B2B

[Osteele]

Hello all.

My name is Peter and I am located in beautiful (but cold) Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In addition to being coffee lovers, my wife and I are thinking of a B2B start-up.

Our primary goal is the resale of fine coffee. Potential clients would be:

Restaurants, Hotels, Offices, Sports bars.

We are in the data gathering process, and realize that there is much to learn.

Any assistance from users of this forum would be greatly appreciated.

Some questions we have for example:

Where can the coffee be purchased (locally or abroad)

We don't plan to roast it ourselves (now what?)

Pricing?

Canadian suppliers?

Thank you all in advance.

Peter

 

[Jackson]

Hi Peter,
What kind of coffee do you plan to sell to restaurants and hotels? I currently work for a restaurant chain worth over 1.5 billion dollars, and the coffee we sell is CRAP! I couldn't even choke down one cup today, and I worked almost eleven hours. Most restaurants do not own their own equipment, and do not want to pay for quality coffee.
You may need deep pockets to buy equipment for each location you sell to, and chances are, you will move more cheap coffee than high quality.

I wish you all the luck in the world, but unless you roast your own coffee, you may have a hard time competing against Maxwell House and Folgers.

If you try to market towards hotels, you may wish to look into private labeling coffee. Hotel margins are small, so price your products accordingly.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Hey Peter:

Breaking into the gourmet coffee market is a tough one. And Jackson is right. Most large institutions don't care about serving good quality coffee. Their motivation is making money, not serving quality coffee. You may have better luck finding yourself a niche to start. Maybe trying to find personal chefs or someone like that. Small, but high class cafes, and or coffee houses. Nowadays, OCS (Office Coffee Service) type companies are starting to fall by the waste side because the equipment and service costs far outweigh any profit potential from good coffee. Takes too long to pay off especially when you have to pay through the nose to provide all of that stuff just to get someone to purchase your coffee. I speak from experience, since I've not only gone after that market in the past, but the same applies for airlines, oceanlines, rail roads, etc. Maybe some day that might change. Just not today. But if you ever decide to pursue moving forward with private labeling, etc. Give us a shot, I'd be more than happy to work with you...

 

[Osteele]

Hello Jackson.

First off, let me say that your quick response is greatly appreciated.

You asked: "What kind of coffee"

I want to keep the selection down to a minimum. I was thinking of espresso and a house blend that is commonly used for restaurant type coffee brewers. The type that is delivered in pre-measured pouches.

You said: "deep pockets to buy equipment for each location"

I have no intention of investing in, or providing brewing equipment.

You said: "roast your own coffee"

Roasting my own coffee is not in my immediate plans.

You said: "you may wish to look into private labeling coffee."

Kindly explain.

Thank you for your time and patience.

Peter

Hi Peter,
What kind of coffee do you plan to sell to restaurants and hotels? I currently work for a restaurant chain worth over 1.5 billion dollars, and the coffee we sell is CRAP! I couldn't even choke down one cup today, and I worked almost eleven hours. Most restaurants do not own their own equipment, and do not want to pay for quality coffee.
You may need deep pockets to buy equipment for each location you sell to, and chances are, you will move more cheap coffee than high quality.

I wish you all the luck in the world, but unless you roast your own coffee, you may have a hard time competing against Maxwell House and Folgers.

If you try to market towards hotels, you may wish to look into private labeling coffee. Hotel margins are small, so price your products accordingly.

 

[Osteele]

Hello Coffee Guy,

Thank you so much for your quick response. I really appreciate it.

Rather than repeating myself, kindly refer to some of my responses in a reply I posted to Jackson.

A few words though:

You're absolutely right when you said:
"Most large institutions don't care about serving good quality coffee."

A few years ago, I was part owner of a Bistro style cafe located on one of this city's busiest boulevards. We were part of a very recognisable franchise. Actually, their exists approx. 150 stores across the nation.

We served a large variety of coffee, from espresso to flavored. I always complained about how bad the coffee was. We had no choice but to purchase it from the franchisor's main supplier. What a scam!

Office Coffee Services:

Not interested.

I was thinking more along the lines of
Restaurant
Sports bar (serve espresso almost exclusively)
Some franchises.

I'd like to know more about "private labelling" though.

Once again, thank you for your time and patience. It means a lot to me.

Hey Peter:

Breaking into the gourmet coffee market is a tough one. And Jackson is right. Most large institutions don't care about serving good quality coffee. Their motivation is making money, not serving quality coffee. You may have better luck finding yourself a niche to start. Maybe trying to find personal chefs or someone like that. Small, but high class cafes, and or coffee houses. Nowadays, OCS (Office Coffee Service) type companies are starting to fall by the waste side because the equipment and service costs far outweigh any profit potential from good coffee. Takes too long to pay off especially when you have to pay through the nose to provide all of that stuff just to get someone to purchase your coffee. I speak from experience, since I've not only gone after that market in the past, but the same applies for airlines, oceanlines, rail roads, etc. Maybe some day that might change. Just not today. But if you ever decide to pursue moving forward with private labeling, etc. Give us a shot, I'd be more than happy to work with you...

 

[ElPugDiablo]

I have no intention of investing in, or providing brewing equipment.

If your potential customers are restaurants, hotels, offices, sports bars and you are not going to provide brewing equipment, they won't even want to talk to you. I mean why would they switch to you when their current vendor supply and service their brewing equipment? If and when they switch to you, their old vendor will take out the brewing equipment that sometimes cost a few thousand dollars to replace. It's not going to be easy to talk them into switching.

I'd like to know more about "private labelling" though.

Private labeling means a coffee roaster roasts coffee for client X, and puts client X's brand on the bags instead of the roaster's own brand.