(Photo by Sam Ehlinger)
After eight years in business, Page Roasting Company will cease operations.
Erin Erdman, the owner and operator of the local roasting company, announced the closure of the business on Instagram.
“It would be really easy to blame it just on the tariffs, but it’s so much more complicated,” Erdman wrote. “One of the reasons I wanted to announce this last minute was because I didn’t want to be bombarded with potential solutions, fixes, ‘what ifs.’ This is happening. And I’m sorry.”
Flying Machine Avionics Coffee, where Erdman has housed her roasting operation since 2017, will remain open.
The vacancy of Page Roasting Company leaves Columbia Street Roastery as the only exclusive roaster within Champaign and Urbana. (Mad Goat Coffee, Espresso Royale and Elm City all have local cafes, but roasting happens out of town).
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to hone a skill like this that allowed me to make some people’s lives a bit easier,” Erdman wrote. “It’s the hardest for me to absorb the reality that people had my coffee in their home kitchen. They brewed it. Poured it in a cup. Perhaps doctored it. And that maybe their day was better. Imagining that scene brings tears to my eyes in writing this post. I hope I helped a little bit.”
Erdman called the buildout of the roastery in 2017 alongside Flying Machine Avionics Coffee “some of the best days” of her life. She thanked and acknowledged Josh Lucas, the owner of the coffee shop, in her post.
“Josh is my best friend, and during these years of tremendous loss, he has lifted me up time and time again,” Erdman wrote.
In a post on the Avionics Flying Machine Coffee Instagram after Erdman’s announcement, Lucas called her “an absolute powerhouse.”
“We have experienced just about everything you could think of together,” Lucas wrote. “How lucky we are all to have shared such a gift that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Both Erdman and Lucas’ businesses were impacted by a November 2023 fire that damaged the South First Street building, which caused fire and water damage that “destroyed much of our inventory and files,” Erdman said.
Now, as Erdman closes up shop, Page Roasting Company will sell off a limited number of the final bags of roasted coffee online and in the shop.
“For now I’m going to roast up and sell my inventory, dismantle and clean up the roaster, and create more seating area for the shop,” Erdman says.
In addition, she says a forthcoming GoFundMe will support the costs of deconstruction, as well as “the financial hole left vacant by my no longer contributing to rent and utilities in the building.”
As she winds down operations, Erdman said she’s hoping customers will respect her privacy, as well as continue to support Avionics Flying Machine.
“I will ask for the dignity and grace to not be questioned or pitched-at for the duration of this transitional period,” Erdman wrote. “I’d like to roast in my little room alone until I’m done. For old times sake.”
Erdman said Avionics Flying Machine is already having conversations with other roosters to “bring you the best coffee around.”
“Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive, loyal and kind for the last 8 years,” Erdman wrote. “I promise my heart breaks as much as yours does.”
Jake Williams is a journalist, editor and publisher, as well as the CEO of the Illini Media Company.