Windsor’s Rob Daly takes the helm at Acre Coffee

Acre Coffee announced this morning that it has changed ownership. Founder Steve Decosse has sold the ownership of the coffee portion of the business to longtime local coffee guy, Rob Daly, former CEO of Taylor Maid Coffee (before it became Taylor Lane).
Decosse still owns and will continue to run Acre Pizza.
Daly, who joined Acre Coffee earlier this year as general manager, began his career in coffee 25 years ago at Wolf Coffee in Santa Rosa.
A self-admitted introvert, Daly said he appreciated from an early age the way coffee brings people together.
“My entire life, I’ve loved coffee — what it is and the connection it brings. And so my goal here is to continue with the quality and the experience that Acre has always given and intertwine it more with a neighborhood connection, giving back to the community where we can,” he said. “It’s exciting to me to be able to find a way to connect our community to coffee and coffee with the community,” he said.
The announcement that Daly had purchased the company comes one day after the announcement of the release of a new coffee called “Resilient.” A portion of the profit from Resilient will benefit selected local nonprofits.
“That was my first project, coming into the company,” Daly said.
Daly, who grew up in Petaluma and now lives in Windsor, actually purchased the company in October, but agreed not to announce the sale until the new year.
After working as an executive for local coffee companies for so many years, Daly is excited to finally be an owner.
“I’ve tried to be innovative, and my approach to innovation is about finding deeper connections,” he said. “That’s what I’m always trying to do. Now to actually be able to execute on those ideas is exciting. It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.”
He’s also proud that 98% of the employees decided to stay with the company through the ownership transition.
“One of the things that impressed me about Acre is that there are so many genuine, incredible people inside of the company who really were welcoming and inviting when I joined the company. And, you know, when I saw that — that there’s that passion there — I knew all I needed to do is just kind of give them the freedom and flexibility to show that passion,” he said.
“I couldn’t ask for a better team to lead,” he said later, in an announcement on Instagram, “and am excited each day to see how they share their passion with guests in the stores.”