A common complaint here is that some notable roaster's coffee is terrible because they had it at an airport or another coffee shop and were sorely disappointed. The response is usually that roasters have a very difficult time maintaining standards at their wholesale accounts, where the staff answers to someone else.

Well, James Freeman of Blue Bottle just threw in the towel. No more Blue Bottle will be brewed anywhere but at a Blue Bottle shop. I wonder how many others will risk the same business decision. Freeman blog here: https://bluebottlecoffee.com/frequency/ ... -wholesale. BTW I know the gelato shop well that he mentions. It's across the street from Intelligentsia Silver Lake on Sunset.

My guess is with the new locations in Japan opening and doing such brisk business he's decided that it's not worth the time and effort to police their wholesale customers.
(I think I read that the first Tokyo location does more business in 1 day than all Blue Bottle locations in the USA! That's alot of business to draw your attention...)

When you're sitting on a pile of cash from investors, it becomes much easier to make long-term dollar decisions to protect your brand.
Which(if you can afford the short-term pain) is the absolute best decision they could make. You have to protect your reputation.

It seems like a logical step in many regards. Why worry about the expense and hassle of making sure wholesale customers are keeping to the quality standards you want associated with your brand when you have a growing retail business. That said, it's great timing and could turn into a windfall for Counter Culture with their new west coast roasting facility in SF.

bobdole2000 wrote: ... That said, it's great timing and could turn into a windfall for Counter Culture with their new west coast roasting facility in SF.

^ This.

They already are grabbing up wholesale clients like crazy here in the bay area and beyond, at a very rapid clip.

Good for them, still not crazy about their coffee. I like the road they taking.

Speaking of Intelly anyone notice you can it at Raley's now? I am waiting for the five pound Costco bag next!

Another part of the announcement was Blue Bottle at Home... is there an increased focus on this now?

Not having a Blue Bottle near me and never being a huge fan, It's hard to say if the reason is that the locations I've had their coffee at aren't brewing it to their standards or not.

yakster wrote:It's hard to say if the reason is that the locations I've had their coffee at aren't brewing it to their standards or not.

I'm never disappointed buying roasted beans from Blue Bottle and brewing them at home. They are consistently well roasted quality beans. I have, however, been disappointed with their drip coffee brewed in a few different cafes.

Marshall wrote:A common complaint here is that some notable roaster's coffee is terrible because they had it at an airport or another coffee shop and were sorely disappointed. The response is usually that roasters have a very difficult time maintaining standards at their wholesale accounts, where the staff answers to someone else.

Well, James Freeman of Blue Bottle just threw in the towel. No more Blue Bottle will be brewed anywhere but at a Blue Bottle shop. I wonder how many others will risk the same business decision. Freeman blog here: https://bluebottlecoffee.com/frequency/ ... -wholesale. BTW I know the gelato shop well that he mentions. It's across the street from Intelligentsia Silver Lake on Sunset.

Having been to the Klatch bar at LAX several times, I think throwing in the towel is a very wise business decision. The Klatch locations outside the airport are excellent, but the one in LAX sucks @&&, imo. I now go right by it when I'm there, opting instead for CB&TL...and I'm a Klatch fanboy, so it still pains me every time - in part due to my having taken Heather's one day class, but also for my long love of many of their coffees, and my experiences in the Rancho Cucamonga and San Dimas location.

That's odd. Of all the airport coffee vendors, Klatch's LAX location usually gets the highest marks online.

[Disclosure: Klatch is my client]