Opportunity in the Coffee Industry

Last year saw me take a step back from the coffee industry, in part to rest, in part to look towards new horizons. After 10 years in the industry, the decision hasn't been without its second thoughts and moments of heavy nostalgia. Perhaps I'll return to coffee at some point in the future, but for now - despite the tug on my heartstrings - it still feels like the right time to step back.

Before I go, I thought I'd share some closing thoughts on the state of the industry, in case it offers up any insights for my pals still on the inside, or those looking to get into it.

Post-lockdown, coffee is all around us. Whilst acknowledging the difficulties and heartache that COVID brought (and continues to bring) to so many across the industry, it was also undeniably a moment of gigantic growth. An industry that often prides itself on in-person connections was suddenly thrown onto its back foot and forced to adapt. We ended up on a united front, seeking to elevate the experience of "coffee at home" - for obvious reasons. This, in combination with a rapidly increasing awareness of the specialty coffee world pre-lockdown, propelled us into an era of coffee that I'm not so sure we'd seen before, or will again (for a very long time).

It's fair to say that a lot changed for coffee during the pandemic, but a lot has also changed since. For a fleeting moment, we were the talk of the town - coffee was front and centre, and near inescapable. There was a shared excitement for it all, almost as if it were being experienced for the very first time, and for many (at least within the realm of specialty coffee) it was! Today, I'd say that shared excitement has to a large extent died back.

One place this can be seen is in the shuttered windows of so many incredible post-lockdown coffee shops that opened whilst demand was at its peak and had a great but fleeting run. It's also felt in the seemingly universal expectation for great coffee to be everywhere. Long gone are the days of tolerating crappy coffee whilst out and about. There's an expectation that if you serve coffee, you better make sure it's subjectively decent for the majority of your customers - who now, in line with increased awareness and baseline knowledge of coffee, have far greater expectations.

My outlook on the industry isn't a negative one though, it couldn't be further from it. I think we're at a really exciting point in time for coffee. We've had a boom where coffee became society's north star during a turbulent time, and now the bar has been raised. It's no longer enough to simply offer delicious coffee, that's expected. The market wants more, and for the first time, consumer expectations are now running near parallel to the baseline expectations of those within the industry.

Instead, businesses should really start leaning into what sets them apart. The market competition is still very high, and to survive and stand out, businesses will need to find, embrace, and proactively showcase what makes them unique. But don't get confused - not every business needs to be a game-changer (something many are guilty of trying to signal to our customers). That's just one of many propositions.

Businesses might focus on serving their local community, they might choose to offer one type of coffee and double down on all things Colombian, or darker roasts, or new varieties. There's plenty of avenues to explore. Something that always interested me was the lack of after-care. We often talk a good game about our coffee, but then we whack it in a box, ship it out, and forget about it. I think a business that chooses to focus on meaningful (and human, not AI) after-care, via direct channels (calls, texts) could be incredibly powerful, for both consumers and business.

To round this all off and make it clear: if businesses think they can just get really nice coffee and put it in pretty packaging, I seriously doubt they'll survive the next 5 years. But, for those that have (or quickly find) a unique proposition and really lean into it with everything they've got, it couldn't be a more exciting time to be in the business of coffee.