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For example, when checking my sales numbers
in a cafe I found that our low cost house espresso
blend was selling more than triple the amount
of our single origin espresso. With a small customer
If you don’t have a good esti-
survey (in exchange for their daily drink) I found that
mate, STOP working on buying
the single origin espresso was too acidic for almost all of
green coffee for the next day and col-
the people we asked. They preferred the house espresso
lect your records to find out this number! Over estimating
because it had more body and a “better” taste (chocolate).
your green coffee need can cause your company to suffer fi-
So two things could be done to improve the business. We
nancially, and you may have to cancel a contract which will
worked on lowering the cost of the house espresso, and
ruin relationships with sellers. When an importer has to
changed the single origin espresso from bright (and
cancel a purchase at origin, it causes chaos which will make
expensive) Kenya to a more mild but balanced Guate-
sellers unwilling to work with you in the future.
mala (which was already in the house espresso). The
Depending on how much coffee you need to buy, it is
sales of both products went up, but the customers began
a good idea to start by purchasing only the amount of cof-
enjoying the single origin espresso (which sold for a
fee you know you can sell by the time your contract terms
higher price) much more as well.
are finished. So if you have 3 month terms to finish paying
for your coffee, it is best to only buy what you know you
can sell in 3 months time. This will ensure you have fresh
When you increase your customer’s enjoyment and coffee and that you have not over bought. There are of
increase the amount of coffee you are selling, you can ben- course exceptions for things like auction lots and exclusive
efit from volume discounts as well as first pick on special brands of coffee, but you won’t want those to get old either.
lots. In the case of the example above, since we started When you know you have established coffee sales and are
selling more total coffee of the three beans in the house confident that you will have consistent sales for 6 months
espresso, we were able to contract more coffee at once and or a year, you can begin pre-contracting those coffees with
got a small discount on those coffees. At the same time, larger amounts being paid over a longer time. It is usually
because we were committing to more coffee the importer a good idea to be conservative with your larger purchases,
was willing to find small, 4 bag lots of special coffees that because the bigger the amount the easier it is to over buy
we could use for our single origin drip coffees. (an exess 5% of 500kg is 25kg, but an extra 5% of 50,000kg
When you improve your sales, you should also be is 2500kg!). If you start to get low on supply toward the
increasing your cash resources, which means you should end of your contract, you can supplement coffee from the
be able to pay the seller on time and even have more spot market, and increase your purchase the next time.
resources to improve your business in further steps like These tips are all meant to balance good relationships
marketing and promotion. with good quality of your product. Buying and roasting
Lastly, let’s talk about your green coffee need esti- your own coffee is much more difficult and time consum-
mates. You should have an idea of how much coffee you ing than many people initially think, so preparing and or-
are roasting and selling per month or per year right now. ganizing yourself well is the best way to ensure success.

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