FairWave Acquires Black & White Coffee Roasters, Lem Butler Out

FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective has made their biggest acquisition yet. The Kansas City, Missouri-based conglomerate’s portfolio already boasts well-known coffee brands like Messenger Coffee, Spyhouse, Anodyne, and Ceremony. And now, their east coast expansion continues with the acquisition of Raleigh, North Carolina’s Black & White Coffee Roasters.

Announced on Wednesday, April 2nd—which is close enough to a certain overplayed joke day that I had to double- and triple-check that this was a real story—Black & White and its three locations have become the 12th brand under the FairWave umbrella. This less than a month after hosting the 2025 US Barista Championship.

“This partnership represents an exciting new chapter for Black & White,” states co-founder Kyle Ramage. “It’s a natural progression that will allow us to build upon our existing foundation and reach new heights.”

The second major revelation in the press release announcing the acquisition is departure of co-founder and 2016 US Barista Champion Lem Butler. Along with Ramage, his successor at the USBC, Butler started Black & White in 2017, and it has since grown into a household name in the specialty coffee world. Per the press release, while Butler will no longer be a par to the roaster and FairWave, he will “remain committed to fostering meaningful and ethical contributions to the specialty coffee industry.”

“I’m incredibly proud of the community we’ve built at Black & White,” Butler states. “We’ve created a unique and accessible elite coffee experience, and I’m confident that this partnership will ensure our team’s continued success.”

Following the operational hierarchy of other FairWave acquisitions, Ramage will stay on to oversee operations as well as the brand’s expansion.

It is perhaps one of the most shocking acquisitions in the specialty coffee world, up there with the likes of Go Get Em Tiger nee G&B Coffee having neither Glanville nor Babinski as part of the operation. Unlike other FairWave acquisition of major coffee brands, Black & White is relatively young; Spyhouse, Anodyne, and Ceremony had all been around for over two decades before the buy-out. Such is the trajectory of specialty coffee right now, and it speaks to a level of uncertainty when one of the most recognizable brands in American specialty coffee is ceding ownership to an equity capital entity.

For more information, visit FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective’s official website.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.