Posted Sat Feb 13, 2010, 10:45am Subject: Re: Coffee roasters in Las Vegas
who would be interested in weekly/monthly home coffee delivery? Imagine waking up to a bag of fresh roasted coffee on your door step.
Hello ...
As others have said it is a tight market out here in the Vegas valley. Essentially all of the coffee out here is of the commercial kind .. mostly Starbucks .. some Saxby chains and a few others.
The best place to put your coffee shop would be where there are already coffee shops.
I would love to patronize a serious coffee shop but quite franjkly if your store is away from my daily jaunts I would be unable to visit it. So even good shops will have a hard time drawing in the serious coffee drinker unless they are placed right under their nose.
I used to work a block away from "Coffee Roasters of Las Vegas" .. that was a blast while it lasted. Duck in for some coffee chat .. a free sample or two and fresh beans right out of the roaster.
I don't have to imagine .. I wake up to fresh roasted coffee whenever i feel like roasting. If I did not want to roast ordering coffee online is rather efficient so it does not matter if my coffee supplier is accross town or in the next state over. Keep that in mind.
Maybe you should stay low key .. offer greens and roasted coffee but keep overhead low. Otherwise you have to go out in key spots to catch the local coffee rush which out here is mostlt the one cup in the morning crowd or the teeny boppers with fancy cold coffee drinks.
I doubt you will catch much straight espresso action out here.
Good Luck ... Do let me know if you set up .. I will pass the word as best I can. I would love to see more coffee in vegas .. I just know how hard it is to make a buck.
rthomas883 Senior Member Joined: 10 Feb 2010 Posts: 9 Location: wisconsin Expertise: Professional
Posted Tue Feb 16, 2010, 4:58am Subject: Re: Coffee roasters in Las Vegas
Jason,
I put the wrong email in my post the correct one is rthomas883@gmail.com please re-send your mailing address.
Dear DarkMajestic,
Thanks for your response. I think we are on the same page. I have been fighting Starbucks for customers for nine years, and don't feel like doing that again. My wife and I have decided to "downsize" our lifestyle.
I would like to open a little shop in Vegas focusing more on selling beans and equipment, then lattes. When we move out there we should be able to pay cash for a house, have three paid for cars, and a come with a truck load of coffee equipment.
If I can open a store that just makes me enough to pay my bills I would be happy.
You roast your own? I assume you buy your beans online. Is their a local place that sells green beans?
Posted Fri Feb 19, 2010, 6:18pm Subject: Re: Coffee roasters in Las Vegas
Hello Rob ...
Ofcourse business wise I don't know what I am talking about.
I don't have any sacred coffee spots in Vegas. I must admit I do not travel far from my cave. I was spoiled for a while when i had a coffee roaster just ten minutes from my home. I would enjoy stopping ny the place the first moring on my first day off from work. I enjoyed the friendly chat .. a few free samples and would pick up some fresh roasted beans for the week or two.
His shop was very low key .. lower rent I would think .. more in a light industrial area with low visability. He has a sign out in front but his shop was obscure from the road.
There were lots of interesting coffee related items to purchase .. hardware .. syrups ect.. He started selling some green beans when I gave him the nudge .. like hey you can sell it green. Not sure if really wanted to or not but he eventaully started selling green.
Many a days I would just get some fresh beans bagged just as they rolled out of the roaster. In time his wife started a tea room and that I found quite interesting.
Though he was not content with all this .. keep in mind this is when the economy was booming. He wanted a cafe .. he wanted more then roasting .. my speculation was that at the time he knew what kind of location he needed but competition for retail space here at that time was fierce not only from other coffee shops .. mainly Starbucks .. but also from other food based retail. Vegas is franchise city.
Anyway he closed his shop was going to reopen here or there .. his roaster last I looked is still in his old shop but he never reopenned and then the economy went bust. Last I heard he was in the farmers market.
With him went "The Three Sisters" cafe which was a gourmet tea store and cafe.
Yes .. I roast at home. Sweet Marias I like because of their reviews and it seems the guy really gets out to the farms and checks his beans out before selling them. It makes no difference to me that he is out of state modern internet and delivery make small work of getting beans green or roasted online.
The amount of roasted beans i buy now is minsicule compared to what i roast myself. I patronize Starbucks and sometimes Saxbies only because they are in my travels during the work day and out of desperation when I fail to roast.
I don't know of a local place that sells green beans .. there may be a place but looking for it in the real world is more work then looking online.
I would enjoy a sacred coffee shop in my neighborhood.
Now for my uniformed advice .. maybe you should open a low overhead operation and do business more so online. If you really need a shop find an out of the way cave. I don't know.
Let me know if you do get started .. I'll call some local coffee friends. ( smile)
rthomas883 Senior Member Joined: 10 Feb 2010 Posts: 9 Location: wisconsin Expertise: Professional
Posted Mon Mar 8, 2010, 6:06pm Subject: Re: Coffee roasters in Las Vegas
Thanks DarkMajestic,
It seems like small time roasters want Cafe's and Cafe owners would prefer to roast:)
It Sounds like your old hang out is similar to what I want to do. I have been in the retail end of the biz for 9 years, and I am tired of trying to compete head to head with the big chains. Some people just can't be pulled away from the franchises no matter what. Some shops even try gimmicks like girls in bikinis (Perfect 10, cowboy, ect). I do not want to go down that road.
I am still cleaning up some loose ends up here before I move. I will keep you informed when I have more info.
Posted Tue Aug 24, 2010, 11:01am Subject: Re: Coffee roasters in Las Vegas
A little off topic from the direction this post has gone but my wife and I are going to Vegas for the first time tomorrow, Aug. 25th. I have found that Vosges chocolate boutique pulls shots of Blackcat. Noone has gotten back to me on other posts about this. Can anyone comment?
Posted Tue Aug 24, 2010, 12:49pm Subject: Re: Coffee roasters in Las Vegas
I guess I meant for my question to be more more informative than anything. Everyones been looking for good coffee in Vegas. I'll report back after this weekend on how it was.
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