Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Headed: The 10-Year Vision for Longshot Coffee
When Jules and I started Longshot Coffee Roasters back in 2022 in Austin, Texas, we had no grand master plan to scale into something massive. In truth, we didn’t even know what that long-term vision looked like yet. We just loved coffee and wanted to share it.
Fast forward to 2024, when an opportunity opened up for us to expand our footprint into Waco, Texas. By 2025, we took a terrifying, exhilarating leap and bought a building that could house both our roastery and a future cafe.
Taking that step was scary. For a long time, we were strictly roasting and wholesaling, but we kept feeling like something was missing: a direct connection to our community.
To bridge that gap, we launched a mobile catering arm. Building drinks with our own roasted beans and serving people face-to-face cemented everything for us. We realized we didn't just want to roast, bag, and ship; we wanted to cultivate space, serve our neighbors, and have a tangible presence in our community.
Now, as we sit here in late July 2026, we are in the final permitting and licensing phase for our very first brick-and-mortar cafe, set to open in just a couple of months.
Here is a look at where we are, why we do what we do, and where Longshot is headed over the next ten years.
Who We Are: Built by Hand
Right now, Longshot is still entirely a two-person operation. Jules and I are full-time owner-operators. We don’t have employees yet, and we handle virtually every aspect of the business in-house. While we had assistance to help purchase and build out our building, all day-to-day operations have been 100% self-funded through our own hard work and business revenue.
Our Philosophy: Specialty coffee should be accessible to everyone.
Whether it's pretentious gatekeeping or steep pricing, too many barriers exist in modern specialty coffee that turn away blue-collar workers, 9-to-5ers, and local entrepreneurs. We want to tear those barriers down. We want to offer a warm, inclusive environment where anyone can walk in, try something new, and enjoy a clean product made from scratch with real care.
The 1-Year Horizon: Opening the Cafe & True Sustainability
Over the next 12 months, our main focus is launching the cafe and setting up a foundation for sustainable growth:
Our First Cafe Opening: Bringing our brick-and-mortar to life by the end of 2026 and hosting local community events.
Building a Team: Moving beyond just the two of us and hiring our very first team members.
Scaling Roasting Volume: We’re currently roasting around 200–235 lbs of coffee per month. Our immediate milestone is 500 lbs/month, with a stretch goal of hitting 1,000 lbs/month within the year.
100% Home-Compostable Packaging: Many cafes use "industrially compostable" cups, which usually end up sitting in landfills because true industrial facilities aren't accessible. We are partnering with companies like Nothing to move to paper, wax-lined cups and retail packaging that are fully home-compostable.
We’d rather embed the costs of sustainable packaging into our model now while we're growing, rather than shock our customers with price jumps a decade down the road.
The 5-Year Plan: Growth, Expansion & Origin Travel
Looking ahead over the next 1 to 5 years, we have big plans to expand our physical footprint and deepen our craft:
1. A Dedicated Roasting Warehouse
Right now, we operate out of a cozy 200-square-foot roasting room. To support our upcoming cafe and wholesale growth, we plan to build out a 2,000 to 3,000 sq. ft. roasting warehouse directly behind our shop for storage, equipment upgrades, and higher production capacity.
2. Direct Origin Travel
We want to travel directly to coffee origins to build real, lasting relationships with farmers. Even when sourcing through importers, knowing the exact people and land behind our beans ensures we continue to serve the highest quality, most ethically sourced coffee possible.
3. Expanding Our Footprint
We see a strong need for better specialty coffee in underserved pockets around us. Over the next five years, we are looking at:
A drive-thru location on Robinson Drive.
A second brick-and-mortar on the North Side of Waco.
Exploring real estate in surrounding small towns that lack specialty coffee, like McGregor, Texas.
The 10-Year Vision: A Fully Solar-Powered Operation
We use electric and air roasters, which we love, but roasting coffee requires a substantial amount of power. Over the next decade (or sooner, as the business allows), our ultimate dream is to fully power our cafe and roastery using a large solar array and battery storage system.
The Texas power grid gets pushed hard, but real sustainability happens when small businesses take initiative. Offsetting our footprint and powering our roasters with clean, renewable energy is a core goal that drives our long-term planning.
Grateful for the Journey
Building Longshot alongside my wife has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. It’s hard work, but we are genuinely excited about every single milestone on the horizon.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far; whether you've supported our catering, bought a bag of coffee online, or cheered us on from afar. We can't wait to hand you a fresh cup of coffee in our new space very soon!
Follow along with our cafe build-out, grab a bag of coffee, and support our growth @longshot.coffee on Instagram!
