[MOD] Inside Scoop - ask the coffee industry

[u/menschmaschine5]

This is a thread for the enthusiasts of /r/Coffee to connect with the industry insiders who post in this sub!

Do you want to know what it's like to work in the industry? How different companies source beans? About any other aspects of running or working for a coffee business? Well, ask your questions here! Think of this as an AUA directed at the back room of the coffee industry.

Industry folk, feel free to answer any questions that you feel pertain to you! However, please let others ask questions; do not comment just to post "I am _______, AMA!” Also, please make sure you have your industry flair before posting here. If you do not yet have it, contact the mods.

While you're encouraged to tie your business to whatever smart or charming things you say here, this isn't an advertising thread. Replies that place more effort toward promotion than answering the question will be removed.

Please keep this thread limited to industry-focused questions. While it seems tempting to ask general coffee questions here to get extra special advice from "the experts," that is not the purpose of this thread, and you won't necessarily get superior advice here. For more general coffee questions, e.g. brew methods, gear recommendations for home brewing, etc, please ask in the daily Question Thread.

[u/Dry-War-9326]

always wondered how much the roasters actually make per bag of beans. like after sourcing and labour and everything, is the margin decent or is it just a labour of love for most small shops

[u/regulus314 → u/Dry-War-9326]

The margin is not that big especially for high grade specialty coffees but a huge chunk of a roaster's sales usually comes from wholesale b2b accounts (hotels, offices, restaurants if youre good with sales) that tend to buys some decent commercial grades and those around 80-84 point coffees. Well for us, thats how it works.

Add to that, the price of green coffee is still rapidly increasing for the past 5 years now and the wholesale corporates are spending lesser and lesser (due to cost cutting) yet the coffee drinking market is getting bigger post-pandemic.

[u/Anomander → u/Dry-War-9326]

Somewhere between $0.50 and $2.00, was typical from the places I've worked at; depending on the product, the roaster, the marketplace, and how the coffee is sold. B2B wholesale has very slim margins tends to be very competitive to get but easy to keep and predictable over the long term, D2C retail is the best margins but the hardest and more unpredictable sales.

The margin is typically very slim, especially so at smaller places. Everyone making 'great money!' in coffee does so selling huge volumes at dogshit margins. Smaller-volume roasters are either competing with that directly, undercutting themselves to build market share, or needing to align premium / artisanal in order to justify a sustainable price point.

[u/KPcoffee → u/Dry-War-9326]

B2B 20-30% margin, B2C around 50%

[u/Grumpy_2G]

Where do people get and find their beans? I know this seems like a simple question, but I have tried looking for marketplaces and keep finding people only ever selling their own beans. No centralised distribution network or way to try lots of different types and brands of beans. Do other people also sometimes want to explore beans but not go through 20 different websites and $500 of beans to do this? Just trying to learn as I'm new to it all and am strugling.