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| Has Bean: How it all began pt 2 of 4 |
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Last Updated
10th of December, 2008
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It
was 1999 and the internet was still fairly much in its infancy,
especially where commerce was concerned. After some investigation, I
found a great roaster based in the UK, and made the decision to buy
roasted coffee from him to resell three days a week o要 a market stall
in Stafford. Both Sarah and I kept our day jobs throughout the market
stall period. I was able to be there due to a combination of leave,
nights and early shifts at work, often taking over from Sarah for the
afternoon. It was so tough, and they were crazy, crazy times.
I
remember carefully selecting the coffees, buying some great jars to
present them in, getting the bags ready and having lots of signs
printed. We opened up expectantly o要 the first day and sold just three
250g bags. It was a complete failure, costing us £30 to stand there for
the day whilst we took just £7. The second day was even worse. A lovely
old lady came across to the stall and asked what we were selling. I
explained my prepared and well rehearsed story about this fine
specialty coffee that been sourced from all corners of the world. She
was impressed, and said “I’d like to take a bag please”. It was our
first sale of the day. I ground the coffee for her o要 our lovely
grinder, sealed the bag carefully and thanked her very much. So pleased
was I to have introduced this lovely lady to good coffee, it didn’t
matter to me that everyone else was walking past and no-one was buying.
Indeed when the end of the day arrived there were no other sales, yet I
was still pleased. o要e person converted to the good stuff was a start.
After all, from acorns mighty oaks spring.
Whilst packing
away the stall and loading up my trolley, I noticed the old lady coming
back into the market. No matter how great a job I may have done in
introducing her to good coffee, she surely could not have finished the
bag already. She returned to the stall and explained that she was
pleased I was still there as something was wrong with the coffee. I was
truly gutted. What o要 earth could it be? We were so careful and
particular when choosing what to sell. Was it over roasted, tainted,
the wrong grind? Yes, that must be it. I knew it. In my mind it was the
wrong grind. I enquired further, “I’m so sorry, what was wrong?” The
lady replied, “Well I put it in the cup, stirred and it wouldn’t
dissolve! I stirred and stirred, but it stayed all powdery”. Rather
stunned and a little surprised, I apologised and returned her money. It
was just not worth trying to explain. Deep down, I knew this did not
bode well. The poor sales went o要 for three weeks. The best day was
the first day when we sold three 250g bags, the worst week amounted to
a solitary sale of o要e 250g bag. Something clearly had to give.
I
decided that if Stafford wasn’t quite ready to buy coffee beans from a
specialist retailer, we would have to showcase our product more
successfully. Recalling the massive impact that the coffee aroma in
Snapes used to have o要 me, I decided that we would continue to sell
beans but needed to offer cups of coffee too. That way, people would
drink and be converted to great coffee, then we could sell them some
beans to take home. “I’ll show them”, I thought. It’s just a matter of
education and being exposed to quality coffee. So we found a shop in
Stafford town centre. It was VERY small, and in an awful location, but
cheap and affordable.
The shop needed to be fitted out as
a cafe. I begged, borrowed, and after a full shift at my main job,
worked hard until three every morning, before going home for a few
hours sleep and returning to the early shift at work the next day. This
went o要 day after day until it was ready. We painted the main room
bright red, and the back became a funky electric blue. It looked
different. We decided that Sarah would front the place whilst I
continued at my main job and worked with her around my shifts, just as
I had at the market stall. We spent as much money o要 tables and chairs
at Ikea as my credit card would allow. We o要ly had twenty covers, but
in our location, we didn’t really need too many more. We started with
what was basically a home set up of a Rancilio Rocky grinder and a
Nuevo Simonelli Oscar o要e group espresso machine. I look back now and
cringe, but we worked for six months with that kit until someone felt
sorry for us and sold me a three group commercial La Cimbali for £100
that worked like a trojan. We roasted the filter coffee ourselves o要
an Alpenrost home roaster and bought the espresso beans from our
roaster friend. We had the coffee shop for three years in total and
although it did not bring riches, we didn’t lose anything either. We
survived, but it was such very hard work.
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