H and H Coffee

Dedicated to the history of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. founded 1899 in San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio, Texas coffee firm founded and operated by W. E. Hayman. Merged in February 1912 with William Robert Hoffmann’s coffee business to form the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company. The merger announcement appears in the 4 February 1912 San Antonio Express; the formal charter is the 5/6 February 1912 filing reported in Local Firm Gets Charter.

After the merger, Hayman served as president of the consolidated firm until January 1920, when he sold his interest to the Mengers and exited to start the Tucker Coffee Company.

Hayman as owner-operator

Hayman ran Merchants Coffee as a hands-on owner, not a passive investor. The 1911 delivery horse and phone line (New 3025) were managed in his name; trade-press and association listings show a functioning SA business, not an absentee venture. When the 1912 merger formed Hoffmann-Hayman, Hayman entered it as president — the dominant operational partner absorbing Hoffmann’s roasting infrastructure into a business Hayman already controlled day-to-day.

The “Merchants” name

The company name was not generic: it carried a deliberate occupational identity.

  • W. T. Hayman (W. E.’s father) operated a general dry-goods and grocery store at Letart, WV from at least c. 1875 — a merchant’s store prominently advertised on a surviving stoneware jar.
  • W. E. Hayman self-identified as “merchant” in the 1890 Pittsburgh towboat record and the 1897 Cincinnati hotel register, years before he arrived in Texas.
  • When Hayman founded his San Antonio coffee operation c. 1910, he named it Merchants Coffee Company — the same occupational noun his family had carried for a generation.

The name was a statement of continuity: Hayman was a merchant by upbringing and self-identification, and the company name said so.

April 1910 — earliest attestation: Retail Merchants’ Association

The 15 April 1910 San Antonio Light covers a Retail Merchants’ Association meeting and lists Merchants’ Coffee company among firms newly added as members (HH-CLIP-1910-0002). This is the earliest known print attestation, pushing back from the previously known November 1911 Jobbers directory by 18 months.

December 1911 — horse, phone number, and delivery operation

The 24 December 1911 San Antonio Light carries a “Lost, Strayed or Stolen” notice: a brown horse missing since December 14, reward offered by Merchants Coffee Co., new phone 3025 (HH-CLIP-1911-0004). Two details matter:

  • Horse-based delivery: Merchants Coffee ran its own delivery operation with at least one horse as of late 1911.
  • Phone “New 3025”: The 28 January 1917 H&H Morrison acquisition announcement lists H&H’s active phones as “Crockett 7803, Travis 147, New 3025” — confirming the New 3025 line transferred from Merchants Coffee to Hoffmann-Hayman after the 1912 merger and remained in use five years later.

November 1911 — confirmed in SA Jobbers directory

The San Antonio Express “Buy in San Antonio” directory of 19 November 1911 lists Merchants Coffee Company alongside Morrison Coffee Company and many other SA firms — eight weeks before W. R. Hoffmann’s death triggered the merger. A separate “Hoffmann” entry also appears, confirming both businesses were independently listed before the consolidation.

Hypothesis: founded from Western Coffee foreclosure assets

The earliest direct attestation of Merchants Coffee is now April 1910 — just two months after the February 1910 foreclosure suit in which Hayman moved against Western Coffee Company (Wedemeyer).

We have no evidence of Merchants Coffee existing before the foreclosure. The sequence — foreclosure (Feb 1910) → Merchants Coffee documented as a new SA business member (Apr 1910) → merger (Feb 1912) — strongly suggests Hayman founded Merchants Coffee using assets, equipment, customer relationships, or brand knowledge acquired through the Western Coffee foreclosure, converting a creditor’s judgment into a new SA coffee operation.

This would resolve the otherwise puzzling question of how a West Virginia businessman arrived in SA and within two years had a trade-press-listed coffee firm with enough standing to be the lead incorporator of a $20,000 joint venture. If Hayman acquired Western Coffee’s roasting plant (at Buena Vista and Comal) or its customer accounts through the foreclosure, he would have had immediate infrastructure and trade relationships without building from scratch.

The alternative — that Merchants Coffee predated 1910, with Hayman running it as an absentee owner from West Virginia — is possible but requires evidence not yet found.

Research angles: Bexar County deed records and chattel-mortgage filings 1910–1912 (did Hayman take title to Western Coffee’s plant?); SA city directories 1910 and 1911 (first appearance of “Merchants Coffee” listing); Texas SOS entity records for Merchants Coffee Company.

December 1912 — name persists in road bonus subscription list

The 15 December 1912 San Antonio Light Fredericksburg road bonus subscription list includes both “Merchants’ Coffee Co.” and “Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co.” as separate entries (HH-CLIP-1912-0012) — ten months after the February 1912 merger. The most likely explanation is an administrative lag: the subscription was pledged before or shortly after the merger and never updated to the H&H name.

Open questions

  • Founding year: was Merchants Coffee incorporated before or after the February 1910 Western Coffee foreclosure? The April 1910 attestation places the gap at two months or less.
  • Did Hayman acquire Western Coffee’s physical assets through the foreclosure? Bexar County deed and chattel-mortgage records 1910–1912 would show a title transfer if so.
  • Surviving Merchants Coffee artifacts — any tins, ads, or letterheads from the pre-merger period?

See also

People

Companies

Artifacts

  • Beaumont Enterprise, 25 Oct 1908 — Retail Merchants Assoc. (Monroe, LA) endorsement of Merchants Coffee Co. of N.O. Ltd.; brands Victory, Clipper, Yuno, Alameda, Union (Newspapers.com)
  • New Orleans States, 15 Apr 1906 — Union Coffee text ad; Merchants’ Coffee Co. of N.O., Ltd.; 20c/lb, union labor (Newspapers.com)
  • New Orleans States, 16 Oct 1904 — Union Coffee display ad; Merchants Coffee Co. of N.O. Ltd.; 20¢/lb, coupon premium (Newspapers.com)
  • San Antonio Light, 15 Apr 1910 — Retail Merchants’ Association meeting; Merchants’ Coffee Co. listed as new member (Newspapers.com)
  • San Antonio Light, 15 Dec 1912 — Fredericksburg road bonus subscriptions; Merchants’ Coffee, Merchants’ Transfer, H-H Coffee, Morrison Coffee all listed (Newspapers.com)
  • San Antonio Light, 24 Dec 1911 — Merchants Coffee Co. lost horse notice; new phone 3025 (Newspapers.com)