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Aussie Coffee Brand Brewing a Global Business 🌏☕ · Money News

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  S1: Fine. I got work to do.
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  S2: Now on money news. Let's talk business. Brought to you
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  S2: by NAB your partner for every stage of your business.
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  S2: NAB more than money.
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  S3: Yes, it's one of my favorite times of the week,
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  S3: where we get a little glimpse into the lives of
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  S3: those building small businesses into big ones right across this
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  S3: great country. And if there's one thing smaller businesses owners
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  S3: think about every day, it's risk. Well, here is a
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  S3: great story of a married couple that took risks. And
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  S3: it all started with the smell of a fresh roast
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  S3: in the morning. Now, you might not be needing a
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  S3: coffee at this time of night, but you'll be pumped
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  S3: up to hear the story of Saint Remy. And I'm
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  S3: pleased to say Julia Tink, the co-founder and director of
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  S3: the coffee company Saint Romeo, joins me for Let's Talk
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  S3: Business Tonight. Julia. Great to have you on the show.
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  S4: Oh, thank you so much for having me. And what
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  S4: an introduction.
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  S3: Well, let's start at the beginning, which is the introduction
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  S3: that you had to not only a marriage, but a
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  S3: small business. So how did Saint Remy o start. And
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  S3: what about the risks you had to take on both fronts?
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  S3: Marriage and small business at the same time?
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  S4: I mean, marriage was a risk. I was very happy
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  S4: to roll the dice on. I think I've scored myself
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  S4: a very great husband in Trent Knox. So I think
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  S4: I'm one of the I'm very lucky for him. But
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  S4: when we started Saint Remy, we really started with a
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  S4: goal of disrupting a market that we feel really needs
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  S4: to be disrupted. Because if I tell you some of
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  S4: the stats, which is every day, the world consumes 2.25
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  S4: billion cups of coffee a day, and that coffee is
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  S4: the second most consumed beverage on earth outside of water.
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  S4: But at the core, what we've done is that we've
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  S4: wrapped in the brand, the blend and the barista, and
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  S4: we're so caught up in that that we've forgotten or
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  S4: we haven't been educated to look past that and look
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  S4: at the coffee farmer and understand the challenges that are
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  S4: happening in origin, the lives that coffee is impacting, and
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  S4: what our choices are doing to that of farmers. So
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  S4: we are a very proud coffee company that is disrupting
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  S4: a market that really needs to be shaken up, because
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  S4: we need to start to educate people to say that
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  S4: the coffee farmer really matters. We need them to understand
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  S4: and build a connection to that and make sure that
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  S4: our choices are supporting coffee farmers in origin and not
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  S4: eroding them so that they can have a bright future
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  S4: in coffee.
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  S3: You mentioned how much we love coffee not just here,
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  S3: but globally. It's a staple in so many Australian lives.
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  S3: And you also mentioned disruption. You know, there are some
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  S3: big players in this space. So how difficult is it
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  S3: to compete with them?
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  S4: Look it is really difficult. And I think per capita
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  S4: we have the highest amount of coffee roasters in the world.
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  S4: I mean and when we look at the the Melbourne
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  S4: coffee scene in particular, like we are globally renowned for it.
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  S4: We are at the very cutting edge of it. You know,
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  S4: specialty coffee scene here is it is amazing, but it
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  S4: is really challenging. It's a challenging market because there are
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  S4: so many of us. But I think one of our
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  S4: differences and the reason that we've had to, we've kind
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  S4: of gained momentum and had some and had success is
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  S4: the fact that we are different. I'm not here to
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  S4: be the same as everybody else. I'm here to shine
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  S4: a light on coffee farmers and use coffee for a
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  S4: force for good. And we fund projects that give back
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  S4: to coffee farmers at origin. And we want to take
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  S4: people on a journey that their choice is having a
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  S4: really positive and meaningful impact on the lives of others.
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  S4: And when we look at our competition, I don't want
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  S4: to follow what they're doing. I'm only concerned about what
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  S4: a Saint Remy are doing. How do we do better,
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  S4: and how do we really build a global brand and
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  S4: a positive coffee movement that has a real, lasting impact
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  S4: on the lives of farmers?
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  S3: Julia, how do you go about finding and sourcing farmers
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  S3: and suppliers for coffee that are usually on the other
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  S3: side of the world?
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  S4: Look, we all our coffee is Rainforest Alliance certified. So
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  S4: there is also a process where we know that our
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  S4: coffee is free from slave labor, where Fedex as well.
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  S4: But we work. So when we fund, we fund projects
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  S4: specifically for female coffee farmers in cocoa in Rwanda, that's
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  S4: the cooperative is called Kokuji. We work directly with them.
