Fresh Roaster
New member
[h=2]Roasting Center... An idea.[/h]
We build a highly automated ventless coffee roaster (3.5K) and we've got this idea...
The machines are great for a cafe and our program of pay for what you roast is great for most as there is little up front cost. But... recent increases in coffee prices, tough economy, etc have made it very difficult for some of our smaller cafes and clients to hit minimums required. What we've found is that this is pretty common. There are plenty of cafes out there that could use private label in store fresh roasted coffee. It's a great marketing tool and provides the ultimate in quality. But some just can't produce enough to merit a dedicated machine. What we thought might be a neat idea is to create coffee roasting centers where you could go and roast your own fresh coffee in smaller quantities. Sort of a co-op. This way, a place doing a couple hundred pounds could still get fresh roasted coffee without the burden of minimums greater than their capacity. Could also be used for sample roasting for those not in a poisition to set up a lab and/or sample roaster.
Bottom line is we thought it might be a cool idea to give access to fresh roasting to anyone and everyone regardless of their volume and in the aggregate, the volume would ultimately merit installing numerous machines in a central location for use by "the smaller guys" who still wanted custom coffee and fresh roasted. We're setting two centers up right now as a test but I thought I'd guage it here a little. First two sites will be Los Angeles and San Franciso. The centers will offer full service green coffee sales, storage, laboratory (color and mositure analysis), consulting, cupping, classes, etc. as well. Or you can bring your own and just roast.
Each center will have at least three roasters capable of producing 20 pounds of coffee per hour in amounts from 1-5 pounds. In addition each center will have an award winning ColorTrack color roast analyzer (SCAA product of the year in 2009 and 2011) as well as Sinar moisture analyzers. Users will also be able to save and store roast profiles. Prices will be based on a per pound fee which will be calculated at 60-70% of equivalent wholesale prices.
We though it might be a cool idea, especially for those that can't afford and/or do not have the facilities to install a roaster. The laboratory services and devices are a bonus because we have them and normally the smaller guys just don't get access to that despite its importance. We like the idea but let me know what you think.
The machines are great for a cafe and our program of pay for what you roast is great for most as there is little up front cost. But... recent increases in coffee prices, tough economy, etc have made it very difficult for some of our smaller cafes and clients to hit minimums required. What we've found is that this is pretty common. There are plenty of cafes out there that could use private label in store fresh roasted coffee. It's a great marketing tool and provides the ultimate in quality. But some just can't produce enough to merit a dedicated machine. What we thought might be a neat idea is to create coffee roasting centers where you could go and roast your own fresh coffee in smaller quantities. Sort of a co-op. This way, a place doing a couple hundred pounds could still get fresh roasted coffee without the burden of minimums greater than their capacity. Could also be used for sample roasting for those not in a poisition to set up a lab and/or sample roaster.
Bottom line is we thought it might be a cool idea to give access to fresh roasting to anyone and everyone regardless of their volume and in the aggregate, the volume would ultimately merit installing numerous machines in a central location for use by "the smaller guys" who still wanted custom coffee and fresh roasted. We're setting two centers up right now as a test but I thought I'd guage it here a little. First two sites will be Los Angeles and San Franciso. The centers will offer full service green coffee sales, storage, laboratory (color and mositure analysis), consulting, cupping, classes, etc. as well. Or you can bring your own and just roast.
Each center will have at least three roasters capable of producing 20 pounds of coffee per hour in amounts from 1-5 pounds. In addition each center will have an award winning ColorTrack color roast analyzer (SCAA product of the year in 2009 and 2011) as well as Sinar moisture analyzers. Users will also be able to save and store roast profiles. Prices will be based on a per pound fee which will be calculated at 60-70% of equivalent wholesale prices.
We though it might be a cool idea, especially for those that can't afford and/or do not have the facilities to install a roaster. The laboratory services and devices are a bonus because we have them and normally the smaller guys just don't get access to that despite its importance. We like the idea but let me know what you think.
