From time to time people contact us about a franchise, or about simply buying our cones or coffee for their restaurants and cafés. Until now, we made decisions on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation.
But this week two events happened that helped us clearly understand how, and on what terms, we can actually cooperate with other entrepreneurs when it comes to selling our products or services.
A bit of context.
When people asked about a franchise in the past, we acted as if we were bargaining over a pig we had raised ourselves and now had to sell at the market—just to get rid of it for some “more or less acceptable” price. Of course, always worried: who needs it, anyway, when the market is already full?
So we agreed to terms that were only “okay,” just to have something.
We had one case of cooperation on a franchise, which deserves its own separate story. It came with its own peculiarities but ended up being a great lesson.
As for cones and coffee beans: we had already decided not to sell cones separately from a franchise, but beans—we did. And the same logic applied: we accepted almost any price, ignoring our own interests and common sense.
Two moments changed our perspective.
The first: we had a small project roasting coffee for a friend at an absurdly low price. Because he was a good friend and only “needed a little.” One day we realized we were roasting for him almost more than for ourselves. The problem was, the price barely covered our expenses—without counting salaries—and left no profit at all. We told him. He said he could not pay more, because he got roasting elsewhere for the same price, but he very much wanted to continue with us, because the coffee we roasted tasted better than anywhere else, and his customers loved it. He was genuinely upset we would stop.
That is when it clicked: we really do something differently. Our coffee is actually better than others. And that is worth something.
The second: the owner of a very busy spot was interested in our franchise. It was a fantastic location. After several meetings he told me: “I would like your franchise without an entry fee and without monthly royalties, but I promise to buy your coffee instead.”
That was humiliating. At that point, I had already offered him very favorable terms, plus some bonuses. But he did not feel our work deserved proper payment. As an “alternative,” he was willing to just buy beans from us at market price.
After thinking it all through, I realized two things:
- Our coffee is good enough that even other entrepreneurs want it—not just customers. They want to buy it in order to make money with it.
- Our work must be paid for properly. It has to bring us value, not just keep us busy.
That is why we decided: we will not sell our coffee to other cafés. Only to end customers. The only cafés allowed to serve our coffee—either as drinks or as beans—will be our franchise partners. There is no point selling at “market” price, competing with “regular” coffee. That makes no sense. Our coffee can only be bought at Fenster—or at our franchise partners’ locations.
The same goes for the franchise. There is no point doing anything that is “unprofitable.” Business must create profit. If there is no profit, then there is no interest in doing it.
So we calculated the franchise price that feels right for us at this stage, and we will work with that.
And if a potential partner or customer wants to haggle, our answer will be simple: we are not interested in working together. Bargaining does not belong here.
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