Bare Coffee's guest appearances

Bare Coffee

The Audio Cafe: for Baristas, Coffeehouses, Coffee Lovers

Adam Walsh

Lee Carter

Terry Ziniewicz

Gordie Bufton

Scott Baldwin

Tracy Allen

Stuart Guest-Smith

Jack Groot

David Donde

Derrick Wessels

Corey Dane

Eric Spivack

Laila Ghambari

Heather Howitt

Christian Ott

OwlTail

TIME 1:50 "What different trends do you see in the USA and abroad?" 1) The Australian coffee market may be 10 years ahead of the US market, maybe because of the high concentration of Greeks and Italians? 2) In Australia we see more dark/syrupy/chocolate but full of flavor coffee, not as much light roast or citrus/fruit/acidic centric coffee. 3) China appears to be quality focused, everything used has to be absolute highest quality beans. 4) America loves single origin coffees.   TIME 8:20 "How long is the waiting period between when you hear a customer wants Bare Coffee before they actually have Bare Coffee in their shop?" 1) We have an automatic system, if an order is set it can ship out nearly instantly. 2) Other customers can take about 3 months depending on their own internal systems. It seems that the Australian market is faster, just a different market. 3) If a customer has an agreement with their current roaster then there is that waiting period. 4) We don’t sell it to everybody that comes a long, you wont find out coffee in 7-11. We’re looking for people who want to be our customer. 5) We also have a system called Bare Buddies (lawyers/accountants/webdesigners). We offer this because we want our customers to be around longer, not to add another sale or source of revenue.   TIME 13:20 "What services that you offer to smaller cafes are the biggest help or biggest surprise to cafe operators?" 1) There’s only so many coffees you can make and sell in one day. Have you scaled up to see just how much you can sell within a day, or how much traffic/customers you can facilitate? There are so many other ways you can make money rather than selling just lattes. When there’s 30 cafes in a strip on a street, how do you differentiate or what do you do to keep open? You need passion - but likely you already have the passion, what you likely need to do is to learn how to make a profit. Usually cafes focus 95% on just the coffee and forget about the other peices that support it as well, and that can be an oversight. 2) Outsource where you can, put in some of the items that are higher margined or higher ticket. 3) Think about renting out a boardroom or space for freelancers to have a landing space to work out of. Now there is a person who chas thought about maximizing the offerings that their cafe can give. And my view has always been to charge for top-top-top quality wifi.   TIME 20:00 "What are your plans for the next 6-months and next 6-years?" 1) We’re moving into China, its a tough space to get into, but they love Australia. Perhaps setting up a roastery there. 2) We will be rolling out some new cafes as well, that we are really excited about. 3) The next 6-years? Wow, that’s a big question. The coffee industry is strong but always changing, how can we know where its all headed? Will Starbucks focus more on the home and will that change everything? Who knows.    TIME 32:20 "How should we be educating our customers before they enter our doors?" 1) Starbucks has been great for educating the marketplace for us. We want educated customers. 2) But we definitely need to become more efficient as a workforce serving our customers.

TIME 1:50 "What different trends do you see in the USA and abroad?" 1) The Australian coffee market may be 10 years ahead of the US market, maybe because of the high concentration of Greeks and Italians? 2) In Australia we see more dark/syrupy/chocolate but full of flavor coffee, not as much light roast or citrus/fruit/acidic centric coffee. 3) China appears to be quality focused, everything used has to be absolute highest quality beans. 4) America loves single origin coffees. TIME 8:20 "How long is the waiting period between when you hear a customer wants Bare Coffee before they actually have Bare Coffee in their shop?" 1) We have an automatic system, if an order is set it can ship out nearly instantly. 2) Other customers can take about 3 months depending on their own internal systems. It seems that the Australian market is faster, just a different market. 3) If a customer has an agreement with their current roaster then there is that waiting period. 4) We don’t sell it to everybody that comes a long, you wont find out coffee in 7-11. We’re looking for people who want to be our customer. 5) We also have a system called Bare Buddies (lawyers/accountants/webdesigners). We offer this because we want our customers to be around longer, not to add another sale or source of revenue. TIME 13:20 "What services that you offer to smaller cafes are the biggest help or biggest surprise to cafe operators?" 1) There’s only so many coffees you can make and sell in one day. Have you scaled up to see just how much you can sell within a day, or how much traffic/customers you can facilitate? There are so many other ways you can make money rather than selling just lattes. When there’s 30 cafes in a strip on a street, how do you differentiate or what do you do to keep open? You need passion - but likely you already have the passion, what you likely need to do is to learn how to make a profit. Usually cafes focus 95% on just the coffee and forget about the other peices that support it as well, and that can be an oversight. 2) Outsource where you can, put in some of the items that are higher margined or higher ticket. 3) Think about renting out a boardroom or space for freelancers to have a landing space to work out of. Now there is a person who chas thought about maximizing the offerings that their cafe can give. And my view has always been to charge for top-top-top quality wifi. TIME 20:00 "What are your plans for the next 6-months and next 6-years?" 1) We’re moving into China, its a tough space to get into, but they love Australia. Perhaps setting up a roastery there. 2) We will be rolling out some new cafes as well, that we are really excited about. 3) The next 6-years? Wow, that’s a big question. The coffee industry is strong but always changing, how can we know where its all headed? Will Starbucks focus more on the home and will that change everything? Who knows.  TIME 32:20 "How should we be educating our customers before they enter our doors?" 1) Starbucks has been great for educating the marketplace for us. We want educated customers. 2) But we definitely need to become more efficient as a workforce serving our customers.

