Startup Roaster Selling at Farmers Markets

[Kbeans]

Hello,

I have been home roasting on a Behmor 1600 for more than 2 years now and I am in the process of purchasing a Huky 500. The reason am doing this is because I want to continue to expand my skills and learn as much as I can before I am ready to purchase a larger roaster. The Huky roasts 1 lb at a time. I am interested in selling my beans at a local farmer market this summer. My reasoning for this is to be able to roast very often without loosing a lot of money in coffee beans. I also want to test the market and receive some feedback. I also think it would be a blast! My questions are for those who have done this, but I also welcome any other feedback. Please feel free to answer as many questions as you can or want to and if you think of any other questions I have missed. The following are my initial questions:

1. How much do you charge? (I understand markets are different)
2. How long do you sell you beans for after roast date?
3. How did you know how many bags of coffee to have for first appearance and how much did you sell the first year?
4. Did you also serve coffee? (What types of brew methods)
5. What types of packaging did you use?
6. How many varieties of beans did you offer and did you purchase in large quantities from brokers?
7. What type of roaster did you use?
8. Have you done any roasting demonstrations at farmers markets?
9. Did you need anytime of permit from department of agriculture or other department to roast at your house?
10. Did you grind any beans beforehand especially if no electricity?

Thank you so much for any help!

 

[slurp]

Most of the questions are on other threads BUT here are some answers

1. How much do you charge? (I understand markets are different)

As much as possible depends on beans you are roasting Some coffee sells for $9 per pound while others sells for $20 per pound.

2. How long do you sell you beans for after roast date?

Depends on your packaging. Sealed bags with a valve are good for 6 months to a year. Paper bags are good for a week.

3. How did you know how many bags of coffee to have for first appearance and how much did you sell the first year?

First year I was lucky to sell 500 pounds 5 years later I sell much more.

4. Did you also serve coffee? (What types of brew methods)

yes drip and espresso

5. What types of packaging did you use?

sealed bags

6. How many varieties of beans did you offer and did you purchase in large quantities from brokers?

The more you can buy the better

7. What type of roaster did you use?

15 kilo

8. Have you done any roasting demonstrations at farmers markets?

no

9. Did you need anytime of permit from department of agriculture or other department to roast at your house?

Never roasted at my house

10. Did you grind any beans beforehand especially if no electricity?

yes you will need to sell ground and whole bean

 

[H14]

1. How much do you charge? (I understand markets are different)

We do 16oz bags for $13 and 8oz for $7.

2. How long do you sell you beans for after roast date?

We really push the fact that our coffee is fresh roasted, so I don't take anything over a week old.

3. How did you know how many bags of coffee to have for first appearance and how much did you sell the first year?

Our first time we took two single origins and a de-caf, five bags each. Last year we sold about 350 pounds.

4. Did you also serve coffee? (What types of brew methods)

Bunn VPR-APS into airpots.

5. What types of packaging did you use?

Stand up pouches with valve.

6. How many varieties of beans did you offer and did you purchase in large quantities from brokers?

Three S.O. and a de-caf.

7. What type of roaster did you use?

USRC 5K

8. Have you done any roasting demonstrations at farmers markets?

No.

9. Did you need anytime of permit from department of agriculture or other department to roast at your house?

I'm in Virginia and had to get an inspector from the Ag Dept to OK our shop as a certified kitchen.

10. Did you grind any beans beforehand especially if no electricity?

Power at our market so I grind there.

 

[JohnD18]

This is a very good thread here. Keep the answers flowing, great information.

 

[Kbeans]

We do 16oz bags for $13 and 8oz for $7.


We really push the fact that our coffee is fresh roasted, so I don't take anything over a week old.


Our first time we took two single origins and a de-caf, five bags each. Last year we sold about 350 pounds.


Bunn VPR-APS into airpots.


Stand up pouches with valve.



Three S.O. and a de-caf.



USRC 5K


No.


I'm in Virginia and had to get an inspector from the Ag Dept to OK our shop as a certified kitchen.


Power at our market so I grind there.

What do you do with bags of coffee you don't sell?
How do you like your USCR?
What part of Virginia?
Did the farmers market require that certification?

Your feedback is much appreciated, thank you!

 

[CremaBean]

Hello,

There are not too many questions we could answer as this year we will try to do the same thing. Congrats on grate idea! But farmers markets are all about freshness, so we will bring only the beans we roasted night before the market. There is no reason to go to farmers market to buy an old stale coffee despite its packaging. We will try to do coffee tasting as well. We believe that it would attract people who didn't even plan to buy coffee that day. We also think about charging the cards, so that could add some $$ to the price.
But here is our questions for experienced roasters in farmers markets - how many roasts of coffee do you bring? Medium only or more choices?

 

[slurp]

What do you do with bags of coffee you don't sell?

We donate ours to charity such as the local homeless shelter and women in distress.

 

[H14]

What do you do with bags of coffee you don't sell?
How do you like your USCR?
What part of Virginia?
Did the farmers market require that certification?

