What’s the story behind the success of one of the coffee industry’s most influential entrepreneurs?
James Hoffmann is a former World Barista Champion, co-founder of Square Mile Coffee Roasters, and author of The World Atlas of Coffee. He is also a prolific YouTuber who has amassed more than 86 million views globally.
Jeffrey Young, founder of UK Coffee Week and Editor in Chief of coffee business magazine 5THWAVE, spoke to him for the publication’s podcast.
In this conversation, James discusses his ambitions, business sensibilities, and the mindset that’s helped build his remarkable career.
From the rise of ‘coffee at home’ to why you’ll never hear him say ‘What if?’ James shares insights and learnings that inform and inspire.
On his passion for coffee
“The work I’m interested in doing through YouTube is reaching people who care a little bit about coffee, and I want to find them, entertain them, gain their trust and take them on a journey over time where they see coffee as having a greater value in their lives.”
Square Mile
James’s coffee journey began as the co-founder of Square Mile Coffee in early 2008.
“I went into that a passionate coffee person, and very quickly realised I had an absence of business knowledge,” he says. “And so…the first couple of years at Square Mile was moving away from being an obsessive coffee person into being someone who could help run a business that made money from coffee.”
Industry challenges
Fast forward thirteen years and James speaks passionately about striving to have a positive impact on the industry he loves dearly – and trying to operate more ethically within the framework of what he describes as an unethical industry.
During his conversation with Jeffrey Young he speaks honestly of the challenges he sees working within a framework that is “designed to leave the farmers with as little power and money as possible because that works really well for everyone else in the supply chain.”
“There's a need for collective change,” he says, “and I think within the confines of capitalism, you have this other sort of requirement which is change needs to be an advantage in the market, to really see widespread adoption.”
On writing
James is a published author and discusses in the podcast how writing online in the early days of blogs helped to hone his communication skills and pushed him into a role as an educator in coffee.
The World Atlas of Coffee was the book he wanted to read.
“I didn't necessarily feel qualified to write it.” he says, “But no one else was going to do it. I wanted to own it…I tried to buy one for years and nothing existed.” Copies sold have now exceeded 300,000.
Being flexible – and letting go
“We started Square Mile with this intention of having a café and putting a local roaster at the back…and I think if we had been rigid about that idea and unable to let it go...that business would have died within a year, because firstly we didn't really know what we were doing.
“Secondly, it was a terrible time to start that kind of the business, London wasn't interested or ready, and our location wasn't as good as we thought.
“With all of those things, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the time the ability to say, oh let's just let go of that particular goal, what are we really interested in, and go one layer deeper.
“There's been a number of occasions with either locations or opportunities where the ability to be flexible, I think is very important. You should have things that you stick to, that you're driven by.
“The strength of your convictions will go so far, but I think you can easily get stuck trying to do a thing that just isn't going to work and I see all the time… people try and build businesses where they decided what it's going to be, and they don't have that kind of adaptability or flexibility when the world changes around them to respond.”
Click to hear the full interview, including James Hoffmann’s thoughts on the impact of Covid on the global coffee industry.
