Itās interesting because Iād guess (and this is a total guess) that the bigger money for small-medium sized roasters is in stocking local or nationwide cafes with a regular wholesale deal. I know one roaster that started this way. Through friends and connections they agreed to stock a handful of shops exclusively which allowed a level of security in starting the business.
However, as weāve discussed at length, 99% of consumers probably donāt even know the coffee is good or bad, and likely to be an enormous improvement on the instant granules they drink at home.
Retail customers pay a higher price, but Iād still estimate that it makes up quite a small percentage of profits compared to wholesale which means the demand is actually coming from people who probably donāt know what good coffee is, rather than the other way round. Hence the perpetuality of mediocre coffee.
I guess what Iām saying is that in some ways, itās more commercially viable to be mediocre than it is to be good.
Obviously there are roasters that are good either way, but I think the above might partly explain why there are so many that arenāt.
