Leveraging Expertise To Succeed

You can say that Heather Perry is all things coffee. She is currently CEO of Klatch Coffee, a family-owned and run company based in Rancho Cucamonga, California. While they do have retail locations, Klatch Coffee distinguishes itself by owning each part of the coffee manufacturing process—from sourcing, roasting and brewing its own beans to selling wholesale to providing business consulting and training for anyone who’s interested in the coffee business.

Perry has plenty of expertise, as former president of the Specialty Coffee Association and a two-time U.S. Barista Champion. But being a front-facing business leader requires a whole new set of skills. She shares how her various experiences have shaped her strategies for steering Klatch Coffee to success.

You are a two-time U.S. Barista Champion—what does that mean?

The United States Barista Championship is an annual American coffee-brewing competition designed to evaluate baristas on their skills in espresso-based drink preparation and service. Competitors prepare and serve three courses of espresso-based beverages consisting of straight espressos, milk beverages and signature drinks. They are then scored on taste, presentation and technical proficiency. The winner represents the United States in the World Barista Championship.

Two of the times that I competed, I won, which was an incredible experience for which I’m eternally grateful. More importantly, both the U.S. Championships and, later, the World Championships were really amazing learning experiences every time I attended, whether the result was a win or a loss.

The level of competition is incredibly high, so I gained a lot of knowledge and experience, and most importantly was able to gain insight into consumer expectations—which now helps with our beverage development and rotation of staple year-round drinks and limited-time offerings available in our cafés.

At the U.S. and World Championships I learned how critical it is to perfect whatever it is I’m making before serving it to someone, whether it’s a friend, a family member, a customer or a judge, and that’s something we apply at Klatch Coffee every day.

You have a unique perspective on coffee sourcing, roasting and brewing. Tell us about that.

Klatch Coffee is large enough to achieve some economies of scale, but still small enough to focus on personal relationships and knowing our customers. Mike Perry, founder, CFO and my father, every year still visits coffee producers in-person in Panama, Kenya, El Salvador and other places.

With our 12 cafe locations clustered in SoCal, it’s also still possible for me to personally visit every cafe on a regular basis to observe and engage with both staff and customers. Being able to stay involved, we’re always cupping, tasting, planning, experimenting and more, and the Perry family stamp of approval is on everything we sell.

I’ve spent my entire life around specialty coffee, hanging out as a child with my parents and sister Holly, now director of retail for Klatch Coffee. Sourcing high quality coffees that support our efforts in sustainability, roasting to Mike’s “peak of flavor” roasting method that was born out of his chemical engineering background, and brewing coffee to perfection are all core values we have. It’s a family business, so we take each aspect personally.

You are a member and a former president of the Specialty Coffee Association. What are some of the issues that your group is advocating for?

Ultimately, the SCA is working towards a thriving and sustainable coffee market for everyone, from farm, to roasting, to cafe operations, to home brewers. We want to educate and inform everyone at all levels. That includes professional baristas, business owners and regular daily coffee drinkers, so they can learn more about the art and process that’s behind the cup.

To that end the SCA focuses on events, education and research. Making sure the supply chain is equitable and sustainable, especially for coffee producers, is key. The SCA also establishes standards for equipment and water quality, with a goal of helping the industry produce consistently high-quality cups of coffee.

At Klatch Coffee, we offer a variety of classes that align with this eagerness to share our knowledge at our Klatch Coffee Training Lab in Rancho Cucamonga. These options include non-SCA classes for home users—think getting started in home brewing, coffee appreciation or learning latte art skills—but also, more advanced SCA curriculum for attendees who want to pursue SCA certifications.

While these often attract business owners, we occasionally see those who aren’t working on a career in specialty coffee, but simply want to learn and grow their own appreciation and understanding. The SCA-produced Specialty Coffee Expo is also a great place and way for us to share our ideas and broaden connections within the industry.

What are your future plans for Klatch Coffee?

It is an exciting time at Klatch Coffee. We continue to plan additional brick-and-mortar expansion, with a new cafe in the high desert region of Southern California in the pipeline. We also want to further optimize our new roastery; we only just moved in and began roasting there in the fall of 2023, so it’s still quite new with many opportunities for refinements and improvements based on what we’ve learned in the new location over the past year.

Subscriptions continue to be an important part of our business, and there have been continual improvements in technology that allow us to keep consumers better informed about their subscriptions, while we deliver just the right amount of coffee at the perfect time.

Klatch Coffee has partnered with Bottomless to offer our customers a unique WiFi-connected smart scale: customers store their coffee on the scale, which monitors usage, and future bags are sent automatically as they’re needed. We are excited to leverage technology in new and interesting ways to improve customer experience.

On the product side, fresh-roasted coffee remains our core focus, but we’re excited to explore new segments. We just introduced bottled Ready-To-Go Espresso, our first entry into the ready-to-drink/ready-to-use space. These coffee products are growing in popularity, especially among younger people, who are consuming less soda and alcohol compared with previous cohorts.

Finally, we also plan to make investments into the wholesale side of our business. We’re proud to supply our high-quality specialty coffee to many independently owned and operated cafes, bakeries, restaurants and more, so that they can serve Klatch Coffee, but we’re eager to expand with additional partners.