Be Your Own Boss: How To Start A Coffee Company

If you are a real coffee lover, you’ve most likely had the dream of owning a coffee shop at one point or another. You’ve got that entrepreneurial spirit, a love of fresh ground beans, so why not? Of course, the only thing you don’t have is the knowledge of how to start a coffee company.

Let’s Learn How To Start A Coffee Company

It’s been a long night; the new day came too early. So, after you brushed off the morning and made your way out the door, you have one mission in mind. Get that first cup of coffee in you to kick off the day. Over the years, your taste in coffee changed to enjoying small-batch coffee roasted locally rather than waiting in line at mass-market shops. So with this in mind, you head to your local shop, which welcomes you authentically; no fake greetings here. 

As you open the door, that roasted coffee smell hits you, and your senses go wild. The shop owner, Andres, greets you warmly, recognizing you from the many times you patronized his small business. 

There’s more to Andres Camargo than just coffee. Andres is an immigrant who built this thriving small business from the ground up.

How Did It Begin?

Colombia, South America born and raised, Andres Camargo and his wife, Rocío Salazar, immigrated to the United States and quickly grasped the American spirit of entrepreneurship.  

In 2018, Andres and Rocío Salazar created Unlocked Coffee Roasters, eventually opening the doors in 2019 in Greenville, South Carolina. In creating a coffee shop, they had a goal “to bring the best flavor and aroma of each coffee bean, giving our customers a real connection to the farmers and the origin of the coffee they are drinking.”

So exactly how did the Colombian duo create an outstanding small-town coffee business? Rocío provided insight into how they created their business, from an idea to opening the doors.

Why Open A Coffee Shop?

The business spirit is strong in the couple. Rocío said, “We both have the entrepreneurial spirit. I ran my own business in advertising and marketing. And Andres did his studies here in business administration.”  

As immigrants, the duo wanted to keep connected to their home country, Colombia. So the more they talked to people, the more Colombian coffee kept popping up in conversations. Rocío said, “Coffee in Colombia is like your daily breath. You wake up, and it’s coffee; you go to sleep. It’s part of our cultural heritage, and you cannot escape it.” In Colombia, coffee is the nucleus of the day; you plan everything around your cup(s) of coffee. 

Coffee lit a spark in the couple, and they started researching building a coffee business in Greenville, South Carolina. Andres became a student of coffee, researching, importing, and roasting coffee. 

The couple knew how to import and roast coffee but needed a plan. So the couple sat down and developed a solid business plan; location, logistics, funding, and the intricacies of starting a small business. 

What’s In A Name?

With a business plan and the couple ready to move full speed into the coffee world, they needed a name that encapsulated what they were trying to build. 

The couple wanted a name that genuinely expressed their vision. In researching a name, the word unlocked stood out. Rocío said, “Roasting, it’s unlocking the flavor and aroma of the coffee beans. So we stopped what we were reading and were like, that is the name, Unlocked. Because that is what we do, we are unlocking the different types of beans and bringing out the best flavor and aroma to the cup. 

If you see our logo, it has coffee beans and a heart on the top. It’s not only the spiritual part, but the mission is to unlock people’s hearts. And what we have seen is that it happens in the coffee shop.”

What Is Roasted Coffee?

Working with her husband in their fledging roastery, Rocío knows the coffee business inside and out. Rocío said, “We roast coffee. We import beans from different parts of the world, specializing in third-wave coffee, like specialty coffee. We have a roasting machine in Greenville, South Carolina, and we roast coffees from Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Africa. But of course, since our background is from Colombia, South America, our core coffee is Colombian.” 

What is roasting coffee? It takes processed and dried green coffee beans and heating them for several minutes to produce the desired flavor and caffeination (dark, light, etc.). A skilled roaster, in this case, Andres, can roast batches of coffee to produce specific aromas and flavors, producing the perfect coffee for a perfect cup. 

There is a big difference between a coffee shop and a coffee roaster. A coffee shop sells roasted coffee they likely purchased wholesale from a distributor. The coffee shop was built around the forward-facing image of a coffee shop experience with several coffee machines and a storefront. A roastery is built around the semi-large coffee roasting machines that produce roasted coffee for wholesale and storefront sales. 

Location, Location, Location 

The right location will make or break any business, which is true for coffee shops as well. One aspect that stands out in a location is placement in the right community. The prospective business owners decided on the small-town feel of Greenville, South Carolina, to set up the home base for Unlocked. Rocío said, “I think that’s the greatest thing about a small business, too, is if you have the right community, that’s how you thrive. So many times, if you’re these big businesses, there’s one every mile around here, and it’s just, you go in there, and it’s not welcoming, it’s the fake welcoming. But when you go to a small business, you feel like you’re part of the family.”

What’s Next For Unlocked?

Unlocked is moving further into the digital world and updating its site to bring its roasted coffee to the national and perhaps global market. 

Rocío said the future “looks very, very bright for us.” They bought a new, high-capacity roaster to assist with wholesale clients. The coffee couple is also searching for a new location to build even more community around their coffee.  

Now that you know everything there is about how to start a coffee company, try reading more coffee-related articles here: For The Love Of Coffee