March 2010 Coffee News

-2009 Financial Report for Velasquez Family Coffee
-Tear-off posters available to help promote coffee subscription
-Alonzo's Bourbon Heirloom Coffee now available
-Holiday Coffee on Sale

This month's email contains our 2009 financial report. We have our customers to thank for the 24% growth in sales revenue we experienced this past year as well as an amazing increase in our customer base. So first off, thank you!

2009 Financial Report for Velasquez Family Coffee
To be honest, we always feel a little awkward sharing our financial information each year. After all, there are many taboos in our society about talking about money. Nonetheless, we feel strongly that it would be good for all of us to be more open about financial matters. As columnist Sandra Steingraber writes, "our stories about money, when told without nostaliga or judgment, provide perspective." She adds, "secrecy breeds fear." In contrast, we believe, transparency breeds honesty and trust.

We also received strong affirmation about sharing this information last year when Star Tribune columnist Dick Youngblood decided to write his article about us -- almost entirely because we shared our financial results. In his first email to us he said, "I don’t write about companies unless they’re willing to release gross revenue figures."

Mr Youngblood's article in turn contributed to a very nice bump in our sales last year, which can be summarized in the following "gross revenue figures" which we are indeed willing to share.
2007 gross sales - $49,490
2008 gross sales - $61,622
2009 gross sales - $76,204

Now of course, we don't get to keep all of that. We were pleased to be able to send $21,266 to Honduras for coffee and another $1,547 for recycled handbags. After paying for roasting and bags and import fees and our other expenses, we were able to pay ourselves $21,800 in 2009, just enough to make it possible in November for Cathy to transition out of her part time job to focus entirely on the coffee business (that is, when she's not focused on our three children or other household matters).

Another way of reporting how 2009 evolved for us is that 135 customers bought from us in January 2009. That increased to 202 customers buying from us in December. Our gross sales also benefited from the addition of several new fundraiser and wholesale customers. So it was a great year for us and we are excited to see what is in store for us in 2010.

Any Easy Way to Promote Velasquez Family Coffee
Now while we don't have illusions of becoming the next Starbucks (or even the next Equal Exchange), we are hoping to keep growing, at least a bit more, so we can sell all of our family's coffee (we buy about half of it now) and rely more heavily on the coffee business for our own income. Toward that end, we have a simple way you can help. Thanks to the encouragement of one of our customers, we've created a tear-off poster that promotes our coffee subscription and home delivery service that can be posted in public areas. Can you can hang one in your apartment building, at your work place, in your church, in your neighborhood gathering place or any other good place within our coffee delivery area? If so, let us know how many you'd like and we'll drop them off with your coffee delivery. We appreciate all suggestions, marketing or otherwise that will strengthen our little enterprise, so please feel free to offer them.

Alonzo's Bourbon Coffee now available
This month, we're excited to be able to offer a new coffee for you to try. Recently Guillermo's brother-in-law, Alonzo, carefully selected three sacks of his Bourbon coffee for us. This heirloom variety of coffee is one of the earliest coffees cultivated and is prized by coffee buyers for its cupping quality and larger bean size. (If you'd like to learn more, check out this long article put out by the Salvadoran Coffee Council - page 2 covers history, page 6 cupping quality).

We've gently roasted a sample of Alonzo's Bourbon coffee and packaged it in 12 oz bags either ground or whole bean for $8.50 a bag. Let us know if you'd like to add a bag or two to your order this month.

Holiday Coffee on sale
Finally, there are just a few more bags of our December holiday flavors available and they are on sale for only $5.00. Complete descriptions and an updated count of how much is left can be found on our website. Here is the quick list: Eggnog Cream, Gingerbread Spice, Drunken Uncle, Maple Pecan Streusel. (We just about sold out of the Fudge Brownie last month and only have 4 bags left - 3 bean and 1 ground. They are NOT on sale - but could be yours if you are the first to ask for them.)

That's it for now. We know we promised to cover Coffee Harvest Challenges and the New Honduran President this month, but we also want to keep these emails a reasonable length -- so you can look forward to reading about those topics in our upcoming newsletters.

Cathy and Guillermo Velasquez