A local brand is using coffee to enhance the community, and Philadelphians can be part of the process. Win Win Coffee, a Black-owned and Philadelphia-based venture is currently testing a new digital platform that connects farmers in the African diaspora directly to coffee buyers.
CoffeePLUG has been developed by business partners Matthew Nam and Nikisha Bailey, and it was conceived after the brand’s brick and mortar shut down due to the pandemic. Nam and Bailey chose to pivot and start a coffee roasting operation, and source coffee beans directly themselves. But there were some obstacles that came up in the process.
“We quickly faced a number of challenges,” explained Nam in a statement. “There was no guide to pricing. The supply chain was clogged with so many middlemen, the farmers were completely underpaid, and it took forever to receive orders. We thought there had to be a better way where we could go straight to the farmer.”
Nam used his background in the health tech industry to help develop the software in this commodity-adjacent sector, along with agro scientists and engineers from Ghana and the University of Pennsylvania, a release states. The platform is for importers, roasters, cafes, etc. — any institution that needs a consistent bulk buy that they purchase on a regular basis, whether it be green or roasted beans.
The release also noted that buyers pay a logistics and coordination fee that ranges from 2% to 9%, with the more purchased, the smaller the fees. CoffeePLUG has access to half a million farmers, and currently, it is importing from 400 Afro-Colombian farmers, all of whom went through a vetting and quality assurance process to make sure their coffee meets the standards of the Specialty Coffee Association.
“Since we are going directly to the producers and cutting out middlemen, buyers are able to secure a cost savings of up to 30% or more. Unlike other similar platforms, there is no offline negotiating. The pricing is dynamic and is set every day based on what coffee is trading for on the commodities exchange,” Bailey stated.
“We also have a few proprietary AI-assisted algorithms that enable us to price commodities dynamically in real time, set risk scores for counter partner risk and aids in yield prediction. We pay farmers more and they’re paid in FIAT currency, thanks to a partnership with PayPal. In addition, buyers can foster direct relationships with producers. They’re able to put a face to the name of the farmer growing the beans. This is really important for traceability and marketing,” she added.
The brand also has the ability to process the commodities in the US, whereas with other brands, the money is in the processing of these raw products (sometimes with a 2100% markup charged by other companies.) Win Win is able to roast the beans closer to when they were pulled off the tree, which means you get fresher coffee faster versus the normal waiting period for beans, sometimes sitting in a warehouse for 6 to 18 months after being picked.
The timeline on CoffeePLUG is the buyer receives the product within a week with the goal of delivery in 2-3 days. The company is beta testing with a school in Alabama, a hospital system in Philadelphia, a cafe, and a restaurant group, the release explains.
“We see this as a serious “win win win” for farmers, buyers, and consumers, and a step towards bringing equity to the global coffee economy,” finish Nam and Bailey.
To learn more about CoffeePLUG, visit coffeeplug.co/welcome or to order Win Win coffee visit winwin.coffee
