Café Aroma

0:00Welcome to the Emerging Brands podcast. Sharing the stories behind brands you'll want to shop next. I'm your host, Kelly Bennett. I am a New York City-based brand strategist for CPG Food and Beverage Brands. In each episode, I'll take you behind the scenes of founders that are building better-for-you products and bringing them to market. it. Also, I talk to brand builders, retailers, industry experts, and tastemakers who help bring those cool products to your shopping cart. You will hear stories of real-life founders, their launch strategies, and practical advice you could use to grow your own brand or simply discover what's next on shelf.

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1:35If you're a brand selling in retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you. Now let's dive into the new episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Today we have a very cool episode because we're going to be diving into a brand that's been around for 60 plus years. However, they're always evolving and growing now their product line and we're going to really dive into the strategy behind having iconic heritage roots of a brand but also how to keep it super fresh and current and also that feeling of an emerging brand.

2:20So Bernadette Zumat, she is here. She's the VP of Cafe Aroma. And Bernadette, I'm so happy to have you on the podcast.

2:29Bernadette Gerrity:Thank you so much for having me, Kelly. I'm so glad that we're able to connect and catch up today. Yes, same here. So for anyone who's not familiar yet with Cafe Aroma, can you give us the overview of how the brand started over 60 years ago? Absolutely. So the brand was founded by my grandparents in 1961 after emigrating from Cuba. When my family came to the US, they really didn't have much except for their culture and their community. And in the neighborhood, Spanish Harlem at the time that they were living in, there was a influx of other Latin American or Latin immigrants who wanted, I think, you know, to maintain community and maintain culture in a new place.

3:26Bernadette Gerrity:And in trying to find different outlets for careers, my grandparents got pretty creative. They did many, many, many different things. And one, I guess one of the things that stuck was coffee. So how that got started was that my grandmother's great, my grandmother's grandparents, so my great, great grandparents had a general store in Cuba, and they also had a sugar mill. So my grandmother learned a bit about agriculture in Cuba. And what I would say wasn't that she had a vast amount of knowledge, but what little knowledge she did have was very, very meaningful to the brand formation. So my grandfather, he really, he was always had an entrepreneurial spirit, I suppose, and was wanted to try new things to be able to afford a lifestyle for his family.

4:33Bernadette Gerrity:So my grandmother and grandmother came together and they started roasting coffee in their kitchen. And when they were roasting, my grandmother knew how the flavor profile should be or what she thought it should be. And she was a phenomenal cook and just good at all things pertaining to like taste and taste profiles. So she was was a very, very trusted source for taste testing everything. And then my grandfather was much more of the businessman and salesman, even though he only had a sixth grade education and came. Yeah, it was really quite impressive and certainly a different time. But I think the two of them together, having lost so much, wanting to preserve culture, alongside also a growing community of Latin people who similarly wanted to preserve culture, the timing for a new product in this area, I think was perfect.

5:37Bernadette Gerrity:But also the spirit around it, I think was something that just couldn't be, um, like it couldn't be silenced. I mean, we, they, my family really, really wanted to create something for their community. Um, and not only did they want to create something they needed to have a source of income. So it really worked out. Um, but they would roast coffee in the kitchen. My grandfather would sell it door to door to all of his neighbors. And through the support of our community, eventually it was sold into restaurants and other businesses, bodegas. And it was pretty impressive how it took off so much so that they were able to get beyond the kitchen.

6:24Bernadette Gerrity:And eventually my grandparents made enough money where they were able to invest in a small roaster. And I want to say around this time and a roaster, more formal piece of equipment. But, and then around this time, which was many years later, we decided to bring them the product to retail. So we had the roaster continue to service bodegas and and restaurants and then in the 90s around 1991 we took our product to retail so the recipe has always been relatively the same uh since 1961 um but we bagged it and packaged it into what is now cafe aroma um and started to bring it to retail uh in in that time and that was around the time that i was born so our family was growing and the legacy was was growing and And it was awesome.

7:26At that moment, my mom and my aunt had now been working for the company as well.

7:34Bernadette Gerrity:And present day, they run the company. So today, yeah, it's really awesome. When we talk about the brand today, we're proud to say that we're still family owned and operated. We love to keep that heritage alive. And we're very fortunate to be able to continue on our grandparents' legacy. But we're also female owned and operated and we're also Latina owned and operated. So which is incredible. And also, I'm really glad you're calling that out because I think that all those things together make the brand so unique and really stand out. And when the brand came across my desk, I was like, oh, we have to have this on the show because I love family owned businesses, female owned businesses, Latina owned businesses, but also brands that are so deeply rooted in heritage and also how they're always growing and evolving because it's very easy to almost forget about legacy brands, right?

