A Coffee Roasting Side Hustle

My name is West Broussard, and I am a 41-year-old native Texan. I have a day job working as a material management lead (warehouse supervisor) at polyethylene plant. I tend to be a busy person with family (wife and 2 young boys), work, hobbies (jiu-jitsu, exercise, living room guitar playing), and operating coffee business.

My side business is small batch coffee roasting company called Go West Coffee Company. I just launched in March 2024, and I operate everything out of my home.

Starting a coffee roasting business was never originally in the plans but it is something that has evolved over time. At one point, probably 10 or so years ago, I decided to start drinking black coffee and it was horrible getting used to it. I was always a cream and sugar kind of guy.

From then on, I started trying to find better coffee. I started out with buying a Keurig coffee maker and trying different flavours of coffee. I decided that this was expensive so I bought a reloadable Keurig cup which I could refill with any coffee and started drinking other coffees.

This led me to buying a grinder and some pour over coffee making supplies and then during the pandemic I started roasting coffee in a cast iron Dutch oven and after a few successful roasts, I eventually bought a drum roaster.

I admired a coffee company called Black Rifle Coffee Company and their business model inspired me to start roasting my own coffee. I loved how they were able to make coffee look “cool” using content creation to build a social media following. Their company also started out with a small roaster and one person who decided to go all in on their business.

After seeing this, I felt empowered to do something similar and so Go West Coffee was born.

I am currently having the most success selling my product through Facebook and generating customers through my posts. After I publish a post, my followers will share and sometimes make a purchase.

Starting out, most purchases were from family or close friends. This is something which Noah Kagan's author of the Million Dollar Weekend advises, and starting your selling to your inner circle is a great way to make some early ground in your business venture. Friends and family are your biggest supporters and often help you realise your shortcomings so you can improve your product before releasing to a wider market. My wife is better at sales than I am, and she has a strong circle so her assistance has helped me branch out my sales.

Currently, success in my side business is getting to a point where orders are coming in steadily. The next step will be buying a larger roaster to increase my production. After that, the ultimate goal is having a stand-alone roasting space.

I think the obvious measure of success is where the side hustle becomes the main hustle. Although I like to dream of that, I am better off focusing on the next (smaller) milestones.

Oh yeah, and I can’t forget to mention that producing a coffee that I love is of high importance since I happen to be my biggest critic. Making coffee that satisfies my personal demands might just be the success right there.

The coffee roasting space is very crowded and that was something I didn’t fully realise when I was getting started.

For starters, do plenty of research on a coffee roaster that fits within your budget. Opting for a bigger size than what you think you need is important because many roasters are rated for more than what an ideal batch would be. For example, I have a 2lb roaster and I roast 1.5lb batches. I feel that the quality isn't there if I roast a full 2lbs.

Also, coffee roasting isn’t just about producing the coffee. It is also about building a community of supporters that love your product. This comes from delivering consistent posting that people can connect with and enjoy. This is something I am still learning, and haven’t mastered yet, but when I think about why I like some companies more than others, it is often due to the community that they build.

Focus on a quality product, but don’t be too much of a perfectionist that stops you from starting.

Finally, don’t forget to cup some of the coffee you roast. You want to know if it tastes good or not.

My website is Go West Coffee Company
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