The coffee industry has always been resilient—but right now cafes and roasters are being tested and Bellwether is here to help! Bellwether Coffee #bellwethercoffee Cafés are dealing with rising green prices, higher labor costs, tighter margins, and customers who are watching every dollar. Equipment, rent, logistics—everything costs more. But here’s the thing about coffee: it’s one of the last affordable luxuries. People may cut back on big purchases, but they still want a great cup of coffee. It’s a daily ritual. A moment of comfort. A small reset in the middle of a chaotic day. The operators who will win in this environment are the ones who focus on three things: • Quality customers can taste • Operational discipline to maintain healthy margins • Building real relationships with their communities Hard economies don’t kill great coffee businesses—they force them to get sharper. At Bellwether Coffee, we’re focused on helping operators do exactly that—through our electric Shop Roaster and coffee marketplace, giving cafés and foodservice operators more control over quality, sourcing, and margins. Curious what others in the industry are seeing right now. How are you adapting?
Bellwether Coffee Supports Cafes in Challenging Market
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𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 The most widely consumed coffee in the world is instant coffee. Many professionals focus on specialty coffee trends, yet instant coffee continues to lead global volume and accessibility. The reason is simple. The production method supports scale, shelf life, and convenience. Here is why it performs so strongly. 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 ~ No equipment required. No brewing knowledge required. Hot water is enough. This removes barriers for millions of consumers. 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 ~ Instant coffee is produced through freeze-drying or spray-drying. Moisture is removed, which extends storage and reduces waste. 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 ~ Every cup tastes similar. Large-scale production controls variability, which builds consumer trust. 𝘼𝙛𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 ~ Production at scale lowers cost per serving. This makes it accessible across different income levels and markets. 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 ~ Lightweight and stable packaging simplifies transport and storage. This supports worldwide availability. Interestingly, many baristas also consume instant coffee outside work. Convenience and speed still matter, even for professionals. The specialty segment continues to grow, but instant coffee still dominates global consumption because the process supports accessibility and scale. Understanding this helps cafés position their products better and communicate the value of fresh brewing. #CoffeeIndustry #SpecialtyCoffee #CoffeeMarket #CafeBusiness
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Are Cafés Quietly Losing Money on Their Coffee? Coffee is supposed to be one of the highest-margin items on a café menu. Yet, many cafés today are seeing their margins shrink—without even realizing why. Here’s what’s really happening: 1. Over-Reliance on Trading, Not Understanding Coffee Many cafés depend entirely on third-party roasters without understanding sourcing, Roast profiles, or yield. This leads to inconsistent brews, higher wastage, and zero control over cost. 2. Hidden Cost of Inconsistency. A slight variation in grind size, dose, or extraction can ruin a cup—leading to remakes, wasted beans, and dissatisfied customers. Multiply that across a day, and margins quietly erode. 3.Menu Engineering Gone Wrong Overloaded menus with complicated beverages increase prep time, require more SKUs, and often result in low-moving inventory—especially in flavored and seasonal drinks. 4. Poor Yield Management Not tracking grams per shot, number of cups per kilo, or milk-to-coffee ratios is one of the biggest blind spots. Most cafés don’t realize how much they lose per cup. 5.Chasing Discounts Instead of Building Value Competing on price rather than quality or story forces cafés into a race to the bottom—where margins are the first casualty. So what’s the way forward? A/ Understand your coffee—from origin to cup B/ Standardize recipes and train staff rigorously C/ Simplify your menu for efficiency and profitability D/ Track yield like you track sales E/ Build a brand story customers are willing to pay for The cafés that will win are not just the ones that serve coffee…but the ones that understand it deeply. If you're a café owner or planning to open one, it might be time to look beyond just the cup. #CafeBusiness #CoffeeMargins #SpecialtyCoffee #CafeOwners #HospitalityBusiness #CoffeeIndustry #MenuEngineering #Profitability
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In many cafes, coffee is the star of the menu but the people behind the coffee often remain invisible. A great cup of coffee doesn’t happen by chance. Behind every cup there is a chain of skilled professionals: • Farmers who grow and harvest the coffee • Roasters who develop the flavor profile • Baristas who extract and present the coffee to the customer Yet in many places, the craft of baristas and roasters is still underestimated. Making great coffee requires knowledge, precision, and consistency from understanding beans and roast profiles to managing grind size, extraction, and milk texture. When cafes respect and invest in their coffee professionals, the results are clear: ✔ Better coffee quality ✔ Stronger customer loyalty ✔ A stronger coffee culture As the coffee industry continues to grow, it’s important that we recognize the skill and dedication behind every cup. Because great coffee is not just a product it’s a craft. #CoffeeIndustry #BaristaLife #CoffeeCulture #SpecialtyCoffee #CoffeeProfessionals #respectbaristas
