Coffee business still full of beans
The chatter of bustling coffee shops may have fallen silent in the shutdown, putting thousands of jobs at risk. But a new venture is trying to save cafés and enable them to maintain relationships with customers by selling customised coffee online. Behind the scheme is Fergus Brown of Roasted Brown, who reports some rare good news these days with a 1400% increase in online sales.
Tell us about the new venture, Fergus?
‘Our Shop is Their Shop’ campaign allows Roasted Brown coffee drinkers buying online to nominate their usual coffee shop and buy from them, via Roasted Brown, who process the sale on behalf of the cafés. With orders coming to a standstill following the closure of many of the businesses it supplies, the company has moved to sell its coffee online, offer a delivery service and has made more coffee products available for sale online.
Who’s buying all this coffee?
Sales are being made across the country, with sales in Dublin and Wicklow among the strongest.
How is the coffee business?
Coffee Business is always hard to read, with coffee becoming more and more of habit than ever it’s easy to think that it’s flying and in the context of being a roaster or a coffee shop, business is very good. In the context of being a coffee farmer or producer the answer isn’t as straight forward. There’s still a lot underhanded deals going on and many roasters don’t even know they’re a part of it. How are you coping with a 1400% increase in online mail order business ?
Considering our main business has now 100pc disappeared it’s very manageable! We’re primarily a wholesale business with a bit of online. Now we’re a very busy online shop trying to help our wholesale customers trying to keep some sales. It’s busy - about 10 times more work dealing with so many individual orders and special requests so it takes quite a bit of readjusting but we’re definitely getting there. How challenging is it to meet deliveries?
Not challenging at all. Thankfully couriers are still delivering nationwide so we’re processing orders and shipping within 48 hours typically. Why did you get into the coffee business?
Well I’ve been drinking it since I was about 3 years old. I’d awfully irresponsibly parents!! I’m actually a sound engineer by trade but an incident the damaged my ears drove me to search out another love. I’ve always loved coffee shop culture and have always enjoyed travels through developing nations, so coffee roasting ticked a lot of these boxes in an amazing way. So it started with a coffee cart at markets, then a coffee shop in Temple Bar and a cafe on Talbot street to now running a coffee roastery and wholesale business. Have Irish people become coffee connoisseurs?
Well we’ve definitely become coffee drinkers and yes we’re very Irish about it and like to say we’re connoisseurs :) I would say there is still too much commercial grade coffee being sold in Ireland before we can say we’re a nation of connoisseurs. But we all know what we like and like it consistent! Why is coffee so expensive?
Have you got all day?! It’s a matter of perspective and context really. On one hand you’ve expensive cups of coffee that don’t actually reflect what producers are being paid and other hand you have high end specialty coffee selling at the same price as these but should be almost double the price! The lack of transparency makes it very hard to know whats what. I’d more than happy to buy a cup of coffee for €4.00 if I knew the producer was doing well, the coffee tasted great and the environment was being considered in the process. A lot of cafes and roasters redoing this but for the average joe it’s almost impossible to see who’s who and whats what. Why are people drinking so much coffee now?
It’s delicious and it’s addictive for a start but its also something we all love to chat about and even get a good sense of community from. It’s got a lovely ritual to it whether on your daily work routine or making it at home. I work 5 minutes from my roastery but I (pre-lockdown, used to) pop by my local specialty coffee shop after a swim in sea each morning for a cuppa with a few locals before work. What businesses will do well in post Covid world?
I really hope hospitality will, It’s been an awful blow and I think many will be fighting to get back to normal for many many months post Covid19. I think there’ll be very natural growth in all online shopping as many more are getting used to it now than would have before. I hate to say it though but I think the banks will do very well through expensive overdrafts and loans that would’t have been needed if Covid19 hadn’t happened.
What businesses will do poorly?
Any business that needs credit to get the wheels turning again might be in for a shock, I think this is when many will realise they’re in trouble. It’s one thing to coast through this carefully but it’s another get up and running again with less money in peoples pockets, less people in employment and loans needed to trade again. When (or if) will we recover from this crisis economically?
If we deal with this like the last crisis we’ll be paying for this for another 20 years. It all depends what the government does and how long this actually goes on for. Have you difficulty getting workers to deliver?
No I ‘ve never had an issue, The coffee business doesn’t really have a shortage of passionate hard workers. Is Ireland a good place to do business?
Absolutely! I’ve had 2 successful coffee shops and now run a business of my dreams. It’s not an easy country to do business though, rents are way to high and as rates can be so unreasonable but if you plan well and do your homework you can really make thing s work. What did your parents teach you about money?
That it doesn’t come easy and if you want to succeed you’ll need to work incredibly hard and make very calculated decisions. What is your best investment?
My family and my business. What was your worst?
“High” interest bank accounts! Where are you ever scammed/ripped off?
Yes. My email was hacked and about 7k in payments was intercepted by a hacker! What’s the most expensive thing you bought for fun?
My house and I’l be paying for it for a very ling time! Do you invest in a pension?
No, I plan to build my own pension that I can control myself. What would you do if Finance Minister?
I’d go above and beyond in making sure SME’s are safeguarded and back up and running without extra debt. We need grants and not loans to get through this.