Jeremy is a self-confessed coffee fanatic and a man on a mission. The 34-year-old former marketing executive from Walthamstow in North East London had been roasting his own coffee for years and became more and more frustrated by the quality of coffee available online and in cafés. Earlier this year, he decided to do something about it, teaming up with a friend Ivan, 31, to launch Long & Short Coffee, a roastery providing coffee to shops, cafés and customers through their website. Their goal is clear: to raise the bar for quality coffee everywhere. And to make it affordable for everyone.
The long and the short of it
Jeremy and Ivan initially launched their business with a roastery selling their coffee online. They have now opened their own café in the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, open at weekends.
Their biggest challenge? “Anything and everything,” Jeremy says. “If anything has the possibility of going wrong it will.”
When it comes to founding a business, his advice is simple: “Just do it. People get too stuck in their own head and insecurities. It’s about ploughing through and making lots of mistakes.”
“We absolutely love this shop but it’s just open at weekends so we only have 15 hours of trade.” This means ordering the right amount of milk, for example, can be a real challenge as they have to predict how much coffee, tea or hot chocolate people will want. And this changes depending on the weather, which can often be hard to predict. They’re now looking for charities to donate leftover ingredients to.
“There isn’t much natural light in the shop, but it’s also really cosy so it works well for classic British weather,” Jeremy says. “We’re plotting to open more cafés this year and sussing out commercial property.”
The next café will be open all week and will have extended hours. “We want to have a café that’s hopefully a bit more rounded and will serve food, craft beer and wine as well as our coffee.”
Jeremy studied design at university and went on to do marketing for several commercial companies and banks. While he was working in the City, he became interested in fintech so he heard about Starling early on. “I like keeping on top of tech and fintech really interests me,” he says.