The Must-Have Tech Stack for Coffee Roasters

Coffee roasters use software for everything from roast profiling to managing green coffee importing transactions and beyond.

With so much available technology, however, it can be difficult to discern which is essential for running a successful coffee roastery.

In this quick guide, we’ll show you which technology we recommend you use at your roastery, in areas including:

• The Basics
• Operations
• Ordering & Sales
• Marketing

By the end, you’ll know what software you absolutely need and which can be added to your tech stack in the future.  

The Basics: Essential Administrative Software for Coffee Roasters

We know just how much you love doing the nitty gritty business owner work. Filing taxes, scheduling employees, creating a staff handbook – it’s not as much fun as roasting, right? 

But it’s necessary for a successful and profitable business. Good thing there’s software to streamline it all for you!

Two of the most important pieces of software include an accounting program like QuickBooks and a file organization platform like Google Drive. As you grow, you can look at more robust programs for accounting and file management, but start with the basics!

Team Communication and Project Management Tools

Teamwork makes the dream work… but only if you have the right tools and systems in place. From your production crew to the cafe staff, it’s important to have your team operating on the same page at all times. Certain tools can make that possible!

We recommend the following technology for team communication and project management:

• Slack – Maintain production communication with teammates directly or in group channels on your desktop or mobile device.
• ‍Trello – Organize projects, files, tasks, and more in one location. Super simple to use and free plans are a great place to start. 
• ‍Google Workspace – Google Workspace expands upon Drive’s file organization capabilities with a multitude of productivity and collaboration tools to keep projects moving along and on time.

Now let’s focus on the fun stuff: software that can help roasters.

Coffee Roasting Operations: Software for Seamless Behind-the-Scenes Management

If you’re new here, you’ll quickly discover we’re big advocates of efficient and effective processes and systems. Why? 

Because the more efficient your roastery is, the more profit you’ll have at the end of the day. Fortunately, software can help you run your roastery like a well-oiled machine.

Production and Fulfillment Processes

Chances are, you’re already operating off a myriad of complicated spreadsheets that always seem to have errors. (We’ve been there and done that too!)

While production and fulfillment spreadsheets are a great way to manage your roastery in the beginning, they quickly become out of hand as your business grows. Software provides the structure and sanity you need as you scale.

A few of our production and fulfillment software recommendations include:

• Roast Profiling Software — Consistency is the name of the game as you increase your brand’s reach and land new sales. To maintain coffee quality, you’ll need a trusted roast profiling software on hand. Cropster, Artisan, and RoastLog are all great options for monitoring your roast curves, recording roast data, and analyzing green, roasted, and cup quality.

• RoasterTools — From roasting to blending to bagging to shipping, there are endless tasks that need to be completed to fulfill each order. RoasterTools helps you manage it all and then some. One-click auto planning production capabilities. Tracking order and production progress with task lists. Demand calculations. It’s all there. After all, we created it out of our own experience growing a roastery!

• ShipStation — Once you’ve fulfilled orders, ShipStation makes shipping a breeze. With the ability to import orders, bulk purchase/print labels, and track shipping status, all of your shipments are managed in one central location—and with competitive shipping label discounts too. You can integrate ShipStation into popular eCommerce platforms, or check out the integrated shipping discounts and features available in your chosen platform.

Inventory Management

Inventory management isn’t just a means of making sure you have the right green coffee on hand. It’s a way to control costs and cash flow, ensure that orders can be fulfilled on time, and satisfy customer demand.

And once again, spreadsheets are a great start but will only get you so far. Sooner or later, inventory spreadsheets become inaccurate due to human error and a lack of real-time updates. That’s when inventory management software becomes your new best friend.

Consider the following types of software to tackle your inventory management processes:

• RoasterTools – The inventory feature in RoasterTools provides a centralized location for managing all of your coffee inventory: green, roasted, blends, syrups, cups, and so much more. This lets you manage everything from green coffee to the excess blends you’ve roasted to keep your retail cafes stocked for the weekend all in one place.

• QuickBooks — QuickBooks does offer inventory management features. However, this built-in feature only works for so long and most roasters grow out of it due to the limited capabilities. 

