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How to Start a Coffee Roasting Business
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Mar 24, 2025
Here's how to start a coffee brand -- coffee roasting machine and more. Also watch: https://youtu.be/TO6-Cz5UozY?si=ja6Z0b_1JzeGdXSk Read our coffee roasting startup guide: https://smallbiztrends.com/2024/01/how-to-start-a-coffee-roasting-business.html To Future Proof Your Business: https://smallbiztrends.gumroad.com/l/qwkbtb?_gl=1*1sbeuk2*_ga*MjA1NDMzMjk3NS4xNzA4Mzc1MTM1*_ga_6LJN6D94N6*MTcwODQ0Mjc3MC4yLjEuMTcwODQ0MjgzNC4wLjAuMA Launching a coffee roasting business involves sourcing green beans and roasting them to perfection. Brian Abernathy, owner of Grumpy Goat Coffee, shares insights in this episode of "Small Biz in 15." Grumpy Goat Coffee focuses on single-origin, gourmet-grade, and traceable coffee beans. Unlike cafes, they're dedicated roasters. Roasting coffee is like cooking; it involves drying, caramelizing, and controlling the roasting process. Training can be self-taught through reading, classes, or hands-on experience. Brian's journey began by identifying a gap in the market and his passion to bring good coffee to an underserved area. Roasting became his means to achieve this goal. For beginners, a roaster and scale are essential equipment. Roaster size depends on your approach—small batch like Brian's or larger production. Costs vary, but a new one-kilogram roaster might be around $7,000 to $8,000. Used machines are available and can save costs. Companies like Mill City Roasters offer refurbished options. Revenue potential varies with your target market. Direct-to-consumer sales yield higher margins but require building a customer base. Exploring commercial and wholesale opportunities offers greater volume growth. Price points depend on quality and market demand. Starting a coffee roasting business involves finding your niche and aligning it with market gaps. Training and passion are crucial, and you can find used equipment or buy from manufacturers. While revenue varies, understanding market demands helps you plan your coffee roasting venture effectively. YouTube Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:17 - What is Grumpy Goat Coffee? 03:05 - The Difference in Roasting Business 04:53 - Skills Needed for Coffee Roasting 06:27 - Roasting Process and Caramelization
View Video Transcript
0:00
now when you look at going more of the
0:02
commercial and wholesale business
0:04
there is
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a lot more opportunity for volume and
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volume level roasting so you are certain
0:12
you can certainly turn out a lot more
0:13
coffee you can drive a lot more Top Line
0:16
growth that way
0:18
[Music]
0:23
I'm Sean hessinger and this is small Biz
0:26
in 15. the show where we bring you small
0:28
business news and tips to make your
0:30
small business better today Brian
0:32
Abernathy owner and founder of grumpy
0:35
goat coffee talks to us about how to
0:37
launch a coffee roasting business Brian
0:40
let's start out by talking a little bit
0:42
about what exactly grumpy goat coffee is
0:44
first of all so grumpy go coffee is in
0:47
its most literal sense we are a coffee
0:49
roaster we are not a coffee shop we are
0:52
not a cafe or a deli we we simply roast
0:54
coffee right so we we bring all the
0:56
green green beans in from around the
0:58
world we focus on single origin Gourmet
1:01
grade and fully traceable coffee my
1:04
first question is I guess what is a
1:06
coffee roaster I realized that they
1:08
roast coffee but I mean can you explain
1:09
a little bit about the business like how
1:11
it separates how it's different from
1:12
other chronic coffee businesses so yeah
1:15
what makes us different is that we uh we
1:18
are sourcing the beans uh so so we are
1:21
roasting them here on site uh you know a
1:23
lot of coffee shops unless they're fully
1:25
vertical they're already buying their
1:27
beans roasted uh whether they're buying
1:30
them from a local roaster such as myself
1:31
or or some other company
1:34
whether it be a food a food purveyor or
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other sources so we you know we identify
1:43
ourselves as Roasters because that
1:45
that's all we do there are some coffee
1:47
shops that actually roast in-house as
1:49
well and they're more vertical but we we
1:51
just stop the process at roasting our
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Core Business is actually direct to
1:55
Consumer we do have some commercial
1:58
accounts but we really enjoy working
2:00
directly with our customers and putting
2:02
good coffee in their hands what do you
2:05
need to learn to know how to roast
2:06
coffee what kind of skills do you need
2:09
uh I guess I mean if you're not just
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you're beyond just the business aspect
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of the
2:15
the technology and everything what kind
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of training does a coffee roaster need
2:19
that that's a great question and that
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can be answered a few different ways
2:22
there are training classes available uh
2:25
they're typically put on by The Roasting
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The Roaster machine manufacturers uh but
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what I like to tell people is roasting
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coffee is uh very similar to cooking and
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or to grilling for that matter now
2:40
specifically and technically what we're
2:41
doing during the roasting process is
2:44
caramelizing the starches within the
2:46
beans so since the beans carry about 18
2:48
moisture give or take origin the first
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process is during the roasting process
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is drying so you go through the drying
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phase caramelization phase and then
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identifying when you want to stop the
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roasting process and that essentially is
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your roast profile so when you think
3:07
about skills you can go and you can read
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books or some great books about roasting
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roasting methodologies and processes you
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can certainly take classes as well but
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like a lot of great chefs and a lot of
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Great Cooks they're also self-taught
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uh in my case I am self-taught I went up
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to I got my roaster I have both of my
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Roasters from Mill City Roasters out of
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Minneapolis so I flew up to Minneapolis
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I looked at their different Roasters we
3:32
actually spent about four or five hours
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going through the roasting process for
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me personally it the process resonated
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so I understood it I understood what
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we're trying to accomplish and
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um you know from there on out it was
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just you know continuing to to roast and
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get better and deal with the different
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variations as as they come with
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different or uh Origins the other thing
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I wanted to ask is coffee coffee
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roasting we're talking about something
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that that a process that you're doing to
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the beans and there are people who have
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home Roasters and they do it as a hobby
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or whatever but how do you turn coffee
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roasting into a business what what how
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what kind of who are you selling to how
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do you get it started as a you say well
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I I'd love to roast coffee but I'd like
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to turn it into a business what's the
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process of that like Beyond just the
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technical aspect of roasting the coffee
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so that's a great question
4:25
um I can answer it specifically for me
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and and how I approach the business
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because you know coffee the coffee world
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is a multi multi-multi-billion dollar
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industry so one there's a lot of room
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for a lot of different variations to
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situate yourself within that industry um
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in my case you know moving down here to
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Southwest Florida uh back in 2013 there
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was really no good coffee in the area a
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lot of that was a result from the
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financial crisis with a lot of small
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businesses you know being shuttered from
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2008 to you know really they didn't come
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back until 2015 2016. so when I moved
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down coming down from the Saint Paul
