The Bean Cartel's Blake Carpenter on coffee sales success – BeanScene

From packer to sales manager at the age of just 25, Blake Carpenter of The Bean Cartel reveals how his competitive nature has helped him thrive as a salesperson and stoked his entrepreneurial spirit.

For those that aren’t in the industry, it’s often assumed working in coffee is just a stepping-stone job before moving onto a ‘proper’ career. Baristas are funding their creative passions or studies, roastery packers saving for their travels across Europe, and delivery drivers putting in the hours before launching their own businesses.

For Blake Carpenter, his job as a packer at The Bean Cartel was exactly that at first: something to keep him busy during the day and bring in additional income while he pursued a professional soccer career. Following a promising youth career in the sport, he suffered from a series of knockbacks, which led him to relocate from Adelaide to Melbourne at the age of 18 for a fresh start with a new team.

“When I first moved to Melbourne in 2017, I struggled with the transition and needed something to keep me busy. I was mentally strong when I was on the pitch, but I was going crazy in the day when I had a lot of spare time,” he says.

Blake’s dad reached out to friend Stacy Visser, Co-Founder of The Bean Cartel, and asked if he had a part-time role to keep him occupied. The company was still in its infancy, only recently pivoting to specialty coffee roasting, yet Stacy saw the potential in Blake – and the opportunity to take a few tasks off his own plate.

“At first, I enjoyed packing as it kept me moving. I knew nothing about coffee, so I loved learning about the industry from Stacy and Alan [Chan, Master Roaster],” he says.

“But, ultimately, I’m a people person and after a few months I started to get bored of the repetitive nature of the job. Alan is a very chilled guy and I think my constant questions and chatting was driving him mad. I didn’t just need to keep my body busy but be challenged in what I was doing.”

To diversify his role, Blake also started making deliveries, where he was able to connect with clients and utilise his people skills. In the eight years that have passed since, he’s climbed the ranks to become an Accounts and Sales Manager, and more recently started taking on additional management responsibilities as General Manager Melissa Glentis transitions into an operations role.

He says one of the qualities that has helped him thrive at The Bean Cartel is his competitive nature – both on and off the pitch.

“I’ve always loved the chase and the hunt for a sale, so I really started to thrive when I moved into an account manager role. The coffee industry is hugely competitive, especially here in Melbourne,” he says.

“My experience packing and doing deliveries gave me the opportunity to lock down the coffee knowledge I needed and learn how the industry works to then excel in a sales role. Although I found it tough at the time, doing those roles were invaluable experiences that now help me to help café businesses grow.”

Blake attributes his entrepreneurial spirit to both his own Dad and Stacy, who’s another father figure in his life.

“My dad has had a very similar career trajectory to my own. He started at the Coca Cola bottling facility and worked his way up into a state management role. My dad always said to me, ‘If you want to grow in a business, you’ve got to start somewhere’,” he says.

“Stacy has also been a father figure to me and The Bean Cartel is very much a family. The way he runs the company with such transparency means I’m very invested as it feels like my own business too. He gives each person the reins and a sense of ownership, meaning when we succeed it’s a fantastic feeling.”

Every person who’s worked in coffee sales has ridden the account management rollercoaster of highs and lows, but Blake says it’s that constant pressure that keeps the fire burning in his belly.

“There’s a lot of good coffee out there, and I think we’ve got one of the best products in the world, but if you don’t have that constant relationship with your customer, you’re going to lose them,” he says.

“I’m all about building a strong personal relationship with our clients and welcoming them into The Bean Cartel family. I don’t want to be that pushy sales guy, I want to sit down and have a coffee with them, and then let our product speak for itself.”

As his career has progressed, Blake has started to oversee more junior members of staff. He says a lot of his leadership skills were learnt directly from Stacy.

“I’m a lead from the front type of leader. I want people to see the direction I want the business to go in,” he says.

“I’ll admit I’m not always the best role model. We recently had one of our monthly mental wellbeing sessions and I found it difficult to concentrate and kept going on my phone. Stacy pulled me up on it and in the next session I asked everyone to put their phones in the middle of the table, knowing I had to lead by example. It’s always hard to take criticism, but if I know I’m in the wrong I’ll use it as a tool to better myself.”

With the price of coffee continuing to skyrocket over the past six months, Blake admits that now is a challenging time for all salespeople in the coffee community. However, he’s confident The Bean Cartel can ride out the pricing wave.

“At the moment, my drive is to get through this tough period and come out the other side stronger. My goal is to continue to grow the right way, follow The Bean Cartel morals, and to evolve as a business and a person,” he says.

For those who think there’s no room for career growth in the coffee industry, Blake says each person has the opportunity to make the space for personal growth, they just need to take action.

“Like anything in the world, there’s only a cap on growth if you put it there. In the coffee industry there are a lot of opportunities and lots of different roles to suit different personalities,” he says.

“One of the best pieces of advice my dad has given me is ‘Don’t ever close the door, because you never know what could come from it’. You may lose an account, but you shouldn’t write off that relationship because of that decision.

“In 10 years’ time, I’ll still be at The Bean Cartel, continuing to excel and helping to make the company the best version of itself. 

For more information, visit thebeancartel.com.au

This article appears in the April/May 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.