Brewing Success with Connect Roasters: Entrepreneurship, Partnerships, and Giving Back

Tantalize your taste buds and ignite your entrepreneurial spirit as we brew up a conversation with Caleb Benoit, the ingenious founder and CEO of Connect Roasters. This is no ordinary coffee business - it's a mission-driven venture that goes beyond satisfying your caffeine cravings. It's about giving back to developing communities, a cause seeded from Caleb's past experiences in these regions. And in the sea of coffee companies, learn how Connect Roasters sets itself apart using a unique give-back model.

Venture into the riveting world of brand partnerships as we unravel Caleb's exciting collaboration with professional baseball player Ian Happ. Discover how this unlikely duo has transformed the game for Connect Roasters - birthing the Home Run Club with the Chicago Cubs. So pull up a chair, grab a cup of Joe, and let's dive into this enriching blend of business insights, faith, and yes, coffee.

Follow Connect Roasters on Twitter.
Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn.

To connect with Olivet’s Entrepreneurship Program, contact Program Director, Chris Perez at caperez2@olivet.edu.

To learn more about other entrepreneurship opportunities and the McGraw School of Business’s very own Createur Conference and Pitch Competition, go to Createur.Olivet.edu.

Transcript

Karli: 0:00

What does it mean to be a Christian entrepreneur? How can I turn my ideas into an actual business? How do I navigate my path to entrepreneurship?

Spencer: 0:11

Welcome to Creator, the podcast brought to you by Olivet Nazarene University's McGraw School of Business to unlock the secrets to Christian entrepreneurship and fuel your path to success.

Karli: 0:23

I'm your host, Carly Bird, graduate assistant of Olivet's Entrepreneurship Program.

Spencer: 0:28

I'm your co-host, Spencer, James and Olivet undergraduate marketing management and business administration major.

Karli: 0:34

Join us, fellow students, as we embark on a journey to discover the call of the entrepreneur.

Spencer: 0:40

This week we have the pleasure of welcoming Caleb Benoit, who is joining us to discuss the significance of brand awareness and share valuable insights on enhancing your own.

Karli: 0:49

Where faith and business meet. This is Creator, Episode 2.

Spencer: 0:56

Hello everyone. This week, Carly and I are so excited to be joined by an entrepreneur with a business that is sure to give you the boost of energy that you need to get through your day Caleb Benoit.

Karli: 1:07

Yes, caleb is the founder and CEO of Connect Roasters, a mission-driven coffee business. Yes, my fellow coffee lovers, you heard me correct. I said a coffee business with a growing footprint online and in the Chicagoland area. Caleb, it's so great to have you here today. We're so excited. But I do have one quick question where's my coffee, caleb?

Caleb: 1:28

Benoit. Oh, I knew I forgot something.

Karli: 1:30

Caleb Benoit that's okay, I'll let it slide this time. This is our first time actually meeting in person, so it's okay. It's okay, but just to let you know, I am a huge fan of coffee.

Caleb: 1:40

Caleb Benoit, maybe we can get a daily delivery scheduled for you.

Karli: 1:43

Caleb Benoit Okay, that sounds great, although Spencer is probably thinking right now she does not need any more coffee. Caleb Benoit no, uh-oh. Caleb Benoit, as we dive into things, as an entrepreneur, you know that building your brand is crucial to success, and I was just wondering if you could start things off by maybe sharing how God called you to start Connect Roasters and how, through that story, your story, were you able to build your brand.

Caleb: 2:10

Yeah, I'll give you a high-level overview and then we can get into any details you like. I had actually taken a couple of mission ships to the Dominican Republic in Haiti with some local groups and my church here locally, and for me it sounds kind of dramatic, but it was a bit of a life-changing experience, or at least one that changed my worldview. It was my first time being in a place like that, visiting a developing country, and I came back from those trips really affected by what I saw, and what I saw was some real world poverty for myself. I met some people who didn't know where their next meal was coming from or didn't have a roof over their head, and I had a hard time reconciling this idea after I got back that me and everybody that I know friends and family we want for nothing, and I now know the names and faces of some folks who are in dire need. Like I said, they don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Caleb: 3:08

So I was at this point in my life and my career where I was trying to figure out what was next for me and I decided to try to do something about it. Like I said, I had a hard time reconciling this idea myself and so fast forward a little bit. We're building Connect Roasters to be part of the solution of that problem that I saw face to face. Coffee is one of those products that's grown primarily in the developing world, consumed at scale in a market like the US, and so I saw an opportunity to use that product for good. So I started a coffee roasting business and from the very beginning we employed a give back model. We were taking a portion of our sales, setting that money aside and using that money to augment community development efforts in places that grow coffee, like I said, which are often developing countries.

Karli: 4:06

Wow, yeah, that's an incredible story and you know that kind of answers. Another one of my questions, right off the bat, you know A huge part of our conversation today and going through your brand specifically, is how do you stand out from some of these other competitors? What makes you different and unique in a special way, especially coming from that Christian perspective? Could you dive in just a little bit more in that and competing with others, that, as you know, there are many different coffee companies out there but yours, as you were just mentioning, with the beans and your story. Could you just dive in a little bit more about that?

Caleb: 4:44

Yeah, I think that that give back model, that that mission is one of the primary things that differentiates us, right, like I know. I know that our customers come to us time and time again, in part because purchasing coffee from us makes them feel good, right, and it makes them feel like they are making a difference, and they are, and so I think that's an important thing, right?

Caleb: 5:05

When it comes to brand building, one of the first things that I think you have to do is you really have to drill down and figure out, hey, what differentiates my business? Right, like, where do what I'm offering? Where does it sit in the marketplace? Right, is it the highest quality? Is it the cheapest? Is it the most convenient? Is it, you know, is my brand the most fun? You really have to know what differentiates you and what you're going to win on in the marketplace.

Spencer: 5:34

We've been doing a little bit of research on connect roasters and one of the really cool things that we saw was you have been doing something called the Home Run Club at the Chicago Cubs. Is that well, is that kind of something that is still vibrant? And I mean, has that really helped to grow your brand? And I guess maybe my main question to you would be how did you know that that partnership would fuel your brand?

Caleb: 5:54

Yeah, so that's an important part of our business. Right now we have close to 600 members in the Home Run Club. The spark for that was a relationship we struck up with Ian Hap in 2020. Ian Hap is an outfielder and all-star for the Chicago Cubs. We got connected and we started working together and kind of like a brand ambassador basis and it went really well. It turned into an investment in our business. So he's an equity partner in the business and, yeah, it's become a big part of what we're doing right, you know, I didn't set out to start a coffee company that was going to supply major league baseball clubhouses. But yeah, that's kind of where we've gone. It was an opportunity and an open door. And yeah, I mean, personally, I've always been a big baseball fan, so it's kind of gratifying on that level. But yeah, it's that partnership has brought a lot of visibility to the brand and what we're offering and, yeah, it really opened up some doors that maybe otherwise wouldn't have been open for us.

Spencer: 6:58

You know I think about sometimes how investing obviously in these new brand partnerships can sometimes be a big risk on brands and on your own brand, right, Like you started that all yourself. But it's good to hear that those pay off right and that those oftentimes can reap the rewards, so that's really great.

Caleb: 7:16

Yeah, I mean, maybe if there's a lesson there, it's starting small right. Like I said, we didn't you know, we didn't start with an equity investment. That wasn't the first conversation we had, but it was more around a brand ambassadorship, around a specific skew, a specific product, and we just took it one step at a time and saw that it was working and growing and working for both sides and kind of went from there.

Karli: 7:38

Yeah, that's such a unique and fun partnership as well. You know that really stands out. We've got a lot of big Cubs fans out there. I know some of our listeners. That's definitely perked their attention. Do you think you could share just a little bit? I know that I've read before some of that story, but how did that happen exactly? How did you? You know Ian Hap, you know how did that relationship spark?

Caleb: 7:58

Yeah, it's kind of a funny story. I wish I could take some credit for it, but I don't know that I can. A friend of mine and one of the guys who roast coffee for us, greg Ratten, a local guy. He and I are both baseball fans. He runs a social media account called Coffee and Cards and it's exactly what it sounds like. It's pictures of coffee and baseball cards and he had posted something I can't remember if it was on Instagram or Twitter, but it was a baseball card of Ian and some coffee and tagged him in it. And so that caught his attention and he clicked a couple times and found a connect roasters on Instagram, I think.

Caleb: 8:35

You know we knew Ian was a coffee guy. He had started a podcast and talked about his love for coffee. And yeah, he just he reached out on Instagram and said, hey, love what you guys are doing, Love that you're doing it in Chicago land area, you know, keep up the great work. And so we responded and said, hey, you know, thanks for reaching out, really appreciate it. They were out in Arizona for spring training, actually, and this is the spring of 2020.

Caleb: 8:58

And so I said, hey, I'd love to send you some coffee. And you know. So we sent him some coffee and some merch and say, you know, give me some feedback when you get it. And a couple of days after he got it, we got a text from him say, hey, love the product, we'd love to jump on a phone call and talk about some business ideas. And you know he had seen what we were doing, knew the product was high quality and could see our mission right and kind of lined up with some things that he believed in and in his values. And so that first partnership, if you will, we launched what we called quarantine coffee, and so it's a product that we sold throughout the pandemic and we set aside $3 from every bag that we sold and supported some really great initiatives during COVID. So, for example, we partnered with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and they really did some important work and still do, but really some important work during the pandemic. And so, again, you know he believed in our mission and believed in the product and he wanted to do something that lined up with our values and something we were already doing. So it just made for a really fun and successful partnership.

