FairWave Acquires Milwaukee’s Fiddleheads Coffee

A Fiddleheads Coffee location in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. FairWave press photo.

FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective has acquired Wisconsin roaster-retailer Fiddleheads Coffee, adding another Midwest brand to its portfolio of specialty coffee companies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Based in Thiensville, Wisconsin, Fiddleheads has grown to eight cafes across the Milwaukee area since its founding in 1996.

“Fiddleheads is our family’s baby,” Fiddleheads owner Ray Marcy said in an announcement shared by FairWave. “It was really important to us that if we ever did decide to sell, it would be to someone who works in coffee — someone who understands how special Fiddleheads is to us, and how special it has become to the local community here.”

A Fiddleheads Coffee location in Menomnee Falls, Wisconsin. FairWave press photo.

Fiddleheads marks FairWave’s 12th brand in the specialty coffee roasting, retail and bakery categories. In Milwaukee, FairWave is also the owner of Anodyne Coffee Roasters, which was acquired in 2023.

Launched in 2020 with the combined acquisition of Kansas City’s The Roasterie and Messenger Coffee, plus individual Messenger-owned retail brands, FairWave has since grown its brand portfolio to include Maryland’s Ceremony Coffee Roasters and Minneapolis’ Up Coffee Roasters and Spyhouse Coffee Roasters. Last year, the conglomerate acquired Raleigh, North Carolina-based Black & White Coffee Roasters.

FairWave — which has positioned itself as a shared-services “collective” — is listed as an active portfolio company of suburban Kansas City-based private equity firm Great Range Capital.

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