Ciordia9 Senior Member Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 103 Location: Charlotte, NC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nuova Simonelli Oscar Grinder: Eureka MDE Grinder Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: French Press Roaster: Heat Gun!
Posted Tue Nov 9, 2004, 1:20pm Subject: Wholesaleing, just how much is it?
A colleague and myself were discussing our assumptions in wholesale coffee roasting. I'd love to field some discussion so that I can stop living off assumptions.
Are there small, middle, and large scale wholesale roasters or does wholesale by nature quantify into an amount, ie to be a wholesaler you MUST = X lbs per week, period.
Do some shops just want a little distribution and tell clients that they have a capacity of Y and thats all they can deliver where as some desire large growth and will grow to meet demand?
As a roaster you can trust as a small shop that builds/scales to be a large shop, how much roast profiling changes? If you liked their small time blend, will it be the same as a large scale operation?
As a caffe operator in the planning phases I'm trying to just grasp a bit more of what kind of roasters we'll be dealing with and how to delineate them.
brentling Senior Member Joined: 25 Sep 2002 Posts: 911 Location: By the beach in Auckland, NZ - turn right you can't miss me Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: wega, fiorenzato Grinder: Growing collection of... Drip: yes people call me that... Roaster: collection building...
Posted Tue Nov 9, 2004, 1:32pm Subject: Re: Wholesaleing, just how much is it?
Still growing in volume as a roaster, but other factors come into play as well - remember the roast is dependant on the green coffee, which will change season to season. That can have as much influence if not more than other factors.
It also depends on the roaster, company and equipment - talking to other roasters who have put in new roasters, they have then set about learning how to get the best out of the new roaster - maybe they will be more comfortable on the new one and roast better, maybe not?
Someone who is restrictive on who / how they will sell to may be better for you than someone who supplies allcommers.
At the end of the day, the relationship with your supplier will be critical to your success - great coffee crap service isn't going to get you anywhere - if your supplier forgets to ship your coffee, what will you serve? perhaps a slightly less appealing coffee with great service may suit you better?
Ciordia9 Senior Member Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 103 Location: Charlotte, NC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nuova Simonelli Oscar Grinder: Eureka MDE Grinder Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: French Press Roaster: Heat Gun!
Posted Tue Nov 9, 2004, 5:00pm Subject: Re: Wholesaleing, just how much is it?
brentling Said:
Still growing in volume as a roaster, but other factors come into play as well - remember the roast is dependant on the green coffee, which will change season to season. That can have as much influence if not more than other factors.
Right, a limited or selective distribution channeling. It could allow a roaster to stay small(er) and make deliverables at a comfortable rate. Or at least, thats one thing I was theorizing.
brentling Said:
At the end of the day, the relationship with your supplier will be critical to your success - great coffee crap service isn't going to get you anywhere - if your supplier forgets to ship your coffee, what will you serve? perhaps a slightly less appealing coffee with great service may suit you better?
Thanks Brent. Appreciate some of the ruminations :) I'm just working towards getting a better idea of the industry and the little caches that exist and how it may work. I've been enjoying many small roasters and have yet to be able to pin point who is a big fish and who is a small fish and what small fish act like big fish or big that are small.. you know the whole lay of the land persay. The wholesale thing came from my partner and I rambling; I think there can be small time limited run wholesale roasters while my friend suggests that the whole point of wholesaleing would be the ability to sale a continuous large demand. I like to think of niche roasters, small and midsized wholesalers and of course the always present large guys/gals who have grown to a significant size. Diversity is ever present.
Of course I could, as I can, misinterrpret his stance and maybe he'll post and correct my nearsidedness ;-) It happens quite oft hehehe.
-a
http://andy.ciordia.info "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."
I have found here in NZ (and the contacts I have made through the internet overseas) that most people in the industry seem pretty happy to help ONCE they know you won't be competing headon with them.
Ciordia9 Said:
I've been enjoying many small roasters and have yet to be able to pin point who is a big fish and who is a small fish and what small fish act like big fish or big that are small.. you know the whole lay of the land persay.
and thats the cool thing about coffee... there is no right answer, we can challenge everything, cos at the end of the day, no matter what anyone else does, says, thinks, if you like it, you are correct!
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