Your feedback is much appreciated, thank you!

I have a couple of wholesale accounts in town that I try to restock the day after the market. Love the roaster, great people to work with. I'm in the Shenandoah Valley, our market only required a vendor permit from town. I usually take a dark, medium, a light roast, and a de-caf. I try to change it up some. One week I'll take Sumatra, Colombian, and a Costa Rican, the next week I'll take Kenya, Guat, and Ethiopian. I don't sell much de-caf but a few people ask for it.

 

[Kbeans]

We donate ours to charity such as the local homeless shelter and women in distress.

That's a great idea!

 

[Kbeans]

I have a couple of wholesale accounts in town that I try to restock the day after the market. Love the roaster, great people to work with. I'm in the Shenandoah Valley, our market only required a vendor permit from town. I usually take a dark, medium, a light roast, and a de-caf. I try to change it up some. One week I'll take Sumatra, Colombian, and a Costa Rican, the next week I'll take Kenya, Guat, and Ethiopian. I don't sell much de-caf but a few people ask for it.

Alao a great idea! Starting out I won't have any wholesale accounts, especially because of the size of my roaster. Since I am just starting and have such a small roaster I was thinking of finding a really good coffee that is versatile across roasting levels so that I can buy one bag in the beginning and offer 3 different roast levels. If I notice I am selling a good amount of coffee I will purchase another variety. Does this sound like sound reasoning? If you are doing a summer market in a pretty warm climate, do you offer cold brew or ice coffee?

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I think farmers market is great place to start.

I know few people actually roasted their beans at the market.
YOu will just need to purchase propane roaster to do that.
I always thought having your own roaster at the farmers market will give you edge over others.
Most of the people do know notice fresh coffee verses stale coffee that was sitting on the shelves for months.
But if they can see you are roasting their beans as they are being ordered, they will know they are fresh roasted.
But you have remember, you won't make killing selling beans. So you should sell cups cold or hot brew what ever the demand is.

350 pounds sounds like a lot of beans but at 7-8 dollars profit per pound, you only made about 3000 gross profit and after the expenses, you would be lucky to break even.
So Yes, you have to sell cups. Cold or Hot brew. If you can manage espresso base drinks, do that as well.
If you start on right foot, you will have fun doing this and make decent profit.

 

[H14]

Alao a great idea! Starting out I won't have any wholesale accounts, especially because of the size of my roaster. Since I am just starting and have such a small roaster I was thinking of finding a really good coffee that is versatile across roasting levels so that I can buy one bag in the beginning and offer 3 different roast levels. If I notice I am selling a good amount of coffee I will purchase another variety. Does this sound like sound reasoning? If you are doing a summer market in a pretty warm climate, do you offer cold brew or ice coffee?

We do coffee by the cup and ice coffee. Looking at doing something different with the cold brew this summer. Like CoffeeJunky said, the money is definitely in the cup versus in the bag. Our bag sales were about a third of out total sales. Last summer was our first season and it was doing for the exposure alone.

 

[Razzo]

I agree with this. We started off at a decent size farmers market with around 2500 people coming through during the day. Our average sales were around $250 for 5 hours. We also served hot and iced coffee in our second year. I kept track of expenses and when you factored in the cost of the market space, cups, water, cream, ice, sugar and our time, the market was not really a profitable venture. We did not participate in the market last year and our expense were down dramatically with our total sales going up. Do your homework and keep track of your total cost and profit for the market.

I think farmers market is great place to start.

I know few people actually roasted their beans at the market.
YOu will just need to purchase propane roaster to do that.
I always thought having your own roaster at the farmers market will give you edge over others.
Most of the people do know notice fresh coffee verses stale coffee that was sitting on the shelves for months.
But if they can see you are roasting their beans as they are being ordered, they will know they are fresh roasted.
But you have remember, you won't make killing selling beans. So you should sell cups cold or hot brew what ever the demand is.

350 pounds sounds like a lot of beans but at 7-8 dollars profit per pound, you only made about 3000 gross profit and after the expenses, you would be lucky to break even.
So Yes, you have to sell cups. Cold or Hot brew. If you can manage espresso base drinks, do that as well.
If you start on right foot, you will have fun doing this and make decent profit.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

If you are looking to make money at the farmers market, it will be wrong place to start but if you want to put out your name in your community, this is instant.
But at the end, just having your cart out for serving hot drinks and some food for the vendors to get more exposure, it might just be worth having it open.

 

[Bardo]

We are doing the same thing this year, but the market is a Friday evening event, with a car show and other entertainment. We have a purpose built propane roaster based on a large BBQ grill. have not decided whether to take it along and roast for show or not. Will need some extra people to make that work, as you can't roast, brew pour and sell at the same time. We use kraft paper bags with tin ties, and date each bag. After a week I get rid of the coffee. We plan to donate the old coffee this year. We operate under the cottage food laws in our state, which allow us to do a certain volume of sales producing at home and charging no sales tax. Last year I did 600 lbs. I plan to double that this year. No way to make a living without pouring some cups, I would say. But fun!