FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective has appointed longtime hospitality executive Justin Seamonds as CEO, as the Kansas City-based specialty coffee “collective” continues its acquisition-driven expansion across multiple U.S. markets.
Seamonds, who is also described as the company’s “Prime Minister of Fun,” previously served as CEO of Chicago-based fast food chain Roti from 2020 to 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also held numerous executive roles at gourmet food brand and grocery/cafe chain Dean & DeLuca from 2008 to 2016.
FairWave, based in Kansas City and backed by Great Range Capital, has not publicly named a CEO since the departure of founding CEO Dan Trott in 2023. During that period, the company has expanded its retail and roasting footprints through acquisitions of numerous specialty coffee companies.
Acquisitions have included Minneapolis-area brands such as Spyhouse Coffee Roasters and Up Coffee Roasters, Milwaukee’s Anodyne Coffee Roasters and Fiddleheads Coffee, Maryland’s Ceremony Coffee Roasters and North Carolina’s Black & White Coffee Roasters, along with the Feb. 2026 deal for North Carolina roaster-retailer Joe Van Gogh Coffee.
FairWave was founded in 2020 with the merger of Kansas City-based specialty coffee roaster-retailers Messenger Coffee and The Roasterie. The group now spans 14 different coffee and bakery brands, six production roasteries and approximately 45 cafes.
Through each of the acquisitions, the group has kept the individual brands intact. According to an announcement from FairWave today, Seamonds will be traveling to each market to learn about each of the FairWave brands’ “successes and the unique communities they serve.”
“Each brand in this collective has built something extraordinary,” Seamonds said in the announcement. “My job is to protect each brand’s unique identity while strengthening our work together as a collective.”
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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