Breaking Into Coffee - Outsiders, Insiders, and the True Gatekeeper

The Australian coffee industry is deceptively small. On the surface, it looks like a vibrant ecosystem of roasters, cafés, importers, and gear makers. But beneath that surface lies a tight circle of insiders - entrenched players with influence over supply, distribution, and brand visibility. To the outsider, breaking in can feel like walking into a fortress - a few missteps, a few closed doors, and most give up.

The Insiders’ Circle

Insiders exist at every level of the supply chain: importers, roasters, equipment distributors, café groups. Each has its own personality - some are defensive, some opportunistic, some aloof. Together, they form a vested-interest group. Their power lies not in chasing every newcomer, but in deciding who to let through and who to quietly ignore.

This is not unique to coffee; industries everywhere operate on these unspoken boundaries. But in Australia, where the market is small, the weight of these insiders is magnified. One roaster’s indifference, one distributor’s closed door, and an outsider can stall for years.

The Cost of Chasing

Many hopeful entrants waste energy trying to win insider approval directly: endless meetings, tentative collaborations, polite rejections. The cost of communication is high - not only in time, but in momentum. Without leverage, an outsider risks becoming just another polite knock on a locked gate.

The Alternate Strategy

There is a different entry point. Insiders, no matter their position, orbit around one force more powerful than themselves: customer attention.

Consumers collectively hold the purse strings of the entire industry. When a café wins loyalty, a roaster wins accounts, or a gear maker sparks desire, it is because they captured this attention. The insiders depend on it.

If an outsider builds something that cuts directly into consumer interest - a service, product, or idea that cannot be ignored because it speaks directly to the pain points or desires of customers - then the balance shifts. The insiders are forced to recognize the value. Instead of you chasing them, they move toward you.

The Practical Implication

To break in:

1. Stop begging for entry. Don’t waste years knocking politely at closed doors.

2. Focus on the customer’s mind. Build something that directly captures their curiosity, solves their frustration, or excites their loyalty.

3. Hone your sales craft. Once you have attention, sharpen the skills to convert it into adoption.

4. Leverage inevitability. When customers demand what you offer, insiders are left with two choices: align with you, or risk being left behind.

The Outsider’s Edge

The paradox of coffee is that outsiders can move faster precisely because they’re not weighed down by insider politics. They can afford to be direct, disruptive, and relentlessly focused on the end consumer. In doing so, they turn the game upside down: insiders no longer act as gatekeepers, but as reluctant partners scrambling to catch up.

The key lesson: you don’t break into coffee by asking permission. You break in by owning customer attention.