The coffee specialist from the alternative music scene. The qualified social worker Heiko Blocher founded Schwarzmahler in 2011 while on parental leave as a purely online mail order company. Since then, he has sold his coffee with attitude. The beans are exclusively traded directly and grown organically.
Even though Blocher reported in an interview with Alexander Schröder about the “unbelievable number of mistakes” he made, his company history is impressive. After the coffee lover never found the coffee that he would like to drink himself, he experimented, first impressed friends and relatives and grew steadily.
Schwarzmahler now supplies 30 customers throughout Germany and recently moved to a second, larger store in Stuttgart.
He has never placed advertisements or advertising, but has always been able to impress with his coffee specialties, combined with a clearly defined image and external presentation. He was able to make use of his musical network early on; after all, Heiko Blocher toured the punk and hardcore scene as a singer for years and quickly placed his coffee packages at the merch table of his band at the time. His shop and café in Stuttgart is now also a popular tour stop for well-known musicians.
In the podcast, Blocher talks about how important brand positioning is for Schwarzmahler, highlights the process of importing and roasting the coffee beans, which customers he cannot recommend his products to and which musical collaborations work for him. Together with Alexander Schröder, he discusses distribution and why Schwarzmahler coffee is not available in food retailers.
The coffee specialist also reports on the situation he is in during the Corona crisis and what the situation in Stuttgart and Baden-Württemberg currently looks like.
www.schwarzmahler.de
(Photo: Franzi Molina)