Grew a cafe into a roastery then into a wholesaler < Any suggestions?

[Josh]

Hi there, I've been a lurker on this forum for years. When I began my coffee shop adventure I took my first steps on this forum.

Four years later my wife and I have a thriving business. We struggled painfully during the first two years.

About 8 months ago we decided to get into coffee roasting and since then we have been having great success with roasting.
Our idea was to cut down on our own cogs and get better QC. (We use a 7lb Diedrich in case anyone cares to know)

Anyhow, The coffee roasting aspect of the business is built and I have since then trained some of my staff to use the roaster and a roast schedule is already in place for our shop supply. I develop the roast profiles and they just have to follow them and properly bag and label. I teach them about cupping too but I am learning still. I find it a great hobby for a coffee geek and tinker.

My question relates to growing the coffee roasting aspect of my business into a wholesale provider (at least small scale for other business)

I feel like my logistics situation is pretty good to begin offering our coffee to local businesses but, I am unsure of how to proceed beyond this part.

I am also curious, weather I need to make any modifications to my health permit. As a retail coffee shop (serves food as well), does anyone think I am covered to deliver packaged coffee to other places? I know I should just call and ask but our health department is notorious for beating the crap out of small businesses. I'd rather ask for forgiveness later than call them when they may never find out. (I've had three inspections during the course of having a roaster in my shop and no one has yet to give it a second look)

Does anyone recommend cold calling or have experience with getting other cafes to carry their beans?
Recommendations on pricing (% over cogs), and shipping minimums for wholesale accounts. Or maybe even a book I could pick up that you think is informative I know giving info away for free can be painful but, I'm willing to work for it

I feel sort of like over prepared but, worried about the next step (that being where to start marketing my product and making new connections)

Anyhow, Thanks you moderators and contributors to this forum.

 

[eldub]

If you have a retail license, you should be covered for the wholesale end. (Retail requirements are a bit more stringent around here.)

I would make a list of target accounts and then cold call them by phone to set up appointments. I take samples in small bags as well as one larger sample in the bag we're using with our label as well as a wholesale cost sheet. Around here, wholesale runs 65% of retail.

You can also invite potential customers to cup with you. Offering to develop blends for establishments with their name on the product is another possibility.

 

[Josh]

Thanks for the reply.

In your experience with cold calling, did you find it difficult to get an appointment with the right people? Also do you feel that businesses you called seemed interested in changing roasters?

I am tinkering with the idea of providing brewing equipment too but I have to run some numbers to see how that could play out.

I'm curious too about NSF and coffee roasters. I got an email from another roaster about the health department not allowing him to roast because he wasn't NSF. I don't know of many roasters that have NSF. Worries me a little but, I have a feeling someone out there knows the details about coffee and it's potential for cross contamination. If anyone has more info about coffee processing and NSF I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[eldub]

We have an organically certified coffee roasting shop and are also compliant with the health dpt. I'm pretty sure the NSF, as far as coffee roasting goes, has to do with the materials you use to store products in. That is easy to overcome by making sure all the storage containers are nsf certified.

As far as getting customers to leave their current roaster for yours, keep in mind that many shops probably aren't having their beans roasted locally. You can save them shipping as well as provide a fresher product when they buy local. You can also get coffee to them if they run out easier than if they have to do business by mail.