ACP 051: Stuart Guest-Smith of Bare Coffee pt. 2

6:00 WHY WORK WITH AND FOR BARE COFFEE RATHER THAN ANY OTHER ROASTER Chance to work with friends Enjoy working in a space (the USA) that is still blooming A chance to apply skills from other industries and take into the coffee industry 7:30 WHAT ARE 1-2 BUSINESS MISTAKES COMPANIES MAKE Not specific to coffee, they’re always let by passion but don’t always identify the main goal whether that’s pure profit or a passion to be within the industry It needs to be business first and passion second, because at the end of the day the passion stops when the money runs out. Why is it you want a cafe rather than any other business. The key is when someone says “I wanted to run a great business and I love coffee. Or do what Richard Branson did, hire to your weaknesses so you can focus on your strengths 14:00 HAVE YOU HAD TO TURN AWAY A CAFE THAT DIDN’T HAVE THEIR BUSINESS ACUMEN UP TO SNUFF, OR A CAFE THAT SLIPPED Maybe its been a lucky streak with our marketing, but we haven’t had a customer in that situation Our marketing is a ‘wine to coffee’ and the intrigue round that 20:00 WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS YOU GET ASKED People trying to understand who we are, and why come from Australia to the USA? A good second question is what is the difference between the US and Australian market? We can talk about competition because the Australian market is so robust, so much competition in close proximity. 26:00 WHAT IS 1 THING YOU WISH CAFE OWNERS DID OR DIDN’T KNOW "Do you know what a balance sheet is?”  29:00 THE TEAMWORK IN AUSTRALIA WAS GREAT “They’re paid well” Each cafe respects their internal culture Brothers Espresso, Queensland Australia Boom Coffee, Houston Wrecking Ball San Francisco 34:00 Smallest espresso bars, hole in the walls, are great. PROS: so cheap to setup and run day to day. Quirky and tiny, smaller, faster, cooler, small menu. 37:45 I think we’re tapped out on sports analogies 42:00 there is plenty of room for growth within the coffee industry 42:30 HOW CAN A CAFE GROW 10X? Know your COGs (cost-of-goods-sold) Understand your operating capitol needed Identify your differentiators Team up with another business like a local bakery, “What can we do where we both make a killing” also private label roast for other businesses Keep your eyes on cold-brew as well 49:30 IDENTIFY YOUR UNIQUE PROPOSITION Customer Service is a hard thing to market as the differentiating factor Always step back and think of a couple of hooks that will establish a relationship with your brand versus another brand.

6:00 WHY WORK WITH AND FOR BARE COFFEE RATHER THAN ANY OTHER ROASTER <ul> <li>Chance to work with friends</li> <li>Enjoy working in a space (the USA) that is still blooming</li> <li>A chance to apply skills from other industries and take into the coffee industry</li></ul>  7:30 WHAT ARE 1-2 BUSINESS MISTAKES COMPANIES MAKE <ul> <li>Not specific to coffee, they’re always let by passion but don’t always identify the main goal whether that’s pure profit or a passion to be within the industry</li> <li>It needs to be business first and passion second, because at the end of the day the passion stops when the money runs out.</li> <li>Why is it you want a cafe rather than any other business. The key is when someone says “I wanted to run a great business and I love coffee.</li> <li>Or do what Richard Branson did, hire to your weaknesses so you can focus on your strengths</li></ul>  14:00 HAVE YOU HAD TO TURN AWAY A CAFE THAT DIDN’T HAVE THEIR BUSINESS ACUMEN UP TO SNUFF, OR A CAFE THAT SLIPPED <ul> <li>Maybe its been a lucky streak with our marketing, but we haven’t had a customer in that situation</li> <li>Our marketing is a ‘wine to coffee’ and the intrigue round that</li></ul>  20:00 WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS YOU GET ASKED <ul> <li>People trying to understand who we are, and why come from Australia to the USA?</li> <li>A good second question is what is the difference between the US and Australian market?</li> <li>We can talk about competition because the Australian market is so robust, so much competition in close proximity.</li></ul>  26:00 WHAT IS 1 THING YOU WISH CAFE OWNERS DID OR DIDN’T KNOW <ul> <li>"Do you know what a balance sheet is?” </li></ul>  29:00 THE TEAMWORK IN AUSTRALIA WAS GREAT <ul> <li>“They’re paid well”</li> <li>Each cafe respects their internal culture</li> <li>Brothers Espresso, Queensland Australia</li> <li>Boom Coffee, Houston</li> <li>Wrecking Ball San Francisco</li> <li>34:00 Smallest espresso bars, hole in the walls, are great. PROS: so cheap to setup and run day to day. Quirky and tiny, smaller, faster, cooler, small menu.</li> <li>37:45 I think we’re tapped out on sports analogies</li> <li>42:00 there is plenty of room for growth within the coffee industry</li></ul>  42:30 HOW CAN A CAFE GROW 10X? <ul> <li>Know your COGs (cost-of-goods-sold)</li> <li>Understand your operating capitol needed</li> <li>Identify your differentiators</li> <li>Team up with another business like a local bakery, “What can we do where we both make a killing” also private label roast for other businesses</li> <li>Keep your eyes on cold-brew as well</li></ul>  49:30 IDENTIFY YOUR UNIQUE PROPOSITION <ul> <li>Customer Service is a hard thing to market as the differentiating factor</li> <li>Always step back and think of a couple of hooks that will establish a relationship with your brand versus another brand.</li></ul>

ACP 050: Stuart Guest-Smith of Bare Coffee