Working on business plan...

[tazzadiluna]

Hey everyone,

I am currently working on a business plan for a future "home barista online store". Still in the research phase and determining the viability of the concept.

At a minimum I will be offering products such as thermometers, coffee grinders, scales, and brewers. What products and brands would you expect to see offered to cater to home baristas (or would it be more proper to say home baristi)? What other products would you recommend I offer that are not readily available anywhere?

Right now I roast coffee as a hobby. I will be offering my own roasted coffee a few years down the line if/when I decide to get a brick and mortar store.

Any input you have in the meantime for my future home barista online store will be very much appreciated!

Regards,
Angela

 

[John P]

How will you drive people to your website?
Do you have professional design and coding for best positioning on Google, Yahoo, etc. ?

These things will be much more important to your business than what you carry. Establishing space online is more difficult than a brick and mortar. Nobody can walk by or drive by and see you. Think about design, implementation, and execution before anything else.

Good luck!

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Angela,

I think you should offer different types of brewing tools.
Aero press, Hario drip brew, Cold brewing tools like tody, Siphon brew, Chemex, and other brewing tools. More the better.
Also related items like different filters, covers, measuring cup or scoop, and other related items.
Posters for beans and different color charts, books and instruction manuals and other related books and papers.

Water filters and water testing kit.

Those are all i can think of. Of course you can offer your own beans for people to buy.

Good Luck

 

[tazzadiluna]

Awesome suggestions, John and CoffeeJunky! Thank you. I will keep those in mind. I am looking at starting out very small, with 5 to 10 products and test them out. Get rid of the ones that don't sell, keep the ones that sell, etc.

I plan on selling online and in person, you know, like how Mary Kay people do it, do demos at people's homes except it's with home coffee brewing instead of make up.

Keep your suggestions/ideas coming as you can think of them please, I really appreciate it!

Angela

 

[Lashuang]

your idea is good. just one thing to say, go ahead.......

 

[Foszer]

Best of luck, Angela. I've recently begun thinking about an online store as well (not for coffee products, so no competition from me

Are you planning on carrying an inventory, or having orders shipped directly from a wholesaler?

 

[tazzadiluna]

Best of luck, Angela. I've recently begun thinking about an online store as well (not for coffee products, so no competition from me

Are you planning on carrying an inventory, or having orders shipped directly from a wholesaler?

Hi Foszer,
Both. Will probably start out a couple of demo products, with some on hand. Then if I run out for in person orders or online orders would ship directly from suppliers.

I kind of halted the business plan, we are in the process of selling our house and moving soon!

Angela

 

[coffeefreak2013]

Its a great industry to be in, second largest commodity sold in the world behind oil.

 

[Flori]

very nice idea. im sure it would be a hit as coffee is one of the most sold commodity. please do keep us updated .

flori
blogger, coffeeloversofworld.com

 

[albi7918]

Hey keep us posted on the progress! I'm also interested in knowing what drop shipper you use

 

[Seth]

we can help with finding the best roasters and their wholesale prices.

 

[tazzadiluna]

Okay, so we are finally settled in our new house. We are military and moved from North Carolina to Colorado. I've kind of changed my plan a little bit after I found out some more about coffee roasting here in Colorado. Turns out I don't have to collect sales tax to roast/sell coffee beans, but there is a cap of $5000 revenue when done from home. Which is fine with me. I homeschool my kids (I have 4!) and I only do my coffee roasting hobby at night anyway. I don't plan on roasting commercially more than twice a week because of this. Because we're military we will be moving again within 5-6 years, so I don't plan on doing anything permanent until we retire which will probably be in a move or two depending on the next assignment.

Anyway, in order to keep things simple I've decided to just focus on my coffee roasting and selling my own coffee beans rather than drop shipping other people's products. If I do end up drop shipping brewing accessories and such, it would only be after everything is set and I have more time to dedicate to this.

My plan right now is to roast using a gas grill drum that I don't have yet. I'm still waiting on the building/code guys to tell me the requirements for this size operation, which I don't think will be a problem, in my backyard.

My plan is to keep the operation size small since I really don't have room to grow until our final duty station. I plan on focusing on the wedding and special occasion market and roast beans as favors and gifts. You know, artisan roasted coffee just for your special day either for yourself or for friends/family. I plan on being a little artsy fartsy with the packaging, which I'm looking forward to.

I'm kind of eyeing this drum from ebay: Stainless Aluminum 10 lb Coffee Beans Peanut Chile Cacao Roaster BBQ Grill Drum | eBay


Does anybody have experience with it? What is your take on that? I found some instructions on how to build your own online, do you think I should just build my own?

I kind of stalled on the business plan what with the move and the holidays. Picking it up again this week and will post updates on my progress.

 

[ZanyJersey88]

Coffee Business

Hi Angela,

I want to wish you all the best with your business plan. I am trying to build a business involving Gourmet coffee and tea. Let everyone know when you open shop so we can check you out.

Have A Great Day and all the best.

ZanyJersey88:coffee1::coffee1::coffee1:

 

[tazzadiluna]

Hey, thanks ZanyJersey88! The business plan is still a work in progress. Probably won't come into fruition until at least a couple of years from now. Have a great weekend!

 

[Bardo]

Tazza,

I have built a roaster based on a large BBQ grill and it is working great. I would be happy to share some of the lessons I am learning with you anytime! I am retired military and I hope this will be my "next thing".

Freeman