Promote Your Coffee Business
Once youve got your branding, products, and store set up, its time to spread the word about your business.
To begin promoting your coffee company, ask yourself where youre most likely to capture the attention of your target audience. If youre trying to build an image as a trendy, cutting-edge coffee company that appeals to younger audiences, then youre likely to see success on TikTok and similar social media channels. If you want to attract customers looking for a luxury coffee experience, you might consider posting photos and videos on Instagram.
A multi-channel marketing strategy will often deliver the best results for most brands, so consider combining:
- Social media channels like TikTok and Instagram
- Email marketing to nurture leads into repeat customers
- Guest blogging and content marketing to attract attention from people on search engines
- Offline advertising like pop-up shops and taster sessions
Caf Supplies & Paper Products
We make sure you can get all your accessories, paper product, and cafe supplies from the same place.We do this to ensure you get the best quality at the best prices and you can focus on growing your business.
Let us save you the hassle of dealing with multiple different vendors, you’ll be better for it.
Starting A Coffee Roasting Business
Indeed, roasting, in particular, is one of the more popular startups today. It is the process of transforming the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products, which has taken on a life of its own among millennials and Generation Z. Since you are in charge of roasting the beans, you get to produce the unique characteristics, flavours, aromas and textures of the coffee.
You can also make a significant amount of money from it, if you understand the potential risks and the mechanisms of the wider industry. To help you get started, we have compiled a comprehensive breakdown of how to start a coffee roasting business.
You May Like: What Is Descaling
What Platform/tools Do You Use For Your Business
We use Ecwid for our online store cart as it is fast and easy to set up. With Ecwid, we did integrate shipping tools. We use an email address strictly for customers orders – our shopping cart is linked to our Quickbooks account for our CPA. We also use Clover devices to take our customers payment on the go. This is one of my favorites: I love the aesthetic and all features such as print or send via email customers receipt, linked to your Quickbooks account, register a new customer, check your inventory from your device.
For social media, our team uses Loomly to schedule posts a week ahead. As for email marketing, we love Constant Contact – they have so many features and you can create and manage your email campaign on your own. Finally, we review our Google Analytics dashboard weekly to evaluate our performance and identify what KPIs we can improve.
Provide Quality Products And Services
Plain and simple, the foundation of a successful coffee brand is a good cup of coffee dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Quality and consistency are essential for success in the coffee industry, so your business must deliver delicious and fresh coffee time after time. Too many business owners focus on low cost and wonder why their customers dont come back for more. With thousands of coffee brands and blends on the market, your customers can easily turn to another coffee company if they are not satisfied with your products or services. According to current coffee trends, customers care more about the quality of their coffee more than ever before, with gourmet coffee making up 59% of coffee consumed daily. The number of daily coffee drinkers choosing specialty coffee has also seen the highest overall growth in the coffee industry over the last 18 years.
Also Check: How Much Caffeine In Snapple Peach Tea
Understand What Youre Really Selling
Every business, including your coffee brand, is more than just the product that it sells. Each product or service satisfies a deeper need for your customers, whether it is the comfort of a warm beverage or the knowledge they are helping the world by purchasing sustainable coffee beans. Perhaps that deeper need is simply an affordable and reliable boost of caffeine to power them through the day. By understanding the underlying needs of your customers, you can create products that better satisfy those needs and make business decisions that keep them coming back. Your brand can tap into the deeper motivations of your customers to produce more effective marketing and further grow your brand. While it is important to deliver a great product, do not forget that your brand is an experience that involves everything your brand stands for. When you can connect with customers on a deeper level, you gain loyal fans who will support and grow your brand.
Manage Your Coffee Shop Inventory
Do yourself a favor and be proactive about inventory management from the start. Even better, set yourself up for success by choosing a POS with inventory management software.
One of the most important aspects of running a successful cafe is monitoring your food, beverage, and materials costs. Before you open for business, youll want to familiarize yourself with this Glossary of Restaurant Inventory Management Terms to Know as well as take a crash course in Restaurant Food Inventory 101.
Here is a quick overview of the specific inventory youll need to run a coffee shop:
-
Equipment mentioned above
-
Coffee related paper and ceramic products
-
Coffee beans as well as additional food supplies like various creamers and sweeteners
-
Various other products including napkins, straws, and stirrers
Also Check: Grinds Shark Tank Update
Vehicle Traffic And Parking
Unless you do locate in a mall or other site with lots of pedestrian traffic, you’ll need to think carefully about accessibility and parking. If a customer has to make a difficult turn off a busy street to get to your establishment or they have trouble finding available parking, they are likely to take their business elsewhere. Ideally, you want a convenient, highly visible location on a busy street, with pedestrian activity, and plenty of parking so customers can easily drop in on their way to or from work or school.
