We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Serina Roy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Serina below.

Serina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In 1999 I was a Mountain Bike Police Officer, and worked part time at a Coffee shop that roasted their own coffee. When the owner sold the business I really missed the peace and serenity that I found while roasting. Shortly after I purchased a small coffee roaster and gave away coffee to coworkers and friends. I gifted some samples to a coffee shop near me and they loved it and asked for more. In 2000 I decided to create a company called Dublin Roasters Coffee, Inc., naming it after the street I lived on! I would have gotten a little more creative, but I didn’t know if was going to continue on for 23 years!! My hobby was traveling to coffee farms, and roasting. Telling the story of the farmers to sell the coffee, so I could purchase more coffee became a passion.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I worked at a coffee shop that roasted their own coffee, the smell, the friendship and the passion behind the coffee beans drew me to this business. For years I thought I wanted to purchase a coffee shop, but decided on a different route. I began to visit coffee farms, and roasted any coffee I could find from all over the world in order to find just the right ones.
Hearing about the passion and struggles of the farm and its families gave me the incentive to make a difference in their world by telling their story and selling the beans.
Because I am a repeat customer to these different single estate farms, we have developed a terrific business relationship. They are able to send the very best Arabica beans for us to roast at Dublin.
We are artisan roasters, and will custom roast batches of coffee for individuals, as well as larger companies. Special labels, bags, blends and flavors are our niche. I continue to give roasting demonstrations, and speak at many different events about fair trade, organic, and sustainability. Over the years we have been fortunate to roast and ship coffee all over the country, and in the past few years have created a Subscription coffee club, called the Java Luv Club. Weekly, biweekly, monthly subscription that just shows up at your door! You will never run out!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

As a full time police officer I used coffee roasting as my “therapy,” and calming time. I was often referred to as the “coffee cop.” As my coffee business was continuing to slowly grow, my police career was also ramping up. I was the first female K-9 officer in my city. After my shift I would leave work, and sometimes deliver coffee in the evening hours to my customers, even my police K-9 would smell like coffee! During my vacation time, I would often take vacations to Mexico ad bring back green coffee to roast and find new places to purchase from.
I started a website and began to take local and regional coffee orders, booking myself to sell at different festivals and farmers markets when they were scheduled on my days off.
Soon the demand was growing and I converted a covered cargo trailer into a mobile coffee shop, with a small roaster, brewing and grinding machines.
8 years after I had started Dublin, I decided to take a sabbatical from Police work to see if a small coffee shop would grow and sustain me. It took some time, but it did!
Making the switch was a challenge, I had not set out to be a business owner, so I had to learn from others, and from mistakes, as well as successes.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The more time I was spending in other coffee countries, the more I wanted to share with my customers back home. Bringing on a photographer/Marketer was the way to go. Sarah Rachael Photos was able to take pictures of the lifestyles, landscape, passion of the people and tell the story once we were back in Frederick. Face book, Instagram, Tiktok, Email marketing were all terrific ways to gain followers and brand and promote Dublin. It worked and has driven our audience to our store, and to our website.
Consistent marketing on a daily basis, promotions, sales, raffles, interaction, questions will engage your audience and keep them tuned in.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dublinroasterscoffee.com
• Instagram: @dublinroasterscoffee
• Facebook: Dublin Roasters Coffee

Image Credits
@SarahRachaelstudios