designs are showcased on Threadless.com and site users score the designs and leave comments.
The winning design will be featured on packaging for the coffee, sold at Bow Truss as well as online, and the winner will also net $2000 cash and some other cool prizes. Watch the contest launch video and read more about contest guidelines and prizes. Entries can be submitted through Dec. 3.
Tadros also plans to open a second location of Bow Truss at 406 N. Wells St. in River North in about a month. It's about half the size of the Lakeview original and coffee will not be roasted on site. In addition to fueling downtown commuters with their daily caffeine fix, it will also serve as a hub to support wholesale accounts at downtown restaurants and hotels (Trump Tower, Dana Hotel and Gilt Bar, just to name a few) as well as potentially offer at-home brewing classes to the public.
Though Tadros cannot release the address yet, he is also planning a third location in Old Town that would be larger and "more social" than the downtown location, on track to debut in about five months.
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