Celebrating National Coffee Day

And Coffee Supply. She's Sarah Newin. She's also an award winning documentary filmmaker, co founder of Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen, aighten Google next Gen Tech policy leader, and yes, I feel like a slug in comparison Tim Well. Sarah Newin joins us now founder and CEO of New Win Coffee Supply, among the many other titles impress. Hey, what are you doing to celebrate Sarah National Coffee Day? Um? I'm having coffee and all my favorite brew, methanics. Is that different?

Is that different than a normal day? Just so we know? Six cups? Um, it's just one more, Okay, just one more. Hey, listen, you have a great story. We have some time and we'd love to dig into a little bit of your background. Tell us you know about what moves and motivates you and got you to create this company because you've done

different things along the way. Yeah, you know. You know when I discovered that Vietnam was the second largest producer of costing the world, this really blew my mind because I had no idea, and as a Vietnamese person, I was like, why don't I know this? And I realized it's because the lack of transparency. And so for myself, as the first generation Asian American, I've felt oftentimes really invisible, underrepresented, which is why I spent so much of my career

in filmmaking and increasing representation for our stories. And so in a similar way, I felt like Vietnmese coffee the more importantly, Vietmese producers and communities have been rendered invisible in the coffee conversation as well, which led me to really carving out my own supply chain and bring invisibility to um to Vietnam as the second large producer and starting to win Contec supply. So what's different about Vietnamese coffee? Because I'm looking at your website and not all coffee

of course, depending on where it was grown? Is created? Equal? Is correct? Is correct? Well? I stay for startusts um. It comes down to the variety. So the number one coffee variety that's grown and produced in Vietnam is the roebooster bene, which is a very very special bean. It's our beloved roboosta and in the in the conquer world, there are two main varieties are rabica and Robusta. And Roboosta beans have double the caffeine content and sixty percent

less fast and sugars. And because it has such a high caffeine content there actually it actually acts as a natural pest repellent. And so it gets its name robust because it grows very robustly. And so in Vietnam is also the number one producer or roeboost of coffee beans. It's its entire coffee production. So that is i'd say the number one specialty um of the coffee is the bean itself. And how it says different and it's highly caffeinated.

It sounds like you have a lot of caffeine. We're saying that with love because I'm someone who's been like bouncing off the walls a little bit today, probably because of a lot of sleep in a little bit of caffeine. Um, How easy was it to do? Because you know you're you're going up against coffee is a funny market. You've got Starbucks dominating, You've got Duncan doughnuts, and then you have lots of little coffee makers. Certainly, if you look at a city like New York or Chicago or San Francisco,

how do you compete? How do you stand out? How tough is it? Yeah? Well, I'd say logistically when I was first, you know, starting to build a business and learning how to impore and learning how to roll to just figure out like all the things are on FDA and like importing and launching a company like that part was quite typical because I had their experience in the industry.

But in terms of standing out, honestly, I feel like it's actually really easy because as crowded as a coffee market feels, actually there's literally no one else offering a single origin Vietnamese roboosta coffee, right, And it was because like we we pride ourselves and being a direct trade importer, because no one else was offering this, and I couldn't even buy single or digging these coffee from a green bean buy or importer because no one was paying attention

to Vietnam as especialty coffee producer. Right, so where do where do Vietnamese beans usually go? Um? Well? Actually, interestingly enough, the top two import is the venice coffee beans are Germany, United States and Italy. Right, However, it's often being pushed into you know, non discrete blends or maybe instant coffee products, and so a lot of people aren't aware that they're

drinking Vietnamese coffee already. What about when it comes to brew methods here, because you said that you are celebrating National Coffee Day by doing different brew methods. And one thing that you can buy from new in Coffee supply is the fin filter collection. How how is that explain how that coffee is brewed? Yeah? So okay, so I can describe that things feel the filter has. Imagine if the V sixty pore over and the French press had

a baby. Okay, So I know what those things are because I'm a big I'm a big coffee fan, So I know that the har O V sixty is a pour over. So you put a filter in and put your put your grinds on top, and it makes a single cop Just for to explain, right, and then the French press, of course, is the pot you can make for you know, a few people, and it's like a courser ground. Yeah. The freen selter is like right in

the middle. It's a stainless steel brew tool where you put the cloth be inside the brew chamber and it sits right on top of a cup of coffee. He has a poor of experience, a like of V sixty. And it's also a grab extraction, so it's dripping into your cup. However, you also get the full immersion like a French press, and it's a little bit there's a little peep that goes inside called the Grady press, very similar to the French press, because you know, the friend

of the France. The French colonized Vietnam for many years, so there's a lot of French influences. Yeah, that makes sense. I think, um, Tim see some buying in his future. Do I don't have this brewing that at home yet, it's like the only one missing. Do you sell? We're gonna do some news in a moment, but before we go, uh and then bring you back, we've got about thirty seconds. Do you sell? Also into the commercial space, restaurants and so on. Yeah, So we're currently about four percent director

consumer in sixteen whole scale. So we do have some restaurant cafe partners across the country and also some retail grocery super partners in New York City. All right, sit tight, we're gonna do a little bit of news. Have another cup of coffee. No, don't, don't, don't, don't don't of coffee. Maybe we'll have a cup of coffee. We're gonna come back with Sarah new And she's founder and CEO of New and Coffee Supply. She's really had an interesting life

