Real estate agents attest that high-selling properties is all about “location, location, location”, and in the case of Miss Cocoa’s Coffee Roastery in Hervey Bay, it doesn’t get any better.
Imagine this: unspoilt coastline and World Heritage-listed Fraser Island on your doorstep, up-close encounters with humpback whales, a short drive north to Brisbane or south to Sydney, the promise of Queensland’s tropical sunshine, and the opportunity to serve the local community with quality-driven coffee.
Now consider turning this dream into reality. Miss Cocoa’s drive-thru coffee shop is up for sale, and as current Owner Jasen Barrie attests, it presents a unique opportunity for the right person.
“The glowing opportunity here is that the business is in its infancy. It’s only four years old in a booming area of housing and population, and a beautiful part of the world. It’s got everything you need. If you’re passionate about coffee, you’ll not only make it work, but take the business to the next level,” Jasen says.
“If you can control the product, you control the opportunity.”
Jasen first made his foray into the coffee industry in 2002 when he established a roasting operation on Queensland’s Bruce Highway, which he operated for 17 years. Back then, he earmarked the drive- thru concept as the next “big” opportunity for coffee and identified a lack of specialty coffee shops operating in this space, aside from large coffee chains. Jasen trusted his instincts and embraced his own version of a drive-thru café concept by adding a roaster inside the venue for a point-of- difference.
As cars approach Miss Cocoa with their windows down, customers smell the wafting aroma of roasting coffee. As they make their order at the telecom booth, baristas identify the customer just by hearing their voice, and as they receive their coffee, they’re greeted with a smile and a quality-driven product. As they drive off, they get a glimpse of the active 22-kilogram Phantom roaster from Coffee Roasters Australia. It’s an in-and-out experience that takes place in a lightning pace of 1.5 to two minutes.
“We started Miss Cocoa’s drive-thru in 2019 with all guns blazing, then COVID-19 happened. While it changed the way people went about their work, and many felt the brunt impact of it, it changed the way the hospitality industry traded. Drive-thru became a booming industry and it hasn’t looked back. People on the Fraser Coast became used to it. They enjoyed the freshness and quality of our product but delivered at speed,” Jasen says.
“We thought we were doing a strong volume pre-COVID, but now we do around 200 kilograms of coffee each week out of the window, showcasing the need for people to enjoy their coffee with convenience, and their request for good coffee is only getting stronger and stronger.”
Jasen says this growth is not limited to out-of-window sales, but the roastery’s retail products. He’s seen a massive increase in the sale of roasted coffee for home consumption.
“Customers can park their car and come inside to browse our retail offering, or we can simply grind the coffee for the customer’s chosen coffee method at home, and deliver it to their car window,” he says. Coffee quality is not the only thing booming in Queenslanders. Off the back of COVID-19 restrictions, the state saw a net interstate migration of 30,939 people in the year to June 2021 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“Hervey Bay is ideally positioned two hours from the Sunshine Coast and receiving lots of visitors from Melbourne and Sydney – and they know how to sniff out good coffee,” Jasen says.
“What I also love about this coffee shop, is that it’s a community-based business derived from quality. The clientele of Hervey Bay are so loyal. We see our customers five to seven days a week and have 12,000 people on our loyalty program. We talk to our customers, we know what they want, and they know we can deliver. As a result, they become local, loyal customers because they know we pride ourselves on freshness and the processes we have in place to deliver the fast turnaround time.”
Those processes are a result of Jasen’s 20 years of industry experience, management, and strong leadership in training baristas who are driven and passionate about a career in coffee. Miss Cocoa’s baristas learn kitchen operations, how to prepare cold drinks and use a headset before getting familiar with the venue’s three La Marzocco machines and grinders.
“Only when our staff master shots with quality and consistency do they then get taught how to texture milk,” Jasen says.
Customers can select from Miss Cocoa’s “tried and tested” recipes that Jasen has been perfecting over the past 20 years to suit a majority of palates. They include the espresso-forward Cosy house blend, which dominants 80 per cent of roasting operations; the Adventure blend, suited to alternative brewing methods, which Jasen describes as “a little extra”, and a seasonal single origin.
“There’s something for everyone. We’re roasting anywhere from four to five days a week. We then store the coffee until it’s at its peak consumption phase at the 10- to 12-day mark, and channel it through our espresso machines for customers to enjoy, so it’s a constant rotating cycle,” he says.
Jasen has refined that cycle to a fine art, which is why it’s been a tough decision to sell the business and find the best candidate to carry on the brand’s legacy. Jasen is excited to explore a new opportunity involving coffee waste, of which he’s been working on for the past few years.
“I love roasting coffee and I love this industry. I fell into it 20 years ago, and now is the time where I want to explore other growth areas in coffee, but I’ll definitely be involved in coffee in some way,” he says.
“The time is right to offer this unique business model to anyone tired of the nine-to-five grind, looking for a change of scenery or an opportunity to grow a business passion.
“You also gain my 20 years of knowledge and experience to help with a smooth transition and set you up for success. This could be the perfect opportunity for you.”
For more information, contact misscocoas1@gmail.com
This article appears in the June 2023 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.