With the popularity of cycling growing by leaps and bounds, having a secure lock-up rack for bikes in front of your coffee shop is essential.
What You Need To Open A Coffee Shop
Aside from a love of that sweet java, youll want to get a few things in order to get your shop up and running. To help with this, Jack Wilson, owner of Radio Coffee and Beer in Austin, Texas, and Marc Renson, owner of Ambition Bistro in Schenectady, New York, stepped away from brewing and serving to offer 13 tips to prospective owners. Heres what they recommend you consider when starting a coffee shop:
Recommended Reading: How Much Caffeine In Starbucks 2x Caffeine K Cups
Using Wholesale Coffee Roasters
Start by researching wholesale coffee roasters or other product suppliers you might be interested in. Meet with them and see determine how you can work with them to order wholesale coffee beans.
In addition to exploring local coffee roasters, you might consider developing relationships with existing wholesale coffee sellers. For example, you may also look to develop a drop shipping relationship with a coffee wholesaler.
Dropshipping is where you get a coffee customer to order from you , and then the manufacturer ships the product directly to the customer). After the sale is complete, the drop shipper will pay you depending on how the purchase was made. Or you will pay the drop shipper after you collect the money from your customer.
Describe The Process Of Launching The Business
Throughout my extensive research, I was very pleased to find out about a company that could fully build up my website for $2,200 with affordable monthly payment options. What I like the most, they agreed to summarize the entire website in French on a single page. I did not wait for the completion of my website to open our social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. In the meantime, I was looking online for any business events that I could showcase my coffee brand.
Our marketing strategy was to effectively represent the different cultures in one platform. Furthermore, I would like to educate my consumers about the unique story behind the cup of coffee. Believe me – we do not drink a regular beverage, but we drink a scientific cup to enrich our day. This is why I developed a coffee brand for coffee lovers, and it would be appreciated by non-coffee drinkers. You do not need to add creamer nor sugar – just enjoy the delicious and fresh exclusive blends.
At first, we published posts on social media three times a week about features of the products, testimonies, promotions, games, referral rewards, and coffee industry news. Moreover, I attended business events in which I was able to talk to prospects, build up my emails list, give free samples, and flyers. Finally, I announced the launch of my coffee brand via press releases online.
Read Also: How Much Caffeine In Starbucks 2x Caffeine K Cups
Define Your Target Market
The most important part of creating a successful brand is knowing who your target customers are. Even though coffee is a universal beverage, most people have a favorite brand already and might need some convincing to try something new. This is why you need to know who youre selling to and how you can reach them.
Defining your target market will also help you put your customers needs and taste first when you reach the coffee product development stage. You want to create a beverage thats hard to resist instead of putting something out there that already exists in one form or another. Knowing your target customers will give you a starting point for your marketing activities, as you can easily find the best way to reach them on different platforms and channels.
What Are Some Skills And Experiences That Will Help You Build A Successful Coffee Roasting Business
Roasting coffee requires a lot of knowledge about coffee and the roasting process. Roasters should be familiar with everything from the cultivars of coffee and growing regions to how to cup coffee and when to increase heat during roasting.
Both the Roasters Guild and the Specialty Coffee Association of America offer classes on coffee and roasting.
Business owners who want to learn to roast coffee without paying for formal classes can apply to work as a profile roaster at an area coffee roasting company. Profile roasters dont come up with new roasts, but they roast coffee according to the parameters set forth by a head roaster. This can be a good introduction to the fundamentals of roasting, especially if the head roaster is willing to teach and answer questions.
Sweet Marias, an online retailer of green coffee, also has a lot of free resources. These are targeted toward home roasters, but can also be beneficial to novice roasters who are exploring opening a commercial roastery.
Read Also: How Much Caffeine Is In Snapple Peach Tea
Essential Tips For Starting A New Coffee Roasting Business
The US coffee shop market was a $45.4 billion industry in 2018. Thats a lot of beans! If you are interested in coffee, you may have considered starting your own coffee roasting business.
A coffee roasting establishment roasts green coffee beans to various roast levels to later be ground and brewed. Once roasted, a roaster will sell their coffee directly to customers, or through coffee shops, retailers, or grocers. Coffee roasters may find themselves teaching customers how to sip coffee discriminately.
If researching, creating, and marketing your own coffee sounds intriguing, entrepreneurship in the coffee world may be for you.
Here are some research ideas to explore before you begin such a venture.
Minimum Requirements For Private Labeling
1) You’re able to commit to ordering in minimum quantities of 120 pounds per varietal ,
2) You’ve purchased, received and tasted coffee samples from us and determined which coffee you’re interested in having us package for you, or identified an approximate flavor profile,Note: We get a large number of private label inquiries. To help us narrow the field, please indicate you mean business by ordering coffee samples of 12 ounce bags to help make your private label coffee decision. We’ll reimburse you up to $50 for your samples if we end up doing private label business with you.