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Specialty #coffeemenus have become increasingly complex, often filled with processing methods, varietals, and detailed flavour descriptors, potentially alienating customers who just want a ‘normal’ cup of coffee. With around 70% of US coffee drinkers adding milk, sugar, or cream to their coffee, familiarity still dominates consumer behaviour – and when ordering requires explanation, many customers simply retreat to familiar choices. We spoke to Hugh Kelly, Sales Manager at ONA Coffee to explore whether clarity, hospitality, and simpler menus may become the next competitive advantage as #specialtycoffee continues to scale. Read more: https://lnkd.in/geycTAzP
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The future of coffee is...cold? Recent WSJ article on portfolio holding Dutch Brothers ($BROS) talks about how little actual hot coffee they sell for the third largest coffee chain in the US. Here's a piece from Food Business News... https://lnkd.in/gr85fz34
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New Zealand-based specialty coffee roaster, Allpress Coffee (Allpress Espresso), is strengthening its global footprint, investing in new roasteries in Melbourne and London. https://lnkd.in/gcYFMsEw
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𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. I recently learned that Fève Coffee in Paris turns down cafés regularly. Not because they can't handle the volume because the café can't handle the coffee. Here's what I thought roasters did: buy beans, roast them, sell to cafés. Here's what they actually do: decide which cafés deserve which coffee. Fève rejects shops that want specialty beans for Instagram but won't train their baristas. They say no to anyone treating a $15/kg bean like commodity. Why so selective? Because roasting is translation work. A farmer in Ethiopia spends 12 months growing coffee. The roaster spends 15 minutes roasting it. A barista spends 30 seconds brewing it. If that barista doesn't know what they're doing? A year of farming gets destroyed in half a minute. The roaster sits in the middle, connecting people who'll never meet. They're not just vendors. They're gatekeepers protecting both sides of the supply chain. When someone is that protective of their product, they're not being difficult. They're being responsible. What other industries have suppliers who choose their customers this carefully?
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Our editor has been out and about at Northern Restaurant & Bar Show 2026 hearing about the health of the North's coffee industry... read all about it here
I do like a good coffee. In fact, I drafted this in the Crosby Coffee Roasters roastery this morning. So it was great to hear from some of the North's coffee leaders about the state of the sector – and even better to hear that they were feeling pretty upbeat. On Tuesday I went to the boisterous Northern Restaurant & Bar Show 2026 in Manchester, where I tried all kinds of things from ice cream to scones and alcohol-free bourbon. Oddly, one thing I didn't try was coffee. But I did get to listen to a fascinating debate about coffee. Matty Farrell, co-founder at Bold Street Coffee owner GSG Hospitality, said that while hospitality was having its challenges more broadly, “I would say the speciality coffee industry is probably bucking the trend in that sense”. And Chris Shelmerdine, from growing local chain Coffee House, said his business’s focus on secondary high streets was paying dividends. Having seen their busy outlet in Huyton just a few hours earlier, I saw his point. Meanwhile Holly Kragiopoulos, CEO at North Star Coffee Roasters in Leeds, was upbeat – saying she was “definitely positive about a market for better coffee in the UK”. Thanks also to host Will Kenney from 200 Degrees Coffee. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/eUvjBBMG
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 Consumer preferences in the food and beverage industry continue to evolve. More people today are seeking products that offer 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅. The specialty coffee market is one example of this shift. Customers are increasingly drawn to products that emphasize craftsmanship, origin, and careful roasting processes. At 𝐅𝐌𝐅 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 – 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 & 𝐁𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, we believe this trend represents an important opportunity to bring carefully selected products to market while maintaining the standards that consumers expect from premium brands. As the industry grows, companies that prioritize 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈-𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 will continue to lead the way. #FMFGroup #FoodAndBeverage #SpecialtyCoffee #FoodIndustry
My favorite barista!