How to get into coffee shops and cafes with product?

[Jettore]

Quick back story, over the past couple months I have started a small roasting company and have been doing well selling at Farmers Markets and special events in the town I operate in. I also have 1 retail store that sells my product that does ok. I have started to try and market to restaurants and cafes and have been finding it difficult. I either find they already have a coffee contract or if they are new they don't have equipment and want us to provide it. At the moment the size of my operation will not allow me to purchase equipment just to get the business unless I get a percentage of the actual coffee sales. Is it uncommon to have a percentage of sales of brewed coffee in the deal, or is this a standard procedure. If this is standard do we actually provide the coffee for free also and just work off the percentage.

I appreciate any help on insight into this.

Thanks

 

[namballe]

1st. off, i cant imagine a coffee shop or cafe that doesnt utilize their own equipment, ie: grinder, espresso machine, etc.
try this: go to the cafe that you intend to sell your product to. try a cup of their coffee or espresso. how would you rate your product in comparison to their product? if you feel you have a superior product, give them a sample (500/1 kilo) bag to try out, and ask them to try to get some feedback from their customers.
as for the cafes that already have a contract, you may be stepping on some "Big Toes". and who likes their toes stepped on?

 

[HRC]

It's a hard game. There are plenty of shops in Chicago, for example, that are locked into contracts that will not break them because they will lose their equipment. It's not possible to compete with that unless you also make that type of capital investment. No barely-scraping-by shop owner is willing to jeopardize his bottom line to switch out his coffee and machines for coffee that is most likely at the same level he is already getting. Intelligentsia and Metropolis run a lot of accounts out here and it's because they provide espresso machines, auto-drip machines and grinders for free. How can you ask a shop owner to give that up and pay $20k to get his own equipment just so he can carry your beans?

 

[Surfer]

1st. off, i cant imagine a coffee shop or cafe that doesnt utilize their own equipment, ie: grinder, espresso machine, etc.
try this: go to the cafe that you intend to sell your product to. try a cup of their coffee or espresso. how would you rate your product in comparison to their product? if you feel you have a superior product, give them a sample (500/1 kilo) bag to try out, and ask them to try to get some feedback from their customers.
as for the cafes that already have a contract, you may be stepping on some "Big Toes". and who likes their toes stepped on?

Bingo! Best bet is to try to find the mom and pop type places that are good, have their own equipment and not contracts and sell them (really sell yourself and product). Chicago like mentioned and others places I've been with "know shops" either roast themselves, or have $$$ contracts setups with roasteries who provide everything inc training. Unless you have that type of capital and size just won't be able to compete with them.

But for example I know one place I've been to down here where it's the shops stuff and they buy from roasters, think they only carry Anodyne right now and no equipment contract as far as I know.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I agree with many above and disagree with few points.

Most of the company DO NOT offer free espresso machine but they do offer coffee brewing machine to grinders.
Those are not very expensive and most of the time they are not brand new but refurbished.
So as you can see, most of the company who offer this type of service, their coffee is generally not very good.( I used the term generally)

Only way you can compete with these people are NOT COMPETING WITH THEM. You can't lower your price at their cost because they are cheap and they do sell cheap coffee.

What you want to do is to be able to market to coffee shops to carry your coffee instead of them buying from you.
You put the coffee in their shop at price you want and give them 30 percent profit.
You do not want to go after restaurants, because you can't compete with the suppliers they have.

Keep going to different farmers market and ask your customers to tell their coffee shop to carry your coffee.
Give them your business card and hope you get phone calls or visit them at the store often.

Good Luck

 

[Jettore]

What you want to do is to be able to market to coffee shops to carry your coffee instead of them buying from you.
You put the coffee in their shop at price you want and give them 30 percent profit.
You do not want to go after restaurants, because you can't compete with the suppliers they have.

Good Luck

Are you talking about Retail bagged product above? Or are you talking about brewed coffee? Giving them the coffee to brew and they get 30% of sales.

For retail I currently have 3 options for my pricing of 12 oz bagged units.
Consignment setup - $1.50 per unit to retailer
Wholesale low volume - 25% off
Wholesale(20 units per week) - 30%
My only retail location so far is doing consignment and has been very happy with the arrangement so far.

I could actually afford to have equipment on a small scale for some small shops, but unless I get a portion of the sales it will take too long to recoup the cost. Does anyone do anything similar?

Thanks

 

[CoffeeJunky]

You do not want to offer coffee equipment.
If you want to sell your product, expend your coffee to other shops and maybe offer to put their logo as well.
The consignment is great. You get free advertizing but also, wholesale is what you want to do.
Once you have 15-20 shops carrying your coffee, now you have brand to sell. Then go after the local store to carry your coffee.