Looking for Seattle Roaster

[jaysmurph]

I am opening a few drive-thru's in Los Angeles and I want to serve a Seattle roasted coffee and espresso. I will be in Seattle from 2/19-2/22 and available to meet with a few roasters. Please e-mail me if you can offer me competitive prices and a high quality product with great service. I am looking to form a strong business relationship.

Please contact me at:

[email protected]

Thanks!

Jason

 

[topher]

http://www.zokacoffee.com/ check these guys out....

 

[Coffee Guy]

Topher??? :evil:

 

[javahill]

Check out http://www.seattlegourmetcoffee.com.

He really know his stuff about coffee. Even though he's a competitor, I occasionally drink his coffee at home.

You're going to want more than just Seattle roasted coffee. Some of it is crap. Ask questions about quality control, packaging, freshness and delivery.

 

[Coffee Guy]

:-D

 

[cafemakers]

Why Seattle?

Some of the best roasters in the USA are in California -- sure, there are plenty of good roasters in Seattle and other places too, but I'm curious why you feel the need to go out-of-state.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Hey C.M.:

You mean you can roast grapes :twisted: So I guess California can now be known as having the best coffee roasters along with making the best wines :twisted: Is there anything else we can add to the list? :wink:

 

[cafemakers]

You mean you can roast grapes So I guess California can now be known as having the best coffee roasters along with making the best wines

We? (808 = Hawaii)

Dude, go back and read my message again in the morning.

 

[javahill]

Seattle is a brand in consumers' minds. Like Washington Apples, Maine (or Idaho) potatoes, Polish Ham, Virginia Ham, Vermont Cheddar, French Fries (they were invented in Belgium).

If someone is looking to differentiate, they pick a word that people believe is credible for the product they want people to buy. It may have nothing to do with the underlying facts. That is marketing.

 

[topher]

Check out www.seattlegourmetcoffee.com as well...great guy and very forgiving.

 

[jaysmurph]

You are right Java Hill. The reason I want to use a Seattle Roaster is simply for branding purposes. People in LA know Seattle coffee is the best...whether that is true or not. I am from Seattle so I would like to think it is

What do you think about Dillano's Coffee and Cafe D'Arte?[/code]

 

[cafemakers]

You may wish to promote your own unique range or origin brand of product, rather than attaching your identity to a public misconception; such a strategy is short lived as your consumers become better educated. Developing an image wholly to your own business, rather than "another business selling Seattle coffee" (ala Starbucks / Seattle's Best) will ultimately create a stronger brand, better identifyable with your company and also insulate you from changing public perception.

People in LA used to "know" that American made cars were best, too.

 

[javahill]

Seattle making better coffee is not a misconception. If you read Michael Porter's book the competitive advantage of nations, you'll understand that the intensity of an industry in a small geographic area produces more competition that raises the overall level of quality and value.

Puget Sound is the only body of water on earth with a measurable caffeine content. Think about that for a minute. Within those intense world of coffee in Seattle, people know the difference between good coffee and bad coffee. There still is some bad coffee, but overall the level is better than many other cities.

As far as Los Angeles, the air quality is so bad many days that high volume roasters need catalytic converters on the air intake, not just the exhaust gasses.

OK, I made that up that last part. But the rest is true.

 

[cafemakers]

The intensity of an industry in a small geographic area produces more competition that raises the overall level of quality and value.

I happen to agree with this statement; Anchorage, for example, has more coffee shops per capita than anywhere in the USA including Seattle, and in my opinion, better coffee than most American cities at its coffee shops. Unfortunately, this strategy has not worked very well for the Detroit auto companies recently. I digress...

My point was not to incite regional taste preferences or local pride, but to suggest that any new small business should not necessarily wish to attach its company brand to ANY other image that is beyond its direct control, including but not limited to the public perception of Seattle or Los Angeles coffee; doing so dilutes a company's image more so than water dilutes the caffeine in Puget Sound.

Choose your coffee roaster because of the quality of coffee supplied, their customer service and flexibility of their business arrangments with you; not solely because you hope to use their brand recognition in the absence of your own to market your business. The only way to ensure the strength and logevity of your brand is to make it wholly your own.

 

[javahill]

My point was not to incite regional taste preferences or local pride, but to suggest that any new small business should not necessarily wish to attach its company brand to ANY other image that is beyond its direct control.

Clearly you either a.) have a soul or b.) don't have a postgrduate degree in lying... er, marketing. Maybe a.) and b.)