Smells good

When Brian Long moved from London to St. Petersburg in 1957, he was 17 years old and had $50 in his pocket.

One of eight siblings who grew up poor, Long sought a better opportunity than what he had back home, and he found one in the food and beverage industry. He delivered milk to grocery stores for Sealtest, and later sold coffee for Kraft to hotels and restaurants. In 1971 he moved to Fort Myers, and along with his father-in-law he launched a new business, Aroma Coffee Service. The moniker was for the scent, but to also have an A-name in the phone book when people searched for coffee companies. The firm's objective: Provide coffee and related supplies to offices.

Nearly 45 years later Aroma still does that, with offices in Fort Myers and Sarasota and clients from Naples to Haines City in Polk County. The client list is diverse, from manufacturing facilities to insurance and law firms to the corporate offices of the Tampa Bay Rays. Some clients buy as little as $5,000 worth of coffee a year, while one customer spends up to $200,000 a year — all in individual cups. Aroma had around $4.5 million in sales in 2014, up about 5% over 2013.

Now Aroma, run by Long's son, Brian Long II, is on the verge of what could be its biggest growth surge ever with a concentrated push into Greater Tampa. A move into the largest market on the Gulf Coast makes perfect sense for the 18-employee company, says the younger Long, the company president.

“It's a huge opportunity for us,” Long says. “That's where most of the growth is coming.”

Aroma has a 60% market share in Fort Myers and a 40% market share in Sarasota-Bradenton, Long says. But in the market that encompasses Tampa Bay and Lakeland, the share is around 5%.

Another reason for the push, says Long, is recent consolidation in the Tampa Bay office coffee market has left few independent java providers standing. Among the acquisitions: Food and beverage giant Aramark bought Gold Cup Coffee; national vending firm Canteen purchased Tampa Bay Vending; and Atlanta-based DS Waters acquired Standard Coffee Service.
Says Long: “The national companies just don't a good job with the service.”

Aroma will attack the Tampa market in multiple ways. To get going, Long hired a telemarketing firm to hunt for companies that meet Aroma's customer profile — companies with at least 10 employees. A three-person internal sales team at Aroma follows those leads with sales calls.

Another avenue to grab market share is through current route drivers who make deliveries in Tampa. They also look for business leads and contracts. Aroma, like most competitors, provides free equipment and sells coffee and related products to clients. Some routes are refilled every two weeks.

Long, 48, first worked for Aroma when he was a teenager. He rode in trucks and cleaned coffee bowls. Long later worked in New Jersey and Atlanta for Nabisco, and he came back to the business in 1996 to open the Sarasota office. Long currently shares ownership in Aroma with his parents.

“My intention was always to get into the business,” says Long. “But I thought I could provide more if I got some outside experience.”

Aroma has never seriously considered adding a hospitality division to sell coffee to hotels and restaurants. Long says the firm likely never will, given that sector of coffee is more competitive, with multiple entrenched firms. And there's another good reason to stick to its niche: “(Hospitality) has low margins and high volumes,” says Long. “We have nice margins and lower volumes.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon