Wholesale partnerships have always been a margin-sensitive part of a coffee roaster’s business. Over the past year, they’ve also become one of the trickiest areas to stabilize.
Green coffee prices rose sharply in 2024 and continued climbing through 2025, driven by climate disruptions, low inventories, and tariffs. So far, prices have remained high into 2026 (despite a small refrain this year, prices are climbing back up).
For the last three years, roasters have faced an uncomfortable choice: Should they raise prices commensurate with the rising costs of coffee—and risk losing accounts—or hold steady and watch margins disappear?
Most are choosing to absorb the pain—at least for now. Rick Evans, owner of Evans Brothers Coffee in Sandpoint, Idaho, says he’s been delaying raising prices. “If we are to maintain the same margins as we had 18 months ago, we should increase our wholesale prices by more like 75 to 100%,” he says.
Evans has held off from making those increases, and he’s not alone. Fresh Cup surveyed 13 roasters across the U.S. about how they’ve adjusted wholesale pricing in light of soaring green coffee costs. Responses ranged from no increase at all to prices marked up by as much as 40%, with a median increase of around 15%. Many say they’ve delayed raising prices for as long as possible, even as their margins have narrowed.
Delaying Increases and Absorbing Costs
For many roasters, the first response to rising costs was to wait, and to absorb as much of the initial increase as they could. “We waited for more certainty before raising prices,” says Mark Johnson, owner of Intent Coffee Roasting in Portland, Oregon. “I am fortunate to have awesome wholesale partners who understand the situation and are willing to continue to work with me as my prices increase.”
Several roasters say they held off on increases while reducing margins or eating costs internally. “We delayed it and ate as much as we could,” says Samuel Bender, owner of Peaks Coffee Company in Syracuse, New York, “but we continue to tick upward over time due to costs.”
Some roasters made strategic bets that prices might stabilize. Fred Spreen, owner of Mecklenburg Coffee Company in Matthews, North Carolina, says his team invested in additional green coffee earlier in the year, hoping prices would normalize before the end of the fourth quarter. “We may be forced to raise prices or start offering a per-pound roasting fee,” he says.
For some roasters, absorbing costs has meant working with thinner margins than they anticipated. “We continue to eat a portion of the cost increase, and we do more work for a lower margin,” says Erin Halloran, senior account manager at Driven Coffee Roasters in Chanhassen, Minnesota. She adds that lower margins limit a roaster’s ability to invest in equipment, technology, and job creation.
Mary Bozzelli, owner of Armadillo Coffee Roasters in Austin, Texas, says her team has also absorbed costs to stay competitive, particularly as a newer roaster. “We’ve shifted our thinking to it’s an opportunity for us to gain clients,” she says. “We’ll see how long that’s sustainable.”
Sharing the Pain Across Wholesale Accounts
Most of the roasters we surveyed have raised wholesale prices gradually rather than pass along abrupt price increases all at once. Eight of the 13 roasters surveyed described this approach as a way to preserve relationships while still adjusting to higher costs.
“We tried to combine eating as many costs as possible and raise prices as soon as we felt the impacts,” says Zachary Ray, CEO of Desert Sun Coffee Roasters in Durango, Colorado. “I fear we did not raise prices enough, but we’re trying to protect our customers.”
Several roasters gave longtime partners more time to adjust than new accounts. Jassen Bluto, owner of Half Mile Coffee in Moscow, Idaho, says his team raised prices more slowly for existing wholesale partners, and set new accounts at current market levels. “If they did not want quality over value, they were not a good fit for us,” he says.
Matt Marietti, owner of De Fer Coffee & Tea in Pittsburgh, says his team raised prices early in 2025 and committed to holding them steady for 12 months. “So far we are doing that,” he says, “though we are certainly compressing our margins to the point it’s going to become very uncomfortable.”
A smaller group of roasters took a firmer stance on pricing. Andy Newbom, owner of Torque Coffees in San Diego, says his team adjusts prices immediately when costs change. “We can only adjust prices up or down when the FOB [freight on board] paid price goes up or down,” he says. “We do it immediately. Communicate clearly and openly.”
Torque’s pricing model also allows for decreases when costs fall. “We have had a few blends go down in price slightly too, since we are transparent and [have a] fixed margin,” he says.
How Roasters Communicate Price Increases
Across the board, roasters emphasized the importance of clearly communicating with wholesale partners when adjusting prices, often prioritizing transparency over speed. Some roasters have leaned on education as their primary tool. Spreen says Mecklenburg Coffee Company shares coffee market news with customers to explain its buying strategy and potential pricing changes.
Others have taken a more direct route. At Desert Sun Coffee Roasters, Ray recorded a video explaining market conditions and walked customers through how those shifts affected their costs. “We believe in transparency,” he says, “and therefore want to be very open and help our customers understand the situation.”
Marietti says his team at De Fer have a monthly customer newsletter to communicate pricing updates. They send updates to their largest wholesale accounts through phone calls or emails.
At Driven Coffee, Halloran says the team focused on explaining the C-market—the global commodity price for green coffee—and how it influences green coffee costs, giving customers more context around why prices were changing.
Bozzelli says her team at Armadillo typically delivers pricing updates in person when possible, and plans to follow up with emails if prices increase again. In many cases, roasters say customers already understand the broader pressures. “My partners are and were aware of the tariffs and rising costs,” says Johnson at Intent Coffee Roasting. “They have been supportive and incredible this year.”
The Impact on Wholesale Accounts So Far
So far, most roasters say they haven’t seen a huge hit to their wholesale customer list. Nine of the 13 roasters surveyed reported that they had not lost any accounts due to wholesale price increases. Two noted losing some customers, while two said they had lost wholesale accounts outright.
Halloran credits clear communication and long-standing relationships with helping Driven Coffee retain most of its wholesale customers. “We did not lose many customers,” she says, “largely a testament to our transparency through the process and the relationships we have built over time.”
Newbom says that Torque Coffees has lost some smaller accounts, though their pricing was already at the higher end of the market. Evans says Evans Brothers Coffee has not lost customers yet, but has lowered prices for some accounts to keep them.
For now, the core strategies roasters have leaned on—delaying increases, absorbing costs, and communicating openly—appear to be working. Most wholesale relationships have stayed intact. Whether that remains true if green coffee prices continue to stay elevated throughout 2026 is still an open question. But the responses so far suggest that many wholesale customers understand the pressure roasters are under, and are willing to work through it together.
