Partner Spotlight

Branding Iron

A Partner Spotlight from Bondurant

By Mekki Jaidi · Photos by Lindsey Baligad · March 11, 2024

The Branding Iron log cabin in deep snow, a longhorn skull sign over the door
Bondurant · Up the Hoback
Owners
Matt & Jennifer Accurso
Pouring
Our White Spider espresso

Espresso and Empanadas

Bondurant sits up the Hoback from Jackson Hole, ranch country where the road follows the river and the snow piles deep. In the middle of it is a log cabin with a longhorn skull over the door. Inside is the Branding Iron Cafe.

You could drive past and take it for a roadside lunch stop. It came back from harder years than most businesses ever see, the community up here held on to it, and the coffee and handmade empanadas are worth the trip on their own.

I make the drive whenever I can, and it never feels like a supply run. There is always a cup of our own coffee waiting at the end of it. This is the kind of place we got into wholesale to work with.

The Heart of Branding Iron

Owners Matt and Jennifer Accurso came through the Roosevelt Fire, then the pandemic right behind it. Either one can end a small business. They answered by filling the cabin with more than good food and coffee.

The cabin became a refuge for locals and travelers both, and you can taste some of what they came through in every cup and every handmade empanada. When they chose to pour our coffee it never felt like a vendor deal. They hold quality and community to the same standard we do at the roastery.

Around the Cafe

The cafe bar inside Branding Iron with stools and pendant lights
The Bar
The hand-lettered Branding Iron menu board
The Menu Board
An empanada in hand with the first bite taken and the filling showing
First Bite
A jackalope on a shelf among tiny wooden houses
The Jackalope

A Taste of Adventure

The coffee runs from a straight espresso to a latte you can nurse through a slow afternoon, all of it pulled from our White Spider, the espresso we roast in Jackson Hole.

Then there are the empanadas, flaky pastry folded around whatever the kitchen dreams up. Banana Nutella and apple pie carry the sweet side. Biscuit and gravy and a pepperoni pizza version hold down the savory.

The interior wears University of Wyoming colors, and on bright days the sunny porch fills first. Nobody hurries you out. People settle in, and the room fills with talk.

The specials chalkboard listing the day’s empanada fillings
The Day’s Specials, By Hand

A place where you can hang up your spurs and stay awhile.

Beyond the Beans

To me the Branding Iron is what a local business looks like when it refuses to quit. It came through the fire and the shutdowns and still turns out a great cup and a great empanada, one at a time.

I am proud every time I see our beans behind that bar. Next time you head up the Hoback, stop in and taste it for yourself.