Dog Tails the Hugo Coffee Roasters Blog

Hugo’s Origin Story

Hugo Coffee has become such a wonderfully large community. Our origin story will surprise you since it’s actually a love story — for coffee and dogs.

Founder and CEO Claudia McMullin is all about dogs and love for animals, having rescued dogs since she was in her 20s. She was a litigator on Wall Street in New York City for 17 years before moving to Utah in 1999, wanting to live a more outdoorsy lifestyle.

Before founding her own coffee brand, she was a reformed lawyer and was on the Summit County Council for two terms. While on the board, she heard from a friend that Friends of Animals, a local, non-profit animal rescue organization now known as Nuzzles & Co., needed an executive director.

Seeking a life away from working as an attorney, she took up the role with pleasure and served for a few years. During that time, she found out while at a Park City Chamber of Commerce meeting that Silver Bean, a local coffee vendor in the Chamber’s visitor’s center, had decided not to renew their lease and wanted to sell their equipment.

This sparked McMullin’s curiosity because she loved their coffee and frequented the kiosk. So she purchased the coffee shop and renamed it after her handsome rescue pup, Hugo. Thus began her path to the present day.

McMullin founded Hugo Coffee Roasters in 2015 – again in honor of her beloved rescue dog Hugo, a handsome, mixed-breed American Bulldog/hound, who she has taken care of for 10 years. With the help of Head Roaster John Lynn, who had been the talented coffee roaster at Silver Bean, the two of them have together created a wide variety of full-bodied and vibrant coffee roasts while sharing a love for animals.

Our Values

We love dogs and coffee (in no particular order) and want to do everything we can to make the world a happier and safer place for our furry friends.

Our coffee is produced using ethically and sustainably harvested beans sold at grocery and retail partners and through our flagship café, Hugo Coffee Shop.

Through the Hugo Coffee Roasters Dog Rescue Mission, with every online purchase, we are able to support small animal rescues throughout the nation. Such as the Best Friends Animal Society Utah, Paws for Life, Nuzzles & Co, and many more. We also collaborate with our retail partners for fundraisers and education and adoption events.

McMullin herself underwrites the local NPR station KPCW’s “Adoptable Moment” show, which benefits Paws for Life. As a result, at least 1 cat or dog is adopted each week the segment is aired. To date, this underwriting has resulted in the adoption of over 200 cats and dogs!

Our Mission Statement

Hugo Coffee’s mission is to save dogs by roasting and selling fantastic fair trade organic coffee. Hugo Coffee Roaster strives to be the go-to coffee for animal lovers nationwide. From the beginning, we wanted to save dogs while making fair-trade organic coffee. The more coffee we sell, the more dogs we’re able to help save!

Join the Hugo Family

Now that you’ve read our origin story, join the Hugo family, and sip our coffee, knowing you’re helping save animals. To find out how to buy our coffee, contact us today!