Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

358 : Changing Coffee Through Proportional Pricing w/ Andy and Nanelle Newbom of Torque Coffee

Jul 24, 2022

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The system works exactly the way it was designed to work...and it needs to be broken. This is the goal of a new model of coffee trade introduced by Andy and Nanelle Newbom through their company Torque Coffee.

Andy and Nanelle Newbom are life long coffee professionals who have been foundational in helping establish the standards for transparency and excellence we know today. With their iconic roastery and retail company Barefoot Coffee they helped pioneer Direct Trade, Andy was a founding member of the Barista Guild, and they both have been work in roasting / importing companies since then where they are consistently pursuing equity and systemic change for an industry who's distribution of value is drastically lopsided.

Recently they have launched a new model of trade based the idea of what they call "Proportional Pricing" with their company Torque Coffee.

In this model they seek to give to break the system and replace it with a framework that pays the farmer a set percentage of the coffee's retail value upfront. It really is a great idea and in today's conversation we will get the inside scoop on how this came about, how it works, and what you can do to adopt this model in your roastery.

We discuss:

Iterating models to address the issues
Leaching value from farmers
Double standards
The Torque model: Proportional Pricing
Starting at the ceiling
You don't have as many coffees as you think
Building the system and relationships needed
Taking the risk off the producer
unintentional impacts on producer
Play to pay sucks
The practice of tracking all your costs

Links:

www.torquecoffees.com

Instagram @torquecoffees

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