Community Coffee Co. L.L.C. is the largest family-owned coffee brand in the United States. The company was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1919 by Henry Norman Saurage, whose grandson, Henry Norman Saurage III, remained chairman of the board of directors in 2002. Community was the first company in North America to develop vacuum-sealed bag packaging and is now the owner of a patent on vacuum-sealed whole bean dispensers for retail outlets. Unofficially regarded as the ?state coffee? of Louisiana, Community sells its signature ?red bag? coffee in grocery stores across the Gulf South, through mail- and Internet-ordering, and through its subsidiary CC?s Gourmet Coffee Houses in Louisiana and Texas. Laying the Foundation for Success: 1919-76 Community Coffee began with Henry Norman ?Cap? Saurage in 1919 when Saurage opened the Full Weight Grocery in Baton Rouge and began selling his own unique blend of coffee. Saurage bought a variety of freshly roasted beans from New Orleans, mixed them according to his own tastes, ground and packaged the coffee by hand, and delivered it to his local customers by horse-drawn wagon. By 1924, demand for the coffee was so great that Saurage could hardly fill all of his orders. He closed the grocery store and converted the barn in his own back yard into a coffee mill and packaging plant in order to devote himself to the coffee business full time. Saurage named his product ?Community? in recognition of his devoted local customers. As the reputation of Community Coffee grew, Saurage began delivering his coffee to stores and restaurants. Cap Saurage was famously meticulous about the quality of his product, and his son, H. Norman Saurage, Jr., was no different. In 1941, shortly after assuming the helm of the company, H. Norman bought a Jabez Burns ?Jubilee? Roaster, and Community began roasting its beans in-house. By controlling this crucial phase of coffee production, he argued, the company would be able to guarantee an even greater level of quality and freshness. In 1946, production expanded further when the family built its first modern coffee roasting and packaging plant in downtown Baton Rouge. During these years, the company also began filling orders by mail upon request. In the 1960s, Community began importing its own beans directly from Brazil. At the time, this was highly unusual for a company of Community?s size; most companies purchased their beans from brokers. The move was indicative of Community?s dedication to maximizing quality control and further streamlining all phases of production. In the early 1970s, Community built a new and improved plant on the other side of the Mississippi River, in Port Allen. At the new location, Community could receive shipments of green coffee beans straight off the cargo ships that came into the port of Baton Rouge.