Meet The Team Behind The Beans

Vicki Wilson - President and Founder

Vicki Wilson, a woman with a love for coffee and a love for Door County who made her dream a reality. With a smile on her face, Vicki will tell you about the days she brushed the coffee beans out of her hair after roasting and then hit the road to start calling on customers with her one employee in 1993. Now, all these years later, the Door County Coffee tradition continues to grow each year with now 65 plus staff working behind the leadership of this incredible business woman.

Along with her husband Doug, Vicki continues to make the decisions that are not only good for company growth, but most importantly for her employees. She always says that her first job is “people” and by that she means her team. She often says, “we are in the people business, we happen to roast coffee!” Her positive outlook on life and smart business sense is passed to all of the nearly 65 employees daily as she gives them continued opportunities to learn and grow.

Vicki has also passed this on to a few other important people in her life, her grown sons Doug and Conrad, who have worked in many capacities throughout the company over the years and truly are excellent examples of their incredible parents. Prior to starting this business in 1993, Vicki spent years as a buyer for both Ben Franklin at its Chicago Headquarters and with Shopko Corporation at its General Office in Green Bay. 

Sam Ford - Cafe Manager

Meet Samantha, the girl who’s known for serving Aaron Rodgers a drink the drive-thru! Yes, it’s true, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers rolled in and ordered a few lattes one morning and somehow Sam managed to keep it together…until he left of course☺ MVP or not, Sam truly loves interacting with anyone who visits and considers many of them family. Putting a smile on the faces of the regulars in our family who visit every day and catching up with the summer folks who return after the winter is the favorite part of her job!

With many years of experience under belt as a Barista in the Café, Sam was promoted to the role of Café Manager in 2013 and does an outstanding job as you will see as soon as you enter our Café. Making sure each guest that walks through our doors has a great experience is no small task, but ​one she takes seriously. Or if you want a good referral for the best coffee each season, she can help as her favorites are Death's Door - our signature dark roast - in the summer, Pumpkin Spice in the Fall and of course Candy Cane in the Winter!!!

When she’s not here making lattes for quarterbacks, she can be found putting her creativity to use Scrapbooking and Stamping. Though she loves being in Door County with her family, her father was in the Service and being a Coast Guard "brat" she traveled her whole life… from Alaska to New York and everywhere in between! 

Beth Gunderson - Director of Food Service

Having worked for Door County Coffee since 1999, Beth sure has had an opportunity to make a contribution to this business. Besides, being the master “mixologist” of new fun beverages in the Café, Beth has worked as Barista, Assistant Retail Manager, Accounts Payable and Receivable Specialist, Executive Assistant and now Director of Food Service. Whew! Now that’s a wide variety of duties! Which is why we should take Beth’s word for it, when she says Black & Tan is the best coffee we have!

Recommending coffees is one of her favorite things to do for customers too as she uses the skills she’s learned over the years to help café owners and food service operators build and grow their business. She also digs just hanging out at home with her family and friends cooking and having a few laughs. No-one leaves her house hungry! 

Erin Hackbart - Director of Grocery and Mass

A Door County native, Erin has grown up knowing Door County Coffee as a treat to enjoy. Now she gets to share that treat with our customers and partners in the grocery world! One of her favorite job perks is getting to drink a different coffee flavor every day; if she had to choose, Peanut Butter Crunch would be her favorite brew. As the Director of Grocery and Mass, Erin’s main priority is continually improving our relationships with Grocery Store Management teams and the many distributors who serve them. Her goal is to be the coffee of choice for shoppers across the Midwest!

When she isn’t walking the aisles at grocery stores, you can find Erin playing with her amazing family of 5 or working in the garden. She loves being outside, if that’s summer time at the beach or winter time sledding. Cooking from scratch is a must at the Hackbart house, with homegrown veggies, chicken, honey, and artisan bread. With many little hands ready to help, the whole family gets to try new things at their growing homestead!

