Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Billy Chanatry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Billy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents set great examples for me as a citizen, an individual, the kindness shown, support for creativity, and ultimately the support to help with Billy Beans Coffee. Whether that’s them attending events or helping set up for vending or spreading the word. They have been there for every step of the way through life. The importance of parents to support their child through their business is essential and as I journey to become a parent I want to do the same for my kids. The absolute best role models ultimately.

Each of my parents have their particular strengths that I have learned so much from through the years that can be applied in the work required to maintain Billy Beans and the customer interactions/service.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Billy Chanatry and I (like most) are big into two niches. Coffee and organic foods. Combining the two to fulfill a need in the Cincinnati community was an easy decision. I just wanted some organic flavored Blueberry coffee and my goodness I could not find any! Everything was either Artificially or “Naturally” flavored. So because of this I simply researched coffee roasting and the whole flavoring world.

The result is Billy Beans Coffee where I offer 10 Organically certified coffee bean flavors as long as unflavored. I utilize a Peruvian bean for all my coffee’s as it has a naturally sweeter taste that paired well with the flavors. The goal was also to get some unique flavors out there such as a Marshmallow or Chocolate Raspberry coffee bean.

I go to local events such as farmers markets in the area and some holiday events. Or the Cincinnati Coffee Festival of course ( I can’t make it this year however since our first child is due soon). I’m proud of the focus on quality for these coffee beans and ultimately the enjoyment that folks have when they have some coffee from us here at Billy Beans. Nothing makes me more happy than a customer who comes back time and time again. Hearing their enjoyment is what keeps me roasting and flavoring!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For a micro – roaster who is just trying to get some spending cash I would recommend just getting your product out in front as many people as possible. The challenge is just getting your product in front of people. The best way is local markets and any way to vend. Social media is wonderful however it is a very saturated market now and I find that unless you have massive ad spend you will be hidden from most. Even if you have a great product!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Get your certifications for a food product. If it’s organic let the world know and get those required certifications. There’s a niche that will appreciate it and it is a massively growing one as it becomes more important. Important to your health but also consumers are realizing mass produced foods come with a health cost. So making your product stand out with non-gmo certifications or of course the all important Organic Certification

Image Credits

Caitlin Diehl for photos