Business Black Box

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SPEED PITCH WILL SHURTZ VAGABOND BARISTA THE PITCH: I started Vagabond Barista about a year and a half ago when I was 19 years old. At the time, I was working in a coffee shop and had recently realized that the coffee industry was the industry for me. It is full of art, culture and influence, and it is all about people! I had about a year of experience in the specialty coffee industry, but I knew I wanted to share the incredible culture of craft coffee with everybody I could and break the pretentious stereotype so many people have associated with coffee professionals. I learned that coffee can be enjoyed in the same way wine connoisseurs enjoyed wine. Vagabond Barista does not have a brick and mortar location. All I do is travel, from wedding parties to business meetings, small gatherings to festivals with foot traffic in the thousands—as far as clients need me to travel. I have my craft brewing equipment, my glassware, and hopefully an engaging personality and all I ask for is a water supply, electricity, and table space (although I could muster up a table if need be). After the event, I pack up all my belongings and head out. Vagabond Barista is a traveling coffee brew bar sharing good coffee and good experiences with as many people as possible. I wanted to reach people where they were and give them a stunning coffee experience, as well as an incredible relational experience. Also, I wanted to spread the word of this new coffee culture and of good community among people. So that is Vagabond Barista, a traveling craft coffee brewing bar. Photo by Wayne Culpepper/FishEye Studios
SPEED PITCH THE FEEDBACK: You don’t need to look very far to know that coffee is big business. There’s a shop on every corner and the U.S. consumes about three billion pounds of coffee annually. So, demand for coffee—especially high-end coffee—is strong. The way I see it, your long-term success depends on two key factors: quality and scalability. Your quality is excellent (I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the Vagabond Barista first hand) and your passion for coffee is evident. Your presentation is engaging, unique and draws crowds. From my perspective you’ve got that piece nailed. The issue you need to address is scale. One person traveling from site to site is great for a hobby, but not for a business. Going solo limits you to one event or customer at a time. And since you craft each cup of coffee with painstaking care, you can’t produce a very large quantity at any one event. If you can’t scale your business it will not survive over time. I would consider ways to increase the number of people who can experience the Vagabond Barista at any given time. How? You might consider hiring and teaching others to do what you do. Think of an ‘army’ of Vagabonds. A dozen Vagabond Baristas working simultaneously will smooth the impact of any one barista doing poorly, getting sick, etc. Longer term, what about franchising? The point is that if you aren’t able to scale you will never grow and you might not be able to sustain what you have now. SCOTT COCHRAN Dean, The Space Wofford The pitch well defines an interesting life style; have some great conversation about a topic that is as broad as you would like to make it, great refreshment, make a few dollars... whoops! A few dollars may not be enough. As traveling consultant you’ll have limited time for focused marketing / selling and responding to inquiries. Good word of mouth advertising from a cool experience will be likely, but that may not be enough. Think about including a comment about a small commission for productive leads to the next gig. One difficult issue with a single person business is that stuff happens in life. If you are out of commission for a time, there is no income? Consider addressing an opportunity to take on a working partner or two. You might want to add some thought to the business and the pitch regarding availability of a “special, take-home premium brand” both on-site and at your web page, to build an opportunity for a residual revenue stream that continues after the event. Last thought in the pitch is let folks know you have sewn-up the brand and that it is growing (during the recent year sales went from here to there..show something about projected revenue /growth). GREG HILLMAN Director SC Launch For more from Business Black Box visit insideblackbox.com Q4 2013 // Business Black Box 93
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