Insight into commercial coffee

[Harperjones]

Hello Coffee forums,

I need to gain a better idea of how commercial coffee roasters operate and the costs involved. The company that I work for sells around 250,000 lbs/yr of high end commercial coffee to restaurants and coffee shops. Let me start by saying that we absolutely love the coffee that our roaster provides. I am just interested in the process and would like to have a better understanding of how the industry works.

1) They operate Probat G60 roasters. What does a new one go for? I can't seem to find any figures. $150,000? $200,000?

2) Say my roaster buys Columbian Excelso by the shipping container(~250 bags). What are they paying per lb?

3) I understand the additional costs of roasting coffee (Shrinkage, labor, utilities, packaging, ect.). If you had to quantify those costs and come up with an average per lb cost to a roasters selling 1M lbs of high end commercial coffee per year, What would it be? $3/lb? 4/lb?

Again, this is simply for discussion sake, and ballpark figures are welcome. I just figured there were some coffee industry guys on here who could give some insight.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PinkRose]

Hello Harperjones

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

We have a lot of members who are familiar with the questions you're asking. Hopefully you will get a response soon.

Why are you probing the topic in such detail? I'm guessing that there must be an underlying reason for your curiosity. Inquiring minds will want to know.

Rose

 

[Harperjones]

There is talk of an acquisition and I would like to get a better understanding of how commercial coffee roasters operate. The information has proven to be difficult to find.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[eldub]

Why can't you talk to someone in your company?

 

[John P]

eldub writes:

Why can't you talk to someone in your company?

Ditto.

 

[PinkRose]

Harperjones,

Is your roasting company considering taking over another company, or is it the other way around?

 

[Harperjones]

I work for a small/medium sized distribution company. Coffee sales are a small percentage of the business. It's not necessarily my place to pry into the details of the acquisition, as it is a decision made by upper management. I am interested in coffee and would like to find out how things work. Maybe this is the wrong place to ask such a question. Sorry for the confusion.