How To Roast Coffee Profitably in 2026 w/ Luke Waite [Pomelo Consulting]

Описание: In this episode of Coffee Think Tank, Luke Waite—founder of Pomelo Coffee Consulting and former operations and sales leader at Metric Coffee and Passion House—talks about what it actually takes to run a profitable coffee roastery in 2026.

Luke spent years on the inside of some of Chicago's most respected specialty roasters before launching Pomelo, where he helps roasters get a handle on their people, processes, and finances. He also just wrote The Owner's Manual, a practical guide to sustaining a coffee roaster.

In this conversation, we get into...

Why roaster profitability is eroding and what the warning signs look like on your P&L
What Luke considers the financial danger zone for roasters—and what to do if you're in it
Why price increases are usually less painful than roasters expect, and how to communicate them well
What it means to "build the sales car before you hire the driver"—and why most roasters do it backwards
How coffee buyers have changed in the last few years, and what that means for your wholesale approach
Luke's "Core 7" framework for building a healthy, stable, and profitable roastery
A peek inside The Owner's Manual, Luke's new book on sustaining a coffee roaster

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction & The State of Roaster Profitability
02:05 The Goal of Becoming the First Michelin-Starred Cafe
07:10 What a Michelin-Starred Cafe Would Look Like Today
11:31 The State of Roaster Profitability Heading Into 2026
13:19 How to Know If You're in Financial Trouble
14:13 Luke's Consulting Framework: People, Process, and Profit
18:37 Why Roasters Are Afraid to Raise Prices
25:09 The Power of Relationships in Wholesale Sales
27:31 Advice for Medium and Large Roasters
29:27 Nurturing Wholesale Accounts Beyond the Transaction
31:46 The Owner's Manual: Luke's New Book
36:32 Why Roasters Sell Coffee at a Loss
40:44 Building a Wholesale Sales Program
45:58 How Coffee Buyers Have Changed
46:56 Building the Sales Car Before You Hire the Driver
53:54 Overcoming the Resistance to Sales and Marketing
57:25 Recommended Resources and Inspirations
1:03:55 What Luke Is Working On Next

Where to Find Luke Waite
Pomelo Coffee Consulting website: pomelocoffeeconsulting.com
The Owner's Manual (book): available at pomelocoffeeconsulting.com/book

Mentioned in the Episode
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland (book on iterative process improvement)
Lucia Solis (coffee fermentation and producer-side consultant, mentioned as inspiration)
Metric Coffee (Chicago roaster, former employer)
Passion House Coffee (Chicago roaster, former employer)
Fresh Cup Roaster Link (wholesale matchmaking program for roasters and buyers): roasterlink.com/roasters