Every few months, another Black Rock Coffee Bar pops up

A third Oregon coffee chain has started pouring its brew in the Treasure Valley.

Portland-based Black Rock Coffee Bar brewed its first Boise pot in September at 1757 W. Chinden Blvd. and opened a second coffee shop in November at 1604 S. Broadway Ave. Three more local Black Rock Coffee Bars will be added this year.

“We had such a warm welcome when we opened on Chinden,” said Mike Goergen, CEO of the Black Rock’s Idaho franchise. “We were just surprised how it stayed busy. We already had plans on Broadway. We started looking at a third site based on the positive reaction at Chinden.”

Goergen, who lives in his native Medford, Ore., and in Boise, and business partner Chris Wright of Meridian broke ground in early May on a two-lane, drive-thru kiosk in Meridian on Fairview Drive at Hickory Way, west of Eagle Road. Goergen expects to open the kiosk in July.

Black Rock follows Grants Pass, Ore.-based Dutch Bros. and Ashland, Ore.-based The Human Bean into the Treasure Valley. Dutch Bros. has 19 drive-thru kiosks in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell and Garden City, and The Human Bean has eight drive-thru kiosks in the Boise metro area.

Black Rock will have five Ada County locations, with a mix of three sit-down coffee shops with a drive-thru lane, and two two-lane drive-thru kiosks. Georgen anticipates building another drive-thru kiosk on Fairview at Ethridge Lane near Cole Road to open in September and a sit-down at Cloverdale and Ustick roads that would open by the end of the year.

“It seemed like we could take some of the overflow from our competition,” Goergen said. “The need is there.”

Goergen said Black Rock leans more toward the Starbucks model. Along with coffee and espresso, the local Black Rocks will offer pastries from Gaston’s Bakery and bagels from Blue Sky Bagels.

The furniture is built by Iron Timber in Nampa, which is also building furniture for Black Rock Coffee Bars in other states, said Goergen, who also is assisting Black Rock in its expansion to other states.

Goergen was college roommates with Black Coffee’s founder and CEO, and he has known business partner Wright since childhood.

Black Rock, founded in 2008, has 40 coffee shops in Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona and Idaho.

“Two years ago, (Black Rock) asked me to grow the Treasure Valley areas,” Goergen said. “I always had a heart for Boise. I’ve been traveling there for 15 years.”

Hatch Design Architecture is the architect for all five Black Rock Coffee Bars in the Treasure Valley. RRC Contractors is the general contractor for the Broadway and Cole/Fairview stores. deBelloy Construction of Boise is the general contractor at Fairview/Eagle and Cloverdale/Ustick.