Doug Wilson - Director of Business Development

The oldest son of Door County Coffee’s founders, Doug has been exposed to the coffee roasting business since 7 years old. After graduating college with a dual major in Finance & Economics, along with a semester abroad at Westminster University, Doug returned to the family business as the Director of Grocery. Now, as the Director of Business Development, he’s in charge of managing our Food Service & Grocery Divisions and leads: Product Innovation, Export Programs and Packaging Design. Doug is excited to see how much the company has grown since inception and thinks this there’s much more growth ahead!

He has also grown the Door County Coffee family with the addition of his lovely wife Katie and daughter Livia.

Erin Hoffman - Director of E-Commerce

Erin Hoffman has the exciting role of Director of E-Commerce and she has been a coffee lover from the get-go! With the E-Commerce side of the business expected to double each year as the on-line world booms, growth in this area is critical for the company. Each day Erin loads up on her favorite, Irish Crème and gets busy.

Erin’s primary role is to maintain an ongoing relationship with our existing customers who order on-line or call to have coffee shipped to their home. Equally as important, are her efforts to cast a wider net and reach more and more people through the website, e-mail marketing and social media. When she’s not with us, she can be found following her children from one sporting activity to another.

Even more, she enjoys getting to know folks that visit the Café or chat with us on-line to learn all about why they love Door County Coffee and then translates that to build relationships with more coffee drinking customers! 

Allie DeGuelle - Social Marketing & Brand Communications

Allie works on the E-commerce side of things at Door County Coffee, along with being our Social Media Guru and our Blogger! Her love of coffee, especially Frosted Cinnamon Buns, and her background in Journalism and Communication, made her a great fit with our Door County Coffee family! From helping with the website, taking pictures of all things Door County Coffee, to writing our blog “Coffee Explorer”, she helps keep our out-of-Wisconsin fans and customers feeling like they are right here in Door County with us, no matter where they actually are!

Her favorite part of the job is getting to be creative by taking pictures, writing blogs and keeping our social media on the up and coming! You can usually find her taking photos of our crazy team, or putting together videos for the latest TikTok trend. 

When she isn’t drinking coffee and writing the next great blog piece, she can be found playing with her 2 dogs, Lexi and Reggie, or playing board games with her husband! She also loves to get out an explore any and every part of Door County whenever she can, especially the many wineries!

Amanda Wilson - HR & Quality Assurance Specialist

Amanda joined Door County Coffee in 2012 as a barista & server and worked through high school and college in our Café. Her love of people and kind nature made her a natural “people pleaser” and the café folks wanted to keep her forever, but Doug & Vicki had bigger plans for this bright girl and after her college graduation, she was promoted to HR Specialist. She is still that “people pleaser” but now that talent is used internally to keep our over 50 great folks engaged, productive and happy in their roles at DCC. She’s always thinking of fun ways to thank our team and let them know how much they are valued.

Her role has been expanded to Food Safety and Quality Assurance. She married her high school sweetheart, Conrad (son of the founders) and they have two sweet young children Elsie and Christian , along with a dog Kobie.

Jaye Roberts - Director of Roasting

Jaye Roberts is our Roasting Team Leader and has been with Door County Coffee since 2013. You can't miss him in the roasting facility, because he stands 6'7" tall! Everything starts with our freshly-roasted coffee and Jaye and his team know how critical their job is to our company’s success and most importantly to our customer’s happiness! Our roasting team is constantly creating new blends and roasts and finding ways to ensure our coffee is shipped to customers at it’s peak freshness! It’s a big job for some big guys!

When Jaye isn't roasting coffee, you can find him hanging out with his  wife, 3 kids and his cat and dog! Jaye also coaches basketball and Track & Field at Gibraltar High School!

Rhonda Hanson - IT and Graphic Design

Rhonda joined Door County Coffee in 1998 as a part-time order filler and jokester! Wow, has her role changed over the years. She’s still a jokester, but since that time, she’s developed real mastery in our e-commerce business, developing and refining our website. She also designs and develops our monthly newsletters, ads and signage and is our resident techno-geek!

When she’s not at Door County Coffee she enjoys her family, gardening, wood working & helps her husband Butch with his concrete business. You can also find her hanging out with her pets and being crafty when it gets colder!