8:36And so because the times change so quickly, even from how you marketed a brand five years ago to today is so drastically different. So I would love to jump right into really around strategy and your experience with the brand and your innovation around how you all are coming up with now the next evolution of products. And some things that you were sharing before we hit record is now you have these specialty items that fall within what you're known for, but how they're complementary. So I would love if you can walk us through that. And also, I love your personal background and touching upon that, too, of how you took your own personal experiences now and poured that into the family brand.

9:28Bernadette Gerrity:Sure. Awesome. Yeah, definitely. Definitely loaded a lot of things. Yes. Yeah. But yeah, I guess we'll start with, well, just to encapsulate the cafe aroma, our original brick pack that was brought to market in the 90s. So that brick pack of coffee and really the ethos of our brand has always been around quality and accessibility. So my family, my grandmother being very taste profile, being extremely important to her and having that knowledge passed to my grandfather, quality became and should in any food and beverage product. be a core concern for everyone. But for us, it's something that we truly don't want to compromise.

10:29Bernadette Gerrity:People enjoy our recipe and have for many decades. And so we always strive to make sure that quality is there. The profile consistency is, we can always check the box on that. um so that that's really important and accessibility is important i mean historically when we were selling this product it was to an an immigrant community and so many people came um and who didn't have much like us at the time and uh or like our family at that time and and i think it was very very important that people can buy quality products without breaking the bank So that's something I think has stayed a huge part of our messaging.

11:18Bernadette Gerrity:And not even just messaging, just it really, it's our commitment. And you'll see that our products, I mean, retail for 8.8 ounces at less than$4 on most shelves. um so we're really really proud of that and i think i'll just be honest with you i think that in trying to capture that i guess price point um and not sacrifice quality marketing has always kind of taken a back seat for us we really relied on like the cult following of our brand and the support of our community to push the product. So we didn't have a big marketing budget for many, many years because we were quite literally pounding the pavement, whether it was my grandfather going door to door and kind of making sure that there was no stone left unturned within our communities, or then eventually our sales team doing the same, going and selling to all supermarkets, especially independently owned supermarkets all throughout the tri-state area.

12:27Bernadette Gerrity:You know, New York City was really our stomping ground. And this is, I mean, now it's the entire tri-state area because we've, our sales team has grown. Obviously, we have much more of an expansive reach throughout the nation. But when I think about our team that goes door to door every day in New York City, still delivering orders, there is kind of a grassroots marketing approach, I think to that. And it's, it's been something that we've been very proud of, but certainly there's been changes now, even like you mentioned in the last five years, because of the, you know, social media and other platforms and some things that really, that don't cost money or that you can allocate funds to, and then see, you know, big, big returns.

13:15Bernadette Gerrity:So as our brand has been growing, as our footprint's been growing, we've been able to now integrate completely new strategies across the board and it's, we, they have been very meaningful and successful, but I will say that it was not something that we had historically integrated into our, um, into the brand. Um, and yet we've been able to be pretty successful by having a good product and consistent, I guess, consistent salesmen really who are on the ground every day, you know? Um, so that is, is super meaningful. And I think now bringing it forward into 2025 and several years prior, the integration of social media has been very, very successful for us and I'm sure for many, many brands.

14:10Bernadette Gerrity:But it's at first was, you know, a free platform to kind of showcase that your items and make little videos and things and just interesting content. I mean, now it's, there's no end to, there's no ceiling, right? Like you can do so much with social media. There's so many different platforms. And whether it's, you know, still Facebook, we still do a lot on Facebook, obviously, you know, meta in general, but like Facebook, Instagram, starting to get a little, a little more lively on TikTok for sure. We definitely need to do more on TikTok. I feel like TikTok is the wave of the future. I mean, it's already here.

14:53Bernadette Gerrity:It's here. Yeah, it's here for sure.

14:58Bernadette Gerrity:But utilizing these new innovations has been wonderful. And then because our brand has grown and we are now nationwide and not just reaching the tri-state or even North and Southeast where we are all over, we have a bit more that we can have been fortunate enough to be able to allocate to expand the reach even to our online consumers. So that's been great. So I will say that, yeah, social platforms are huge for us. And then making sure that we're engaging also with things like Amazon, of course, and Walmart.com, because they have their marketplace and just utilizing that, because that's a lot of marketing as well.

