How Sound Coffee is Brewing a Stronger Wholesale Business with Vanik
Learn how Sound Coffee has used Vanik to increase their reorders by 45% and revenue per retailer by 40%
After two decades building software startups, Jeff Roy, co-founder of Sound Coffee, realized he wanted something different, something tangible, and connected to his local community. He and his wife (and co-founder), Sarah, shared a passion for home roasting and turned that passion into a fast-growing coffee business that now has two retail locations, is stocked in over 50 stores and has a growing ecommerce presence.
From Code to Coffee
Jeff graduated college in 1999, just as the first tech boom was taking off and he dove headfirst into the startup world and spent the better part of the next two decades launching and building tech companies. The work was exciting, but also demanding and Jeff missed being away from his wife Sarah and his family.
By 2020, he found himself wondering, “what do I want to do when I grow up?” He didn’t think that he wanted to be involved in another tech company, but he knew he wanted to build something. That’s when he looked to a hobby he’d been nurturing for over a decade: coffee roasting.
A Garage Roaster and a Growing Community
What began as a garage operation sharing small 3-pound batches of freshly roasted beans with neighbors during the COVID pandemic quickly evolved. Sarah and Jeff hosted neighborhood get-togethers, brought coffee to farmers markets, and built relationships one cup at a time.
By 2023, Sound Coffee had outgrown the garage, so they bought a dedicated building to ramp up production and made the leap into retail, opening two coffee shop locations in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They also launched a mobile coffee to bring craft experiences like espresso martinis to events and concerts.
“Opening a small retail space turned out to be the best marketing decision we made,” Sarah said. “It gave us a direct connection with the community, which is so important to us.”
Wholesale Growth: One Relationship at a Time
While Sound Coffee sells through e-commerce and its own storefronts, wholesale has become a key growth engine for the company. In under two years, the brand has landed placements in more than 50 locations, including specialty food shops, farm stands, gift stores, bookshops, and cafes looking to elevate their coffee program.
That’s no small feat for a small team without a full-time salesperson. “We’ve done it one account at a time, walking in the door, shaking hands, and building relationships,” Jeff explained. “It's an old-school hustle, but it works.” And it turns out, technology can make that hustle go even further.
The Vanik Difference
Before Vanik, Jeff relied on a color-coded spreadsheet to track account activity. He’d manually check which customers hadn’t ordered in a while and try to remember to follow up. But as any founder knows, “try to remember” often turns into “never got to it.”
“With Vanik, we’re a lot more relevant with our customers,” Jeff said. “If you forget to follow up, you can lose a wholesale customer. Vanik makes sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Similarly, it’s very easy to forget about existing customers, while trying to chase new ones and as a lean operation, Vanik helps make sure that doesn’t happen.
Not only are we staying more relevant with retailers, but we’re seeing some pretty amazing results with Vanik.”
“We’re seeing the number of reorders increase by over 45% since we started using Vanik and revenue per retailer growing by more than 40%! Since we’re staying top of mind with our retailers, they are ordering more frequently and in some cases, trying products that they’ve never tried before.” ”
In addition to the number of orders and revenue increasing, Jeff is saving between “5-10 hours a month that go directly towards other business activities,” a number that he sees increasing significantly once he grows his wholesale program even further.
Better yet, retailers love it. Even the more “old-school” accounts have found Vanik’s ordering experience intuitive and easy.
What’s Brewing Ahead
Looking ahead, Jeff sees Vanik becoming the front-end system that powers his entire wholesale operation.
“We’ve always focused on making it easier for the buyer to work with us, and Vanik helps us do that better than our competitors,” he said.
From hand-to-hand wholesale relationship building to a seamless reordering experience, Sound Coffee’s growth story is proof that wholesale success is about consistency, care, and smart tools that make staying connected easier.
Interested in learning more about how Vanik can help you grow your wholesale business? Set-up time to chat with us here.
