Sunday Coffee+: Coffee News That Made The Headlines
Each week, Craft Beverage Jobs compiles the top headlines for Craft Coffee News & Information. On Sunday morning we post those headlines in SUNDAY Coffee+ for your reading pleasure. Whether its industry growth, new business, job openings, profiles or human interest, you just never know what will tickle our fancy from week to week. We want to make SUNDAY Coffee+ a part of your Sunday morning coffee experience.
Arabica Coffee Supply Concerns
Orange Juice, Arabica Coffee Gain On Supply Concerns, by Leslie Josephs – Wall Street Journal
Brazil supplies 1/3 of the world its coffee, but this years drought has limited the current harvest. The drought will no doubt affect next years harvest as well, as trees will not have recovered from this years damage.
On Friday, the prices for the December contract on Arabica coffee increased 2.5% to $1.9315 a pound. Coffee is one of the biggest gainers among commodities, seeing a 74% increase this year.
Coffee Roaster Moves Into Memphis
Coffee roaster finds new stomping grounds in Broad district, Ryan Poe – Memphis Business Journal / August 14, 2014
A grocer-turned-real-estate-broker-turned-coffee-roaster has found a home for his new company, Relevant Roasters, in Memphis’ Broad Avenue Arts District.
Jimmy Lewis, formerly of real estate firm Lewis and Rasberry, now Rasberry CRE, said in a release that he will begin operating specialty coffee roasting company Relevant Roasters in 2,480 square feet at 584 Tillman Ave., Suite 1, by August’s end.
A good cup of coffee is nice; a great cup of coffee is awesome. – Lewis
“I decided that it was important to have fulfillment in work so I asked myself what that would look like and went through a series of exercises that had to do with desire,” he said in his statement. “What emerged was I loved the coffee culture. I loved preparing wonderful coffee and I thought the coffee being produced locally could be improved upon.”
New Business Strategies For Local Coffee Shops
Area coffee shops using blend of business strategies to try to stand out, by Gary Haber, ydr.com
Local coffee shops are continually competing for customers and their spending dollars. From convenient stores armed with auto-coffee dispensers, coffee chains like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, it can often seem like a losing battle.
To compete, many independent coffee houses are changing their strategy to attract and keep
local customer. Providing space for entertainment, expanding on food offerings or going wholesale help make ends meet in the midst of rising coffee bean prices.
The article presents multiple examples of coffee shops taking unique steps to set themselves apart from the larger competing chains:
- Merlin’s Coffee is a cat friendly environment with felines Shadow & Sweetie gaining a cult following.
- New Grounds Roasting Co. promotes community with its performance stage where locals provide live music, poetry readings and art shows.
- Take Five Expresso Bar added cold coffee’s to its menu to the delight of the local business crowd of Central Market, in Philadelphia.
- Latte Da in West York added a catering service for local businesses and live music events on the weekends keep customers coming in the door when local offices are closed.
- The Greeen Bean Roasting Co. has expanded their wholesale business and although remaining true to their coffee roots, have added sandwiches to the menu.
Coffee Jobs Coming To Michigan!
Michigan’s Paramount Coffee Announces Multimillion Dollar Expansion, Daily Coffee News
Paramount Coffee will be expanding its distribution and shipping operations with a new 58,000 square-foot facility near Lansing’s main airport.
Paramount Coffee is in its 70th year and maintains offices in Chicago, Charlotte, N.C. and employs 85 people at is current Lansing office. The Lansing expansion is a $3.5 million investment.
Growth In Specialty Coffee Shops
Cafe Culture: The Rise Of The Specialty Coffee Small Business, by Mark Taylor – Yahoo Small Business Advisor
Ric Rhinehart is the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and estimates that there are upwards of 50,000 coffee retailers in the nation. Speaking of Craft Coffee, Rhinehart states,
This is a drink that is tailor-made for you, something that never existed before or will after. The concept of a handmade drink introduced a value proposition, a drink just for you. There is a certain intimacy apart from it being a pure transaction. The trend today is to convert that personalized interaction to a drip coffee world.
Nick Cho, co-founder of San Francisco’s Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, a roasting company with a retail location, had run coffee shops before. Cho said despite the difficult economy, coffee has done well. Cho said the economic outlook is good for independent specialty coffee shops. “The market is not saturated and there is still room for another 20,000 to 30,000 of us.”
Serious Place For Serious Coffee
Houndstooth Coffee, Now Open on Henderson, Is A Serious Place for Serious Coffee People, by Scott Reitz – Dallas Observer
I’ve never been to a coffee shop with an ethos before. Mostly I just want a cup of coffee that doesn’t suck, some wifi and a place to plug in my laptop adapter. Bonus points for decent ergonomics so I can put in an extra long hyper-caffeinated work session without blowing out my elbows or straining my back.
Houndstooth is not this type of coffee shop. There’s not a single outlet for device charging. Clearly this is a place where customers are expected to absolve themselves from their every day toil and Facebook-scrolling and shift their focus solely to the coffee. And it’s very good coffee. I tried two of the varieties that were available this morning, a light and fruity number and a rustico, both in cortados, which probably is a terrible way to taste a bean for the first time but it was early and I needed what I needed.
Coffee, Tea or Jeans?
Coffee, tea or jeans? New retail concept coming to Ybor, by Richard Mullins – The Tampa Tribune
Buddy Brew Coffee and TeBella Tea are opening their first locations in Ybor City — sort of.
Founder of Black & Denim jeans and serial entrepreneur Roberto Torres will lease space on Seventh Avenue for a new kind of retail project, a combination coffee-tea shop with upper-end denim for sale in the back and a co-work space on the side for other plucky start-ups to get their footing.
The project will take up two spaces on Ybor City’s main drag, at 1903 and 1901 E. Seventh Ave., and take the name “The Blind Tiger Cafe.”
“This harkens back to Prohibition days,” Torres said. “When bars could not sell alcohol legally, they would tell people, ‘Hey, I have a blind tiger inside. It will cost you a nickle to see, but you’ll get a free drink.’ But everyone was in on the joke.”
Coffee Beans photo credit: Nic Taylor Photography via photopin cc