3) You’ve completed and submitted the Private Label Inquiry Form found by clicking the button at the bottom of this page, then
You’ve met the minimum requirements for Private Labeling with us and we’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss further.
Because we get so many private label inquiries, we won’t be able to answer your inquiry if you haven’t met all of the requirements noted above. Please don’t ask us for pricing in an email as every private label situation is unique and pricing is dependent on many factors.
You May Like: Nespresso Decaf Pods Caffeine Content
Create Multiple Streams Of Revenue
Although coffee can have a great profit margin, companies that offer only coffee may not generate enough gross profit to succeed. A customer stopping in for a morning coffee or shopping online to buy more coffee beans will likely purchase just one product at a time. However, coffee shops and online coffee suppliers can create multiple streams of revenue by offering a few different products. When customers have more than one type of product to choose from, they are more likely to make a larger purchase with each transaction. In addition, if one product is not selling as well, your brand can make up for losses with the other products you offer. Here are a few ways to create multiple streams of revenue for your coffee brand:
Write A Business Plan
While it may not be the most exciting part of starting a coffee business, creating a written business plan is essential to the success of your company. If you want to turn a good profit, establish a business plan that includes all your initial costs, ongoing expenses, and projected sales. Determine how much you will charge for your coffee and set a sales goal. Always be prepared to adjust your business plan as your coffee business grows and changes.
Be sure to keep track of your inventory, so you know which products are the most popular and which are not selling as well. This attention to detail will enable you to be efficient with your ordering and reduce product waste. Staying organized will help your coffee business thrive and grow.
Don’t Miss: Folgers Instant Coffee Caffeine
Step : Define Your Brand
Your brand is what your company stands for, as well as how your business is perceived by the public. A strong brand will help your business stand out from competitors.
If you aren’t feeling confident about designing your small business logo, then check out our Design Guides for Beginners, we’ll give you helpful tips and advice for creating the best unique logo for your business.
Recommended: Get a logo using Truic’s free logo Generator no email or sign up required, or use a Premium Logo Maker.
How to promote & market a coffee roasting business
One of the most effective ways of marketing a coffee roasting business is by offering cuppings. Cuppings are professional coffee tastings, and they provide a great opportunity for potential customers to connect with a roaster and learn more about their coffee.
How to keep customers coming back
A coffee roasting business must be able to differentiate itself from other coffee roasters. A business might do this by:
- Specializing in a certain roast level or coffee from a specific region
- Purchasing coffee via direct trade and sharing the stories of farmers who grew the coffee
- Supporting initiatives by providing exclusively Fair Trade, Organic Certified or Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee
Still unsure about what kind of business you want to start? Check out the latest Small Business Trends to help inspire you.
Creating Content To Get Your Tea Brands First Sale
As the creator of Tease stated in an interview with Built With Shopify, reaching new customers can be the hardest part. It took the brand three months to make their first sale to someone who wasnt family or friends!
Create Tea-Related Content
There are many ways to extend your reach, and creating content is just one such method. Dont push your products in your content, just offer valuable and exciting content that engages your target audience. As your audience grows, your sales should too! It may take time to establish yourself as an authority and to build a steady stream of customers, so dont get discouraged in the early days. If you create good products and have good marketing content, youll be on the right track to building a successful business.
Once youve established a growing audience, try to leverage local media outlets to support your small business. Many communities actively work to help small business owners in their area, so dont be shy about reaching out.
Dont Forget About Local Tea Enthusiasts
Since tea is such a popular beverage around the world, theres likely to be an active community of tea-lovers in your area!
Partner with Local Cafes
Recommended Reading: Is There Caffeine In Snapple
Why Sell Organic Coffee
If youre an online retailer, you need to keep your eyes and ears open for emerging trends, including ones coming up in 2021. This is an important part of getting ahead in the online retail market you need to give online shoppers what they want. In terms of coffee, recent consumer trends show that there is a major shift towards buying natural, organic, and Fair Trade certified coffee. This is a trend thats been remarkably consistent, with healthy growth that shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, a 2020 study predicts that the organic coffee market will grow at a rate of 8.2% from 2019 to 2026.
Consumers are becoming more conscientious about what they put in their bodies and they care much more about sustainable farming practices and avoiding synthetic ingredients than they used to. As a result, online shoppers want organic coffee!
Demand for natural, organic coffee is growing exponentially. Similarly, coffee brands supporting environmental or social causes also do much better than regular brands. For example, this survey study shows that the Fair Trade label has a substantial positive effect on bidding for coffee. Consumers prefer ethically certified products, such as Fair Trade coffee, over non-certified alternatives, and are willing to pay a price premium for such products. On average, shoppers on eBay paid a 23% premium for coffee labeled Fair Trade.