natelind
New member
Hey everyone!
I'm a current grad student that's involved with a student led group doing pro-bono consulting for companies in developing nations. My team has been assigned to a Guatemalan coffee co-op that's currently selling wholesale in the US, but is looking to branch out with their own customer facing brand. They already have the brand, packaging, price preferences, etc in place for this, but do not really have any analysis on how to penetrate the various customer facing US markets (specialty coffee shops, cafes, chains like Whole Foods), which is where our research is attempting to come in. I've been able to gather a lot from this board so thank you all for providing this incredibly useful platform, but still have some gaps as to how the final sales step for B2B generally works. Below are a few of the areas still in question, and I'm open to any and all insight. Thanks!
1: What is the typical process for selling your own branded coffee to specialty coffee retailers/cafes/local supermarkets? The general idea that I've gathered is that most places already have pre-established loyalties in place, so what's necessary is getting face to face (either on-site or trade shows), giving samples, establishing relationships and finding reasons why these shops should switch to your brand.
2: Because the above is difficult without a sales team in country, are there distributors/roasters that will sell a company's branded coffee to stores for them? I've found roasters that will buy green and package under their own brand, but have not been able to find anything on distributors or sales intermediaries that will sell other brands. And if these exist, does anyone have suggestions on where to find a list of relevant companies?
3: What information do distributors/roasters require when establishing business relationships with co-ops abroad?
4: For import and storage, the co-op uses OLAM coffee on the west coast, but may be looking to expand to the east coast. Does anyone know similar type companies for that side of the country?
I'm a current grad student that's involved with a student led group doing pro-bono consulting for companies in developing nations. My team has been assigned to a Guatemalan coffee co-op that's currently selling wholesale in the US, but is looking to branch out with their own customer facing brand. They already have the brand, packaging, price preferences, etc in place for this, but do not really have any analysis on how to penetrate the various customer facing US markets (specialty coffee shops, cafes, chains like Whole Foods), which is where our research is attempting to come in. I've been able to gather a lot from this board so thank you all for providing this incredibly useful platform, but still have some gaps as to how the final sales step for B2B generally works. Below are a few of the areas still in question, and I'm open to any and all insight. Thanks!
1: What is the typical process for selling your own branded coffee to specialty coffee retailers/cafes/local supermarkets? The general idea that I've gathered is that most places already have pre-established loyalties in place, so what's necessary is getting face to face (either on-site or trade shows), giving samples, establishing relationships and finding reasons why these shops should switch to your brand.
2: Because the above is difficult without a sales team in country, are there distributors/roasters that will sell a company's branded coffee to stores for them? I've found roasters that will buy green and package under their own brand, but have not been able to find anything on distributors or sales intermediaries that will sell other brands. And if these exist, does anyone have suggestions on where to find a list of relevant companies?
3: What information do distributors/roasters require when establishing business relationships with co-ops abroad?
4: For import and storage, the co-op uses OLAM coffee on the west coast, but may be looking to expand to the east coast. Does anyone know similar type companies for that side of the country?
