Running a coffee roasting business is not for the faint of heart. Over the last few years, costs have increased sharply for green coffee, equipment, labor, and more. Many operators are realizing they have to rethink their pricing structures to ensure all the numbers make sense.
Luke Waite has watched these dynamics play out from the inside. He spent four years overseeing operations and sales at some of Chicago’s most respected specialty roasters—including Metric Coffee and Passion House—before founding Pomelo Coffee Consulting, where he helps roasters get a handle on their people, processes, and finances. He also just wrote a book, “The Owner’s Manual: A Guide to Sustaining a Coffee Roaster,” which covers the full framework he uses with clients.
Luke joined Fresh Cup’s Coffee Think Tank Podcast to talk about the state of roaster profitability in 2026. In this episode, we discuss why so many roasters are still afraid to raise prices (and why they probably should), what it actually means to build a wholesale sales program, and how customers’ coffee expectations have fundamentally changed in recent years.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why roasters are making less money, and which warning signs to look for on your P&L statement
- What Waite 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 to customers
- Defining sales goals and processes before hiring your first salesperson
- How coffee buying has changed in the last few years, and what that means for your wholesale approach
- How Waite devised his “Core 7” framework for building a healthy, stable, and profitable roastery
- What inspired Waite to write “The Owner’s Manual,” his new book for coffee roasters
My Key Takeaways:
Below 10% Net Profit? It’s Time To Make Changes
Over the past year, I’ve heard many stories of roasters eating the rising costs of coffee, labor, and tariffs. In a survey we ran through Fresh Cup’s RoasterLink program, only one in 15 roasters said they were actually increasing their prices in step with rising costs [you can read some of their responses here]. “1 in 15—that is terrifying,” Waite said.
Eating costs indefinitely isn’t sustainable, and Waite believes that if you’re not making enough money, it’s time to think critically about how to right the ship.
“If you’re below 10% net [profit] as a roastery, I’m getting pretty nervous,” Waite said. “It’s probably time to reevaluate your pricing, your wholesale structure, and how you’re communicating with your accounts: ‘Hey, this is what’s happening in the industry, and this is what we have to do to stay alive, so that we can keep selling you coffee.’”
Waite noted that many roasters feel a strong resistance to raising prices out of fear of losing customers. They don’t want to disappoint their partners and communities, or to risk appearing greedy. But ultimately, Waite advised, “You have to say: I either don’t have a business, or I make money.”
Price Increases Are Less Scary Than You Think
Waite has been through price increases with multiple roasters, and he’s coached clients through them, too. When you have a good relationship with your accounts, he said, few end up leaving when you raise prices.
However, Waite acknowledged that many roasters do have accounts that aren’t fully aligned on values or quality, and which stick around because they get preferential pricing from being early customers or friends of friends. These accounts are at risk of leaving when prices go up, he admitted, but that’s not necessarily bad news—especially because they’re often the least profitable for roasters. In such cases, “You’re paying to sell them coffee,” he said.
The key is how you communicate price increases. Waite recommends calling your accounts, explaining the situation, being transparent about what’s happening in the market, and even walking them through how to adjust their own pricing.
“Rip the Band-Aid off,” Waite said. When you’ve decided what you need to make to keep margins healthy, then that’s the number, he said. Own it, communicate it well, and trust that the accounts that value what you do will stay.
Build the Sales Car Before You Hire the Driver
Waite shared stories of roasters hiring salespeople, giving them vague instructions, and then stepping back without offering ongoing guidance—only to realize down the road that those hires weren’t set up for success.
“A lot of times, owners of roasters don’t consider themselves salespeople,” Waite said. “But I’m willing to bet that you, as an owner … actually do know how to do sales. You know how to handle objections.”
Waite suggests creating guidelines for salespeople prior to making your first hire.
One essential step, he said, is to clearly document your wholesale capabilities and product offerings. It sounds obvious, but many roasters fail to properly advertise what they have to offer: “If you have a product for sale but it’s underneath the counter in an area you can’t go into, you’re probably not going to buy that product,” he noted.
Another helpful step is defining your target customers, so that any salespeople can clearly identify which prospective partners are a good fit. “These are the types of buyers, this is the size we need them to be at, these are their needs, this is how we’re anticipating the ways that they grow, and this is how we can support that growth,” Waite said of how to approach this process. “Now we’re starting to build a sales car.”
Where To Find Luke Waite:
Mentioned in the Episode:
- “Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time” by Jeff Sutherland and J.J. Sutherland
- Lucia Solis
- Metric Coffee
- Passion House Coffee
- Fresh Cup’s RoasterLink program