15:45Bernadette Gerrity:You know, even though it's not as fun and creative, it's definitely - No, it's incredibly impactful. So how is the new product lines that you all introduced integrating into what you're known for? Because it's definitely not at that$4 price point. And I know also you have a SOM background, which is really cool and a fashion background. So I would love if we could touch upon how you started bringing in these specialty, more limited edition or really like special occasion coffee products into the brand too. Sure. So, you know, my family, um, after, well, what I will say is a few things. So number one is that we expanded over the past several years, the original cafe aroma line to now have additional formats that I think also reflect the times.

16:41Bernadette Gerrity:We have Cafe Aroma available in Keurig compatible pods and then Nespresso, also Nespresso compatible capsules. And that's huge because single serve is such a huge segment. So I want to be able to have our coffee in many different ways. So that's, that's been important. So that was one of the earlier, I guess, newer products that we had launched within the past five years. And then last year, we came out with Cafe Aroma Especial, which is our specialty espresso blend, and it comes in a whole bean format, which is different for us because every other coffee format that we sell is ground coffee. Um, it's, it's again, like always been something that's catered to the Latin market.

17:34It was always the way that, that was a preferred preparation.

17:38Bernadette Gerrity:Um, and it's, was easier to handle when it, when it was ground, but now, you know, there are so many people who really enjoy specialty coffee. It's, it's in the past, wow, several years, it's, it's really taken a huge percentage of the overall, I guess, sales and imports. I mean, you have commercial-grade coffees and then you have specialty-grade coffees. And they're all, by the way, I don't think that, I don't ever think that one is better than the other just because we put the word specialty in front of it. I mean, it depends on the day. And I like to say that, you know, our Cafe Aroma Especial is my Sunday coffee because it's, the price point is higher.

18:22Bernadette Gerrity:right now it's retailing at$15.99 but the price points higher and it's a very very awesome blend but I still drink cafe aroma every day and then I bring out my special coffee either to impress guests or as a treat on the weekends and the reason why we created cafe aroma special was really to commemorate over 60 years in the industry. My family, it's - It's just incredible. Yeah. Yeah. We're so proud. And it truly is such a privilege and an honor to be able to work with family every day and to have this legacy brand. And basically my mother, my aunt, and myself and my cousin Sal. So we're mostly females, but we also have some awesome male leads to my cousin Sal is awesome.

19:20So shout out to Sal because he really does so much.

19:25Bernadette Gerrity:And I feel like the women in our company sometimes are overpowering. We're all like Latina women. So we're like, you know, yeah. But the four of us came together and we all chose some of our favorite coffees and created a blend together. And that is the contents of the Café Aroma Especial. I was studying wine at the same time that we had been in more serious considerations of launching this product. It was always something we wanted to do, but we were hesitant because we were nervous that a specialty product was not really within our brand's wheelhouse. Right. But then I thought, okay, as I'm studying wine and alcohol and I'm a certified sommelier through the court of masters, which is wonderful, it's the first level where you have to do all the blind tasting and all that fun stuff.

20:31Bernadette Gerrity:Oh, cool. Yeah, it was awesome. pretty grueling process, but really rewarding. And as I was studying, I thought, okay, there are so many winemakers and vineyards have that tier their wines, right? Whether it's the blend or, or the actual vineyard itself, different areas where, you know, the wine is being, or sorry, the grapes are being grown, or it's the aging process. There are different tiers to wine. There's different tiers to alcohol. And we think about scotch and aging scotch, 12 years, 15 years and beyond. And I thought, okay, I know coffee is quite different, but maybe we can apply the same rule here.

21:16And that's why I think when I had brought that up to my family and I was like,

21:22Bernadette Gerrity:I think it's time. And this is, and I think we can do it because so many other friends are doing it. everybody was really receptive. Everybody in my family was very receptive. And now our audience and our little fan base was really receptive to it too. And it just became, it kind of exploded. It became this like really awesome coveted product. So that was definitely a success for us, but yeah, yeah, we're proud of it. So we launched that November. member. Yes. I remember. Was that the launch party that you did at like the really cool restaurant in the city? Yes. I was there and it was a very cool vibe.

22:08And I was like, Ooh, I had it in my mind. I was like, I would love to have her on the podcast. So I'm glad this is all happening. No, it was totally a vibe. Um, and it's a good product too. Is there any advice you would share with someone who's in the really early stages of building their brand and their business and maybe they want to possibly incorporate some of their own heritage or family story with what they're doing, or they're just wanting to make sure there's that integrity and authenticity that I feel like you all do so well. Do you have any advice for them just starting out that you maybe wish you heard sooner or just something wise that has been passed down to you?