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Minneapolis area I was used to a more
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robust coffee scene with a lot more
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options
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um so in 2016 I realized I wanted to
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bring good coffee to the area but I did
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not want to run a coffee shop just as a
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personal preference so I asked myself
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well how can I do that and what I wanted
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to do was really
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um kind of give some love back to a few
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Roasters in Saint Paul that I loved
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going to while they were small little
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coffee shops they really were primarily
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roasters so I wanted to bring I wanted
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to bring the beans in I wanted to roast
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it and then just get it into the hands
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of fellow coffee Drinkers and fellow
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coffee lovers so to answer your question
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simplistically I identified what I felt
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was a gap in the market
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but I did that with a with just a
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general desire and passion to bring
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something to the area it wasn't a it
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wasn't purely economics it was just I
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feel like this area could really use it
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I really enjoyed it and and here we are
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seven years later I feel like I want to
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ask a follow-up question here uh
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something we didn't discuss before the
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show which is which came first your
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fascination with roasting or your
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decision to make a business in other
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words did you did you think did you
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analyze the Gap in the market first or
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was roasting already something you were
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passionate about uh no that's an awesome
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question I it was the Gap in the market
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because I I really kind of had to to
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Rack my brain and say well what what can
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I do how can I approach this how can I
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solve this Gap
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um and again really laying out okay well
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what are the traditional approaches to
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solving the Gap and uh again quickly
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identifying going down the path of
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running a coffee shop was not not in the
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cards for me so with my background in
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business and finance I I thought just
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naturally what if I go Upstream and
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going Upstream simply meant roasting you
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know further Upstream from that is being
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an importer of green beans now if I went
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to be an importer of green beans it
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didn't really solve the the Gap in the
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market because simply going to get green
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beans with no roaster in the area
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doesn't doesn't do anybody any good
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um
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so as I learned more about the roasting
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process and how it was you know very
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similar to to cooking I I really enjoy
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doing grilling and smoking of meats
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briskets things like that I I it just it
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kind of fit I didn't realize it was
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going to be that good of a fit or I was
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going to really enjoy it that much
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but I guess the Stars aligned so to
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speak if you're starting a coffee
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roasting business what kind of equipment
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do you need uh can you give us a general
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idea if you're if you're just getting
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started yeah if you're just getting
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started
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um all you really need is a roaster
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there are different Roasters out there
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obviously roaster manufacturers and
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roaster Brands but there's also
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different roaster Styles uh the style
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that I use is a drum roaster
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um
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and that's simply it the size of the
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roaster is really going to be a function
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of
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how you think you're going to approach
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the market what your what Your volumes
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will be and even the space that you may
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have
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um so I I proudly started with a one
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kilogram roaster uh that was basically
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the in the world of roasting
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um you're really not getting into big
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production roasting until you're at even
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a 60 kilogram roaster but so even in the
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world of small batch roasting a one
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kilogram is just a tiny little guy uh
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but I purposely did that because my
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business even when I started and now is
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still focused on more frequent roasting
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batches uh and and small batches with
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lots of different Origins so by having a
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smaller roaster allowed me to maintain
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fresher batches while providing a
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variety of Origins and roast profiles so
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again that was a personal preference
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based on on my Approach
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um but other than that and a scale so
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you know how much you're putting how
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many you know kilograms or grams you're
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putting Into The Roaster and then a
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scale for the salable product
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that's about it it makes me think if
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you're putting a business plan together
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uh you and you're probably kind of
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analyzing how much this is all going to
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cost I and I know this is probably a
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hard question because there's all
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different kinds of sizes of roaster but
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how much money are you talking about
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investing in a machine like that can you
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give us a range sure sure so
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um and again this is all you know
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subject to today's pricing uh so if
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somebody's watching this you know
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sometime in the future uh the prices
