EP 1591 Part 1 of 5 | The Myth That’s Driving People Into Coffee Business (Jan-Cort Hoban)
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Episode Description
This is episode 1 of a 5-part series with Jan-Cort Hoban, founder of Mr. Hoban’s Coffee Roastery in Germany. In this series of The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, we’re discussing the myth of being big in the coffee business, why so many coffee entrepreneurs are chasing growth at all costs, and whether running a smaller, leaner business may actually be the smarter path forward in today’s coffee industry.
In this first episode, Lee and Jan-Cort explore what motivates people to get into the coffee industry in the first place, and whether those motivations have fundamentally changed over the past two decades. Jan-Cort shares his journey from working in traditional coffee sales to building a values-driven coffee roasting business rooted in simplicity, direct relationships, and sustainability.
The conversation dives into the rise of image-driven coffee businesses, the influence of social media and “coolness” culture in specialty coffee, and why so many business owners still misunderstand the connection between the café experience and the realities at origin. Jan-Cort also explains why he intentionally chose not to build a café empire, why he and his wife still run their roastery alone after more than 13 years, and how staying small has allowed them to remain connected to producers, customers, and their own quality of life.
This episode also explores the growing movement of younger coffee producers building businesses at origin, the importance of running lean, and the tension between hyper-growth business models and more values-led approaches to coffee entrepreneurship.
If you’ve ever wondered whether bigger really means better in coffee, this series is going to challenge a lot of assumptions.
Connect with Jan-Cort Hoban and Mr. Hoban’s Coffee Roastery here: