Words & Photos - Jessica Chen and Julia Liao
On our third cohort activity, School Grounds Coffee group spent the day starting up the business plan and visited 2% Jazz Coffee and Level Ground Trading. We started off by visiting the 2% Jazz Coffee. The store is decorated with retro elements like colors, black and yellow, which are also used on the cups. After we ordered the drinks we want, we have a cheerful conversation with the owner. We learned the history of the brand, the company philosophy, marketing strategy, their major expenses, and the importance of locating. According to the questions sheet that Mr. Lilly prepared for us, we learned lots of useful information which are helpful for us to build up the business plan.
After we left 2% Jazz, we split up into three groups and worked independently on the separated sections for our business plan. All of us contributed and worked collaboratively, with the aim of getting a framework for the work that will be continued on our next expedition days.
In the afternoon, we visited the Level Ground Trading. We learned the sources of their coffee beans, how they evaluate coffee beans, how to organizing each storing section, their packing assembly line, and the system of roasting a large number of coffee beans. The owner prepared a presentation for the answering our prepared questions. Through the presentation, we got the ideas of their current and future business plan, their long-distance trading relationships with farmers, the problems they have that associated with growing their market, their opinion on the major competitors, and their perspective about promoting a more caring society.