so far and her company based over there in Brooklyn. Hey. One thing I want to talk about, which we talked about this week, was how does she deal with the fluctuating costs of coffee beans right and supply chains right now. I'm really curious about the costs to exactly. So we'll we'll, I don't know, we'll find out. I feel like people will pay a lot of money for a cup of coffee. I mean, I'm you're addictive. I'm good with the Bloomberg coffee upstairs. I gotta have something before I get out

of bed. Basically, I can't get off the door with our coffee. All right, we'll come back with her in just a moment. Carol mass So, Tim Sdanevik. We are Bloomberg Radio. Let's get back to our guest, Sarah new And she's founder and CEO at New and Coffee Supply, still with us on the phone from Brooklyn, as we mentioned, a ten Google next Gen tech policy leader and award winning documentary filmmaker. So let's get to it, Sarah um Tim brought it up. We talked so much with heads

of companies, uh, leaders of institutions. We're talking about supply chain, managing mint and the bottlenecks. What are you seeing specifically and then has to do with getting your coffee beans but also workforce and let's talk about beans first. Can you get everything you need? And does it cost more

or less? Yeah? So at this I'm sure we're able to get everything we need and candidly, our prices have not changed because a lot of the price fluctuations that we're hearing about the news is really related to Arabic of farms UM that in like South America and whereas yet now because their primary production is ROBUSA, we haven't been affected yet. You haven't, But when it comes to actually, when it comes to supply chain and freight, freight has

just been abysmal. Yes, okay, so so just because you mentioned Arabica beans, they sort over a six day stretch in late July. We talked about this yesterday with our Big take talking about Brazil. So what about when it comes to shipping. We checked in earlier this week with I'd love though he was at the port of Los Angeles. Dozens of ships just stuck there. Um, yeah, how much is it costing you to to to get your beans? Yeah,

shipping has been horrible, It has been stupid. Back from Congesta, I say, the cost of shipping for us we're getting container has quadrupled, um, and and we're super backed up. However, we've been preparing for this, so we've just been calling our orders way away in evance. So we haven't run into any inventory issues yet fortunately. Okay, if the cost is quadrupled, have you had to raise the price of your being of your beans when you sell them to suppliers,

when you sell them the consumers as a result. Yeah, so yeah, we have not raised the prices of beings yet. Um, we're trying to see what we can do to hold off. However, UM, we may we consider once we engage the income and container with the extra cost. What about workforce? Can you get everybody you need or you're having to pay up um for those employees. I'm not quite sure how big your company is and how many workers you've got. Yeah, so our company is currently five full time and it

will also have about eight part time people in production. UM. Workforce is challenging this UM. You know, always had to turn over and it is. It's like a workers market right now in New York City. UM, But fortunately we haven't had too many challenges there, meaning you haven't had to raise wages or you have not had trouble getting talent or holding onto them. Yeah, we haven't had trouble getting talent. We do have to hire, but we've raised we raised wages just out of our own principle. We

want to just compensate people better. So you've raised wages and shipping costs have gone up, but you haven't raised the price of coffee yet. We have not yet. So you're just eating this, Yes, we are eating this right now. How much longer can you do? That? Great question? I believe when the new container comes in we're gonna have to take a serious look at how the cord Duople defector free is going to affect the bottom line, and we're going to try to hold off as long as

we can for our consumers. Um, but our next container will be arriving in Q four. Actually does it come into just because we're all in a shipping mindset, right, it's not waiting off the port of l A. I'm guessing it's coming into New York ten months to meet the container in New work and correct, Yes, in New York. Um. Hey, listen, just got about a minute or so left. We know it's been an interesting rough couple of years between the pandemic,

between what happened with George Floyd and other black Americans. UM. As an Asian American, a Vietnamese American female entrepreneur, how easy has it been for you in your path? I love that framing, Carol Um, because often people framing the

negative way it's been. It's always a challenge, i'd say, you know, being an Asian American woman in business, Um, there are a lot of hurdles that I have to work through, a lot of perceptions and biases that I have to really challenge Um, it's challenging, but honestly, I would say that the support of the community in our customers just really keeps me going. Um, people haven't really open to a shifting narrative around Vietnamese coffee. I think

one just related to the ticken anti Asian violence. Right. This idea of the valuing Asian lives is actually related to how people devalue Asian food and culture very often,

and it relates to people the value Vietnamese coffee, right. Um, it's all related and so that how bit of challenge in itself, but really with our company where ships the narrative and bringing value invisibility to be these coffee and producers and and I hope that that will also translate to how people value our communities and lives behind our products as well. Well. We appreciate you coming on because you really help shape that narrative and get it out

certainly to our listeners. Are you done with coffee drinking for the day though? We just want to know, Sarah. Yeah, we're hopping over with the happy hour right now with the boulevardiers. Okay, well done from coffee to whatever, Sarah, Sarah new and thank you so much, really enjoying, enjoyed it. Founder and CEO of New and Coffee Supply on the

phone from Brooklyn. Which your coffee of choice? Uh? You know, I like a coffee that's brewed in Brooklyn cafe And to gral my friend runs the shop, small Nicaraguan coffee that sounds good, just playing them playing with cream or what espresso? Espresso