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Cole here with some big updates with Forward.

 

 

 

 

This date is Forward's 5th birthday 🥳

I'd like to be clear, Forward is not going out of business.

Rather, I've decided to close the business.

I've written why below ⬇️

You'll also see my next steps at the bottom of the email.

 

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This is not an easy one for me to write. It's been heavy on my mind lately.

 

If you're reading this, you are the first to know this news. It was important to me to start by announcing it to those of you that have taken the time to support Forward through these years. I'd like to utilize this email to share some timeline and highlights of the last five challenging and amazing years.

 

There will be further dialogues and conversation beyond this email - which I'm happy to have with you - as to why I've decided to cease operations. You'll find lots of dialogue available through our thinking-out-loud brand, Buy the Drip

 

For me, this is a time filled with mixed feelings. Though the road ahead is exciting, you'll see what that looks like at the end of this email.

 

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• Five years of operations
• Over $3,000,000 USD in total revenue
• A curated menu of 16 different producing countries, of which we traveled to 13
• Inventory of ~600 unique coffees purchased and offered in our catalog
• 750+ clients that made one or more purchases
• Orders from 28 different countries
• Over 2800 individual orders responsible for ~320,000kg of green coffee
• Five amazing team members through the years (Yani, George, Conor, Grant, Martin)
• More wrinkles and white hairs than I started with
• 13 Seasons of the Forward Lottery Roasting Competition
• 10+ Coffee Pop up events around the World, Day Drinking
• 2x World Barista Champions (2023, 2024)

 

I officially launched the brand in September 2019 after nearly two years of planning.

 

Well, WE launched the brand. With Dave and Jessie, my partners in Rosso Coffee Roasters, our first coffee business, which started in 2007.

 

The growth of Rosso and our participation in Barista Competitions (since 2010) lead us down the path of sourcing coffee and first traveling to purchase direct in 2015. We were challenged here in Canada that there was no opportunity to purchase specialty coffee locally. We simply had to import - so we roadmapped how we can import from countries producing the coffee we wanted to serve.

 

Around 2017, when we grew the sourcing scope beyond Central and South America, to include Africa (Rwanda, Burundi) and Asia (Myanmar), we started having industry peers ask us to source a few bags for them. It was around this time that we realized that maybe we could be that solution to a Canadian source for specialty green coffee options - we began brainstorming and writing a business plan for what would soon become Forward.

 

In 2018 and 2019, we won the National Barista Championship on our 8th and 9th years of competing. Riding the momentum of two World Barista Championship Finals placements, we decided to launch Forward and I would begin to shift my time away from Rosso to build this exciting new business venture - launched officially in September 2019.

 

Then came 2020 and none of our planning could have prepped us for what was to come.

Taking challenges head on, one at a time, from lockdowns, to logistics crisis, to "the world is ending", to major market fluctuations - I learned how to make the best of these moments, how to support friends that were producers and roasters, how to connect with other coffee professionals and started to learn the wants and needs of the market.

 

A few months after launch, I started the Forward Lottery, sending Season 1 in March of 2020, a week before the country shut down. We had 13 participating roasters and 6 returned the coffee on time. Last month, we evaluated the 13th Season of the Lottery, which was also the last. Our largest participation had just over 50 roasters from aroud the World buy-in and participate in the competition. 

 

In late 2020, we started our 1 kilogram program and this was a huge turning point for the brand. Green coffee was not available in this sizing on the global market through an e-commerce platform - especially coffees that were being used in competitions. Almost immediately we saw interest from a global audience and I began to expand this offering list while simultaneously learning how to manage international shipping and logistics.

 

The goal of the 1 kilogram program was to bring more availability to coffee that exists in the top tier of quality, coffees that get used in competitions, coffees that the average consumer and realistically, the average barista, don't have access to tasting. Our goal was to break down some of those barriers and provide better access points.

 

As the years continued, I tried to manage a balance between volume coffees, to be sold in Canada + USA, as well as 1 kilogram offerings to be sold internationally. The challenge of trying to grow both of these channels simultaneously, to mostly different segments of clients was a significant task and one that became all consuming.

In 2022, we had a record setting year as Forward nearly quadrupled revenue, surpassing $1,000,000 USD, exporting coffee from Canada to 24 different countries that year. Late that year, no longer able to handle the demand myself, I began to hire. At the peak, our team was 5, with 3 part timers, 1 full time, and myself, an all the timer.

 

I started 2023 with almost all of Q1 on the road, between juggling sourcing and building the menu, while meeting new clients and growing sales. Literally covering all quadrants of the USA and Canada in the first four months of the year, motivated to grow beyond what we achieved in 2022. 

 

In May, I won the Brewers Cup and at the same time, Boram Um was coming to Calgary for a month long coaching session - which he also did in 2022 before WBC. In June, Boram was crowned the World Barista Champion, serving coffees sourced and sold through Forward, roasted by Rosso.

 

From September 2023 onward, we hit the road touring, sharing our experience of coffee and working to grow our brands in the international market. As we grew the 1 kilogram program internationally, we lost footing of the volume program locally. In a few instances, we were stuck "holding the bag", meaning inventory wasn't moving - a cash constraint. It was here that we stopped sourcing volume coffees to feature through Forward. 

 

With volume coffees, margins are slim, cash needs are intensive and quickly things can become tight. In my opinion, this is a high risk game that is not quite worth the reward, unless you're financially sound and well funded. We're bootstrapped and taking things a week, a month, or a quarter at a time...

 

In 2024, we have only focused on the 1 kilogram program and thus top-line revenue has shrunk dramatically, though the business has become more streamlined and efficient. For the last few months, it's been two of us on the team working in a full time capacity.

 

In May, we once again participated in the World Barista Championship as coaches, working with 4 different competitors of which we sourced coffee for. Using one of our roasts and a coffee we sourced, Mikael Jasin was crowned the World Barista Champion. 

 

After the WBC in May, I went to Panama, knowing I was sourcing one last haul of coffees to feature through Forward as well as to participate as an invitee at the Best of Panama. Those coffees have arrived and are available on the website. You can see the full list of coffees on the 1 kilogram program here

 

 

I'd also like to say once again, this is not the last time you'll see Forward. I'm working through different opportunities on how we can re-imagine the brand, how we can bring more value to clients and producers, to simplify our lives and yours, and to continue to make specialty coffee more accessible to a wider audience. So, this isn't goodbye forever. Forward is going into hibernation and will come back stronger, some day.

 

The last day of sales through Forward will be September 30th. On our 5th birthday.

 

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If you're wondering what is next for me, there's a few projects I'm working on that I'd be grateful to have your continued support.

 

First and foremost, I will be re-joining our team at Rosso Coffee, working on International sales and business development; working in tandem with the coffee team on quality control and menu development, with hyper focus on developing the top-tier segment of coffees; working to once again promote the world-class roasting business that we've built the last 17 years. This is where you'll also find Yani, my sole colleague at Forward today.

 

Additionally, my brother Dave and I have embarked on a new journey as content creators and story-tellers through a brand called Buy the Drip - a weekly email newsletter, a podcast featuring an international audience of guests, and a YouTube channel promoting the culture around specialty coffee and competitions.

 

On social media, you'll see if I'm not spending time on the two businesses' above, I'm likely somewhere in the World supporting competitors in their journey to a National or World Coffee Championship.

 

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Thank you so much, for everything,

 

Always looking Forward.

 

Your buddy,

 

Cole