Barnie’s Coffee has gone through a lot of changes over its 43 years in business. The name comes from one of the founders of the business, Phil Barnie Jones. “He was an inventor himself,” said Shannon Wolfgang, director of marketing for Barnie’s. “And he was like, ‘You know what, no one’s doing flavored coffee.’” According to Wolfgang, Barnie’s became one of the first companies to offer flavored coffees. “You can have all the flavor within the coffee and you don’t have to worry about adding the sugar adding the creamers or adding the whipped cream and all that goofy stuff because that’s not really what we’re about,” she said. The company saw nationwide expansion at one point, predating Starbucks, opening several locations inside malls across the country. “Then our investors and our business managers decided to change plans and then at that point, we closed down our mall locations and we decided to keep our flagship location (in Winter Park),” Wolfgang said. “Then we kind of just did our online store for barniescoffee.com.” In addition to its online sales, the brand is also available is several supermarket chains, including Publix and Winn Dixie, among others. Barnie’s is also now focused on partnering with Central Florida businesses. “We’ve already had our Publix of flavored ice cream(s),” Wolfgang said. “Then there’s Ten10 Brewery who’s doing a beer with us. We have Se7en Bites, who’s done a brownie with us and also a cookie with us with the flavoring. So we have a lot of local collaborations.” The company is also working with colleges in the area, such as the University of Central Florida. “So we closed down all of the mall cafes and now we’re opening businesses or collaborating with businesses through schools and the reason we did that was so that we could also do a give-back donation to the school,” Wolfgang said. “We created three different blends with (UCF) — flavored coffee, like our Pegasus blend — and if you purchase that coffee, not only at the UCF cafe that they have, but purchase it online from Barnie’s Coffee, $1 of that bag actually goes back to their food insecurity program.” The company also works with Stetson University, Rollins College and the Orlando Science Center with similar give-back programs. Despite the brand’s reach, Barnie’s is a relatively small operation. Its roasting facility only has 13 employees “doing everything by hand,” according to Wolfgang. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Candace Campos and Lisa Bell learn all about the coffee roasting process. They also get a peek at how Barnie’s flavors its coffees. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices