Crowdfund Mainstreet logo
Contact
Learn
Blog How to Invest Video Investor Education How much can I invest? Issuer Education How is CMS compensated? Terms of Use and License Agreement Privacy Policy
Closed Campaigns Login Sign Up
Contact Blog Login Sign Up

Southeastern Roastery

#Community #WomanFounder #SocialEnterprise #Food&Drink
 
Southeastern Roastery believes in mindfully cultivating the senses. We are motivated by sharing with our customers the experience of exploratory, inclusive, creative, holistic, and altruistic living. 

Southeastern Roastery curates sense-focused feminine-forward specialty coffee experiences for culinary and inexperienced palates seeking human connections through each coffee’s story.

We are a minority women-owned Specialty Coffee Association member coffee company. Our founder, Candy Schibli, is a former chemical engineer, has worked in international relations for over a decade, and is passionate about social justice for women across the globe.
 
Candy knows the science of coffee roasting and how to build relationships across borders. The result is distinct, authentic roasts and real, lasting, and supportive collaborations with women producers and importers.

 
We invite socially conscious investors like you to become part of our community and to have an opportunity to share in our success.
 
We will use your investment to open our own roastery and café—moving from the shared space we currently use, purchasing and installing new equipment, and hiring additional employees. 
 
We are eyeing locations in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area to move all roasting and packaging operations to allow for more efficient business processes. Our team is working diligently to find a location suitable to our values that can provide jobs for the surrounding community, local economic and social development, and support to our diverse community of women.
 
In our new space, we expect to have
 
1.    Roasting operations that are more efficient, allowing us to sell more beans. 
 
2.    Increased retail revenue through increased direct-to-consumer coffee sales, both drinks and beans, and events.

 
What will you get as an investor? 
 
The amount you invest will automatically convert to equity in our company after December 31, 2023. The equity you receive will be preferred with a target distribution of 5% of your original investment, provided that, if we don’t have a class of preferred equity authorized, you will receive non-preferred equity. 
 
If we begin a preferred equity capital raise on or before December 31, 2023, the amount you invest will automatically convert to preferred equity of the same type we sell in that offering: except that you will get a 5% discount on the price for your equity. The preferred equity you receive will also have a target distribution of 5% of your original investment. 
 
3% interest will accrue on your investment until the conversion. At the time your original investment converts, we will either convert the unpaid interest to equity or pay it to you in cash.
 
Last, we don't expect to sell the company or for there to be a change in who has majority control of the company, but if either of these--or something similar--happens, you will have the choice of converting both your original investment and the unpaid interest into equity or having both paid to you in cash. If you convert, you will get a 5% discount on the price of your equity. (In this case, the terms of the equity you receive are uncertain.) 
 
This is just a very basic summary of what you will get. Please read the convertible note and convertible note purchase agreement on our crowdfunding page for the full terms of the investment.
 
We invite you to join us, for the love of coffee and toward the good of all. 
 
Make sure to read all of the information on this web page, including attachments, to understand the full terms of the offering and to get more important information about us. And don’t forget to check out our perks!  

$15,194 funds committed
of $107,000 maximum target
$15K minimum
Closed
22
Investments

Investment Summary

Convertible Note

Minimum Investment: $100

*See Offering & Form C sections below for disclosures

Offering

Convertible Debt

Form C

Mission

Enlivening the Senses
 
We aim to provide and support sensory experiences that expand a coffee indulger’s creative thoughts and possibilities through the exploration of vast flavor profiles.
 
Our roasting process is designed to integrate each flavor’s distinct energy and intention from its place of origin. We aim to enliven and broaden the sensations, thoughts, and feelings that come from drinking coffee.  
 
Working Toward Justice
 
We are dedicated to fostering compassion for natural and human resources. We promote the well-being of women by buying from and selling to women-led businesses or businesses that support women. We also prioritize customers, farmers, and importers that use environmentally sustainable practices. 
 
Creating Memorable Cross-Cultural Experiences
 
We aim to create inclusive, sense-directed, imagination-inducing programming, including events that (1) educate community members on coffee similarities and differences across locations and (2) encourage cross-cultural exchange, appreciation, and pride.

Investment Perks

  1. $

    $1,000-$4,999

    A sample box of three 4-oz coffee bags

  2. $

    $5,000-$9,999

    Year-long coffee subscription

  3. $

    $10,000+

    Name a coffee on our menu section called "Investors' Cups" dedicated to our major investors

Key Facts & Financials

  • We partnered with Streetcar 82 Brewing Company, a deaf-owned beer brewery, to create an Amber Ale for Deaf History and Women's History Month (both in March) releasing in March 2020.
  • We raised $55,000 from investors in a private offering in 2019.
  • We currently generate approximately $2,000 per month through wholesale accounts and farmers market sales. We plan to open the roastery and café in fall 2020 and to increase our monthly revenue to $30,000 by January 2021.
  • We only use coffee beans from farmers and importers that (1) are certified by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and implement programs or projects on women’s issues or (2) are owned or operated by women. SCA is an organization of businesses and individuals in the coffee industry. It is dedicated to building an industry that is fair, sustainable, and nurturing for all.
  • We partner with local and international female business owners and organizations to get women-owned coffee and tea products to market. For example, we’re building relationships with Mujeres en Café, an international organization that supports equity for women by providing access to business opportunities as well as through programs to promote reproductive freedom and equal pay. We also work nationally with women-owned companies in the value chain including Big Heart, Junius Coffee, Sweet Crimes Bakery, and others.
  • Our coffees come from three continents: from the countries of Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, and Nicaragua.

Southeastern Roastery Story

 
Who We Are and What We Do
 
Our founder, Candy Schibli, is a woman of color and a former chemical engineer, artist, and foodie. She has also worked for more than a decade in international relations, and she is passionate about transnational social justice for women. 
 
Candy fuses her passion for women’s rights with her expertise in thermodynamics to develop carefully crafted direct trade relationships, largely with women-led importers and farmers, and carefully crafted roasting profiles.
 
Currently, we supply coffee beans to restaurants and cafés and do some direct-to-consumer sales at a farmers market and at popups. We generate revenue of approximately $2,000 per month. 
 
Right now, we don’t have our own space for roasting, packaging, or retail sales. Travel between the two roasting spaces we use plus to the farmers market limits the time we have to roast, make sales, and market our brand. 
 
We will use the proceeds from this offering to open our own roastery and café. This includes moving and installing our roaster, purchasing and installing other equipment to increase efficiency, paying a salary to our founder, and hiring two to three new employees. We are looking for a space that is fully built-out and that provides at least 600 square feet of roasting, packaging, and retail potential with a light café. Our ideal location also has space for coffee-centered community events. 
 
After we are in the new space, we will expand our wholesale operations to include
 
1. Supplying large package coffee beans to restaurants, hotels, and businesses which will frequently use our product.

2. Supplying coffee to specialty chefs for use in creating high quality coffee inspired pairings and dishes.  

3. Supplying small package coffee beans to individuals.

Once our wholesale business is thriving, we will begin generating revenue from to-go and sit-in sales to coffee drinkers and arts and literature events. We plan to be earning approximately $30,000 in monthly revenue by January 2021.

A Letter from the Founder

I started Southeastern Roastery in 2016 to merge my love of coffee with my passion for promoting feminist justice. Since the roastery opened, I have been roasting in between the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and Washington, DC. 
 
To fill my orders, at least every other weekend I motor-trek 165 miles each way to roast on my recently purchased 12kg vintage Samiac. When I end up getting more orders than expected (which is happening more and more frequently), I also make morning drives into Songbyrd Record and Music Café to do more roasting. And I brew coffee and travel to a farmers market in Riverdale, Maryland every Thursday.
 
This routine leaves me little time for packaging, delivery, and marketing, limiting the sales I can make. That is why it is essential for me to have my own dedicated space where I can do everything.   
 
With our own space, we also plan to host events where people can connect with each other and learn about coffee traditions across cultures.  

By investing in this project, you will be investing in my business’s success, unique coffee experiences that build community, and direct trade that supports equity in the supply chain. 

I invite you to join us in our work to change the world through coffee. 

The Founders

Candy Schibli

Founder / Head Roaster

Candy Schibli began roasting coffee in 2016. She comes from a background in engineering, business management and international relations and combines her previous professional skills to create a holistic purchasing, roasting, and sales approach to coffee. Before opening the business, Ms. Schibli managed the United States Agency for International Development Microenterprise Foreign Assistance Annual Report to US Congress for 4 years, performed environmental data management for the World Resources Institute, and studied sustainability at the University for Peace in Costa Rica.

Ms. Schibli is a Certified Q Arabica Grader, holds a BS in Chemical Engineering, MA in International Affairs, and a MA in Sustainable Development

The Team

Brian Benjamin

Brew Master

Brian Benjamin is the café manager for LaColombe, Columbia Heights, Washington, DC location. Brian brings over three years of experience in coffee brewing and café management.

Samuel Demetis

Advisory Board Member

Samuel Demetis, owner of Keffa Coffee, brings expertise in coffee importing and roasting as well as expertise in Ethiopian coffees. Samuel has been recognized as an award-winning roaster and green bean provider.

Paula Edme

Advisory Board Member

Paula Edme, Vice President of NAACP Field Operations, brings a long-standing expertise in organizing for collective action while engaging communities through critical financing and management. Paula has served on numerous boards.

Van Henderson

Advisory Board Member

Van Henderson is Director of Business Development at SRC, a nonprofit research and development corporation. He provides expertise and extensive knowledge in business development, particularly within federal government structures which dominate business interactions in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

Comments

Help

Need help?

Enter your contact information and your question and we will get back to you as soon as possible.