I promised to do a follow up on one person's effort to start up a business. You can read "part one" here.
Now to continue, edited for some confidentiality:
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
Now to continue, edited for some confidentiality:
On Aug 14, 2012, at 8:55 AM, Matt wrote:
Hi John,
Just wanted to let you know where I stand with contacting potential customers about my idea. I've reached out to the 8 best prospects that I identified in the market (two large roasters and one smaller roaster, along with independent cafes). I e-mailed initially and followed up with a phone call. So far, no one has put me through to their buying people but I'm going to call again in a few days.
In the mean time, talking about my idea with some friends it turns out that one of my friends has a friend who imports coffee. Who knew?
Hope all's well,
Matt
On Aug 14, 2012, at 10:01 AM, John Spiers wrote:
Hey Matt,
So if you want to step up the game, go into the shops themselves and follow either plan A or plan B. Try about 2pm when the manager is likely there so you cn get a semi-informed response.
Plan A: Try to buy your hypothesis. "I'd like to order a cup of...." and fill in your hypothetical cup of coffee.
Plan B: try out the hypothesis on the manager in the store at about 2pm: "I believe .the problem then with most coffee--coffee house coffee or vacuum bagged coffee--is that it doesn't have a story. Even fair trade certified just tells the customer that some coffee farmer in the jungle isn't getting jerked around on the price of his product. What then I'd have to sell to smaller shops is the story of the bean, videos of the farmers, crafts from the kids in the village where the stuff is grown, and then give the customer a chance to respond back--videos, letters, thank yous, etc. Make getting a cup more interactive and give the customer a reason to come back other than the coffee he's drinking. Then I'd be selling the shop not just fair trade coffee, unique blends, or single origins, but a service that provides the store coffee and gives it a chance to offer customers the opportunity interact with where their cuppa comes from I believe if I solve this problem, you will buy from me. Am I right?"
Either way, you'll get A response...
John
On Aug 14, 2012, at 10:16 AM, Matt wrote:
Got it and will try it, looks like I'm going to have a caffeinated next few days.
On Aug 21, 2012, at 1:44 PM, Matt wrote:
Hi John,
Just wanted to give you an update on coffee in my town.
The biggest roaster in town put me in touch with their head roaster Paul, who likes the idea but already feels confident about his companies ties to the people it imports from. The owner of the company spends a lot of time in Costa Rica and gives back to the communities there where he has ties.
The second biggest roaster in town isn't interested.
One small roaster likes the idea but doesn't have the customers right now to support any higher margin coffees.
:/
My town is a small market (for as big an area as it is). Talking about what I'm doing with friends has been good and people keep putting me in touch with other roasters they know. My friend put me in touch with a couple of out of town shops. Now to call them up.
Matt
On Aug 21, 2012, at 2:23 PM, John Spiers wrote:
Hey Matt,
OK... the purpose of this exercise is to find out if there is enough interest in a specific idea to warrant the next step, which would be to get samples of what you are talking about.
With samples, you'd see if there was enough orders from your customers to cover a suppliers minimum order requirement, in a workable amount of time, profitably.
If you say "back to the drawing board" it seems your sense to that question is "no."
If not, then you seem to have run that rabbit into the ground, and indeed ought to go back to the drawing board.
Aren't you glad you do not have a garage full of coffee beans you now know you would not have sold?
Assuming the above, what is on that drawing board to which you plan to return?
John
On Aug 21, 2012, at 5:38 PM, Matt wrote:
Good call on not having a garage full of coffee beans--yet. I haven't given up yet and I'll keep reaching out to other small roasters. One coffee product I've never seen in the US is my favorite Arab coffee- a lot more complex and sweet.
What would the next steps there be?
Matt
On Aug 22, 2012, at 9:34 AM, John Spiers wrote:
On Aug 21, 2012, at 5:38 PM, Matt wrote:
Good call on not having a garage full of coffee beans--yet.
***Indeed, when you have a stack of orders then the arrival of beans will be welcome.***
I haven't given up yet and I'll keep reaching out to other small roasters. My background is in the Middle East and the one coffee product I've never seen in the US is my favorite Arab coffee--green roasted beans with ground cardamom. When brewed it looks like green tea but is a lot more complex and sweet.
***An error I caution against is organizing around a resource, following Drucker (it's in the book.) It's possible that your background and passion is one and the same, so let's continue with this line. Now you are proceeding from a problem you experience, not from a market you suppose might be there. The market you supposed was there you has proven to be illusory. Now you are getting to something you find missing for yourself. Basing a business on a felt need is far more likely than basing a business on a perceived market. I'll note that in New Orleans coffee is often cut with chicory, another example of delicacies coming from hard times. When sweetened with blackstrap molasses, you get cafe creole. In any event, if coffee is a passion, then it's not back to the drawing board, it is back to those coffee shops and this time pitch Cafe Aleppo (Or whatever you call this coffee).***
John
On Aug 22, 2012, at 11:23 AM, Matt wrote:
I'm at the spice market this weekend to get the goods to make up a batch of Cafe Aleppo, thanks! ... it had one of the best bazaars you could have ever hoped to see and these spiced red olives, mm. Cafe Jeddah, Cafe Dubai, Cafe Sana, and Cafe Muscat don't have the same evocative ring. Cafe Bahari? Will brainstorm on the name...
Matt
On Aug 27, 2012, at 11:35 AM, Matt wrote:
I read about a third of your book over the weekend and you really do give a lot of guidance there. I feel less like a grenade and more like a guided missile. You're especially right that the potential customers you talk to (coffee shops and unsuspecting friends in my case) give you all the information you need to know about your product. I even made up a batch of Cafe Andalusia at my office without telling anyone to get some honest reactions and ideas on how to tailor a potential product for the market (Cafe Aleppo doesn't fly well). My girlfriend did the same at her office.
So far, I know what people would pay for the product, where they'd likely buy it, when they'd be most likely to buy it, what they like about it, how often they would buy it, who hates it...just a bunch of leads on where to look to "solve the market problem." Free!
Thanks again for all the guidance. It's helping.
Matt
To be continued....
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