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Red Bay Coffee Company

Beautiful Coffee to the People

Last Funded October 2016

$160,269

raised from 213 investors
Led by Richelieu Dennis and David Drummond
Last updated January 2019

Highlights

1
Wholesale partners include Uber, Salesforce, Twitter and more
2
Raised over $87,000 from 822 backers on Kickstarter
3
Raised $700K of seed capital from Fund Good Jobs and Pacific Community Ventures
4
7800 sq.ft warehouse space in Oakland's emerging Fruitvale District; First container café – The Red Bay Coffee Box – opened June 2016

Our Team

Founder
Renowned local artist and successful food entrepreneur, with 10 years experience in the specialty coffee and hospitality industry

Vertically Integrated Specialty Coffee.

Red Bay Coffee revolves around excellent coffee, great service, and social impact. And to achieve all three, we've developed a business structure that allows us to transparently source our beans, hand-roast them in Oakland, and distribute them to over 55 partners around the Bay Area and the U.S.

Single-Origin Sourced

We've established direct trade relationships with farms from several different countries, including Tanzania and Indonesia.

Micro-Roasted Batches

We roast small batches in our lab in Oakland. This allows us to control the quality and consistency of our roasts.

Nationally Distributed

We have accounts with some of the biggest names in tech—Uber, Salesforce, Twitter—but also distribute to cafés around the country.



HOW WE GET OUR COFFEE TO THE PEOPLE

About 85% of our sales come from wholesale accounts while 15% is from retail (online sales, farmers market, new markets, popups, and catering). You can find Red Bay Coffee in grocery stores, offices, restaurants, and now in our own branded franchise locations.WHOLESALE PARTNERS




Coffee Subscriptions



RETAIL CAFÉ LOCATIONS

Traditionally, retail coffee shop employees are paid low, minimum wages. We've developed a profit-sharing model that allows workers to partake in the profits they develop—the goal is to begin paying upwards of $5/hour in addition to the local minimum wage.




AND GROWING FAST

We started Red Bay Coffee in 2014, and today we're seeing an average of $53K a month in sales. Our wholesale partnerships with companies like Salesforce and Twitter have boosted our total revenue, up from last year by 116%.

54wholesale customers114%year/year growth,

June '15 to June '161,498lbsof coffee shipped weekly


Community & CoffeeEvery day we strive to develop beautiful coffees and a better community. We envision a world in which coffee is a vehicle for inclusion, social and economic empowerment, and entrepreneurship. It begins with just one cup of delicious coffee.

Grab a Cup of JoeRed Bay is at the forefront of what we believe is the fourth wave of coffee—a firm commitment to ensuring coffee production is not only high quality and sustainable but a vehicle for inclusion and social and economic empowerment.


Every day we strive to develop beautiful coffees, fair relations, and delicious approaches to living. We focus on creating opportunities within the community at large while fostering single origin, fair trade, direct trade, organic and sustainable coffees.


How has Red Bay Coffee earned the privilege of servicing some of the most powerful technology companies in the world? They love our coffee, they’re located in our back yard and there is a clear trend for the tech industry to grow the diversity and inclusion footprint in their companies. A delicious solution which we too aim to build upon and expand nationwide.



Keba Konte

Founder

Overview