By the pound or...

[Bardo]

I have noticed that the coffee sold at stores usually comes in 11 oz bags. One of these bags generally lasts my family about a week. If I am emphasizing the freshness of the product, it seems like selling it in the smaller size which will last a week for the average family might be smarter and even more profitable. How do you folks do it?

 

[eldub]

Around here, coffee in the stores comes in 12oz bags. We package 12oz bags that we wholesale to the local markets.

That said, we sell mostly pounds out of our shop, even though we don't package any beans until a customer comes in and places an order. Some buy half pounds but most purchase in increments of a pound.

 

[Bardo]

Ok, thanks. What are the relative price points for wholesale vs retail and 1 lb vs 12 oz? I understand that this may be proprietary, so just the multiple if that works better.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

11 or 12 oz size is generally about pound of green bean. So it would be easier to do the math if you sold 12 oz bags. Most of the decent single origin beans would cost around 2.90-3.50 per pound and after the roasting it would be around 12 oz so you can do the math to figure out the cost.

 

[eldub]

Our beans retail for $14-$16/lb. We wholesale at 65% of the retail prices.

 

[Bardo]

Thank you both for your help. To get the 2.90-3.50 rate, would I have to buy the large 100+ pound bags?

 

[eldub]

That is correct. beans usually come in 130 or 150# bags, depending on country of origin.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

That is 60kg or 70 kg bags.