You know when you meet someone and immediately you’re just on the same wavelength? That was the case when Dave and I had a call with Chris, founder of Yellow Bear.
As with a few of the founders we talked to, Yellow Bear was born out of curiosity and passion during the pandemic on a 1KG electric roaster. It’s obviously more than that, it’s a love for learning as well as a spark that ignites and fuels the drive inside that grows into a true rabbit hole type of obsession.
What essentially started out as Chris thinking, ‘you know what, I’m going to try roasting myself some coffee’, quickly grew into roasting for family and friends and it became clear that he had the skills and drive to really build something. .
And lucky for us that home hobby roasting gig turned into an absolutely swag-looking cafe and a roastery to boot. Amazing how thriving businesses (or accidental businesses, as Chris puts it) are born, eh!
There was a super interesting topic we unpacked during our call, one which I’ve personally been really curious about since getting to know the business-side of the coffee world. That interesting topic is wholesale. Normally something that’s deemed essential and a steady income foundation for the business that fuels or funds a cafe or retail business. However, Chris and the team have decided to shut their wholesale business entirely to focus on quality, to be more creative with what they do with their time instead and to not be beholden to thin margins. This is pretty exciting, so since there’s less time spent chasing and sustaining demanding wholesale for leaner margins, they can push more on perfecting their roasts with new and exciting coffees, you know, the good stuff, and really focusing on serving their customers the best they can. We’re here for that.
To be honest, I was quite surprised to hear this (since it’s actually for the first time) but it makes total sense for Yellow Bear. I wonder how other roasters feel about this but for now that’s a brief intro into the amazing things that Chris and the team at Yellow Bear.