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  S4: So I don't I don't fund through a charity that
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  S4: gets to them. I work directly with those farmers and
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  S4: I ask them every year, what do you need? Now
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  S4: they live and breathe that every day. So it's not
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  S4: for me to say, oh, you know what, guys? We
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  S4: should do this because I'm not a coffee farmer. And
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  S4: one of the things that we're proud about is that
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  S4: we want to empower them in business because who they
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  S4: are and what they do matters. And we need to,
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  S4: you know, for us, we carry the financial risk for
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  S4: that community. Like we purchase the land and we give
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  S4: it back to them. We fund, uh, the 20,000 coffee seedlings,
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  S4: we pay the agronomists salary every year to make sure
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  S4: that we're investing back into their education. So they are
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  S4: learning to, to farm smarter, not harder, and also work
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  S4: with the challenges of climate change is bringing. And I
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  S4: think if we can do that and we're trying to
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  S4: work to set a global example of what can be
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  S4: done when you work together with the farmers that others
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  S4: should be really taking note and saying, well, if I
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  S4: love coffee and my business loves coffee, and again, 125
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  S4: million people around the world derive an income from coffee.
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  S4: And that's from the roaster to the packer to the
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  S4: coffee farmer to the shipping company that we need to
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  S4: be responsible and make ethical decisions. That is protecting an
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  S4: industry that we love. And we saw last year the
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  S4: prices of coffee going up and everyone's up in arms.
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  S4: It's I can't believe I'm paying $6 for a cup
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  S4: of coffee, but we need to make sure that it's
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  S4: $6 a cup of coffee. Is that coming down to
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  S4: the farmer too? Because if they can't make ends meet
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  S4: and they're living below the poverty line, then that's not
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  S4: sustainable for them either. That's not a sustainable future. We
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  S4: need to change this.
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  S3: I certainly understand your passion, and that's why Let's Talk
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  S3: Business is such a popular segment on money news, but
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  S3: I want to go to a slightly different angle here
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  S3: because in my opinion, there is a rise in advertising
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  S3: and demand for potentially cold or ice coffee. Now, is
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  S3: this a big market for you, and what are some
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  S3: of the other changes you're seeing in the coffee industry?
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  S4: Absolutely. I mean, we we're 11 years old as a
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  S4: company and we have championed what we call cold on
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  S4: cold or cold brew from from our inception. It's something
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  S4: that we say very much as the future of coffee
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  S4: and Gen Z. They don't drink hot coffee, they drink
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  S4: iced coffee 365 days a year. And you can see
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  S4: we're seeing the rise of Mont Blanc. I mean, two
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  S4: years ago, who had heard of them? But all of
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  S4: a sudden now we're obsessed with Mont Blanc. You know,
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  S4: we've got cold phones coming up. We've got dirty sodas.
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  S4: There's a rise of all these different drinks that we
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  S4: have to get on board with and that we. One
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  S4: of the things that I'm really proud of at San
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  S4: Remo is that we are very, very innovative and we
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  S4: love to work with our customers. We have launched Cold
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  S4: Brew into Woolworths nationally a few months ago, and on
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  S4: the back we developed 50 different restaurants that we also
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  S4: work with our food service customers on, and it's about
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  S4: in a really tough business, particularly in Victoria, is incredibly
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  S4: tough and certainly for hospitality at the moment. And so
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  S4: we're trying to find ways to engage in that younger
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  S4: consumer and make sure they're coming through their doors. But
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  S4: how do we also increase the average transaction value? How
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  S4: do we add value to your business? So someone might
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  S4: buy a hot coffee and croissant, but no one's going
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  S4: to balk at paying $10 for an iced latte with
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  S4: a vanilla cold foam on it. So we're saying, hey,
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  S4: we can also make these type of drinks, and here's
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  S4: 50 different types that you can try to increase your
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  S4: ATV at the counter and make sure that different ways
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  S4: where you can be quite profitable from it. So we're
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  S4: really trying to, like I said, work with food service
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  S4: and be innovative and understand the trends and what the
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  S4: future of coffee holds. Because cold is a huge part
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  S4: of what coffee's going to become.
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  S3: Julia, thank you so much for your time on Let's
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  S3: Talk Business.
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  S4: No worries. It's absolutely my pleasure. Make sure you stop
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  S4: by and purchase on our website.
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  S3: Julia Tinc. Very passionate co-founder and director of coffee company
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  S3: Saint Remy. And that was let's talk business.
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  S2: You've been listening to Let's Talk Business. Thanks to NAB.
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  S2: Whatever role you need us to play, we're your partner
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  S2: for every stage of business. NAB more than money.