Leelanau County's own Higher Grounds Trading Company – which bills itself as the only 100-percent fair trade and organic coffee company in Michigan – has outgrown its spaces in the county and will relocate permanently to Traverse City next month.

Owned by Chris and Jody Treter of Leland, the company has four fulltime employees including its owners, plus three part-time employees.

The Treters established the company in their rented home in Leland in 2002 after performing social work with impoverished, indigenous coffee growers in Mexico.

Three years ago this month, the business moved into the former Michigan Hardwoods building on Schomberg Road in Leland Township.

Chris Treter said that Higher Grounds Trading Company has expanded by about 60 percent annually for each of the past three years and is out of space. The former Michigan Hardwoods building is shared by two other businesses – a clothing manufacturer and a cabinet maker. The Treter’s 1,500 square foot space in the building will be vacant within weeks.

Treter said that expansion of his and his wife’s business will require installation of a $20,000-plus “after-burner” to eliminate smoke from coffee roasting. The additional equipment item will require larger spaces – which the Treters have found in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.

The property was formerly occupied by the Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital and is being redeveloped. Higher Grounds will occupy a new 6,000 square-foot space in the complex. The business will now include a gourmet coffee bar and a tasting room.

The Treters also plan to introduce a bike delivery program to bring fresh roasted coffee beans to the downtown Traverse City area. They also plan to expand their “fair trade” tourism program, which has been taking area residents to the world’s coffee growing regions over the past four years.

Higher Grounds Trading Company works directly with small-scale coffee growers who have formed farmer-owned cooperatives. The Treters work with coffee growers throughout Latin America as well as Africa and Asia.

Chris Treter said he and his wife plan to continue residing in Leelanau County and offering their coffee beans for sale locally. Their website is located at www.highergroundstrading.com.