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50 Best Coffee Business ideas You Can Start Today

Coffee Bean Retail Shop

Do you love coffee and want to make money passion by starting a coffee related business? If YES, here are 50 best coffee related small business ideas.

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries gotten from the Coffee plant. It is proven that the most sought after commodity in the world apart from crude oil is coffee, as according to Harvard research, Americans spend $40 billion on coffee each year.

This on its own makes coffee one of the biggest industries in the world. Again, according to Statista, Americans drink about 1.6 cups of coffee a day, and over 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world everyday.

Coffee is also continuing to grow in popularity in major markets like China, the uk, Japan and even African countries, which makes it a great niche to tap into. If you want to go into this 20 billion dollars-a-year industry and make a living out of it, here are businesses you can choose from.

Best Coffee Business ideas

1. Coffee multilevel marketing

Multi-level marketing (MLM) also called pyramid selling is a network marketing and referral marketing strategy for the sale of products and/or services where the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company’s products/services, while the earnings of the participants is derived from a pyramid-shaped commission system.

Companies like Avon, Marykay and co have made fortunes using this Business model. You can also set up a system where you market your coffee and related coffee products through multi-level marketing.

2. Healthy coffee business

Current research and tests have proven that coffee does have healthy benefits, but most of these benefits depend on the brand of coffee in question and what has been added to it. It has been discovered that certain coffee brands are high in antioxidants and as such are considered as healthy coffee. You can start marketing this coffee as a healthy brand.

3. Coffee related consulting

You can start up a coffee consultancy service where you offer various consulting services relating to coffee and roasting, including staff training, roaster optimization and lab analysis. You can target a lot of new coffee businesses and offer to help them through their rough business patches.

4. Organize coffee tasting

Another coffee related business you can successfully embark on is to organize coffee tasting. You can sample dozens of exotic brews and teach your clients to distinguish Colombian from Indian beans or some other beans. This is a great way to market coffee for businesses.

5. Sell coffee beans

Coffee Distribution Business

If you know where to get access to good quality coffee beans, you can start distributing them for profit. You can target particular farmers and offer to become their agent because a lot of farmers do have the problem of finding market for their beans after harvest.

6. Coffee delivery service

This business can be run depending on how much capital you have. But despite how much money you have at your disposal, you can still start on a small scale, and target a particular niche before you are able to expand your services. You can definitely start this service from home and deliver people their morning coffee. I’m sure there are plenty students in the university who need their morning ‘fix’.

7. Subscription coffee delivery service

With the rise of specialty coffee culture nowadays, there are many different subscription services. You can subscribe to coffee from one single roaster, or get into a subscription program that lets you get coffee from a variety of roasters. Market your clients and start delivering fresh roasted coffee to them through your subscription service. The delivery service is really hot, and it has low capital requirements.

8. Start a traditional coffee business

Many people like the tried and true and would like to stick with the known systems of brewing coffee. You can stock and sell such traditional technology to them.

9. Roast and sell coffee beans from home

You can make money by buy purchasing green coffee beans from the market, roast them to a unique taste, and resell the roasted coffee in your local market for a profit.

10. Start gourmet coffee business

Gourmet coffee is a special type of coffee that is grown in relatively small areas in limited quantities due to a special microclimate.

Kona coffee from Hawaii, coffee from Jamaica, coffee from Ethiopia and Yemen are all mostly gourmet. Another interesting fact about gourmet coffee is that it is more expensive, so you can make quite a tidy sum sourcing for and distributing freshly roasted gourmet coffee. You can utilize subscription services to carry out your business.

11. Coffee and espresso drive thru business

If you fancy yourself a coffee connoisseur, and enjoy making and serving espresso drinks and supporting sustainable coffee producers and roasters, then starting a drive-thru coffee stand and espresso shop might be the business idea for you.

12. Start a cat café

Cat Cafe Business

Cat cafes originated in Taiwan. The cafe became popular with Japanese tourists as well as local visitors, who enjoyed the opportunity to interact with some furry friends while they enjoyed their coffee.

Cat Cafes, especially those in the united states have a separate cat playpen where the cats are kept away from the coffee bar. If you are such a pet lover, you could start a cat cafe to bring people of like minds together.

13. Start a quirky cafe

A quirky cafe also benefits from being relatively noncompetitive. Although there are now over 16,000 cafes and coffee shops across the country, a quirky cafe doesn’t have to compete at the same level as its USP focuses on turning the traditional coffee shop concept on its head. You can start a cafe that has a very unique concept and appeal to like minds.

