How to Find the Right Coffee Roaster for Your Business

When it comes to finding the right coffee roaster for your business, you have two routes that you can go: the big wholesale roasters or small, independent coffee roasters. We’ll take a look at the pros and cons of each option so you can decide what’s best for your business.

Coffee Roasters

Coffee roasters are the talented people who take the fresh coffee fruit and roast the green beans ready for using in your french press, filter or espresso machine. It’s the process of roasting that brings out the flavours of the beans. Every roaster has their preferred method and getting the process right depends on many small factors including: bean origin, climate, freshness, water quality, heat, timing and a lot more.

Depending on how and where a fresh coffee bean is grown, will change how it’s roasted and what flavours you bring out in the roast. Coffee roasting is part art and part science so getting the right coffee roaster to your business is essential as great coffee will keep bringing your customers back.

How much coffee do you need?

Your starting point for the kind of wholesale coffee roaster you need is how much coffee you’ll go through. The big wholesalers are set up to sell in huge quantities, supplying large chains on a consistent basis. Their business model and pricing reflects this.

For smaller business - or anyone whose main product isn’t coffee - then your coffee needs are probably much less. This includes businesses with multiple locations who may well need a quantity of coffee each week but are not in the coffee shop business. Therefore, you may be a lot better off going with an independent, speciality coffee roaster.

Independent coffee roasters

Independent or small batch coffee roasters are a bit like craft ale companies. The roasting process is essentially the same but they will have ways and means of making the outcome specific to their approach.

For example, here at Souter Bros, we have a direct relationship with each of the farms who grow the beans. This means we have a closer understanding of how the land and climate has affected the harvest and can adjust how we roast accordingly. It gives a taste that is specific to our process and gives our customers confidence that every batch is consistent.

Our customers have the assurance that the care and consideration goes into every roast and that we have a trusted supply chain which reduces the impact on the environment.

Pros of an independent coffee roasters

Here are some of the pros with choosing an independent coffee roaster for your wholesale beans:

Your business doesn’t get lost among the bigger accounts - you get the time and attention that your business deserves from a smaller coffee roaster
You can be sure of the provenance of your beans - from small farms who care about the land, across the supply chain to where your beans are roasted, independent coffee roasters usually care more about selling ethical coffee
Consistent roasts - if you want consistently good coffee batches, independent roasters are the way to go.
Smaller shipments - usually smaller roasters can manage to make the smaller shipments you need far more affordable. You’ll often find small coffee roasters have lower minimum orders.
Fresher coffee - if you don’t need huge amounts of coffee, you’ll be much better off with an independent roaster to keep your beans as fresh as possible.
No tie-ins - many of the larger roasters need you to hire their equipment, use their maintenance and even insurance. You could even be tied into long contracts that don’t serve your business needs.
Pricing - at Souter Bros, we can offer better wholesale prices because we have a direct relationship with the grower. It means you’re better protected from price changes because there is no middle man between us and the farms.
Innovation - we are constantly looking at ways we can bring in more products that our customers want and need as well as adding to our services. We’ll continue to invest back into the business and innovate.

Quality, price and provenance are important to all of our customers and it’s by giving this great customer service that we can supply businesses across the UK with our great tasting beans.

Cons of an independent coffee roaster

As much as we think going with a smaller wholesale supplier is best for business, there are some downsides:

Large batches - while we can and do supply large batch coffee roasts, we are not set up for suppling big high street chains. We prefer to work closely with our customers and give them the time and attention. If we supplied large chains, we couldn’t do this.
Price - as we don’t offer blends, we cannot always compete on price but we know that our customers care more about the quality of their coffee. We don’t believe in shipping high quantity as cheap as possible. We do believe in giving our farmers the best price for their harvests.
Products - we only buy from farms where we have a personal relationship. This means that we can’t always offer a wide range of products that the large-scale suppliers can but we always have new products coming out.

Large wholesale suppliers

Large wholesale suppliers have an important role in the coffee industry and there are many businesses where it makes more sense to get your coffee from these larger suppliers. It’s about knowing when you are better with a big wholesaler and when to buy from independent coffee roasters.

Pros of large wholesale coffee suppliers

Availability of the roast - larger suppliers roast coffee at scale. This means they will always have an availability of your favourite roast. There are fewer pressures and bottlenecks in the business.
More product choice - larger suppliers will have more resources to supply a range of bean origins and blends. This can help businesses who need to make choices about quality over costs.
Large batches - if you need a lot of coffee on a regular basis then it is worth going to a larger wholesale supplier. What counts as a lot? If you have lots of high street stores and selling coffee makes up a large part of your business model, then you are better off with a larger supplier.
Delivery - as larger suppliers have scaled to cover the whole of the UK on a daily basis, you’ll find it easier to get delivery at short notice, even if you operate in more rural locations.

Cons of large wholesale coffee suppliers

Customer service - while you’ll get a good customer service at most suppliers, it can often feel like a small fish when you’re with larger wholesalers. When you go with smaller wholesalers, you get a more personal relationship, we find out about what matters to your business and can make better recommendations.
Provenance - as large suppliers will get coffee from multiple farms, you cannot always be sure of the provenance of your beans. Their supply chains may not be as transparent as you’d like and you cannot always guarantee how sustainable the farming practices are as you can do with smaller wholesale coffee roasters.
Consistency - as there is a great source of beans, the consistency of the roasts might differ between batches.
Minimum orders - most large wholesale suppliers need a much bigger minimum order to meet their wholesale requirements. For some businesses, this can be more than they need which can lead to waste or issues with
Freshness - when you have to order more than you need, your roast batch won’t be as fresh as you need for the best coffee. Working with wholesalers who can adjust to your needs means that you get a fresher roast for your customers.
Tie-ins - larger wholesalers often like you to hire their equipment, use their technicians, and have a minimum service period. All of these are add-ons that you might not have accounted for in your budget.
Pricing - there is less negotiation on pricing with the larger wholesalers unless you are also a big account. This means you might not be as well protected from price fluctuations in the market as you would with a smaller coffee roaster.