Beloved Halifax coffee shop Java Blend changing hands

A family-run coffee shop that's become synonymous with Halifax's north end has been sold, but the new owners say they have no plans to mess with a good thing.

Java Blend Coffee Roasters, which has been roasting and brewing coffee since 1938, will be run by the people who own Cortado Tasting Room in Bedford and the Sine Coffee Labs in downtown Halifax.

"I like to say we were north-end cool before the north end was cool," said former owner Jim Dikaios. "We've been here forever, and I think we're just fortunate that the community evolved around us and sort of adopted us as their coffee spot."

His father, Peter Dikaios, bought the business from founder Theodore Sideris in the early 1970s, and moved the operation from Hollis Street to its current home on North Street in the 1980s.

It was a hard decision to sell the business his family grew into a Halifax institution, said Dikaios, who started working in the coffee shop when he was just 11.

He eventually bought the business from his dad in 2004. The senior Dikaios is now 86 and up until a few weeks ago was still involved in the business.

I'm not sure that I could find a better fit for somebody to move the company forward."​​​​​​- Jim Dikaios, former owner of Java Blend

"My initial plan was to put a 'For Sale' sign on it when I turned 60. I'm 58 now. It really came down to the right people looking to purchase the business," said Dikaios, who added that he will stay on as a consultant.

"I'm not sure that I could find a better fit for somebody to move the company forward."

The new owners, Joe Dunford, Alex Lee and Adam Bose, were Java Blend customers and sought out Dikaios's help when they opened their own café in Bedford three years ago.

Dunford said taking over Java Blend feels like being welcomed into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

He thinks one of the reasons the coffee roaster has been so successful is that it brought people behind the scenes. Customers need to walk through the roasting room to get to the washrooms.

New owners will keep same 20 staff on

"So you get a look inside what Java Blend is and you don't necessarily get to see that with a lot of places, so it really opens up people's experience with coffee," Dunford said.

The business employs 20 people, some of whom have been there for well over a decade. All staff will remain on the job, said Dunford.

"I've got a mix of nervous excitement, disbelief. I want to learn as much as possible about the people who work here and run this place, how they do it, how they've endeared themselves to so many different people," he said.

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