Selling Home-Roasted Coffee Beans, is it worth it?

[Coffee_Mad_Man]

Hi,
I've seen a number of posts about coffee business and it's got me itching to get involved!

May I ask whether anyone's tried selling home-roasted coffee and how long it took before you started seeing profits?

My initial thoughts on the costs are the bags, a sealer, and postage as I have all the other aspects to make the coffee.

Interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas on this.

Many thanks

 

[Coffee_Mad_Man]

Selling home-roasted coffee can be a great idea and can definitely be profitable if done right. It's important to first establish a market for your coffee and understand the costs involved in producing and selling it.

In terms of costs, you've already identified some key expenses such as bags, a sealer, and postage. You'll also need to consider the cost of the green coffee beans, packaging materials, equipment maintenance, and possibly marketing expenses. It's important to factor in all these costs when determining your pricing strategy.

In terms of profitability, it can vary depending on various factors such as your pricing strategy, market demand, competition, and your ability to effectively market and sell your coffee. It may take some time before you start seeing profits, as you'll need to build a customer base and establish a solid reputation for your coffee.

One idea to consider is selling your coffee at local markets or events, setting up an online store, or reaching out to local cafes or restaurants to see if they would be interested in carrying your coffee. Building a strong brand and offering unique, high-quality coffee can help you stand out in a competitive market.

Overall, selling home-roasted coffee can be a rewarding venture, but it's important to do thorough research, understand the costs involved, and have a solid business plan in place. Good luck with your coffee business!

Appreciate you trying to help Noorjahan, but I'm looking for advice from real sellers of coffee beans not chat GPT.
There are some good points in here but as it's from GPT it's not tried and tested.

If you could indicate that you used GPT to make the post that would be helpful.
Evidence it's AI-generated:

 

[JohnnyRocket]

Good on you for spotting a bogus answer. Bags, custom labels or your own diy, a sealer and postage are the very least of your expenses. If you do local farmers markets figure on space rent, a tent and table battery power to run grinders probably. Good clean water you bring and grinding and brewing equipment and cups because you will either want to sell cups or give out samples. Before you get to this stage you will be giving away a lot of coffee to family, friends and others to generate some buzz about how good your coffee is. Recommend developing a niche of craft coffees with standout features such as single origin Ethiopians and South Americans and not too broad a range of roast levels. As in mostly light fruitier filter coffees for instance. Keep your offerings to 5 maybe 7 farms at most. Develop one stand out go to that everyone wants. Get some steady reliable bean sources for it. Pick a price point that’s high enough to give you some decent margin and don’t undersell yourself because folks will want that cheaper price. Be competitive but not afraid to price it up there with the best if it is. Once you get a following do subscriptions and move to on line also. You’re not gonna get rich but after a while you’ll break even and start to see some profit. You really gotta love it first and foremost.
Just some things off the top of my not AI head.
Good luck!

 

[Coffee_Mad_Man]

Good on you for spotting a bogus answer. Bags, custom labels or your own diy, a sealer and postage are the very least of your expenses. If you do local farmers markets figure on space rent, a tent and table battery power to run grinders probably. Good clean water you bring and grinding and brewing equipment and cups because you will either want to sell cups or give out samples. Before you get to this stage you will be giving away a lot of coffee to family, friends and others to generate some buzz about how good your coffee is. Recommend developing a niche of craft coffees with standout features such as single origin Ethiopians and South Americans and not too broad a range of roast levels. As in mostly light fruitier filter coffees for instance. Keep your offerings to 5 maybe 7 farms at most. Develop one stand out go to that everyone wants. Get some steady reliable bean sources for it. Pick a price point that’s high enough to give you some decent margin and don’t undersell yourself because folks will want that cheaper price. Be competitive but not afraid to price it up there with the best if it is. Once you get a following do subscriptions and move to on line also. You’re not gonna get rich but after a while you’ll break even and start to see some profit. You really gotta love it first and foremost.
Just some things off the top of my not AI head.
Good luck!

Thank you Johnny! Appreciate this I was already thinking it'll be important to give lots away early on, so this is useful to hear, I handn't thought about farmers markets, but makes a lot of sense!

 

[agricultcoffee]

Hi! I've been at this about 8 months and let me tell you, it is a LOT of work and I'm not even close to making a profit. Depending on where you are theres also a lot of red tape. Business licenses, articles of incorporation, health department visits and permits, IRS stuff, insurance, payroll fees. Sourcing good coffee and developing the craft itself takes a lot of time and effort. Getting the right roaster and if you do well, expecting to upgrade to a larger capacity roaster pretty quickly. If you're a wage-slave worker like me, trying to run this side-business and making it profitable and doing it legally will take up almost all of your free time. That being said, it can be very rewarding in other ways than money. Best of luck. I'm here if you have any questions, or just want to chat.

-Danny

 

[pourover]

Hi,
I've seen a number of posts about coffee business and it's got me itching to get involved!

May I ask whether anyone's tried selling home-roasted coffee and how long it took before you started seeing profits?

