According to Coffee Research, average coffee consumption in the states is about 5 kg. per capita or, to put it simply, it’s almost two cups of this strong and smelly drink that an average American would typically drink a day. Even though these numbers seem unremarkable as compared to Finland’s crazy 10 kg. annually or about 1,200 cups per capita, coffee definitely opens a huge window of opportunity here in the US as well as in Canada. So if you’re thinking of how to start a coffee roasting business of your own, you’ve chosen all the right niche.
So, it’s open and shut that starting a coffee roasting business promises a lot in terms of income as long as coffee remains a popular beverage among all ages. And fortunately, things would never make a difference, at least for a while now. However, there are too many conditions that might affect how the business is going to get off the ground – well, coffee has never been something simple. So below you’ll find a definitive guide to starting your roasting business in an inexpensive and efficient manner.
First off, be aware of the fact that roasting isn’t a journey you can venture into at ease: it takes an immense amount of preparation before you’ll be able to make your very first move. It doesn’t mean, though, you have to bury yourself under books for years on, but a couple of months to get the hang of coffee things will be adequate. Here’s what you need to know in the first row:
If you have no faintest idea where to start, here’re your useful sources to get going:
Books | |
Apps to help you keep track of your roasts like a pro | Roastmaster – quite an advanced app, offers lots of interface features like record roasting, cupping data and analysis. Cropster – one of the most popular apps, ideal for commerce. Roast Buddy – perfect for home roasting, bey would be also a perfect kickstart to novices. Typica – helps plan roasting, calibrate machines and track production and roast. |
Great YouTube channels and forums to lean on the community | Forums: Home Barista, Roasters Guild Channels: Behmor, Sweet Maria’s Coffee, Mill City Roasters |
We’d strongly recommend taking a skills course run by SCAA/SCAE and, in addition, attending cupping sessions after you’ve completed some of self-education.
There are actually two ways you can build a coffee roasting business: buy beans, roast them and sell them or just take them and proceed them. However, taking into account that any housewife can invest in a professional machine and set in motion, barely could you become the top of your niche just by roasting beans without having access to them. So if you’re really planning to become a successful entrepreneur, you need to learn how to find raw coffee beans of great quality from bean growers.
Sad story: probably, after many-hours long trawls around your city, you won’t see any fruitful results since places serving coffee not in a wholesale scale (while you’re a newbie, you don’t need tons of coffee and international suppliers) are most likely to sell roasted varieties.
Where do you find unroasted beans? Try these options:
Moreover, you can reach out to local coffee shops and negotiate shipping. Visit Ranker to navigate through shop chains, single storefronts and local cafés.
Once you’re sure of your skills in processing beans and theory, you can start preparing for a long jump. But before purchasing equipment or considering what space would be best to rent, you may well need to look outside of these deep aspects and focus on business ones to avoid wasting time. These are your steps to take off:
The biggest problem on the way to grand opening is that legal requirements very greatly from one municipality to another. Since there’s a plethora of different licenses associated with roastery, you’d better start with basic ones and then battle your path through this heap of documents by research.
Building Permits
Good news: if your roaster size is small, you might not be asked for anything more than an application fee, and that’s it. Your space will be thoroughly inspected, though, and if some changes are required, make sure to draw sketches to lay down all the changes and form supporting materials to negotiate with your local municipality.
Certificate of Occupancy
When you operate at some regulated location (actually, any location passing a health inspection will be regulated), you need to require a Certificate of Occupancy (CO). This paper confirms that you’ve met all the local regulations and building codes. Note that’s generally the landlord’s responsibility to acquire a CO.
Fair Trade Certification
This one is for your beans. If you want to be supplied with quality beans, you’ll need to submit to fair trade audits and pay fair trade premiums. To learn more about this type of certification visit their official website.
How long does it take to finally start? Well, there’s no definite answer to this one, and it’s all up to you – it depends on how and where you handle of choosing:
This may be very different to every entrepreneur. But of course, nothing could be continued without proper practice and dedication.
It’s crucial to master the skill of roasting before getting your doors ready for clients. Tip: practice as much as you can, and engage your family member, friends or random strangers to get honest reviews about the way you roast. Right when you cross the line when 90% of your reviews are positive, then you can go on planning and set a date to open the doors. Don’t forget that during the first operation stage you can hire a professional roaster and learn with pros by your side.
When the process of training is done, you feel the power, the next stage is to think of the location where you’d set up your company. You can either set off as a big company or cling to small things, depending on your current budget and overall situation. If you start off small, 550 sq. ft. is more than enough space to install the machine, bagging and stock areas. However, it doesn’t matter what size you’re aiming at, there are three essential aspects you take into consideration.
Humidity. Remember that even small amounts of moisture can impact things all the way down to packaging, not to mention it affects the drying phase. You’ll need to put in background heating to manage this problem.
Ventilation. Another problem is air quality – roasting causes pollution due to releasing acids and compounds in the process. You need to visit the regulatory authorities who would instruct you on ventilation facilities to put in your place and also give instructions on how to control harmful substances.
Storage. Enemies of beans, both roasted and green, are light, too much heat, air and moisture. So to keep them at their peak you need to avoid sunlight, store them in a dark container. Coffee glass canisters are the best solution: put them somewhere in the shade to insure air-tight storage. Besides, once your green beans have arrived, they should be places near your roasting machine to lower the shuffling of coffee bags around your storage place.
The types of facilities and equipment you’d need depend on whether you opt for both purchasing and roasting coffee or simply roast what coffee houses bring to your place. In any case, this is your fundamental checklist: heat sealers, refrigerator to store some coffee varieties, storage containers of different sorts and sizes, ventilation pipes, measuring scales, and the bread and butter of this all, a roasting machine.
Speaking of which, there are there things to consider: size, if it’s easy to clean and price.
Besca USA is one of the best industrial companies manufacturing all types of machines. They offer everything from a 1 kg smallies to incredibly big 240 kg commercial machinery. SFR, Dedrich and Probat are among decent companies, too.
Don’t forget that this niche is not easy to walk in – the startup costs coming along running a roasting business can be extremely large. In addition to paying for commercial premises, in case you decided to roast like a pro, roasters are expected to pay for:
What’s more, you’ll need Internet access, a computer to accept orders online and vehicles to deliver your production to customers.
Once of the most effective marketing strategies for coffee companies is to develop in a two-sided direction: while your local presence is progressing through words-of-mouth, booklet advertising and local promos, you need to lure in online customers and connect with the Internet community to draw more audience to your coffee products.
There are so many things to talk about here, but you should start with the following: get your Facebook marketing together and remarketing tools as well, learn what makes up good SEO, build a website and a few social media pages, comment on forums and don’t forget about adding your venue to popular navigation apps and services like Google My Business to draw more customers – here you’ll find a complete guide to adding your company to maps.
One indispensable things: a coffee roasting business should be able to distinguish itself from a pile of other companies. You can do this by:
But most of all, keep moving on. If you think that you’ve explored all the regions in the world and tries all the sorts, you’re being very delusional about the power of the coffee industry: there’s always room for improvement.
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Thank you, this is an awesome guide to start the business. I think delivery is one of the aspects of the business to think. It is very popular now and it needs to be added to the to-do list, in my opinion.
You need to find a local delivery company. For example, many wholesale coffee roasting companies in Boston uses Metrobi for their deliveries.