Caleb: 10:02

So we've got about 600 people in the home run club and they subscribe to our coffee and they get a bag or two bags a month. And as part of the membership in the club you get some other perks. You get free shipping on all your orders, but one of the fun parts of it is you're included in a monthly merch drop. So the first Friday morning of each month we send out a secret link only to the club members and they're able to purchase some things that you probably wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to purchase. For example, some game used memorabilia. You know some of Ian's batting gloves, baseball bats, spikes. We've sold things like that, some stuff that he's autographed. So, yeah, it's really a thing for people who love coffee, obviously love the mission of Connect, but also for baseball fans, and that Venn diagram of coffee lovers and baseball fans is actually pretty big and a lot of fun to market to.

Karli: 10:56

As far as your website goes, you know you have all those different blends of coffee that people can try. You have tea on there. Now you even have a parallel, I noticed. I think one thing that many of our listeners, these aspiring entrepreneurs, are wondering about is how do you get people to that website?

Caleb: 11:10

Yeah, that's a good question, right, like if that was an easy thing, everybody would do it. I think, again, it goes back to this idea of starting with hey, what differentiates me as a business? Right, like, what we're offering, how is it different in the marketplace? And, again, I think, for us it's, you know, it's the mission and the give back model, and also for a lot of our customers the Home Run Club, for example it's the baseball themed stuff and it's the partnership with Ian. And so I think, once you've been able to identify what that thing is like, what is it that's unique about me in the marketplace? That's how you start to. That's the first step in building some marketing around that and building some messaging around that, and then disseminating that message, getting that message out there, whether it's on social media, whether it's through a brand ambassador.

Caleb: 11:59

So, yeah, I mean it's. I wish I had a quick and easy answer, like I founded the company in 2016,. Right, so we've been going at it for a while and it's taken some time to get that visibility. But yeah, it's really all about eyeballs, right? How do I get eyeballs on my product, on my brand, on my website?

Caleb: 12:17

And I really the foundation of that, or the first step in that, is trying to figure out, hey, what differentiates what I'm doing. And if you can't answer that question, then you've got some work to do, I think.

Spencer: 12:28

You know you talk about your website, but I would also ask you about social media. Right, like social media is such a huge thing nowadays and I mean there's new social media platforms coming out every day and it seems like nowadays and so I mean, what is your social media presence look like and how you're increasing your brand awareness?

Caleb: 12:44

Yeah, so we, you know we're on the big ones right Facebook, Instagram. We're. Actually, we do quite a bit of business on Twitter. I'd say that's probably where we're the most active and has had the most success as a brand and as a business. I think part of that is a function of you know, Ian's a public figure and he's active on Twitter, and so it's just been a way, a good way, for us to interact with him and our customers and that sort of thing. So, yeah, I think it's certainly been an important thing for our business, right, it's a way that we communicate with our customers, the way that we offer new products and new services, keep people in the loop. Obviously, it's not it's not at the exclusion of, you know, sending out emails to our subscribers or our customers, but yeah, they're important channels, right. Like you talk about growing a brand, growing brand awareness, Like, if those social media platforms are where the eyeballs are, then it's beneficial for us to have a presence there. So I think it's as simple as that.

Spencer: 13:48

Yeah, I mean, I think another thing too that is also, you know, in more recent people talk a lot about the algorithm. I mean, is that something that you feel like you're having to fight with your product? I mean, do you feel like you need to market your products differently, knowing that you know the social media algorithm is changing, or do you feel like you just stay true, to stay true to your vision and hope that it all works out?

Caleb: 14:11

Yeah, I mean, frankly, I don't pay too much attention to that. You know, I think it seems like on these social media platforms there's stuff changing every week, if not every day, and so I think you can kind of you start to lose your sanity if you try to keep up with it all and maybe there's people who are doing that and doing it successfully.

Caleb: 14:29

I tend to think that good content is always going to win, and so what we focus on is try to provide good content, whether that's useful information for our customers about our product, about how to use our product. Whether that's, you know, announcing something new that we're doing with the home run club. You know we're launching a canned cold brew, and so we'll be creating some content around that.

Karli: 14:53

So yeah, I think that sounds exciting.

