During the pandemic Jennifer Kaczmarski and husband Nathan started roasting coffee in their basement – and got good at it.
A few years later and the Petit Yellow Velo coffee roastery and shop opened in Crieff at the end of 2023.
Jennifer tells the story of how the business started and what she still wants to achieve.
How and why did you start Petit Yellow Velo?
Until I opened Petit Yellow Velo, my work involved writing policies, advice and strategies. I knew that someone, somewhere was benefitting from it, but it was hard to see the fruits of my labour.
I’ve always been keen to make something, like an actual product that you can feel and see people enjoy. For what felt like a long time, I was looking for the right thing – and along came coffee.
How did you get to where you are today?
My husband Nathan and I started roasting coffee beans in our basement during the pandemic and got good at it. The next logical step was to find a place to roast from and see where it went.
Inspired by our daughter’s little yellow bike, Petit Yellow Velo was created just before Christmas in 2023.
Now we operate as a coffee roastery and shop from a wee space on Crieff High Street, and you can also find us online.
Who helped you?
Many people. We have a good landlord, a supportive accountant, and wonderful importers who are so knowledgeable and close to their farms and producers. And of course, our fantastic customers.
Running the business side of things was, and still is, new to me. I’ve learned a lot through support provided by Business Gateway Tayside and as a member of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had?
“If it was easy then everyone would do it”. I often remind myself of this when times get tough.
How are you managing rapidly rising costs, and how could the government help?
It’s tricky as we source coffee from all over the world in small batches and not in bulk. Because of that, we’re not just navigating cost fluctuations closer to home, but also more global impacts like climate change, transport and scarcity of supply.
In addition, we only choose suppliers that are close to the actual producers of the coffee. This helps us to ensure the coffee you buy from us is traceable and fair to the whole supply chain.
Specialty roasters like us will always, rightfully, have higher prices. We need to be able to justify these prices to our customers.
What do you still hope to achieve with Petit Yellow Velo?
Lots! We want to increase roasting capacity and increase our sales. We want to find even more delicious and unique coffee beans.
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