My initial thoughts on the costs are the bags, a sealer, and postage as I have all the other aspects to make the coffee.

Interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas on this.

Many thanks

I’ve had a number of friends do this and none have made over $5/hr factoring in time and costs. Do it for fun and connections, or do it as as real business but don’t get caught in between…

 

[agricultcoffee]

I’ve had a number of friends do this and none have made over $5/hr factoring in time and costs. Do it for fun and connections, or do it as as real business but don’t get caught in between…

That purgatory (PERKatory?) area of $5/hr that exists between doing it for fun/connections and doing it as a real business is tough. And I don't think you can really tip that scale unless you have a solid plan both in how to execute scaling up and also how to dedicate all of your time to make growth happen. You also need the willingness to take the risk. I'm still in the negative at the moment, but I'm fine with that at this stage. I figure it will be a year before I'm even making any money at all after paying for the roaster. And at that time, I suspect to have to make that transition, spend money I don't have and maybe 6 months to a year after that, I'll start seeing an income. But until the time comes that I have to decide whether or not I want to make that risk, I'll enjoy roasting on my 700 gram roaster, selling to friends and family and the occasional friend of a friend. And of course drinking it my self.

 

[agricultcoffee]

Appreciate you trying to help Noorjahan, but I'm looking for advice from real sellers of coffee beans not chat GPT.
There are some good points in here but as it's from GPT it's not tried and tested.

If you could indicate that you used GPT to make the post that would be helpful.
Evidence it's AI-generated:
View attachment 12861

I wasn't aware of the AI detection site. I will definitely be using this!

 

[pourover]

That purgatory (PERKatory?) area of $5/hr that exists between doing it for fun/connections and doing it as a real business is tough. And I don't think you can really tip that scale unless you have a solid plan both in how to execute scaling up and also how to dedicate all of your time to make growth happen. You also need the willingness to take the risk. I'm still in the negative at the moment, but I'm fine with that at this stage. I figure it will be a year before I'm even making any money at all after paying for the roaster. And at that time, I suspect to have to make that transition, spend money I don't have and maybe 6 months to a year after that, I'll start seeing an income. But until the time comes that I have to decide whether or not I want to make that risk, I'll enjoy roasting on my 700 gram roaster, selling to friends and family and the occasional friend of a friend. And of course drinking it my self.

Yeah, and I think one thing I’ve noticed is that folks are not real honest with themselves in terms of their roasting skill. I know tons of roasters, and there are a few who are truly prodigies. There is a certain intelligence and attention to detailthere is a certain intelligence, curiosity, and attention to detail that lets them roast at a high level for a certain demographic. That’s maybe 5%. Everybody else needs a lot more more training or flat out isn't cut out for it.

All the business planning in the world won’t save those people…

 

[agricultcoffee]

Yeah, and I think one thing I’ve noticed is that folks are not real honest with themselves in terms of their roasting skill. I know tons of roasters, and there are a few who are truly prodigies. There is a certain intelligence and attention to detailthere is a certain intelligence, curiosity, and attention to detail that lets them roast at a high level for a certain demographic. That’s maybe 5%. Everybody else needs a lot more more training or flat out isn't cut out for it.

All the business planning in the world won’t save those people…

Good point. I will say that I took a lot of research, trial and error, a lot of cupping and roasting a lot of coffee that was mediocre at best. I didn't want to be a roaster who uses push-button, automated machines like the Bellwether or Roest machines. Honestly, something like 60 collective hours of roasting barely palatable coffee that only I was drinking - taking detailed notes during and after every roast, and at the cupping table - until I felt like I got the hang of it, and I'm a quick learner with 20 plus years in the coffee industry with a lot of connections that I'm grateful to know that gave me more resources and answered all my question. Compared to actually roasting, I probably spent just as much time learning via reading / watching videos if not more. It really takes a lot of dedication.

There are also many roasters in the industry who have made successful careers who still admit they are still learning. Even the most confident and cockiest ones admit this.

 

[Coffee_Mad_Man]

really helpful posts thank you all

 

[Jmj81818]

Good point. I will say that I took a lot of research, trial and error, a lot of cupping and roasting a lot of coffee that was mediocre at best. I didn't want to be a roaster who uses push-button, automated machines like the Bellwether or Roest machines. Honestly, something like 60 collective hours of roasting barely palatable coffee that only I was drinking - taking detailed notes during and after every roast, and at the cupping table - until I felt like I got the hang of it, and I'm a quick learner with 20 plus years in the coffee industry with a lot of connections that I'm grateful to know that gave me more resources and answered all my question. Compared to actually roasting, I probably spent just as much time learning via reading / watching videos if not more. It really takes a lot of dedication.

There are also many roasters in the industry who have made successful careers who still admit they are still learning. Even the most confident and cockiest ones admit this.

This exactly. There are so many people who think it's so easy and got it down, when they barely scratched the surface. You know this because of how confident they sound with their 1 month old home roaster. I think it's incredibly difficult to get it right and requires lots of attention, not to mention needing a decent roaster to begin with.