FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective has acquired Milwaukee-area coffee brand Fiddleheads Coffee.
FairWave is a Kansas City-based coffee conglomerate that owns several brands across the nation. In Milwaukee, it has owned Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company since 2023. Anodyne workers recently unionized, citing pay and management issues.
FairWave co-president Isaac Hodges said the plan is not to merge the two brands. Instead, FairWave intends to focus Milwaukee coffee roasting operations at Anodyne, while Fiddleheads will host a bakery serving the two brands.
“We’re excited to work with the Fiddleheads roasting team to bring roasting to Anodyne and build a Milwaukee roasting hub there,” Hodges told WUWM. “On the other side of that … we can start to see Fiddleheads' bakery grow in the marketplace and serve their incredible pastry program across our Anodyne cafés.”
FairWave is currently in contract negotiations with Anodyne employees after workers there voted unanimously to unionize last spring. WUWM reported that workers said they decided to unionize after a 20% cut in starting pay and retaliatory firings of Anodyne managers.
Hodges declined to comment on the conditions surrounding Anodyne’s unionization. But a FairWave spokesperson said the company had "shifted the starting pay and raise structure for future new hires as they go through training" but did not cut pay for existing staff. The company denied retaliatory firings.
After initially challenging the union election results, FairWave confirmed it has begun contract negotiations with Anodyne workers. Anodyne has cafés in Walker’s Point, the Milwaukee Public Market, Bay View, and Wauwatosa.
FairWave is owned by Great Range Capital, a private equity firm based in the Kansas City area. Its portfolio also includes home improvement services, beauty supplies and sports camps.
A new era for Fiddleheads
Beginning in 1996, Fiddleheads co-owner Ray Marcy said the original idea for the coffee shop came from his daughter Lynn. The company grew steadily from its first café in Thiensville to eight cafés mostly in Milwaukee’s north and west suburbs, with over 80 employees and roasting and bakery operations.
“The organic growth has been strong, and it’s been fun to watch my daughter Lynn’s asset grow from a little tiny café to a pretty sophisticated little business,” Marcy said.
Fiddleheads’ ownership was shared with multiple members of Marcy’s family. He says over the last year, the co-owners were looking at the company’s long-term future and decided it was time to hand over the keys to FairWave.
“It caused us to pause as owners and say ‘Ultimately where do we want Fiddleheads to be?’ Not just a sale but where do we want to place the baby?” Marcy said. “Talking to Isaac and his team over the last 18 months, they just kept affirming to us that putting Fiddleheads in the collective with FairWave is the next best chapter for Fiddleheads.”
Hodges said that he doesn’t expect the acquisition to affect the number of employees at either Fiddleheads or Anodyne. Instead, employees specializing in coffee roasting at Fiddleheads will now work directly with Anodyne.
“It’s important that there is a key leader of the brand that is responsible for their roasting program so that the DNA of their coffee program stays intact wherever the coffee is being roasted,” Hodges said.
Both Marcy and Hodges said Fiddleheads’ current co-owners will consult during the transition.
“Issac and I have scoped out what we’ll begin to conquer first,” Marcy said. “This isn’t about cutting expenses; it’s about coffee people getting together across the country with other coffee people.”
Negotiations with Anodyne union are underway
After initially challenging election results, FairWave is now negotiating with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers union (MASH), which represents Anodyne workers.
“We have started the process, and I know it will be a process. But we’re committed,” Hodges said.
Peter Rickman, president of MASH, confirmed that it had met with FairWave’s legal team once in early December to begin negotiations after the National Labor Relations Board rejected FairWave’s challenges to certifying the union.
“Before this meeting we presented them with a comprehensive proposal, which they said they had not read,” Rickman said. “We have a tentative date set in January for a next meeting, though we requested an earlier date in order to get this deal done and give clarity to the future of Anodyne workers.”
