Office Coffee Service Pioneer Al Hacker Dies At 77

BOCA RATON, FL -- Albert Hacker, a pioneer in the workplace services industry, died here on May 6. He was 77.

Hacker, a native of Detroit, began his career as a restaurateur after serving for six years in the U.S. Navy, during two years of which he was assigned to the destroyer tender U.S.S. Sierra with the rating of yeoman. He separated from the service in 1962 and went on to own several well-known restaurants in Detroit, including Biff's and the Rascal House.

While operating his restaurants, he was introduced to the Bunn-O-Matic A10 pour-through brewer by his coffee roaster, Continental Coffee. Relocating to Florida, Hacker owned and operated Jahn's Restaurant in Coral Gables. In 1976, he cofounded his first coffee service operation, Gourmet Coffee Service, in partnership with Fred Steiner, an old friend from Detroit who had started Imperial Coffee & Services in Toronto.

Hacker and Steiner sold Gourmet to Standard Coffee (New Orleans) in 1986. Hacker subsequently spent several years with Standard, overseeing its urban-area branch operations. He and Steiner then joined forces again to launch Park Avenue Office Services (Dania, FL) in 1992. They went on to build Park Avenue into the largest independent coffee service company in Florida. Hacker and Steiner sold the company to Aramark in 2006.

Well-respected in the coffee service industry for his professionalism and willingness to share information and insights, Hacker was honored by the National Beverage & Products Association in 2003 by induction into its Hall of Fame (see VT, April 2003). In 2006, after the successful sale of his operations, he retired after 30 years in the coffee business.

He is survived by his wife Beverly; children Marcy and Steven Lippman, Steven and Jill Hacker, and Carrie Hacker; and five grandchildren.