The following note will be going out this afternoon to all active stores along with the updated price sheets.  If for any reason you do not receive it and want a copy, please send an email. 

This and the pending tariffs along with how to meet the continued increase in demand will be covered at the regular all partner meeting on April 24th.  At this meeting, we will also review the contents shared at last weeks training meeting and a brief overview is attached to the end of this message.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Pricing Update & Market Overview for Private Label and Dropship Partners

Good morning private label and drop ship partners,

As many of you know from our recent meetings, today marks the official release of our updated pricing structure.

Over the past six months, the cost of specialty-grade green coffee has risen significantly—by an average of $1.18 per pound at the dock. Despite this, we’ve worked hard to delay passing these costs on and stabilize pricing for our partner stores while tracking mid-term trends in the coffee market.

Due to ongoing market volatility, traditional purchasing methods such as forward contracts have become increasingly difficult. Farmers and importers are reluctant to commit in advance, creating challenges throughout the supply chain.

We hope that through our last three months of meetings, you’ve had the opportunity to assess your own pricing strategies. Many of our partner stores have already adjusted their retail pricing by $2.00–$4.00 to stay aligned with market shifts. If you've done so, this update should come as no surprise—and even a relief—given how modest the actual increase will be in comparison.

Thanks to our Six Sigma approach and continuous operational improvements, we've been able to absorb a significant portion of the cost increases. Rather than passing on the full $1.18/lb increase, your new pricing reflects an adjustment of closer to $0.80 per green pound on average with special attention paid to keeping BULK pricing as low as possible.  One pound of green roasts down to just over 12oz on average for reference.

Important note:
Today’s price increase reflects only the rise in green coffee market costs.
It does not yet include the impact of the recently enacted tariffs.

As of yesterday, a 10% federal tariff on all imported green coffee officially is in effect. While variable tariffs are still under review, this new flat-rate tariff adds approximately $0.44/green pound, along with $0.12-0.21/unit from increased packaging and materials costs.

We are hopeful that new trade agreements will roll back these tariffs within the next 90 days. However, if the tariffs remain in place beyond that period or some other unforeseen policy is implemented, a second price increase will be necessary to reflect these additional sustained costs.

We’ll continue to keep you informed through our monthly meetings and partner updates, including market insights, pricing developments, and tools to stay competitive.

While we never look forward to this sort of news, we are excited that stores following our best practice model are able to see margins and sales increase despite this sort of challenge.

This pricing goes into effect on May 1st.

As always, thank you for your continued partnership and trust.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coffee of the Month for May - Costa Rica

Roast - Medium

Region - San Rafael de San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Varietals -Catuai, Caturra

Grower - Julia Vega Rodríguez, Olman Cruz Vega, Ricardo Chávez Garita, and Juan Bautista Mejia Rojas

Altitude - 1100 MASL

Soil - Volcanic Loam

Process - Fully washed and dried in the sun with help from mechanical dryers

Cup Notes- Apple, orange, peach, chamomile and hints of chocolate.

Processing Detail
It begins and ends with Cafe de Altura de San Ramon, which owns and operates a state-of-the-art mill designed to receive cherries from many small farms and consistently process this well-balanced regional blend. Cherries are placed in a large tank with water to remove the less dense and damaged beans which float. Next, the cherries are depulped and passed through a demucilager that mechanically strips the mucilage from the beans.  

All of this is done with recycled water. The washed beans move down from the wet mill through a long, elevated conveyor belt into a machine that uses forced air to shed any remaining water. The coffee then passes through a series of dryers to gently reduce the moisture to 11 percent. This happens in a matter of just over 72 hours (about 3 days), which seems fast until you stop to consider that not a minute is wasted in the process. Then, the coffee is rested for at least a month in silos. After resting, it is milled for export with another equally impressive series of machines dedicated to dehulling and sorting green beans by weight and color. With every detail of the post-harvest operation covered, producers can turn their full attention to farm management practices with a special emphasis on sustainable practices.

FULFILLMENT TIMES- all lines are running at 1- 3 business days from order receipt to shipment

Best Sellers March 15th-April 14th

Cowboy

Best Sellers Samples

6BEAN

Single O Samples

Breakfast Blend + (Single Store Skewed Results)

Cold Brew

Bali

Colombia

Flavored Samples

Whiskey Barrel

We hope you will join us next week for our All Partner Meeting.

