COFFEE TABLE TRANSCRIPT
Coffee Fest Seattle
a chair to talk shop.
STIRLING FOODS
"We sell gourmet flavored syrups for lattes, espresso, Italian
sodas, baking - basically anything you want to flavor. We've
been doing this for 20 years and we're a family company based
in south Seattle. We aren't the biggest company out there, but
we have high quality products and our customers are fiercely
loyal. Once they've tried us, they have a tough time switching
to another brand.
We're coming out with a sugar-free pumpkin spice syrup
here at Coffee Fest. I've had a lot of requests for it the past few
years and hopefully it'll be a big seller for the season and we
can carry it all year long.
The biggest competitive difference for us is the sugar we use.
We use invert sugar, which is cane sugar that's been taken apart
and put back together to liquefy it instead of boiling. It retains
more moisture, has a smoother feel, you don't get the crust on
the bottles, and you don't get the candy taste in the syrup."
INNATE
"We do a lot of business in the outdoor industry that has a
lot of sustainable, environmental values built into it because
you're in the great outdoors. So we're taking what we've learned
there in the supply chain and manufacturing and bringing it to
coffees and teas. The way we look at that work is that it's an
extension of quality control.
When you're in control of your supply chain and the
quality of the product, it's easier to be in control of how
employees are being treated, how they're being paid. When
you're manufacturing a stainless steel mug and selling it to
environmentally conscious consumers, they care about those
types of things.
We use materials that are curbside-recyclable so that they're
truly recyclable. They're made from sustainable materials
and they can be re-used to make future products once you're
done with them. When you put these out at the curb into your
blue box, they're used to make additional products like them,
instead of "down-cycled" by being melted down and turned
into a different product." SCR
These excerpts are from our latest podcast,
available on the SCR YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/scrmagazine. Visit the
channel page for the full podcast for more
information about the products discussed
and our experience at Coffee Fest Seattle,
or use your smart phone to access this QR code.
15
