At Blue Ocean Innovation Center, we have worked with our local coffee shops in promoting their coffee and have bought wholesale from some of them. We rotate with buying from a cancer center, where we get a good price, good fair trade coffee and a percent goes back to them. Becky
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 2:21 AM, <coworking@googlegroups.com> wrote: > coworking@googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!forum/coworking/topics> > Google > Groups > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!overview> > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!overview> > Topic digest > View all topics > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!forum/coworking/topics> > > - Coffee brokers/wholesale recommendation > <#147f281d33945e21_group_thread_0> - 3 Updates > > Coffee brokers/wholesale recommendation > <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/b049d985a2e6ec8d?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email> > George Aye <geo...@greatergoodstudio.com>: Aug 19 08:48AM -0500 > > Dear coworkjng gurus, > > Our space in Chicago has been on a weekly subscription to Metropolis > coffee since we started 1.5 yrs ago. We've been ramping up our consumption > as we add more people and we're now level at 4 lbs/week for $60. We're at a > total headcount of 27 individuals. > > Anyone have any recommendations on a coffee broker or a wholesaler that > can get offer better pricing? Or simply suggestions on managing cost? > > Many thanks in advance! > > George > > Ps. Chicago has a strong coffee culture with metropolis and intelligentsia > being the two big roasters in town. Both are fantastic but expensive. > Switching to dunkin donuts for their beans is not a viable option and I > personally can't stand to drink it. > > George Aye > 773-263-2603 > rachel young <rac...@camaraderie.ca>: Aug 19 10:04AM -0400 > > With the spaces in Ontario, we've worked together to leverage our numbers > for collective buying for coffee. > > And while really only some Toronto spaces take advantage of it (spaces in > other cities indicated they were interested, but have something local that > works for them) it's still working together with other spaces. > > We use Full of Beans here in Toronto, who roasts their own, and I > approached the owner about wholesale pricing. She's thrilled to be able to > offer her coffee in many coworking spaces, so she gave me some great > prices, in a range depending on how many we purchase at a time. It can go > down as low as $12/lb - not bad for fair trade organic coffee roasted and > delivered within a day or two, while supporting a local business. > > All I did was propose it to the group (which was at our annual peer > learning conference for CoworkingOntario) and some spaces came on board. I > offered to manage the program, set up an order page, and sent it out to the > group. I invoice them for the coffee, place the order, and deliver it or > have them pick it up from my space. > > I'd say band together with your fellow space owners and operators and see > how much coffee you go through in a week and shop around that data to > roasters or coffee subscription services to see what sort of discount you > can get collectively. > r. > > > > > *____________________rachel young*rac...@camaraderie.ca > > *We're located at 2241 Dundas St W, 3rd floor* > *(between Bloor and Roncesvalles)* > > *Find us online:* > Website/blog <http://camaraderie.ca> and Newsletter > <http://bit.ly/camaraderienewsletter>, Twitter > <http://twitter.com/camaraderie>, > Facebook <http://bit.ly/9zv3Fx>, Google+ <http://bit.ly/CamaraderiePlus>, > Yelp <http://bit.ly/CamaraderieYelp>, and LinkedIn > <http://bit.ly/CamaraderieGroup> > > We're a proud member of CoworkingToronto <http://www.coworkingtoronto.ca/ > >, > CoworkingOntario <http://coworkingontario.ca/>, and CoworkingCanada > <http://www.coworkingcanada.ca/>! > > > > Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>: Aug 19 10:06AM -0400 > > Hey George, > > Great question - this is something that we're always juggling/balancing > because like you and your members, quality coffee is a MUST...but the price > adds up. > > What's worked really well for us has been to reach out to some of the > smaller high-end roasters and let them know about the coffee culture at > Indy Hall. Rather than asking for discounts or sponsorship, we invite them > to *participate*, just like we would any other community member. You better > believe that with the indie roasters where the owner and the roaster aren't > separated by a layer of management, there's a TON of excitement to connect > with other coffee lovers face to face. > > We've done everything from inviting roasters to come to our parties with > alcoholic & non alcoholic coffee drinks (including small batch coffee > beers), to smaller scale "cuppings" which are basically like a wine tasting > for coffee. The cuppings are especially awesome because they get to see > people appreciate their product, and members get an education on coffee. > > Once you've gotten to know them, and they've gotten to know you and your > members, buying local beans at wholesale prices without buying HUGE orders > gets really, really easy. > > We actually end up spreading our coffee order across a couple of roasters > for variety, too, keeping more local relationships active. Once every year > or so, one of our members hosts a blind coffee taste-off that includes a > bunch of roasters. We let the roasters know about it, and they get excited > about participating...they'll usually even send us some beans for free for > the taste-off to get in the running. > > I'd avoid the approach of "we're a huge community and we'll talk about you > so hook us up". Really go all in on the relationships. > > And best of all...this stuff is fun. Coffee culture, like any craft > culture, tends to have an appreciation for their local communities. > > -Alex > > > > -- > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > > On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 9:48 AM, George Aye <geo...@greatergoodstudio.com> > wrote: > > Back to top <#147f281d33945e21_digest_top> > You received this digest because you're subscribed to updates for this > group. You can change your settings on the group membership page > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!forum/coworking/join> > . > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it send an > email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > -- *Becky H. Smith, Ed.D., Founder* *Blue Ocean Innovation Center* 1820 W. Lincoln St. Bozeman, MT 59715 406-551-1262 406-579-2849 <becky.sm...@vistage.com> bsmith...@gmail.com i...@blueoceaninnovationcenter.com *[image: https://view.vistage.com/images/brandcentral/signature/US_Signature.gif]* This e-mail is a private communication and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please note that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information contained in or attached to this e-mail is strictly prohibited. Please notify the sender of the delivery error by replying to this message and then delete this e-mail. Thank you. -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
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