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might be different but a one you know
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again I I like Mill City Roasters
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they're um they're very very durable uh
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they are a little more expensive than
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other Roasters and I believe right now
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they're one kilogram is maybe seven
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eight thousand dollars I've upgraded to
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a three kilogram again it's purposely
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small to to do exactly what I've been
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doing a three kilogram I think right now
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is probably in the
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17 18 000 price point those are all
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brand new those are all before they're
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shipped to you but there is a pretty
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robust used market for roasting
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equipment
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um again depending on where you are if
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you're in a bigger city you have uh
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probably a better chance of finding some
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used equipment and those prices are
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if it's a really good machine you might
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get it for 30 40 percent less than new
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um sometimes maybe only 10 less than new
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depending on how long it's been used and
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how it's been maintained as you get
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larger uh larger Roasters and larger
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production you may want to look at some
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bagging automated bagging
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a machine called a d Stoner so there are
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times where there is material that comes
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in in the coffee it is an Agricultural
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Product so with me doing small batch
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I'll pick out if I can count actually on
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on two hands in seven years I've only
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had to pick out a couple of rocks but
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let's say you're going you know more
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commercialized and you're just dumping
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whole big 59 kilogram burlap bags into
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The Roaster at once then you'll have a
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machine after the roasting process that
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will pull out any
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um undesirable things that may have
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found their way into the roaster
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if you're starting where do you how do
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you go about finding a roasting machine
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for sale where where what kind of play
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What where do you look so interestingly
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enough uh even Mill City and a lot of
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the other manufacturers actually will
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buy their own Roasters back and in some
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cases they might buy other brands bring
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them back in house refurbish them and
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then make them available so obviously
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you can look at Facebook Marketplace and
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you can look at you know kind of
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Craigslist and some of those obvious
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areas but going back to the
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manufacturers you can always reach out
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to them and say hey do you have uh
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something that somebody has returned or
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that you've bought back so you know Mill
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City actually has a program of buying
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back Roasters refurbishing them and then
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making them available as well
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I say this kind of tongue-in-cheek the
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machines aren't terribly complicated in
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terms of the mechanics of them you know
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you've got a you've got a drum motor
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you've got a couple of fans you've got a
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cooling Tray Motor uh if you're
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mechanically inclined there's certainly
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deals to be had by going out identifying
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maybe a roaster that just needs a little
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love and and putting it back together
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but if you're not mechanically inclined
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then I think you know going and just
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talking to the existing manufacturers
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and seeing what they've got available is
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a great starting point
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how how much can a can a small roaster
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really bring in I I realize it depends
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on demand and everything but I mean can
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you give us an idea
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um
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I will give you enough of the parts and
13:06
pieces that anybody watching can
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certainly get a napkin and calculate it
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so good good so I don't know that's good
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because every Market's different I
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realize that that's why it's a hard
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question to answer but on the other hand
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you're talking about big Investments and
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big equipment so you got to kind of have
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some kind of you know starting point
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absolutely
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um there's really a couple of approaches
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one identifying who your target market
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is and what what they're willing and
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what they're willing to pay for for
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freshly roasted coffee uh and depending
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on your your with the quality of the
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coffee you're putting out so again for
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me being direct to Consumer uh margins
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are a little bit higher but it is a lot
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of a lot more work building a direct
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consumer base of customers and clients
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uh now when you look at going more of
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the commercial and wholesale business
13:59
there is
14:01
a lot more opportunity for volume and
14:04
volume level roasting so you are certain
14:06
you can certainly turn out a lot more
14:08
coffee you can drive a lot more Top Line
14:10
growth that way the price points you're
14:13
getting is going to be really Market
14:14
dependent and again depending on who
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you're competing against as well
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right but you're definitely talking
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lower margin but in theory you'll pick
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that up with volume so back to your
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point about making Investments I made I
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started out making a smaller investment
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knowing that the hurdles I needed to
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overcome were much smaller well that's
14:36
it for another episode of small business
14:38
15. thanks again to Brian Abernathy of
14:41
grumpy goat coffee for making this
14:43
program possible please like And
14:45
subscribe if you enjoyed the show and
14:47
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14:48
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