Caleb: 14:55

Yeah, it's something I'm looking forward to and our customers have been looking forward to for some time. But, yeah, I think really, the focus is just like hey, let's, let's keep creating quality content for our people and, yeah, we don't worry about the things we can't control, like the algorithms. You know, I think the the evidence that our presence on social media is working is more anecdotal. You know I can I can log into Twitter right now and check the on the ConnectRosers account, our notifications and chances are pretty good. Somebody's tweeting a picture of their coffee shipment that they received today, right, and so that tells me that one. It makes sense for us to be there. It's, it's successful and we're doing something. We're doing something right. So, yeah, I think, at least right now, we're at as a brand, as a business. You know, I'm measuring success on those platforms more anecdotally than than anything else. You have to provide some type of value, right?

Caleb: 15:47

Like I always put myself or I try to put myself in the in the shoes of the consumer, like who's consuming this content. It's like man. Is this content that I would find useful or entertaining? Is this something I can use for myself and if it doesn't tick at least one of those boxes like maybe not worth posting or?

Karli: 16:03

sending.

Caleb: 16:03

Exactly. But yeah, I mean, you know there's so much content out there. I think to be able to stand out, you really have to provide value in some way to whoever's on the other side of that phone.

Karli: 16:12

Definitely Yep, even here. You know, we've learned that with this show, as well as everything we're doing over in the McGraw School of Business right now. You know, with Creator, just talking on that how do you go about making adjustments? As you know, you go out there, you put that, you know, whether it be on social media or even adjusting on your website. But how are you, you know, making adjustments? As you see, you know you get more people drawn to certain content versus others. How does that look for you?

Caleb: 16:40

Yeah, I mean you kind of you take stock of what you've done and you see maybe what's worked and what hasn't.

Caleb: 16:46

I think that's true of social media. I think that's true of new products and services, right Like. If we launch a coffee and we don't sell any units in 30 days, that's probably a sign that something went wrong. Maybe our customers don't like it or we didn't market it particularly well. And I think the same is true as social media, right Like. If we're putting out one type of content and it's not getting any type of engagement or isn't resonating with their audience, you know, maybe it's time to think about scrapping that. And then you look at what works, I think, and you double down on things that seem to be working. Again, I think that's true on social media and the types of content that you're doing. I think it's also true of products and services that you're offering.

Spencer: 17:23

Well, I think it's almost time to wrap up. We have a quirky question, caleb, that we like to ask all of our guests. Can we ask you our quirky question? Fire away, all right. Here's our quirky question. Can I ask it, carly, go for it All right. If your business Kirtnecht Roasters was an animal, what would it be and why? That's your question, you're not kidding.

Caleb: 17:48

I should have come prepared for something like that An animal. If Kinecht Roasters was an animal, what would it be? I'm thinking of the animals that you see as you walk through the zoo.

Karli: 17:59

Right.

Caleb: 18:01

It can be any animal. Maybe does it have to be a. Let me I'll say this I think we are. We're a baby animal that's still growing, because we're still a small business that is growing, and the type of animal that we would be. Maybe we'd be a dog, maybe we'd be a puppy, right Like we still are growing. We are not full maturity, full adulthood, but dogs are one of the qualities about dogs that line up with Kinecht Roasters Dogs are playful, dogs are good companions, like coffee is for a lot of people and, yeah, just a lot of fun to be around.

Karli: 18:42

So I love that answer.

Caleb: 18:44

Best, best I got.

Karli: 18:46

I mean yeah, I'm like I didn't expect that, but at the same time I don't really know what I would expect from that question.

Spencer: 18:52

Yeah, I didn't expect to be there to be honest, and that's why that's the quirky question right there.

Caleb: 18:57

That's good.

Spencer: 18:58

Well, hey, caleb, it has been such a great conversation today and you know, carly and I both we just want to thank you so much for joining us and discussing just the importance of brand awareness, right, like it matters so much, and leaving our listeners with some great tools, and we thank you for that. Yeah, my pleasure, thanks for having me.

Karli: 19:17

Yes, it's been such a treat today and listeners. If you want to learn more about Connect Roasters or Connect with Caleb, you can follow him at at Connect Roasters or at Caleb Benoist, so make sure to check that out.

Spencer: 19:29

And I'll plug the Olivet Entrepreneurship Program. Our director is Chris Perez, and if you just want to discover some of these other opportunities that the Entrepreneurship Program at Olivet has to offer, including our very own Creator Conference and Pitch Competition, in which Caleb was recently a contributor at, just go ahead and visit Olivetedu slash creator to learn more.

Karli: 19:51

Yes, as always. Thank you so much for listening and don't forget to tune in next time when Jeff Forgrave will be joining us to explore the art of side hustling.

Spencer: 19:59

That's right, For faith in business meets. We are Creator. We'll see you later.