A Bay area coffee company is planning to expand.

Brewing coffee in the shops and roasting beans in the warehouse is all in a day’s work at Kahwa Coffee in St. Petersburg.

Sarah and Raphael Perrier, a husband and wife team, started this now well-known coffee company in 2008.

It began with one shop, now they have five, their coffee is served all over the Bay area and across the country, and they tell Bay News 9 they’re on the verge of opening 10 more shops.

“We’re putting together a company called Kahwa Management to hire people and expand the retail side,” said Raphael and Sarah Perrier, Kahwa Coffee Roasting.

The goal is to open those 10 shops throughout the Bay area over the next 15 months.

“The shops are doing incredibly well, there’s a big buzz around Kahwa Coffee right now, I think it’s the right time to move,” said the Perrier’s.

Sarah and Raphael said their short term goal is to expand their business in the Bay area, but they admit they’re also looking at other markets like Orlando, Miami, New York, and Chicago.

“I mean the idea behind it is to create a company that can compete with the big national chains,” said Raphael.

The Perrier’s believe Kahwa is a strong enough product to compete with Starbucks and the other chain coffee companies.

“We try to create an atmosphere in the shops of the customer service we try to create. We give our employees the chance to be themselves and create kind of a community feel in each shop,” said Raphael.

The Perrier’s said the Kahwa wholesale market is also exploding.

They distribute their coffee to local businesses and restaurants throughout the Bay area.