Meet Trevor Simmons, Industry Beans Co-Founder

Tell us about your business in a few sentences.

Hi, I’m Trevor, and my brother Steve and I are the founders of Industry Beans. We’re a specialty coffee roaster originally from Fitzroy with cafes in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (and we now roast coffee in Brisbane, too). 

We’re dedicated to sourcing, roasting and brewing the best coffee and creating immersive hospitality experiences – and we have an amazing team along for the journey.

How are you and the business coping through the current crisis?

As for every business, it’s been a full-on couple of months with a lot of challenging moments. Our focus has been on looking after our staff and customers – both from a health & wellbeing perspective, and in wanting to provide continuity to their everyday lives. 

We’ve been overwhelmed by the support from both our team and our café and wholesale clients, and feel humbled to see that Industry Beans is part of such a great community. 

We’re fortunate to still be trading, roasting and brewing coffee, sending out take away brunch and sending coffee to people’s homes, and delivering beans to cafes around Australia.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during this time?

Our approach has been to listen to everyone – particularly our staff and our customers - so that we have all the information as we make decisions for now, and for the future.

How are you and your team staying connected & keeping up morale from afar?

We’ve always loved using technology in the business, particularly as we’ve grown across borders so we’ve just continued in that direction, albeit with a few funny moments in the home background!

Team wears our Benji Bomber Jacket

Aside from financial resources, what is the one thing that will help you and your business survive?

The same thing that has always kept us moving forward – focusing on making great coffee that’s accessible, exciting and delicious for as many people as possible.

Do you have any advice for other businesses right now?

We’ve been impressed with how so many business owners – particularly in the hospitality space - have pivoted their offer and services. 

Our best advice would be to take the time to really think about what 6 months, 12 months, 18 months from now looks like, because now there is an opportunity to focus your attention on setting goals and building your business towards them.

Have you found any positives through all this? do you think there will be positive change after we’ve recovered?

Definitely! It’s been awesome to see how much people are interested in making better coffee at home, and our online store has been a great way to connect with people to help them do that. At the same time we’ve been working hard to support our wholesale customers and it’s been amazing how strong those relationships are.

We have to believe that there’ll be positive change after we’ve recovered – however we understand that many people are in tough positions and we’ll be doing what we can to give back to the communities that support us.

What’s the hardest thing about working from home?

Not being in your business every day - which as every business owner will know, is both where you want to be and where you need to be.

What’s the best thing about working from home?

I’m enjoying making coffee for myself every morning – it’s been nice to reflect on the ritual and satisfaction in perfecting your home brew.

Learn more about Industry Beans

Website: industrybeans.com
Instagram: @industrybeans