• Cropster – Cropster is a well-known roast profiling software. Additionally it offers roasters the ability to track green coffee inventory in the roastery and on contract. These green coffee lots are synced with the roast profiling software for real-time inventory updates. However, unless the “eCommerce” plan is purchased, roasters do not have the ability to manage roasted coffee inventory.

• Fishbowl Inventory – This software is for large-scale roasters looking for a comprehensive inventory management solution that integrates with warehousing capabilities. Even though this option is applicable to larger roasters, the user interface is not intuitive and can be a challenge to learn.

• Cover Your Assets – For wholesale roasters that provide equipment to accounts, it can be cumbersome to track which equipment is out in the field and which is at your warehouse. Cover Your Assets not only tracks your equipment inventory, but also provides service dispatching and in-depth equipment reporting. And it was created specifically for coffee people!

Coffee Roaster Software for Managing Wholesale, eCommerce, and Retail Orders

Coffee roasters have three main avenues for generating revenue: wholesale accounts, eCommerce sales, and retail cafes.

Each channel requires a specific ordering system, which needs the right software to operate properly for customers and staff alike.

Wholesale Ordering Software

All too often coffee roasters come to us with a completely mismanaged wholesale ordering system riddled with challenges such as:

• Customers ordering through multiple communication channels (text, calls, emails)
• Unorganized product offerings for wholesale, white label, co-branded, and toll roasted products
• A lack of real-time inventory updates
• Difficulty managing different terms and payment types for each account

Certain types of software can help you manage wholesale orders with ease:

• RoasterTools — The RoasterTools wholesale portal enables customers to place their orders easily online and pay via their specific terms. Each account receives a unique storefront with their products, terms, and payment conditions. Plus, the wholesale functions sync directly with the production planning feature for a seamless ordering and fulfillment system.

• BlueCart — BlueCart is another type of software designed to simplify the wholesale selling and ordering process. Operating primarily as a digital catalog, BlueCart allows wholesale coffee roasters to create visually appealing presentations and storefronts for each customer and customize product offerings as necessary.

• eCommerce Plugins — There are multiple wholesale ordering plugins and apps that connect with eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Squarespace, and Woocommerce. Software such as Wholesale Gorilla, Bold Custom Pricing, and Wholesale Club let you assign specific products to unique customers through tags and other features, but typically provide the same storefront to all users. 

• Invoicing Software — Keep track of your invoices and accounts receivable with software such as Zoho, QuickBooks, and Xero. These platforms let you create, send, and track invoices for specific customers and include features such as custom branding, recurring expenses automation, and reporting.

As you build a robust wholesale program, you may want to consider investing in a Customer Relationship Management software such as Hubspot or Salesforce to manage sales activities, too.

eCommerce Platforms for Coffee Roasters

Having an online store is a must for coffee roasters. However, not all eCommerce platforms are created equal! Check out the top options and the pros and cons of each.

Squarespace

Squarespace is an ideal option for coffee roasters looking to offer a handful of products available for purchase online. The website design platform offers an easy drag-and-drop builder along with built-in marketing tools including email marketing, SEO, and blogging features. Plus, Squarespace’s eCommerce capabilities include shipping discounts, inventory management, subscription options, and the ability to sell services (such as coffee classes or consulting), if desired.

Shopify

Shopify is a robust website platform built first and foremost for companies looking to sell eCommerce products. With thousands of third party integrations and capabilities, you’ll be able to accomplish whatever your heart desires with a Shopify site. However, that desire may come at a price! Many of Shopify’s capabilities aren’t always native, meaning you’ll need to find another app, service, or subscription to get the job done. For instance, popular subscription platforms like Bold and Recharge require an additional monthly/annual fee.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an eCommerce platform for WordPress websites. One notable difference, however, is WooCommerce’s pricing plan. You can get started for free and don’t incur a charge for each transaction, as is standard with platforms like Shopify and Squarespace.

