People want to start coffee companies because they love coffee. The artistry and science of coffee mean that there’s a deep ocean of information to learn about, which you can do while still enjoying the product at a surface level. People also want to own their own jobs. They are attracted to entrepreneurship and the freedom it promises. For many people, coffee becomes the tool that helps them realize that dream.
Beyond coffee itself, people love coffee shops. Everyone has a favorite cafe, their own personal “third space” where they’ve met up with friends, had a first date, or became a regular. People want their own shop, a space for others that builds the same kind of community.
Every month in our roasting classes, we talk to people who want to do both at once: start a coffee roasting company and open a cafe. As a business that supports both, we tell them to focus on one.
Starting a Roastery
We have helped thousands of people start roasting companies. They purchase a Mill City Roaster, we help them navigate installation and setup, they (hopefully) come to class to learn professional machine control and sensory skills; and then we watch them grow.
They quickly find that owning a roastery is a full-time job. We tell our customers to purchase a machine that will produce the roasted volume they need in 20 hours each week, because the rest of the time will be spent in production, on emails and phone calls, acquiring new business, managing vendors, accounting, and sourcing new greens.
Most owners will work as the sole operator. If they hire production employees as they grow, their efforts shift to training, scheduling, and managing that team.
Owning a Cafe
Owning and managing a coffee shop is very different from hanging out or working in one. As an owner, everything becomes your responsibility, from filling shifts when someone is sick to fixing equipment when it breaks.
After sourcing all the espresso, brewing, grinding, refrigeration, food prep, point-of-sale, and sanitation equipment you need to build a cafe, you have to know how to run it. If you worked as a barista in the past, that’s a huge advantage. If you think you’ll just hire an expert to run it for you, you’ll quickly regret not taking that barista skills class.
Cafes purchase coffee wholesale from established roasters because they’re built to work together. Wholesale programs frequently offer barista training. Many large roasteries have an espresso machine technician on staff. Some of these companies even carry allied products like tea, syrups, and smoothie bases, so cafe owners can order everything they need and have it delivered with their coffee.
Find what Excites You
Roasting 101 is a three-day hands-on roasting class that will help you figure out if you enjoy the process of roasting. Students leave feeling confident enough to dial in a new coffee on their own roaster. Very few, but not zero, finish the course with the realization that they don’t want to roast. They want to do something else in coffee.
They may switch gears and launch a private-label brand to lower their start-up costs. Some of them may decide to pursue a retail space, finding a local roaster to partner with. Others may find a different avenue for entrepreneurship, maybe not in coffee at all.
Steve teaching in Roasting 101
Take Smaller Steps
We’re not saying you have to stay in your lane forever. Wherever you start, you will have the option to add more in the future. A successful roasting brand will almost be forced, by sheer customer enthusiasm, to open its own cafe at some point. A thriving cafe will, after opening its third or fourth location, consider the financial advantage of bringing its roasting operations in-house. We have seen these success stories many times.
If roasting is what you love, but you don’t want to miss the personal connection of serving your coffee to customers, consider a tasting room. Offer a smaller, focused brew bar or drip coffee service inside your roastery. Limit hours or open only on weekends, staff it yourself, and keep the menu minimal to control overhead costs and operational challenges. It will help you activate your coffees, sell more retail bags, and give you a taste of the cafe experience.
After almost 15 years of supporting coffee companies, we’ve seen that there’s no one way to do it correctly. We have so many examples of how people have built successful, popular brands from just a small idea. Maybe the next one will be yours.
