In this episode of Coffee Think Tank, Hamzah Nasser—founder and CEO of Haraz Coffee House—talks about how a single Yemeni coffee shop in Dearborn, Michigan turned into a 59-location brand with 250 franchisees in development.

Hamzah opened the first Haraz in April 2021 to serve his own community, and never expected it to scale. By the time Haraz reached its eighth location, in Charlotte, North Carolina, the menu and customer base had already shifted far beyond its Yemeni roots. Today, the brand is signing franchise deals across the U.S. and Canada, sourcing coffee through an active conflict zone, and building out a matcha program that now rivals coffee for share of sales.

In this conversation, we get into...

• How Haraz's menu shifted from mostly Yemeni drinks to mostly lattes and matcha as the brand expanded beyond Dearborn
• Why Hamzah calls his late-night, alcohol-free cafes "halal bars," and how that shapes the business
• The custom evaporated milk, pistachio sauce, and spice-grading Haraz uses to keep competitors from copying its drinks
• How Haraz manages a coffee supply chain running through Yemen, including reserve stockpiling against shipping disruptions
• What Haraz looks for in a franchisee, and the support infrastructure built to protect the brand at scale
• Why matcha and tea now make up roughly a third of Haraz's sales
• Haraz's expansion into Canada, and why Hamzah is eyeing Saudi Arabia next

Chapters

• 00:02 Introduction to Haraz Coffee House
• 00:13 What Makes a Yemeni Coffee Shop Distinct
• 03:26 Yemeni Drinks, Explained: Jubani and the Tradition Behind the Menu
• 04:13 Late Hours and the "Halal Bar" Concept
• 04:56 How the Menu Transformed Beyond Yemeni Tradition
• 07:03 Why Late-Night Hours Are Profitable
• 08:13 From One Store to 59: Was Rapid Growth the Plan?
• 11:27 Inside the Haraz HQ Team
• 12:32 Building Franchise Expertise In-House
• 13:49 How Franchise Leads Find Haraz Organically
• 14:54 Who's Actually Applying to Franchise Haraz
• 15:39 Competing in a Crowded Yemeni-Coffee Category
• 18:29 The Custom Milk, Pistachio Sauce, and Spice Grading Behind the Drinks
• 20:04 What Franchise Support Actually Looks Like
• 22:35 Dictating Store Design and Build-Out
• 23:43 Sourcing Coffee From Yemen Amid War
• 25:52 Why Haraz Can't Just Switch Origin Countries
• 27:18 Expanding Into Canada
• 29:04 Adapting the Menu (and Language) for Quebec
• 29:20 Where Haraz Is Headed Globally
• 31:53 Why Saudi Arabia Is the Next Target Market
• 33:05 Matcha's Rise at Haraz
• 33:50 Inside the Matcha Cloud Line
• 34:15 Do Yemeni-Drink Customers Cross Over to Matcha?
• 36:03 Non-Coffee Drinks as a Growing Share of Sales
• 37:23 How Haraz Approaches Food
• 38:26 Hamzah's Advice: Compete With Yourself
• 41:07 Where to Find Haraz Coffee House

Coffee Think Tank is produced by Fresh Cup Magazine. For more industry news, insights, and resources for coffee professionals, visit freshcup.com.

In this episode of Coffee Think Tank, Luke Waite—founder of Pomelo Coffee Consulting and former operations and sales leader at Metric Coffee and Passion House—talks about what it actually takes to run a profitable coffee roastery in 2026.

Luke spent years on the inside of some of Chicago's most respected specialty roasters before launching Pomelo, where he helps roasters get a handle on their people, processes, and finances. He also just wrote The Owner's Manual, a practical guide to sustaining a coffee roaster.

In this conversation, we get into...

• Why roaster profitability is eroding and what the warning signs look like on your P&L
• What Luke considers the financial danger zone for roasters—and what to do if you're in it
• Why price increases are usually less painful than roasters expect, and how to communicate them well
• What it means to "build the sales car before you hire the driver"—and why most roasters do it backwards
• How coffee buyers have changed in the last few years, and what that means for your wholesale approach
• Luke's "Core 7" framework for building a healthy, stable, and profitable roastery
• A peek inside The Owner's Manual, Luke's new book on sustaining a coffee roaster

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction & The State of Roaster Profitability
• 02:05 The Goal of Becoming the First Michelin-Starred Cafe
• 07:10 What a Michelin-Starred Cafe Would Look Like Today
• 11:31 The State of Roaster Profitability Heading Into 2026
• 13:19 How to Know If You're in Financial Trouble
• 14:13 Luke's Consulting Framework: People, Process, and Profit
• 18:37 Why Roasters Are Afraid to Raise Prices
• 25:09 The Power of Relationships in Wholesale Sales
• 27:31 Advice for Medium and Large Roasters
• 29:27 Nurturing Wholesale Accounts Beyond the Transaction
• 31:46 The Owner's Manual: Luke's New Book
• 36:32 Why Roasters Sell Coffee at a Loss
• 40:44 Building a Wholesale Sales Program
• 45:58 How Coffee Buyers Have Changed
• 46:56 Building the Sales Car Before You Hire the Driver
• 53:54 Overcoming the Resistance to Sales and Marketing
• 57:25 Recommended Resources and Inspirations
• 1:03:55 What Luke Is Working On Next

Where to Find Luke Waite

• Pomelo Coffee Consulting website: pomelocoffeeconsulting.com
• The Owner's Manual (book): pomelocoffeeconsulting.com/book

Mentioned in the Episode

• Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland
• Lucia Solis (coffee fermentation and producer-side consultant)
• Metric Coffee (Chicago roaster, former employer)
• Passion House Coffee (Chicago roaster, former employer)
• Fresh Cup Roaster Link (wholesale matchmaking program for roasters and buyers)