Today we’d like to introduce you to Seth Trees.
Hi Seth, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The Coffee Snob started as a fun family activity, headed by my parents, Father Tom and Kathleen Trees. We started with a little two-pound roaster and attended the local Leesburg Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. Our goal was to provide high-quality coffee at an affordable rate. Research on standard coffee processing practices led us to limit our sources to Certified Organic Arabica coffee growers. Our staple origins are Honduras and Colombia, and our Decaf comes from Peru. We also introduced a seasonally rotating “Roaster’s Choice” specialty origin.
Four years in, we had upgraded to a six-pound roaster and added hot coffee, iced coffee, and Peter’s Peanut Cookies – a family recipe we still carry in-store today. Some of our most loyal regulars have been with us since those early farmer’s market days! In 2018, I graduated from UF with a Business Degree, with plans to take over the business, and married my wife the summer of that same year. She jumped right in and helped us walk through the legal process to transition from a Cottage Industry side-gig to a registered business in the State of Florida.
The initial plan was to expand our farmer’s market attendance in the area and grow our customer base before planting our first location. By October 2018, however, a unique set of doors opened and we were able to launch our first cafe and roasting location in Bonita Springs, Florida. That little shop provided valuable learning experiences and set the groundwork for our next move. In August of 2019, we returned to Leesburg and opened a location downtown, right on Main Street. Three months later, we opened a second Leesburg location in the Leesburg Marketplace Plaza, a few doors down from Naples Italian. This location became our headquarters, housing our roasting operation and providing enough kitchen space to expand our brunch menu.
Just as we were getting accustomed to the logistics of running multiple locations, the pandemic hit. Our locations in Bonita Springs and on Main Street were forced to close immediately, while we adjusted to contact-free delivery at the Marketplace Plaza location. We were able to briefly reopen Main Street in June and July, but continued restrictions led to it’s permanent closure. We were able to keep the Marketplace location open and operational. In October 2020, we were able to resume more normal in-person operations and have since expanded to full capacity under Governor DeSantis and the Florida Health Department guidelines.
Since January 2021, our business has exploded. We meet new customers every day and continue to build our roasting operation. We are now partnered with several local restaurants and health stores, providing coffee for their customers. Our next step is pursuing the USDA procedures to become a Certified Organic processor, to better partner with our Certified Organic coffee growers. Serving Leesburg and the surrounding community has been a joy and challenge through these first few roller coaster years. We are looking forward to what new challenges and triumphs the coming years will bring.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The growth of The Coffee Snob is best described as a roller coaster. We faced many of the common challenges newly-established small businesses face. The pandemic was a major challenge, which regrettably, a lot of fellow small businesses did not survive. We had to get incredibly creative with some of our solutions! We’ve also been growing our own family. Our Marketplace Plaza location was constructed and opened with a newborn in our household.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a family-run roaster of organically-grown Arabica coffee in Central Florida. We offer coffee by the pound, available whole bean or ground for your preferred brewing method. Every bag of coffee is guaranteed to be fresh-roasted. We exclusively utilize the Artisan 6lb Fluid-Bed Roaster for our operation. This roasting method ensures a smooth, even flavor without the bitter scorching of traditional drum roasters.
You can buy our coffee in-store or online at www.thecoffeesnobfl.com/shop. There, you can order online for pickup, free local delivery, and shipped to your home. We also partner with several local businesses, such as Turner’s, Claire’s Creperie, and Jeff’s Health Food Store.
Our cafe serves a range of coffee and espresso beverages, with a complimentary menu of breakfast and brunch food items. We also carry a line of specialty loose-leaf tea for our non-coffee customers! Our full menu is visible online at www.thecoffeesnobfl.com/menus and for local delivery via DoorDash. We also regularly provide catered orders for local offices and events.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
One of my favorite resources has been The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. In it, the author explores the struggles of launching a small business. He specifically delves into why it is necessary to quickly incorporate all three types of business personalities, their strengths, weaknesses, and points of conflict with one another. I have been blessed to have all three personalities within my family, and this book has provided valuable insight into why we each work best where and how to leverage our strengths to the benefit of the business. I would highly recommend it to everyone looking to start their own business, and also to hiring managers as it can help in recognizing better candidates for different positions. It is available as an audiobook and in paperback form.
Contact Info:
- Email: thecoffeesnobfl@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.thecoffeesnobfl.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoffeesnobfl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecoffeesnobfl
- Other: https://www.doordash.com/store/the-coffee-snob-leesburg-910337/en-US
Image Credits
Watson Dangervil, Bethany Trees
