The Roast 2 Order Coffee and Tea Story

Once upon a time there was a very young coffee drinker.

There once was a Coffee Enthusiast named Mike. Mike’s parents gave him his first cup of coffee when he was about 4 or 5 years old. Perhaps tired of listening to him whine…or, perhaps an attempt to keep him awake in church! Looking back, he admits that back then, it may have been mostly cream and sugar!

(BTW-Mike, dig those cowlicks! Looks like it took a quart of 30 weight oil to keep the hair flat-er!)

Roasted Coffee helps keep up the pace!

Many moons ago (about 22 years now), Mike and a former business partner were working long hours in a software development business they had recently started.

The partner’s older brother lived in his home country (India) and married into a family that owned a coffee plantation. The brother had sent Mike’s partner coffee (it was freshly roasted)…it tasted GREAT! Mike had never had coffee so good, he was both intrigued and very wired on caffeine.

The freshly roasted coffee helped Mike and his partner keep up with their grueling pace. Being a long-time marketeer, trainer, and business developer, Mike suggested they import green beans from the brother to the US. They found a local coffee roaster, a true “artisan” who roasted the beans in small batches for them and, with great help and a little luck, they went from restaurant to restaurant, coffee shop to coffee shop, really anyone willing to try, they handed out samples of great roast coffee. Everyone was amazed at the flavor and how great this coffee tasted! 

All Good things must come to an end .. but not Delicious Coffee!

Unfortunately, their business relationship ended, and they parted ways. Mike’s partner eventually moved back to his homeland to be with his family. In the “divorce settlement,” Mike’s partner got the coffee but that did not stop Mike from pursuing his quest to find and share the best-tasting coffee he could! In 2010, Mike built his own freshly roasted coffee business and through networking, a lot of trial and error and tastings, found coffee beans from all over the world. Through word of mouth the business emerged and  Mike built a wholesale business while steadily growing a handful of “direct” customers to whom he personally delivered roasted coffee, be it family, friends, friends’ families, or family friends!

An online Coffee Store 

As overall demand for eCommerce – online shopping with direct delivery grew, Mike began a quest for a way he could offer his freshly roasted coffee in the same manner. The problem with wholesale (traditional) distribution of coffee through typical grocery/coffee shop retailers is, to start, they don’t always roast using the “best” green beans,  but, even the best will lose their fresh goodness – it will disappear as the coffee sits on the shelf and goes stale. Coffee is food…would you expect a delicious meal to taste the same months after it was cooked? The pandemic arose, Mike saw this as even more reason to have a “Shop-Order-Roast on-demand” supply of the finest, freshest coffee beans. 

On Independence Day (July 4), 2020, the eCommerce – online shop, Roast2Order.shop was opened, making it possible to offer a full range of freshly roasted coffee, teas, french presses, and products for scooping, brewing, and storing delivered right to your door – be it home, office, resort room, wherever! 

How we started to grow our online coffee shop

Roast2Order’s team started to expand too.

• Liz works with Mike to build the online coffee and tea shop. 
• Sarah takes photos of our products. 
• Rick does our order fulfillment and shipping. 
• Rachel helps with our research and articles. 
• Currently, Jim is helping to get our new bags and labels updated from Sarah’s new photos for the coffee products. 
• There are others who help as well from family to customers who have stepped forward to lend help as well…and the list keeps growing! 

Every day we searched for ways to reach our customers. We knew you were out there and we were determined to get to know you and bring you delicious coffee and tea. We ventured into the Social Media channels, Google, and Mike networked everywhere he could with his friendly and outgoing personality!  He has been labeled (correctly) as a “talker”…someone has to be drumming business!

Our Great and Loyal Customers 

Our loyal customers begin trickling in! It was exciting to begin our relationship and get to know you better so we could share our delicious coffee and serve you better. But we weren’t reaching enough of you! Mike, a listener of Steve Dahl for many years, reached out to Steve with freshly roasted coffee. Of course, Steve loved it! Mike asked about becoming a Dahlcast (Steve’s podcast) sponsor and that’s when things started to really get going! Steve and his co-hosts became customers along with their friends and families. Many podcast listeners tried us too and kindly gave us reviews!

Rebecca shared that she, her husband, and daughter just love our coffee. “We can’t stop with your coffee. It is amazing. We have loved it all. Can’t believe the difference. I find myself actually sitting and spending more time sipping my coffee rather than just gulping it down. It is adding a few more “me” minutes during the day. I also send my husband off to work with the coffee in his thermos…no more grabbing it on the run. Thank you for a great product!”