14. Sell coffee online

You can enter this market by creating a Shopify store that sells your own blend of beans, single serving pods, ground coffee, or even mugs. There is also the opportunity to turn your caffeinated products into a monthly subscription service and earn some recurring revenue.

15. Start coffee drop shipping business

Dropshippers keep an inventory of coffee in their warehouse, and then when customers buy from you, they will pick and pack each order. This saves you the time and hassle of producing and storing your coffee, as well as fulfilling each individual order.

With fulfillment taken care of, you can spend more time marketing to find customers. A quick Google search will reveal plenty of viable options for private label dropshippers. Be sure to confirm that your dropshipper serves your intended target market

16. Start coffee subscription box

Coffee is the perfect product for a subscription business. Monthly or quarterly boxes provide additional value to customers because they simplify the purchasing process and it can also be a good gift.

You can theme your box(es) around different regions, flavours, or complementary products like mugs and treats. This business model has the benefit of recurring revenue, as long as you can keep your customers satisfied and prevent them from unsubscribing.

17. Blog about coffee

You can start a blog where you get to talk about all things coffee. You can teach people new ways to make and enjoy their coffee, and new things to do with coffee asides drinking. If you get enough followership, you can start getting adverts through Google AdSense.

18. Start a coffee laboratory

If you have the wherewithal, you can set up a state of the art coffee lab analysis business that would have tools ranging from moisture meters, density analyser, refractometers and colour analysers.

In your lab, you will be carrying out in-depth analysis of customer’s coffees to make sure the product is up to the optimum standard required by the industry before it is pushed into the market. A lot of coffee roasting businesses do not have access to this lab, so you can market your services to them.

19. Become a coffee farmer

If you reside in a farming community, you can start a coffee farm. You can start the farm based on your farm and the income you have at hand. If you cannot process your berries, you can sell them to a processing company.

20. Distribute green coffee beans

You can specialize in distributing green coffee beans to companies that roast and package them for sale.

21. Manufacture and sell coffee mix

A lot of people would rather not take their coffee black. They prefer to tone it down with milk, sugar and sometimes other additives. You could package coffee in pre-mixed formats that are ready to use and sell them.

22. Coffee importation

Coffee Importation Business

As an entrepreneur seeking to start a coffee related business, you could start coffee importation. It is a fact that majority of the gourmet coffee taken in the United States is imported from African countries.

If you reside in a country that does not produce coffee or that produces a limited amount, you can start importing to fill or supplement the need. Even if your state or country produces coffee in good quantities, you can decide to import gourmet coffee from other countries.

23. Become a coffee speculator

A speculator is one who makes buying and selling decisions based on their expectations of how the market will move in the future. Speculation involves deliberately taking a risk on price movements, in the hope of obtaining a profit. You can become a coffee speculator and make money off the fluctuating coffee market.

24. Export coffee

You can equally export roasted coffee beans and green berries to countries that need it. If you cannot handle a full export, you can become a liaison officer that liaises between exporters and farmers.

25. Coffee transportation

If you have a truck, you could put it to good use transporting coffee beans and berries for distributors.

26. Work in a coffee field

If you desire to learn all aspects of coffee farming, you can start with working in a coffee farm to learn from there. Though working in coffee fields is usually reserved for laborers and immigrants, but if you desire to start your own coffee farm, it is advisable you start working in a coffee farm to learn from the roots.

27. Run a mobile cafe

Coffee Truck Business

A lot of people are not able to get a cup of soothing coffee when they need it. You can start a mobile cafe where you target offices and organizations especially blue collar ones.

28. Start a coffee related farmers market

A farmers market is where farmers gather to sell their produce. You can start a farmers market where farmers can bring their berries and source for buyers. This business is beneficial because buyers can find different types of coffee in one surrounding.

29. Coffee logistics company

Logistics refers to the processes of acquiring, transporting, and storing resources along the supply chain. Logistics encompasses the entire network of businesses that carry the coffee from its source – the coffee farmers in Central America – to where the finished product is consumed by customers at the neighborhood coffee shop. If you have that big enough might, you can run this business.

30. Coffee house company

Coffee Shop Business

A coffeehouse is an establishment which primarily serves hot coffee, related coffee beverages (e.g., café latte, cappuccino, espresso), tea, and other hot beverages. Coffeehouses range from owner-operated small businesses to large multinational corporations. You can start a coffee house business and make profits.

