Let’s face it, we’ve pretty much all got a raging caffeine addiction that sees little sign of abatement. if you can’t make it out of the house for your daily brew, local start-up Drum & Dry has got the solution for you. We enjoyed a creamy flat white at Barrio Coffee Collection in Braddon with Drew Southwell, who is a part of a dynamic Canberra duo that is bringing the best of Canberra coffee direct to your door.
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So, give us a quick overview of the product?
It’s a subscription service. Each month we’re featuring a Canberra roaster. There are three price tiers – starting from 24.95 for 250g. Each month you’ll get delivered a box with the coffee beans, some tasting notes and photos. We aim to expand nationally.
Talk us through the lightbulb moment?
I think it largely came through my business partner, Stephen, who is an absolute coffee fanatic. We were drinking a few coffees at his house every day we were continually trying new beans from different cafes around the place. We kind of thought to ourselves, “Are other people doing this? Perhaps there’s a business in supplying this experience…”
We did our research and saw there was a gap in the market. While roasters have their own subscriptions, we are different in that we can offer variety.
Who inspired you in a business sense?
Hmmm… interesting… I guess I don’t really have a mentor, I just look to those around me in my friendship group who have a drive to start businesses. That’s why Stephen and I clicked so quickly on this project – we could see the skills in each other that we were going to need to get this off the ground.
What have you learned so far about e-commerce?
Set aside more time for planning! We were pretty excited to get this up and running, so we’ve set some pretty tight timelines for ourselves. Although we’re on track, it puts pressure on other things like my graphic design business and the band (Drawing North).
What was the feeling when you jumped in the deep end?
It was a good feeling! It’s great to try something new that hasn’t been done in Canberra before. I was straight into the branding side of things, and we had to start identifying who we were going to approach for beans, and what was going to go in the box.
Where do you source your products/packaging?
We’re still finalising that, but the design is very much raw and natural in keeping with the simple product that coffee is. What we want to be sure of is that we need to make a Canberra Rubber Stamps and Signs, whom I’ve done some work with, are making some cool stamps… it’ll have a great feel once it turns up on your doorstep.
Where is the hottest barista in Canberra?
Ha! I won’t give that one away! However, if you’re looking for a seriously good brew, you should definitely check out here (Barrio in Braddon). They’re super-focussed on what they are doing, and don’t get too distracted. I love it.
What is your coffee nirvana?
One word answers:
Nespresso?
Logo (can you tell I’m a graphic designer?)
Moccona?
European?
Blend 43?
Glenn 20!
Starbucks?
America
Comic Sans?
Gross
Helvetica?
Simple
Will Vienna Coffees ever be cool again?
God. I don’t think so. Can whipped cream ever be cool?
How far will you deliver?
We’re specialising in Canberra, but it’s not really an issue for us to ship Australia-wide. We’d really love to take this internationally, so we’ve got long term plans to work towards that. We’ve got a few ideas lined up, but you’re going to have to stay tuned!
What’s your social media strategy?
It is the number one key to marketing in this business. Even over the last couple of weeks it’s been amazing to see the quick engagement we’ve received just by constantly posting regularly on Instagram.
Especially with people who are talking about our product, we need to ‘like’ their posts and build that conversation.
What are your biggest challenges on a daily, monthly and long-term basis?
Daily? It’s time management. As I mentioned, we’re feeling our way through this and learning what running the business actually entails. On a monthly basis, distributing the boxes is going to be the crunch-point, so as the number of subscribers grows this will be something we’ll need to carefully monitor from a human resources point of view. It’s the manual part of the business!
Thanks guys, and good luck!
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