When choosing an eCommerce platform, you’ll want to keep the following factors in mind:

• How much is the monthly/annual fee?
• Do any of the additional apps or plugins require extra charges?
• What built-in features are available within the platform?
• Is the platform easy to use for content, design, and product updates?
• What eCommerce capabilities are provided to users or are third-party plugins required to sell products?

Café and Retail Point of Sale

Whether you operate a café or drive revenue through farmer’s markets and pop-up events, you’ll need a point of sale (POS) system to take orders and track payments. Among the most well-known POS options are:

• Square
• Clover
• Toast

Each platform has its own suite of features, app integrations, and pricing plans. However, in recent years, a few coffee industry-specific POS systems have entered the market. These include:

• Dripos –  Dripos combines all of your operational apps for payroll, ordering, inventory, marketing, and more into one comprehensive POS system built exclusively for coffee shops. The software also offers coffee shops native online ordering and delivery capabilities.

• Joe – Joe started as a mobile ordering platform built solely for cafes. However, they’ve taken their knowledge and expanded their offerings to a full-fledged POS system. With a branded loyalty and rewards program built in, the Joe POS system helps coffee shops drive recurring revenue online and in-store while monitoring costs.

No matter which POS system you opt for, be mindful of your monthly charges. Most POS systems will charge a monthly fee as well as a per transaction fee. This is typically a combination of a predetermined percentage plus a specific dollar amount. For example, Square’s transaction fee is 2.6% + 0.10 cents per transaction.

Also, those third-party POS integrations? They likely require an additional monthly fee too!

Marketing and Promotions Technology

It’s not enough to operate a roastery. You have to tell people about it too! 

We could go on and on about different ways to promote your roastery (and we have!), but there are a few key types of software that help get the job done.

Email Marketing

Email newsletters are one of the best ways to not only increase your brand’s reach, but also drive significant revenue via your online and retail store. A few of the best email marketing tools include Mailchimp and Klayvio. These platforms also integrate with several other marketing tools for ease of use. 

However, if you’re already investing in eCommerce and POS technology, it’s in your best interest to check out what built-in email marketing features these platforms offer. 

Social Media Strategy

As your business growth gains momentum, your roastery will evolve beyond the last minute Instagram posts and into a full-fledged social media strategy. At that time, you’ll want a social media strategy tool on your side to help schedule content and analyze post performance.

A few great social media tools include:

• Meta Business Suite
• Hootsuite
• Buffer
• Later

Best of all, many of these tools offer free trials or plans to get you started!

Graphic Design

If you’ve got artistic talents on top of your coffee roasting skills, you can invest in Adobe Creative Suite and design everything from bag labels to menus. But for those of us who lack design skills, there’s Canva.

Canva is a comprehensive online design tool filled with templates and user-friendly features that makes designing a breeze. You don’t have to worry about learning a design software or hiring a graphic designer to get the job done.

Canva also offers video editing, print marketing, and social media publishing features for a full suite of visual design tools.

Artificial Intelligence

We’re all about making life at the roastery more efficient and profitable. Sometimes you don’t have the time or energy to write social media post copy, craft ideas for an email newsletter, or even come up with creative names for your next blend. That’s where artificial intelligence like ChatGPT comes into play.

You can ask ChatGPT prompts like… 

• Give me ten subject line ideas for an email newsletter about my latest single origin coffee offerings.

• Write an email I can send to potential clients about my coffee products, business, and wholesale program.

• Please create a list of specialty grocery stores in [City, State] along with their grocery manager’s contact information.

The goal of artificial intelligence is not to do all the work for you, but to speed up the process so you can focus on what matters: growing your roasting business.

Avoid Tech Bloat and Invest in Software That Helps Your Coffee Roastery Grow

Tech bloat is a common problem for businesses these days. We sign up for so many shiny new types of software and before we know it, we’re paying hundreds or thousands each month in subscription fees for technology we barely use.

The goal is to invest only in software that offers the comprehensive features necessary for running your business profitably. We designed RoasterTools to do exactly that. 

One platform provides production, sales, and inventory tools that keep your coffee roasting business operating efficiently and within budget. 

Sign up for a free trial today and discover all that RoasterTools can do for your roastery.