How Coffee Roasters In Jacksonville Are Getting Creative To Maintain Prices Amid The Rising Cost Of Coffee – CoffeeTalk

Martin Coffee Co., a wholesale specialty coffee roaster founded in 1957, is facing a shortage of coffee due to the 2024 drought. The United States is the world’s second leading importer of coffee, with Arabica and Robusta varieties being the most expensive. In 2023, droughts in Brazil and Columbia caused a shortage in Arabica beans, while inclement weather in South Asia affected the Robusta bean crop, increasing demand for Arabica beans. As a result, Arabica coffee prices on the Intercontinental Exchange surged in 2024, reaching their highest levels since 1977, a 70% rise from $1.85/pound to $3.30/pound.

This steep escalation in coffee bean prices has affected coffee wholesalers and retailers profit margins, and by extension, wholesale and retail prices. To make up for smaller margins while maintaining a steady retail price for customer bases, regional coffee roasters and retailers are not only adjusting wholesale prices and contracts but developing a deeper relationship between coffee and clients.

Martin maintains a high retention rate among hotel, restaurant, country club, and other clients due to a broader market for magic beans, allowing for customization of its coffee for clients. Up to about the year 2000, the wholesaler and retailer vended two different coffees: regular and decaf. The town’s oldest craft brewer credits the world’s largest coffee chain for spurring this expansion of the local industry. Starbucks was the best catalyst for coffee in Jacksonville because it brought attention to coffee, brought awareness, and brought education to the people.

As a result, consumers began to pony up a premium for tastier coffee, leading to the development of an entire industry with spin-offs to bring out the best in the black brew. Yelp features over 240 cafes and restaurants that serve coffee in Northeast Florida. Many walkable retail centers feature at least one, if not two or three, different cafes featuring coffee, eats, accessories, and other sundries.

Martin Coffee’s Talleyrand plant has its own tasting room for customers to indulge and create tailored blends. After the firm began increasing its single origin portfolio in 1998, today coffee purveyor features 20 single origin coffee beans from across Latin and South America. Bold Bean Coffee Roasters sources all of its coffees from small producers Central and South America and East Africa.

Martin, a coffee supplier, has long-standing relationships with its retail customers, resulting in collaborations and free equipment. The company also offers free service on equipment as long as customers buy its product. Other industry players, such as Solune Roasting Lab owner Stephen Ezell, have also focused on enhancing consumer choice and expanding revenue streams.

Ezell decided not to raise the retail price for a cup of coffee, instead opting to diversify his business and broaden the coffee experience for his customers. He believes that small coffee purveyors are doing well because people who buy specialty coffee are consistent. Ezell earned his Q grade certification in California, certified as a professional skilled in sensory evaluation of green coffee.

Solune Roasting Lab’s success is attributed to its focus on creating a loyal customer base through submersion in the art of coffee while shaping a creative cast. This balance between art and coffee has led to the name ‘Solune,’ representing equanimity between the sun (sol) and moon (lune).

As Ezell hits a “point of sustenance” selling wholesale and retail coffee, he is pivoting to less reliance on retail coffee sales and more on brewing a sustainable customer base through tasting classes and sample roastings. By charging a market rate for classes, Ezell can remove one of the roadblocks for people to get into coffee and continue to grow without increasing prices.

Ezell plans to purchase two sample roasting machines to teach classes, creating a revenue stream that is not reliant on the price of beans and doesn’t require a lot of overhead. This bond between retailer and customer also strengthens the relationship between retailer and customer.

Johnson, who has worked at Martin, believes that coffee customers are the most loyal people in the world. As long as coffee importers can continue to supply the critical commodity to coffee devotees, Ezell believes there will be a large market even in an inflationary environment.

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