Don't hesitate to email if you need help.

The high prices in the specialty grade market are being driven by all sorts of factors but the one consistent is the extremely high demand.  If you are not seeing growth, feel free to email, share your business/marketing plan and attend our monthly meetings.  You can also sign up for 1:1 consulting services.

We are here to help

Have a great month!

Meeting Overview From April's Training Meeting.

Review of Jan, Feb, March Meetings .

Monitor your competitive set to increase prices now. (Jan, Feb and March)

COGS are currently 12-16% lower than your competition - don't let COGS drive your retail price.  Carefully monitor your competitive set and follow them up.

Stores that are 'pre-credibility' will likely need to stay closer to $20.00/12oz.  All others can/should increase from $2-4 per bag - follow your C-set.

Coffee C market is the driver of prices, it is now double what it was 12 months ago and up $1.20 from 6 months ago.  This means the cost of each bag of coffee has gone up $1.20 in this time.  Your competitive set must buy spot and are already reflecting this in their prices. 

Recommendation from the industry - Royal Coffee

Increase prices now - $2-4/lb

Be transparent with your customers

Explain the market simply and clearly

Express Gratitude

Reassure them that you will continue to provide the highest quality product and not cut corners to save $$.

Review of the Snowball discussion.  Brands past credibility are selling on average at $24.26 (Specialty coffee Transaction Guide).  

Credibility vs Events review:

Brands who do 12+ events a year average credibility at 12 months

Brands who do 6-12 average 17.5 months

Brands who do none rarely achieve it before 24 months in business.

There are outliers but in general, events, pop ups, sponsorships and places people can meet you are the key.

Leveraging Physical Markets to Drive Traffic - Content to be repeated on 4/24

Review of selling at Festivals, Fairs, Fundraisers - the 3 Fs

Selling into Wholesale - do whatever it takes to get into your first 10 retail slots.  It is about marketing and credibility, not margin.

Farmers Market Overview

Identify

Apply

Comply

Be patient - it is a Culture and profits often are > than brick and mortar with a lot less time and overhead.

TARIFF DISCUSSION - Tariff by country and current implementation - 10% expected to be put into place in a day or two.  

Questions 

Meeting adjourned at 1hr 44min

The following note will be going out this afternoon to all active stores along with the updated price sheets.  If for any reason you do not receive it and want a copy, please send an email. 

This and the pending tariffs along with how to meet the continued increase in demand will be covered at the regular all partner meeting on April 24th.  At this meeting, we will also review the contents shared at last weeks training meeting and a brief overview is attached to the end of this message.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Pricing Update & Market Overview for Private Label and Dropship Partners

Good morning private label and drop ship partners,

As many of you know from our recent meetings, today marks the official release of our updated pricing structure.

Over the past six months, the cost of specialty-grade green coffee has risen significantly—by an average of $1.18 per pound at the dock. Despite this, we’ve worked hard to delay passing these costs on and stabilize pricing for our partner stores while tracking mid-term trends in the coffee market.

Due to ongoing market volatility, traditional purchasing methods such as forward contracts have become increasingly difficult. Farmers and importers are reluctant to commit in advance, creating challenges throughout the supply chain.

We hope that through our last three months of meetings, you’ve had the opportunity to assess your own pricing strategies. Many of our partner stores have already adjusted their retail pricing by $2.00–$4.00 to stay aligned with market shifts. If you've done so, this update should come as no surprise—and even a relief—given how modest the actual increase will be in comparison.

Thanks to our Six Sigma approach and continuous operational improvements, we've been able to absorb a significant portion of the cost increases. Rather than passing on the full $1.18/lb increase, your new pricing reflects an adjustment of closer to $0.80 per green pound on average with special attention paid to keeping BULK pricing as low as possible.  One pound of green roasts down to just over 12oz on average for reference.

Important note:
Today’s price increase reflects only the rise in green coffee market costs.
It does not yet include the impact of the recently enacted tariffs.

As of yesterday, a 10% federal tariff on all imported green coffee officially is in effect. While variable tariffs are still under review, this new flat-rate tariff adds approximately $0.44/green pound, along with $0.12-0.21/unit from increased packaging and materials costs.

We are hopeful that new trade agreements will roll back these tariffs within the next 90 days. However, if the tariffs remain in place beyond that period or some other unforeseen policy is implemented, a second price increase will be necessary to reflect these additional sustained costs.

