Forum > Beans
Selling Your Roasted Coffee
dgrueber:
Yes, not easy here at all.
I did end up finding a shared kitchen that would let me install a roaster and roast there but it's 50-150 per month plus 10-15 per hour of use so total it could be 200-300 per month in just cost. That's hard to justify for a startup that's not making anything currently.
Through research I did find the Cottage Food Laws allow you to sell at farmer's markets and other venues however, my state sucks in terms of where it allows you to sell. You can only sell at a farmer's market here but in Ohio where i'm from originally, you can sell online, in retail stores, shops etc... It's very up and down depending on where you go.
MJ5150:
I started down this road in Washington State. It was too complicated and expensive, so I gave up.
I roast enough for the wife and I, then a little extra I sell to friends so we basically get our coffee free. That works for us.
-Mike
Slayton:
I've been doing the cottage industry thing here in Alaska for the past not quite year and half. Same deal. Sales are direct to consumer or via farmer's market and no online sales. I knew this going in before I bought my Huky. Although I received and started roasting as of mid March or so I really didn't start selling until June of 2015. With the cost of the roaster, bags, beans, logo design, and any number of other things my business lost money for the year. Though not anticipated neither was I surprised.
I bought my Huky with the idea of learning how to roast and testing the local market to see if my business idea was even viable. I figured that if the business didn't work out I would still have the Huky, which I wanted anyway, and I would sell enough to friends to both eventually pay for it and keep me in coffee :)
I work a full time job outside of roasting and value my free time. With the limited capacity of the Huky I never expected to really make an income. As it stands I just ordered a larger roaster and because I'm very lucky have a commercial kitchen to put it in. I still have some hoops to jump through before going commercial but I'm on my way.
Coffee being what it is and how it is roasted and then brewed must be one of the safest food items out there in terms of commercial food products. But it is still a food product and regulated as such and that means to sell commercially a commercial kitchen and all that entails is required, as well as any emission standards for your area, etc. With that said, 200-$300 a month for a space to roast commercially seems like a bargain.
I don't know how much you anticipate selling overall. I also don't know what the capacity of the Behmor vs the Huky is. I do know that with my full time job and selling somewhere around 20lbs a week I feel like my capacity is maxed. You could, of course, roast a lot more than that but for me it comes down to a point of diminishing returns (the time it takes to roast a batch on a machine of small capacity) and though my business is just starting to show a very little profit to do more and actually get ahead. . .. . it's not worth it and I will go crazy and I will stop enjoying the process of roasting coffee and the nuances of the end product which is why I got in this in the first place.
My 2 cents (after the buck fifty I've already interjected above) keep doing what you're doing after you get your brand spankin' new sexy little stainless steel beauty of a Huky. Take your time and learn how to roast on it and dial in what you like. Try to expand on your current customer base and build a name for yourself and your brand outside of your current customers. And then take it to the next level and buy a larger roaster. In my humble opinion the Huky is too small to be a commercial roaster. There is much more to running a commercial coffee business in terms of time and energy than just roasting coffee. With the Huky in that setting, that is all you will have time to do to meet (hopefully) demand.
Best of luck.
Sean
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