31. Coffee mill

Coffee mills are where harvested coffee berries are sent for sorting, hulling, drying, roasting and preservation for export. You can set up a mill and either buy the berries directly from farmers, or where they can bring their berries for milling after which they pay for your services.

32. Coffee coyote

Coffee coyotes buy coffee cherries from farmers below the market price, and sell them to coffee mills at high profit. You can play the middleman between farmers and coffee mills and make some profit.

33. Production of coffee drinks

Coffee drinks are good stimulants and a very good source of energy. You could start making your own coffee drink for sale to people who would like to grab a bottle on the run.

34. Retail coffee making and roasting equipment

Retailing coffee making and roasting equipment is a good business idea for you. You can approach manufacturers and offer to market their products.

35. Sell coffee related gift items for coffee lovers

You can start a shop where you get to sell coffee related gift items. You can stock things like Christmas ornaments, coffee mugs, night light for kitchens, barista money clips, spiked Irish coffee flasks etc.

36. Coffee branding mockup business

Mockups are not the final product that you are selling to a client – they are only a visual tool used to display your work. You can create coffee-themed mockups and use them to market your product. Alternatively, you can approach coffee retailers and offer your services to them.

37. Coffee roasting business

Another good business idea is to start a coffee roasting company. You can roast coffee beans in a conventional oven, an air popcorn popper, a stovetop popcorn popper, a skillet or even a wok. If you want to invest a little money, you can even invest in appliances made specifically for coffee bean roasting such as a drum roaster, an air roaster, or a stove top roaster.

38. Market Weight loss coffee

Coffee is known to help in weight loss. There are lots of coffee brands currently in the market and they are making great sales all over the world. You can start your own weight loss coffee brand too and even introduce a multi-level marketing plan that would enhance sales of your products.

39. Coffee home party business

In its most basic form, the home party plan business is a method of product distribution through independent contractors. You can use this method to sell your coffee. You could gather people together, brew samples of your coffee, and sell it to them if they like it.

40. App developer

App and Software Development Business

You can develop an app that helps people locate the nearest cafe to them or which tells them the newest coffee making recipe in town. The app can also be a coffee themed game that coffee lovers can enjoy.

41. Become a Coffee barista

In the United States, the term “barista” is generally only used for those who serve specialty coffee drinks. A barista is a person who makes espresso-based coffee drinks, and they are usually employed by specialty coffee shops. If you are quite skilled in whipping up excellent cups of espresso or other different types of coffee drinks at short notice, then you can decide to make a living as a barista.

42. Coffee journalist

If you are a journalist that does not mind travelling from point to point to gather news and information, you could decide to specialize in the coffee niche. You could visit coffee farms, mills, logistics companies etc to gather news about happenings in the world of coffee and print them in newspapers, magazines and blogs.

43. Write a coffee recipe book

There are a lot of ways to make and enjoy this robust drink called coffee, but sadly, a lot of people do not know about them. You can put together these recipes into a book and get it published. If you cannot afford publication costs, you can publish it on kindle platforms online and make yourself some tidy passive income.

44. Start a coffee training center

You can run a regular coffee roasting training center where you offer courses structured from beginner to advanced. You can offer tailored training courses to individuals or organisations wishing to focus on a particular area of the coffee growing or roasting process or to develop staff competencies.

45. Coffee/espresso drive thru

Statistics have it that 24% of daily coffee drinkers choose espresso-based beverages, a leap of 6% from 2016. If you start a drive thru that serves espresso coffee and its accompaniment, you would make good profit. Starting a coffee drive-thru stand is also an excellent way to reduce your costs. This is in large part due to the reduced potential build-out, monthly lease, insurance premiums, and less equipment.

46. Start organic coffee distribution

People have started embracing organic farm produce because it is believed to be free of chemicals and it is more healthy. You can start sourcing for and distributing organic coffee to people that need it.

47. Coffee podcasting

Podcasting is a small scale version of radio broadcasting. If you have the skills and ability, you can start a podcast where you talk to people about coffee.

48. Coffee TV and radio show

If you are able to buy television or radio time, you can create programmes that are concentrated on coffee. You can equally bring guests to talk on the subject on your television or radio show. They can talk about practices in the industry, new coffee recipes etc. You can seek sponsorship from coffee companies in order to sustain the programmes.

49. Coffee magazine

Even with the prevalence of the internet, some people still prefer hardcopy magazines. Start publishing a magazine where you interview notable personalities in the coffee industry, and as well insert coffee related news. You can gain income from adverts and subscription.