Eric W says “This is the most delicious coffee than has come out of my drip coffee maker! Can’t wait to try the French press this weekend. Thanks, Mike! And thanks, Steve, for turning me on to Roast2Order. Looking forward to trying more of these great coffees!”

The word about our online coffee shop spreads

Because of our growing relationship with Steve and the Dahlcast subscribers, word quickly started to spread about Roast2Order. Customers started setting up coffee subscriptions and telling their friends and families about our containers for coffee and other products. We started writing blog articles with information about our products and how to use them. One of our first articles was “How to use a French Press”. Kai Juhlin, Dag’s son, created this quick 1-minute video showing how easy it is to use a French Press and achieve what he deemed pure bliss! We offer a 20 oz travel press in stainless steel. We added an email newsletter (now called eBrewsletter thanks to Dag Juhlin from the Dahlcast). With this, we can send out information, coffee tea and other product sneak peeks and offers to our subscribers. 

Our customer feedback

Because of the loyal customers and relationships with them, we have received some great feedback too! We now offer 8 oz and 16 oz bags of coffee. This has sped up our packaging and shipping processes. We strive to get you your coffee and tea as fresh as possible and anything that helps with this is great. Here is a picture that John’s wife shared when they received their order.

Mike has spent many a day and night trying to find the best way and price for shipping. He has created a coupon for one-time free shipping too! TryR2O (the letter O as in Oscar) is the coupon code, please use and share it if you haven’t already! 

Our customers (and the Dahlcast) also helped us build up our “Flavored Coffee” ranks from a few to the dozen we currently have! Mike readily admits he was not a “flavored coffee” guy, but, it isn’t about him, and, in typical fashion, he was not going to do something halfway. He and his team helped figure out a way to have the flavor be a part of the essence but let the real star shine – the freshly roasted coffee! The flavors are subtle but never overpowering! Add a bit of sugar and or cream and the flavors really “pop”.

Subscriptions were added (which can make a great gift), and an eGift Card for quick, easy, and last-minute gift-giving.

We even figured out a way to add our delicious, freshly roasted coffee to Single-use pods! They are fantastic and bring the ease, quickness, and portability of pod coffee to the world of delicious freshly roasted gourmet beans…and, while most of our competitors have no how to get freshly roasted coffee inside, most of their pods are made with flimsy plastic that is not recyclable!  Once again, since we don’t do things halfway, time, effort, and research were not only put into how to make them taste great but, our pods are 100% recyclable and what’s inside is compostable! 

Gifts, discounts, and a photo finish

December 2021 was our biggest month! We set up gift sets, like the Healthy Tea Lover’s gift set and the Build a Gift Set. We added the ability to give eGift cards too. For our eBrewsletter subscribers, we offered a discount on Flavored Coffee of the Month. It was a great month for sharing us with friends and families and we really appreciate all our customers.

Ted P. made Mike’s month by sharing “Hey Mike, Thanks for the recent restocking of my Texas coffee supply. Enjoying your coffees so much that we are adding a photo to our family cookbook this Christmas! Here’s a photo of my Polish pottery and the R2O Coffee and measuring spoon. My son-in-law, Jamey Fenske, Spring TX. is an amateur photographer with more photo equipment than I have coffee and he takes some cool shots.” 

Another podcast sponsorship

In May, 2022, Mike reached out to Garry Meier in regards to podcast sponsorship for the GarrForce podcast. He sent him and his co-host, Leslie, some coffee roasts to try. Garry and Leslie gave great reviews on our coffee! Mike was on invited to the June 6th show -click this link to watch. 

We look forward to serving and getting to know the Garry Meier podcast listeners, their friends, and their families. For our customers who found us searching the internet and through other channels, we thank you!. You tried us and have the answer to “Why Choose Roast2Order Coffee over other Coffees”. Besides starting with the best quality beans, organically grown, fair-trade and rain-forest alliance certified (when possible), we hope you have received great service from us as well. We appreciate all the reviews we have received through text, email, product review pages, on Google, and through social media channels.

Mike demonstrated how to use a french press with Garry, Leslie and the Force on November 18th show – you can watch it on YouTube. Garry has promised to have Mike on monthly! So, please tune in!

Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

As we continue to serve our great coffee and tea drinking customers, we know we will continue to grow and learn new ways of providing the best freshly roasted coffee, tea, and products. In the future we hope to add the k-cup recycling tool, coffee grinders, and more! Please do not hesitate to contact us. We added SMS as a communication option too. Please let us know what form(s) of communication you prefer, email (ebrewsletter), or SMS.

The End? No, just the beginning!