Centralia's Fiddlers Coffee transitions to new family ownership as founder looks forward to retirement

Fiddlers Coffee was first established in 2013 after originally opening as Cuppa Joe in 2004. It is run by Centralia's Voetberg family.

Founder Joe Voetberg is preparing to pass off the coffee shop and café's ownership to his son, Rudy Voetberg, and son-in-law, Ben Hansen.

The trio met with The Chronicle at Fiddlers Coffee - located just off Interstate 5 at the corner of Mellen Street and Noble Lane - on Friday, May 29, to find out why Joe is passing the torch and what plans Rudy and Ben have now that they'll be at the business' helm.

Joe's main reason for stepping aside is simple, but big. Spending more time with his family is what he has planned, and given his family's size, he needs all the free time he can get.

"I've got a wife I love spending time with. I got 39 grandchildren that are taking up my time," Joe said. "Rudy and Ben have a lot more energy than I do, and a lot more vision."

Both Rudy and Ben have already been working at Fiddlers for years, with Ben having started off as a barista. Though Fiddlers provided Ben with more than just a job, as he ended up marrying one of Joe's daughters, Brice. Ben has been married to Brice for 17 years.

"Now, I have a granddaughter working here," Joe added.

Joe stated Ben has been with the business since it was originally known as Cuppa Joe, but over the past decade has slowly moved into managerial and administrative roles while also working as a realtor.

"Ben really helped me get this going, helping transition from the drive-thru into what we built out here," said Joe.

What they have built is a contemporary, two-story coffee shop and café where customers can enjoy their brew in a musically-themed atmosphere with real instruments decorating the walls along with the Voetberg's many National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest trophies.

"And Rudy, he was probably taking money through the drive-thru window when he was 6 years old," Joe said.

Aside from getting his start at the business at a young age and continuing to work there through high school, Rudy just graduated and earned a degree from the Liberty University School of Business.

While Rudy's siblings all worked at Fiddlers at one point or another, they've all found other careers now, leaving Rudy, as the youngest sibling, with the choice of continuing to run the family business together with Ben.

As for their plans for the future, they have closed their double-sided, drive-thru Chehalis location to concentrate on the Centralia café.

"The double-sided, drive-thru version of coffee is a lot different than the café style," Ben said. "We just want to focus our energies here, and the market's really saturated with the double-side drive-thru's anyway."

While they do have some small projects planned to make changes at the café in the future, those are on hold right now while the ownership transition takes place, Rudy added.

"The goal is to really capitalize on what we have going on right now. We have a great setup, dad built such a great business, so we want to learn that well first," Rudy said. "Centralize all our energy, and then figure out where we want to go from there. I think the sky's the limit once Ben and I figure out how to fill dad's shoes."

As for the coffee, beans will continue to come from Caffé D'arte Coffee Roasters in Federal Way.

"They've been a great partner, they were so helpful in getting us set up, and they gave us a lot of guidance and resources that we were looking for in the beginning," Joe said.

When he was first getting Fiddlers off the ground, getting quality pastries was another aspect of the business Joe knew he had to get right - and he found the right baker in Eric Wearner, co-owner of the Market Street Bakery & Café in Chehalis.

"We've been with Eric over there since we started here. We knew the bakery was so essential and quality baked goods were part of the business plan," Joe added.

Being connected to the community is another key aspect of their business plan, and they sell other goods including candles, honey and cookies and more all made by other local businesses.

"We really are grateful for the opportunity. It's been a vision that's been really fruitful, we're really happy with the results and we want to carry it on," said Joe. "Because we feel it's just been a shining gathering place for the community. And we've employed a lot of people through here. We've had a lot of good people come through. It's been a joy to be a part of it, and I know you guys will enjoy it too, the next generation."

Fiddlers Coffee is located at 1220 Mellen St. in Centralia just off Exit 81 on I-5, and is open from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

To learn more, visit its website at http://www.fiddlerscoffee.com/, or follow Fiddlers on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/fiddlerscoffee/ or Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fiddlerscoffee.

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