Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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OTHER TRENDS 11111111111111111111 continued from page 19 SHAPING SPECIALTY COFFEE by Dan Leif CASH FROM THE CROWD: A Kickstarter campaign helped Portland roaster Nossa Familia add an espresso bar to its production facility. PROP 65 PAIN FOR SMALL ROASTERS For several years, some industry leaders have warned that private attorneys looking to cash in on California's Proposition 65 consumer protection statute could target coffee roasters and retailers due to a chemical compound called acrylamide, which occurs naturally during the roasting process. During the latter half of 2012, those fears became stark reality for dozens of California-based roasters, who had legal action formally brought against them. Some small players have settled out of court, while many others have joined together in a legal consortium to try to battle the suit. And the legal threat continues to loom over any company that has coffee for sale in the Golden State. The most recent movement in the case came in April when a judge consolidated two separate lawsuits that had been filed against different sets of coffee companies, and that step could make for a more streamlined (and hopefully less expensive) process for defendants. But onlookers say the outcome of the legal battle is still up in the air, and the back-andforth seems likely to drag on, with lawyers' fees coming each step of the way. Coffee businesses that receive legal notices regarding Prop 65 from private attorneys or from companies they supply should immediately contact the National Coffee Association or the Pacific Coast Coffee Association, both of which have been working to organize and advise entities affected by the issue. 20 COFFEE ALMANAC • June 2013 CROWDSOURCE FUNDING NOW AN INDUSTRY FIXTURE Kickstarter and other sites that allow independent creatives and entrepreneurs to grab community backing are nothing new, but recently the crowd funding idea has proliferated within specialty coffee. Every week, it seems, a coffee business owner somewhere across America launches a campaign to help pay for the opening of a new space or to expand operations. Last fall, for instance, Portland roaster Nossa Familia developed a Kickstarter effort that aimed to raise $15,000 to add a retail espresso bar to the company's roastery. The campaign ended up bringing in more than $22,000, and the space opened for business this spring. Another success story: The East Harlem Café in New York City recently used the Indiegogo site to raise $10,000 to bolster its foodservice and become more economically viable. However, it isn't just cafés that are leveraging the concept to get ideas off the ground. Last fall saw a group of North Carolinabased product designers raise more than $130,000 via Kickstarter to fund the manufacture and distribution of a unique by-the-cup brewing device called Impress Coffee. In addition, during the past year, the Cooperative Coffee roaster group and international development organization Progreso worked together to launch a project called Grow Ahead. The concept encourages consumers to donate small sums that together can help fund harvests at producer cooperatives, freeing growers from middlemen and market pressures. So far, Grow Ahead has helped fund production at co-ops in Guatemala and Peru.