i was thinking today about how i used to
brag that we can offer microlot coffees that
the big companies can't bother with because
they are too big and we are small. the really
crazy good coffees that
we rotate through are usually coffees that
less than 5000 pounds existed of. so for us, that
was 3, 4 month supplies of each of the microlot
coffees and we could keep sourcing them faster
than we sold out of them and it was how we got
to where we are today.
now we are selling 2,000 pounds of coffee a day.
we have enough different sources of microlot coffee
that 5,000 pounds of each one is still enough to last a couple
of weeks. our 1600 subscribers get hooked up and
the rest of our customers have a handful of options,
and it's good. we're making it work for awhile still.
but what if we keep growing at this pace. 20% up from
last year. 14% up from the year before that. 13 straight
years of sales growth with no end in sight. at some
point the microlots that we've partnered with farmers
and built our business around will be too small and scarce
to maintain our business model.
so i don't know. it's still a couple years of growth
away from happening, but maybe we have to start a
third price tier, which i hate, because i don't want
to make amazing coffee unapproachable from anyone.
i'm not going to lower our quality standard.
good coffee is so powerful, so inspirational.
i can't be passionate about selling mediocre coffee.
maybe we can spend more time and money on sourcing and
find more microlots and sustain the growth and
not have to raise prices or limit customer sales?
i don't know. for now, we have the best and rarest coffees
in the world, at 40% cheaper than any other USA company.
maybe we turn it into a subscription model and stop accepting
new customers until we get an opening. i don't love that either.
we'll keep doing this for as long as we can but word
has gotten out about our business model and we're
kind of getting popular.
we haven't raised prices during all of this inflation.
shipping costs went crazy, labor costs and rent and
utilities and insurance all went crazy. the coffee
market is so high that other coffee roasters are going
bankrupt. we haven't raised prices because we aren't
doing this for money, we're doing this to help the world.
we really just want to help everyday people
have a better day and a better life by
either growing amazing coffee (i'll buy it!)
or drinking amazing coffee. (now go seize the day!)
but everyday we walk into work and think, man,
we are the luckiest people ever to get to do this for a job.