Doug Wilson Sr. - CEO & CFO

Behind every great woman is a great man and Doug Sr. has been just that as co-founder, biggest supporter and rock to his wife, Vicki. It was Vicki’s idea to start this business, but it was Doug’s R & D and engineering mind that developed the roasting process and all things manufacturing. Doug is a graduate of West Point, where he started his career in the US Army and was recruited to Procter & Gamble. Doug “kept his day job” as an engineer while working nights, weekends and even early mornings to help the business grow.

Fast forward – Doug Sr officially retired from a great and fulfilling career at P & G in 2013 to work one job – ONE BIG JOB at DCC. He’s been the brains of the roasting and manufacturing process and has passed his engineering brilliance on to his son, Conrad, who with him continue to strive for excellence and continuous improvement. When he’s not at the plant working, he’s enjoying every one of our coffees at home in the woods in Door County.

Conrad Wilson - Plant Engineer

As the youngest son of Door County Coffee's founders, Conrad grew up in the business. He started as a dishwasher, then moved to barista and waiter mastering the hospitality side of the company. After graduating from Milwaukee School of Engineering, he put his engineering skills to work outside the family business but always hoped to return to it. As the business grew, it required his engineering talent for continuously improving the processes to keep mugs full of what we all call the “best coffee on the planet!”

He is married to his high school sweetheart, Amanda (who also works in the family business), and they have a beautiful baby daughter, Elsie. When Conrad is not working, you can find him hanging with his family, watching anything involving Wisconsin sports, or playing with his dog, Kobe.

Karen Brauer-Fulfillment Team Leader

Karen’s love of coffee started at about 5 years old when she would have a cup with her dad on Sunday mornings… back then it was mostly milk and sugar! These days she drinks pots full of coffee instead of just a cup on Sunday mornings. Her favorites are Highlander Grogg and Black & Tan.Of all the days, she started work at Door County Coffee filling orders on Cyber Monday 2021! Today she is the Fulfillment Team Leader. She and the fulfillment team make sure that all our e-commerce and wholesale orders get filled accurately and shipped out quickly to Door County Coffee fans all over the world. The team also fills orders for and delivers to many restaurants, lodging facilities, grocery stores, banks, and clinics throughout Door County.

Outside of work Karen and her husband enjoy golfing, travel, craft breweries and all the many parks and entertainment venues throughout beautiful Door County…. north of ordinary is great!

Teri Stauber - Retail Manager and Buyer

Teri is our Retail Manager and Buyer of all things beautiful for our store! She started 21 years ago in our Café as a cook, waitress, barista and also worked in our retail store! She rose through the ranks to Assistant for many years and assumed the role of Retail Manager and Buyer in 2015. Since then, she’s grown the retail business, added new categories, focused on trends and has also been on our Leadership Team since 2015.

When not at work, she can be found at her cabin in the Northwoods (no cell service and she likes it that way!

Mary LaPlant - Assistant Retail Manager

Mary is our Assistant Retail Manager and has been with the company since 2016. She started during High School as a part-time barista, waitress, retail person and before we knew it, we couldn’t be without her. She’s grown in her responsibility and is the right-hand woman to our Retail Manager & Buyer. She has her own categories of responsibility and has been learning everything she can from her mentor!

Her favorite coffee is Peanut Butter Crunch and when she’s not at work she’s on her family’s dairy farm – just 2 minutes from work!

Barb Fochs - Production Team Lead

Barb joined the team in 2007 as an order filler and became the first machine operator for the 10 oz packaging machine. She also learned to run every machine we had as well as roasting.
In 2015 she assumed the responsibility of Production Team Lead and Flavor Innovator. She schedules and maintains inventory on all sizes and flavors of packaged coffee for all avenues of the business ensuring that every customer has their favorite coffee to start the day. She schedules and over sees special projects and can usually be found in the warehouse counting. She also really enjoys finding all the new flavors for everyone to enjoy. If you ask what her favorite is, she says she can’t pick just one.