We’ll continue to keep you informed through our monthly meetings and partner updates, including market insights, pricing developments, and tools to stay competitive.

While we never look forward to this sort of news, we are excited that stores following our best practice model are able to see margins and sales increase despite this sort of challenge.

This pricing goes into effect on May 1st.

As always, thank you for your continued partnership and trust.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coffee of the Month for May - Costa Rica

Roast - Medium

Region - San Rafael de San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Varietals -Catuai, Caturra

Grower - Julia Vega Rodríguez, Olman Cruz Vega, Ricardo Chávez Garita, and Juan Bautista Mejia Rojas

Altitude - 1100 MASL

Soil - Volcanic Loam

Process - Fully washed and dried in the sun with help from mechanical dryers

Cup Notes- Apple, orange, peach, chamomile and hints of chocolate.

Processing Detail
It begins and ends with Cafe de Altura de San Ramon, which owns and operates a state-of-the-art mill designed to receive cherries from many small farms and consistently process this well-balanced regional blend. Cherries are placed in a large tank with water to remove the less dense and damaged beans which float. Next, the cherries are depulped and passed through a demucilager that mechanically strips the mucilage from the beans.  

All of this is done with recycled water. The washed beans move down from the wet mill through a long, elevated conveyor belt into a machine that uses forced air to shed any remaining water. The coffee then passes through a series of dryers to gently reduce the moisture to 11 percent. This happens in a matter of just over 72 hours (about 3 days), which seems fast until you stop to consider that not a minute is wasted in the process. Then, the coffee is rested for at least a month in silos. After resting, it is milled for export with another equally impressive series of machines dedicated to dehulling and sorting green beans by weight and color. With every detail of the post-harvest operation covered, producers can turn their full attention to farm management practices with a special emphasis on sustainable practices.

FULFILLMENT TIMES- all lines are running at 1- 3 business days from order receipt to shipment

Best Sellers March 15th-April 14th

Cowboy

Best Sellers Samples

6BEAN

Single O Samples

Breakfast Blend + (Single Store Skewed Results)

Cold Brew

Bali

Colombia

Flavored Samples

Whiskey Barrel

We hope you will join us next week for our All Partner Meeting.

Don't hesitate to email if you need help.

The high prices in the specialty grade market are being driven by all sorts of factors but the one consistent is the extremely high demand.  If you are not seeing growth, feel free to email, share your business/marketing plan and attend our monthly meetings.  You can also sign up for 1:1 consulting services.

We are here to help

Have a great month!

Meeting Overview From April's Training Meeting.

Review of Jan, Feb, March Meetings .

Monitor your competitive set to increase prices now. (Jan, Feb and March)

COGS are currently 12-16% lower than your competition - don't let COGS drive your retail price.  Carefully monitor your competitive set and follow them up.

Stores that are 'pre-credibility' will likely need to stay closer to $20.00/12oz.  All others can/should increase from $2-4 per bag - follow your C-set.

Coffee C market is the driver of prices, it is now double what it was 12 months ago and up $1.20 from 6 months ago.  This means the cost of each bag of coffee has gone up $1.20 in this time.  Your competitive set must buy spot and are already reflecting this in their prices. 

Recommendation from the industry - Royal Coffee

Increase prices now - $2-4/lb

Be transparent with your customers

Explain the market simply and clearly

Express Gratitude

Reassure them that you will continue to provide the highest quality product and not cut corners to save $$.

Review of the Snowball discussion.  Brands past credibility are selling on average at $24.26 (Specialty coffee Transaction Guide).  

Credibility vs Events review:

Brands who do 12+ events a year average credibility at 12 months

Brands who do 6-12 average 17.5 months

Brands who do none rarely achieve it before 24 months in business.

There are outliers but in general, events, pop ups, sponsorships and places people can meet you are the key.

Leveraging Physical Markets to Drive Traffic - Content to be repeated on 4/24

Review of selling at Festivals, Fairs, Fundraisers - the 3 Fs

Selling into Wholesale - do whatever it takes to get into your first 10 retail slots.  It is about marketing and credibility, not margin.

Farmers Market Overview

Identify

Apply

Comply

Be patient - it is a Culture and profits often are > than brick and mortar with a lot less time and overhead.

TARIFF DISCUSSION - Tariff by country and current implementation - 10% expected to be put into place in a day or two.  

Questions 

Meeting adjourned at 1hr 44min