Do you roast for other people? If so, I have a question

[trk_koa]

We have some friends locally who have recently begun a contract roastery. They roast for their own espresso bar, but also are starting up a sideline of roasting coffee that belongs to other people. I also have a Diedrich that I roast my own coffee and occasionally a batch for someone else,

We were chatting over a beer the other day and this friend asked me what I do if I mess up someone else's coffee. So far I haven't had that happen, so I'm not sure. But since I recently burned a batch of my own, I thought I'd ask here.

What remedy do you employ if you botch a batch of coffee that belongs to someone else? Do you replace the market value of the green bean? The roasted value? Just apologize, not charge for the service and give them their roasted coffee back?

I am thinking of doing more custom roasting and I would like to have a published policy in place before it ever happens.

Thoughts?

Nancy

 

[John P]

It is your job to make certain that all coffee received by a client is to your best standards. If the batch is off, you immediately roast another for them. It's that simple. The client does not need to know about any mistakes behind the scenes. From their point of view, you should be a great roaster who delivers every time.

 

[JumpinJakJava]

Ditto John P.

 

[trk_koa]

The kicker here is that in Kona, the coffee is most likely single estate from their own farm. I can't replace the coffee with their own. I could offer to replace it with some of mine. Is that what you're saying you would do?

 

[eldub]

The kicker here is that in Kona, the coffee is most likely single estate from their own farm. I can't replace the coffee with their own. I could offer to replace it with some of mine. Is that what you're saying you would do?

In that case, you need to be on your "A" game at all times. And that's really not that difficult if you are roasting on quality equipment and pay attention to what you are doing when there are beans in the roaster.

However, if you do mess up, which could happen to anyone, deliver the order, explain that the beans aren't up to your standards and tell them that you won't be charging them for that batch. With any luck, you might retain them as clients.

 

[PinkRose]

trk_koa,

If someone is supplying their green coffee beans, and then you roast the beans for them, you won't be able to replace their green beans, if you mess them up in the roasting process, unless you happen to have some of their beans on hand. Replacing them with some of your different beans would be out of the question.

Having a policy in place from the start is a good idea. They'll need to understand that they're taking a risk handing over their green beans to you to roast. If you roast a couple of batches for them for free at the beginning, and they like the end result, then they'll expect the same result each time you roast for them in the future. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you expect to happen if you trusted your green beans to a roaster, and then that person burned them? I would think that you would at least want to be compensated for the value of the unroasted green beans.

If you're careful, and if your roasting skills are on a professional level, then you probably won't have anything to worry about.

Rose

 

[eldub]

I wouldn't be roasting any batches for free. Instead, let them try coffee you have roasted for yourself and see if they like the results. At that point, they should be able to tell you if they want their beans roasted a bit lighter or darker or at the same level as you roast for yourself. The rest should be easy, imo. But as a professional roaster, I wouldn't be offering my services for free unless maybe a worthwhile charity is involved.

 

[PinkRose]

I was picturing a guy coming into the roastery with a few pounds of his own beans, and then roasting his beans so he could see how you do. If he likes the result, then you'll have an ongoing customer. He won't know how you'll roast his beans (especially if they're expensive Kona beans) until you give it a test run. I see it as a hands-on job interview.

Rose

 

[eldub]

That makes sense.

On the other hand, I could see it taking at least a couple of batches + cupping to get the end results exactly as the customer wants the beans roasted.

 

[trk_koa]

That's it exactly. I have a new roasting client who has a q-grader helping them cup it. We have done 6 batches so far. The q-grader sent me some suggestions for the next batch. I charge a flat rate fee per batch, but think that profile development is taking more of my time and I should charge more for it.

Contract custom roasting isn't my primary business and I'm certainly not making a bunch of money from it to go to great lengths with it. I mostly do it to be helpful because small farms often don't have enough green to go elsewhere (large roasters with minimum batch sizes). Mine is a Diedrich IR3 (circa 2008) so I can do small amounts. If it begins to be a pain, I just won't do it anymore.

First time I ever roasted anyone's coffee besides my own was during the holidays last year. The usual roasters were backed up by several weeks and folks were desperate to get some coffee roasted to fulfill gift orders. So I mostly did it as a favor and charged a flat fee for my time.

This morning i spoke with a friend who had a roastery ruin a big batch of his estate Kona. They had apparently started using a new roaster and didn't quite have it down. They baked it to the point of no flavor. He told me they negotiated a reimbursement of half way between the market price of the green bean and the market value of the roasted.

I appreciate the insights. This is really helpful.
Nancy

 

[JumpinJakJava]

Nancy, with a q-grader doing the cupping of your results, as someone stated already you will continually have to bring you "A game". Personally, I
would like the challenge, but it may lead to more stress than you care to endure. So you have to ask yourself is this worth my time? Time is money.