Today we’d like to introduce you to Mindy Gilbert.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
It all started on a camp stove in our driveway!
In the initial months of the pandemic, there was a ton of downtime at home with the kids. Based on a skillset my husband learned while working at a coffee roastery in college, we got the idea to roast our own coffee beans.
With a frying pan and camp stove set up in the driveway, we learned the very smoky art of pan-fired coffee beans. After a number of attempts to hone our craft – and the delivery of a new at-home coffee roaster – we began roasting beans for friends and family. Fast forward a few months and we had a friend, a restaurant owner, tell us – you should sell these beans. They’re fantastic!
It was then that the thought of starting a business with our two kids really took root. We wanted to not only continue this fun project together, but also to teach the kids the art of entrepreneurship and the simple fact that hard work can produce something very valuable.
Given we had a viable product, we started brainstorming the rest of the details: the brand, the operation, the roles, and the name! The kids were super excited to help us name of the company. They were currently obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean, so they wanted to work that into the name, and voila – Pirate Island Coffee was born!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think any small business would describe their experience as a smooth road – but if they did, that’s awesome! We were certainly no different, as we had quite a few obstacles come our way.
For starters, after our initial positive customer feedback and business incorporation, we needed to scale fast! We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase a commercial coffee roaster and scale that portion of the operation almost immediately.
Also, the relationships with green coffee importers which we had been building from the start, were already bearing fruit. However, this did not help the global supply chain issues that everyone was facing. For example, the price of coffee – both commodity and specialty – shot up over the last few years. Additionally, we were dealing with inconsistent delivery schedules at the Port. These things both had a pronounced effect on our business and margins.
And while Covid has had an overwhelmingly negative effect on most businesses out there, we were able to drive increased sales through the pandemic.
All of this being said, we have been very fortunate to have been able to grow so quickly with what we view as minimal disruptions in the grand scheme of things.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Pirate Island Coffee?
There are a lot of coffee companies out there, many of which offer the same value propositions. Even in that crowded space there are a few things that set us apart.
First off, we are a family-owned and operated, COMMUNITY-based business. We started this business to not only deliver amazing coffee, but to teach our children how to build something from scratch – and to think like entrepreneurs. To build skills that will help them in life no matter what path they take. They have been there for every step of the way – from the marketing and design, to inventory, to production, to distribution. By community-based, we mean that we are deeply involved with our local friends and family: by sponsoring sports, working at farmer’s market, and giving back locally wherever possible.
Secondly, we believe that incredible coffee should be affordable and accessible – so we focus on QUALITY. We price our specialty coffee lower than other similar craft roasts because we believe that you shouldn’t have to pay through the nose for quality. Most coffee roasters have exorbitant overhead, marketing and packaging costs; we instead spend our money on what’s important: the best quality coffee beans available. Thanks to our awesome coffee importer network, we are able to secure the freshest, highest-quality specialty coffee beans from around the globe.
Lastly, we count CONSERVATION as a key value. We always provide organic and environmentally friendly options. In addition, we work closely with our importers to ensure very specific considerations are factored in to our purchases which reflect our values as a company: things like buying from women-owned farm collectives, Rainforest Certified beans, bird-safe beans, etc. After we hone in on options that are up to our rigorous standards, we scrutinize every bag of green coffee we opt to purchase by going through a testing and sampling regimen. Another thing we are really proud of is that we are a 100% carbon-neutral operation! We purchase carbon offsets and reduce emissions where possible, so that our footprint is as small as possible.
How do you think about luck?
I look at our business as requiring hard work, not luck. Nothing comes easy, and we have worked very hard as a family to get where we are today. We try to ensure we are staying on top of issues before they come up, whether that be anticipating client demand, heading off potential supply chain issues, preparing for equipment failures by stocking replacement parts, or designing redundancy into our entire operation so we can quickly pivot if a problem develops. So really, luck isn’t a factor – it’s our hard work and love that drives the business forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pirateislandcoffee.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/pirateislandcoffee
- Facebook: facebook.com/pirateislandcoffee
