WANT TO START A COFFEE ROASTING BUSINESS? HERE IS OUR ADVICE!
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- Опубліковано 6 сер 2023
- We are fast approaching the 2 year anniversary of Cold Blooded Caffeine! In episode 12 of the Cold Blooded Caffeine Podcast, we wanted to offer some of our advice gleaned over the past 2 years to others who may be interested in starting their own coffee roasting business.
This is not a step-by-step guide, but rather some key points to consider along your coffee roasting journey. Some of these points we did well and others we had to learn the hard way. In the end, we learned a lot through the process and are happy to share our experience and advise for those that are interested in learning about coffee roasting or the business side.
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Thanks for sharing all of this valuable information! I really enjoyed watching y'all, and your website is excellent!
Precious knowledge sharing by Professionals.
I'm in the process of starting a coffee business online.... I found a roaster that private label and is transparent ( which I love). Since I started this journey I figured that I would taste my competitors ( in my area) coffee. This roaster has a nice market BUT , the coffee is very bitter, leaves a bitter after taste and it was like drinking prune juice, apple cider and taking ex lax all at once ❗️ Yes as a roaster they can sell their coffee cheaper than me BUT they don't have a why they are selling coffee ( cause) and sampling the coffee I'm going to sell smells and tastes better.
I asked a woman who sells the coffee at their store and was told they use filter water and clean the coffee maker. I'm thinking that since 2 different places have the same coffee and I see the same results....it has to be in the way the roaster is roasting the beans. What do you think ❓️
Yes, I agree with your conclusion that the roaster is likely roasting in a way that is creating those less than ideal flavor notes. I would suspect that they are likely roasting either lower quality or past crop beans and trying to overcome that by roasting darker or faster. At the end of the day, though, what you said is 100% correct. You have to be happy with the product that you are putting out. If you like the beans that comes from your private label roaster better and can speak to the quality difference, that will go a long way towards success.
Great to listen to your story and advice! Although we started around the same time, my primary roaster is still a Gene Cafe and backup a popcorn machine :)
I think that it is great to spend some time roasting on a Gene Cafe and/or popcorn roaster because it really helps you understand the theory of roasting without all of the bells and whistles of some of the more automated roasters.
This has been so helpful guys, much love for UK 🇬🇧 ☕️
Thank you so much, glad to help!
Thank you! Great info! Good luck on your guys journey.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing. Would love to hear how you guys started from day one up to this video. How you guys built up to this current status.
We can definitely make a follow-up video to talk about the journey of building our roastery from day one to the present. Thanks for the idea.
@@coldbloodedcaffeine Awesome. 👍
I want to start coffee roasting business in US Can you help me about the business ? how to start it ??
So how do you sell your beans you roast? It seems like there are 1000s of people doing this now.. how does one start up and make enough to survive on in this business? I am going purely by rough costs I see in stores (which have upsell added) and like.. $12 a lb or so seems about normal. When you add in green bean costs, electricity bill, bags (with company info, etc).. I feel like its going to run about $8 to $9 a lb just to produce the beans, not including labor (time) to watch the machines (starting out small.. they all seem to require manual intervention to avoid ruining the roasts) and bagging up the coffee. That's not including paying back the CC/loans to get started and buy equipment (or even lease it). I love the process of roasting and possibly making some great coffee. But there are so many variety now on the market especially with so many small roasting businesses, I don't know how you make and earn enough to survive. I mean.. roughly speaking my living costs alone are on the low end $6K a month.. and with my kids living at home (thanks to an utter crap job market despite numbers saying otherwise) even more. So somehow I'd have to pull in about 15K a month (gross) JUST for me.. that's a whole crap ton of coffee sold. Hence I am looking to get an Aillo Bullet R2 and laser engraver and just try to do some side roasting and possibly farmers market once a week for a couple hours.
All very good points! As with any business, it will absolutely take time to build up a client base that will be able to support a full-time income. To answer your firest question, we sell our beans primarily through ecommerce, however we do sell to some wholesale customers as well as through some other outlets. From a roasting standpoint, we think that it is essential to create a brand that differentiates yourself from other roasters. As you mentioned, if you try to just compete head to head with large, established brands in the specialty coffee space, it will be very difficult for you to gain market share. Find something unique to your brand based on location, interests, or a cause that can set you apart. For us, that is wildlife conservation specific to reptiles and amphibians. We then started vending trade shows specific to that market to build relationships with other key players in that space. So, instead of trying to compete in the crowded specialty coffee industry, we became the go to source for coffee in the reptile and amphibian industry. Another thing you can do is look for alternate sources of revenue while you grow the roasting side. We did that by buying a turnkey coffee delivery business that could help start paying the bills day one while we grew the roastery. But other people do the same thing with buying a cafe, a coffee truck, etc. You automatically create an outlet for your roasted coffee yourself. If you would like to talk more about getting started with your coffee roasting business, we would be happy to help in any way that we can. Feel free to reach out at info@coldbloodedcaffeine.com.
@@coldbloodedcaffeine You guys are awesome! Thank you for the great info. I may be reaching out soon.
I'm currently buying my beans from Burman but am looking for reliable, good wholesalers. Can you recommend some good coffee wholesalers?
The 2 importers that we use most frequently are Cafe Imports and Balzac Brothers depending on what we need. Both are really great. If you are just getting started and looking for smaller bags as a step up from Burman but don't want to go to full 60 or 66kg bags, check out La Bodega. They are owned by Cafe Imports but do 50 lb bags with free FedEx shipping.
@@coldbloodedcaffeine Thank you so much for the info! I will check them out.
Stay away from contacting "importers" directly. Get in contact with an annex. There were only 3 a few years ago before i sold out.
Do some cuppings. Figure out what you actually want. Dont let a car sales man sell you what he says you want.
If you are going to be taking your business anywhere you are going to want a few sources for the region of your choice.
And most of all when you are developing your profiles, do not forget about seasons. You will not be able to get the same beans year round.
Did you guys start roasting small batches at home before committing to getting a bigger roaster?
Yes, we started experimenting with roasting at home on a Fresh Roast SR800 (you can see the base of it in the video on the upper left of the shelf in the background) before we decided to move forward with a bigger roaster.
@@coldbloodedcaffeine I was looking at that one. Did yall sell out of your house before moving into a new location? Im actively working on starting a roasting business myself
Yes, we sold online out of my house for the first 6 months or so before we moved into our first roastery. Let us know if you have any other questions, we are happy to help.