After finishing his Peace Corps service in the South Pacific, Maryland native and Salisbury University graduate Tim Cureton made a life-changing discovery as he visited Australia and New Zealand: a quality and variety of coffee he’d never tasted before. It ended up changing his life.

In 2005, Cureton used a $16,000 business loan to found Rise Up Coffee Roasters , a small-batch roaster and retailer specializing in fair trade and organic coffee. Before food trucks were commonplace, Cureton and co-founder Abby West launched the business as a coffee trailer in a parking lot in the town of St. Michael’s.

For nearly twenty years, Rise Up has followed a simple plan of “cautious growth,” said Noah Kegley, Cureton’s lifelong friend who joined the company in 2010 and serves as a partner and head roaster.

“We are frequently presented with possible retail locations and future business opportunities,” Kegley said. “We look at all of them, and ultimately try to make choices that are best for our employees, customers and communities.”

Today, Rise Up Coffee Roasters operates 12 cafe locations in Maryland and one in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with no plans to stop growing, Kegley said. The number of employees varies by season, but the size of the Rise Up Coffee team currently hovers around 300 people, he said.

The company has an active online store and a wholesale division providing coffee and tea to grocery stores, restaurants and coffee shops. The website offers branded merchandise such as t-shirts, hats, mugs and stickers.

The company will soon launch a mobile app to make ordering food and drinks at the cafes more convenient, Kegley said.

It’s all part of giving customers a welcoming, relaxing experience – as well as great coffee.

“When you walk into a Rise Up cafe, we want you to feel like you are visiting someplace comfortable and familiar,” Kegley said.