22:51Bernadette Gerrity:Sure. Well, thank you, by the way, because it's very kind. I am definitely, definitely. I think the most important, well, I have a few things that have helped me along the way. And sometimes I have to remind myself too of these things because, you know, every day brings a new challenge. And I would just say, be persistent, be persistent, be patient. You know, none of this was, was done in a day. I have seen new brands do have far more amazing, amazing success than we currently do. I mean, it's the ceiling is the limit for anybody. It doesn't matter if you're a legacy brand or if you're a new and emerging brand.

23:44Bernadette Gerrity:I think that, you know, everybody can accomplish something in the CPG space, even though it is very competitive. But it's certainly all possible if you have a good product and you're confident in what you're putting out there and a good team, patience and persistence. You know, sometimes hearing no is a good thing. And we might not see it at first because it can be discouraging. Maybe it's an account that you really wanted, but that no can be guiding you towards another direction that's more meaningful for you or for your brand. I always, I think about like vision boards and manifestation. And I think that's become really popular.

24:30Bernadette Gerrity:You know, everybody's like, oh, just manifest it or just put it on your vision board. But I don't think it's that simple. I think that the reason why these things work and why they've gained so much popularity is because when you are discussing manifestation or putting an item on your vision board, the idea is that you're thinking about it every day. It's always top of mind. So if you tell yourself, you know, every day I'm going to do this and this and this, well, the little things, even the little decisions that you're making along the way are going to help guide you towards a much, towards your ultimate destination, right?

25:11Bernadette Gerrity:Right. So I think that that is super important, keeping your goals top of mind and remaining persistent in the pursuit. And just to have patience. I mean, if you're in the very privileged seat, of carrying on a family brand, patience is even more important, I think, because it can be difficult when you're coming into a company that's already formed to try to pave your way as a young person, especially when you do want to make your mark and make a difference and feel heard or feel meaningful. It took me a very long time to get to a point within my family structure where I felt confident to, I guess, make my mark on the brand.

26:03Bernadette Gerrity:That totally makes sense. Yeah. And there's a lot of learning to do too. I think like staying humble in that way. And I guess in some ways, it's not exactly synonymous with patience, but if you have patience and you take the time to learn, I mean, my family was very adamant about that. that both my cousin Sal and I, prior to working with our family, we worked adjacent in coffee, but we worked as traders and importers of coffee. And then my cousin actually also worked on the manufacturing line when he first came to our company as well. He joined a little bit earlier than I did. And it's really important to know all of the processes within the business.

26:54Bernadette Gerrity:and everything that goes into it. So yeah, just keep learning, stay persistent, be patient. There's so much when you enter a family business, especially that you need to learn and walk before you can run. So I think that's great advice, no matter what type of business you're going in or what stage, those are very good tried and true principles. And those are the ones that sometimes get overlooked by the flashy headlines of how you should be doing business today. But those are the things I was raised in a similar way of how to do business. And those are the things that stand the test of time and, you know, proceed even after a trend comes and goes.

27:38But I think those are some really great tried and trues. Last question before I let you go, where can people shop Cafe Aroma?

27:47Bernadette Gerrity:Sure. So Cafe Aroma is available online at cafearoma.com. It's also available in Walmart, Winn-Dixie, Stop and Shop, ShopRite, Key Foods, Met Foods, Sedanos. We're in all over New York City in many Hispanic supermarkets. And then we also have a store on Amazon, of course. and we also have a store locator on our website on cafearoma.com so if you want to see where it is yep in your area it's there cafe aroma especial is currently only available online so okay perfect we'll link that in the show notes for sure thank you very much thank you so welcome thank you so much for sharing thank you everyone for listening and i'll see you on the next episode this podcast is brought to you by Hummingbirds.

28:41Hummingbirds is the go-to platform built for creator-powered retail activations. They are connecting everyday creators with CPG brands to generate shelf-level awareness, drive in-store momentum, and generate authentic content in markets that matter the most. Go to hummingbirds.com for all the details and let them know I sent you. This episode was brought to you by Glimpse. As we know, building a brand is not as sexy and glamorous as it looks on social media at times. A lot of those unsexy problems come into play when brands start to scale in retail distribution. Founders are always incredibly excited to see their products on shelves at major retail chains, but they don't realize all the hard work that starts to begin.