Feedback Appreciated: Building a Brand Using Only Coffee from My Family's Farm

[vazzurri]

Hi all -

I wanted to get your take on a concept that my wife and I are pursuing very aggressively. We want to launch a coffee roasting and retail business initially using only coffee from her family's farm in Brazil. We feel that there is enough variety with the coffee that we could feature 3-4 products. The coffee itself would be 100% specialty and Arabica with Q scores in the 83-90 range. There is enough coffee to sustain a few shops, and if we (hopefully) max out her farm's capacity, there are other family farms to transition to.

Obviously this means we are looking at a very niche segment...but we think it can work. We don't think there are many other coffee businesses in the US that can claim that their family has a hand in the whole coffee supply chain (from production to pouring the cups of coffee) and think this is a pretty cool differentiator. Question is - would enough retail clients and wholesale clients also think it .

Why we think this would be successful - leaving the hard work, marketing, etc out of it for a second:

• We will be using high quality / great tasting coffee
• We are passionate about our coffee
• We are passionate about sharing a part of us with our clients
• We believe there are enough potential clients out there that are looking to get so close to the source they can touch

Look forward to your feedback!

Victor

 

[ensoluna]

it is a good idea!
however, few things to think about.

1. your retail shop or someone else must be able to import your own coffee from Brazil. this is bit complicated matter, so you need to look into it.

2. your cost of imported coffee might be high unless you import by a container. I do not know how much of coffee your own farm produces it, but unless you import by a container (20'), your transportation cost will be much higher if you consolidate. Also, think about green coffee warehousing...etc

3. you might lose out some customers who want some other country coffee.

4. you said that "we believe there are enough clients who are looking to get so close to the source". you must think of some sort of marketing that you can really convince the customers on this matter.

good luck.

 

[vazzurri]

Items 1 and 2 are already accounted for. Our family is already importing green coffee to the US. My wife and I want to start up an activity using a small amount of that coffee.

Understood about item 3. Who knows...with time we may introduce coffee from "partner farms" from other countries - farms with whom we are able to establish close knit relationships.

Item 4 will require heavy lifting for sure.

Thanks again...let me know if you've got other feedback!

Victor

it is a good idea!
however, few things to think about.

1. your retail shop or someone else must be able to import your own coffee from Brazil. this is bit complicated matter, so you need to look into it.

2. your cost of imported coffee might be high unless you import by a container. I do not know how much of coffee your own farm produces it, but unless you import by a container (20'), your transportation cost will be much higher if you consolidate. Also, think about green coffee warehousing...etc

3. you might lose out some customers who want some other country coffee.

4. you said that "we believe there are enough clients who are looking to get so close to the source". you must think of some sort of marketing that you can really convince the customers on this matter.

good luck.

 

[ensoluna]

As for marketing wise, how about tracking who has bought the most coffee from your retail shop and take him/her to Brazil coffee farm trip?
I bet that you can use this (photos, videos, youtube..etc) for your own shop marketing.

 

[vazzurri]

We are on the same page with marketing ideas. Thought about some type of origin trip once a year when we get back to select our coffees.

As for marketing wise, how about tracking who has bought the most coffee from your retail shop and take him/her to Brazil coffee farm trip?
I bet that you can use this (photos, videos, youtube..etc) for your own shop marketing.

 

[ensoluna]

if you do not mind, can you tell us how you are importing the beans into USA? are you importing on your own? or you are using someone else to import for you?
there are a lot of people in forum who ask this question quite often and you might be able to help.
thanks

 

[vazzurri]

I'm not very close to the export (from Brazil) and import (into the US) process...this is my father in law's and my wife's uncle's business. They have a company in Brazil and a company in the US that act as the exporter and importer.

But as I understand it:
1. Once the coffee arrives at the port of export, they work with someone there to ensure all the paper work is in order for the coffee to be exported - this company also arranges the ocean freighter
2. Once the coffee arrives at the port of import in the US, they work with an import agent to ensure the coffee clears customs

They work with experts on both ends to get their coffee into the US. They ship containers.

Hope this helps a little bit.

if you do not mind, can you tell us how you are importing the beans into USA? are you importing on your own? or you are using someone else to import for you?
there are a lot of people in forum who ask this question quite often and you might be able to help.
thanks

 

[Rustlen]

I am sorry, but I do not even see any kind of space for debate in here. I mean, why using coffee from your own farm would not be a great idea?! I actually think that for the beginning it would be the best possible idea, and after you already settled in this domain, and you have a great amount of loyal customers, then you might try and use some other sorts of coffee.