Coffee wholesaler plans Mt. Vernon store

The small business that has, until now, focused on selling wholesale beans and syrups to coffee houses and gift shops in southwest Missouri plans to open its first retail location this spring in Mt. Vernon.

Initially, KeenBean owners Darrell and Tracy Bradshaw sold their coffee door-to-door to local businesses in November 2001. The wholesale operation is now located on a 10-acre property near Stotts City, and serves as both a residence and a roastery. Once the new store is complete, the equipmen and the operation will move there.

For the past two years, the company has had a limited retail presence at the seasonal Mt. Vernon farmer’s market. Otherwise, retail is limited to Internet sales on the company’s Web site, www.keenbeancoffee.com, which has been in operation since November 2003.

The biggest advantage of the new retail site, said Tracy Bradshaw, is that it will lend a public face to the business, which will continue to serve its wholesale customers when the new shop opens.

The 2,200-square-foot building at 103 W. Mt. Vernon Blvd., on the corner of the Business Loop and Market Street, is undergoing renovations from its previous existence as a four-bay car wash. The Bradshaws have secured private funding for the construction, which they estimate will cost $75,000. The couple plans to open the new store by March.

Darrell Bradshaw is doing as much of the renovation work as possible on his own, though he brings in professionals when needed. For example, Springfield architect Bill Derington was enlisted to provide demolition plans required by the city.

The main reason the Bradshaws selected Mt. Vernon as their new home base is because the location, right off Interstate 44, allows easy, equal-distance delivery to Springfield and Joplin.

Mt. Vernon’s location on the interstate is a draw for many businesses, said Jane Hood, director of economic development for the city. While the city’s population was 4,017 during the 2004 census, Hood said that Mt. Vernon’s retail market draw is actually more like 18,000 when nearby cities are taken into consideration. And another benefit of owning a business in Mt. Vernon is the lack of a city property tax, Hood said.

Competition

In Aurora, Kaffe Metropolitan owner Tim Hitsman has bought wholesale beans from the Bradshaws since KeenBean’s start-up. Hitsman, whose coffee house has been in business for five years, made the switch from a Chicago wholesaler.

“Obviously it was a lot more convenient, and the coffee a lot fresher, if you could get it 12 miles from your business,” said Hitsman, who added that ordering specialty items, such as premium coffee, is easier. “I bought a pound of Jamaican Blue Mountain, and (Darrell Bradshaw) roasted it and got it for me in a couple of days.”

Hitsman said he isn’t concerned about the coffee roasters setting up shop 10 miles away in Mt. Vernon, as long as KeenBean doesn’t use its wholesale abilities to an unfair advantage in retail prices,

“Competition doesn’t bother me,” he said. “If we can just get customers used to the fact that there is good coffee out there … the more people that know about good coffee, the more we’re encouraged by it.”

In the new location, customers will be able to watch the roasting process, a crucial point of difference for KeenBean.

The Sivetz Roaster used at KeenBean acts along the same principle as a hot-air popcorn maker, roasting the coffee beans from the inside out on a fluid bed of air. It also limits batch sizes to 10 pounds, although some Sivets models will accommodate larger batches. KeenBean’s retail store will sell freshly brewed coffees and espresso as well as pastries, light lunches, and fresh-roasted whole bean coffees.

Bringing in the beans

KeenBean gets its coffee beans from all over the world, primarily working with two coffee brokers. Although Darrell Bradshaw declined to name the coffee brokers, he did say that one is based in New York, and the other is in Florida. He said that coffee brokers operate much like commodities brokers, visiting crops, purchasing the product and arranging for drying, cleaning and importing.

Tracy Bradshaw said some coffee flavors, such as snickerdoodle, are good sellers year-round, while others, including eggnog and roasted chestnut, sell well seasonally.

“People are getting away from French vanilla and getting more interested in what French roast is all about,” Darrell Bradshaw added.

Company growth

Darrell Bradshaw commits himself to KeenBean full time, and Tracy Bradshaw also owns Monett Gymnastics in Monett. At one point, both Bradshaws had outside jobs. One of their biggest challenges, Tracy Bradshaw said, was trying to grow the business quickly enough to maintain it while balancing their other income sources.

Darrell Bradshaw estimated KeenBean’s revenues at $25,000 in 2003 and between $40,000 and $50,000 in 2004. He said he doesn’t know what to project for 2005, but “hopefully, they’ll double again.”

No plans are in the works for additional stores, although Tracy Bradshaw said that they hope to hire as many as five employees, as there are no other staff members besides the Bradshaws.

The Bradshaws are no strangers to coffee. They met in Whitefish, Mont., when they both worked for Montana Coffee Traders. Darrell Bradshaw spent his first of four years as a roaster for the company as an apprentice, and Tracy Bradshaw was the retail manager for a company store in nearby Kalispell, Mont.

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