Biz RV Blue Craft Coffee

It is a clear, sunny morning along the banks of the Mississippi, and Blue Craft Coffee just got an order. In the next few hours owners, Sean and Sara Viara will roast, grind, and bag the beans, package them up in a USPS box, bungee it to the back of a bike, and pedal to the post office. Like all of their orders that arrive before 11 a.m., this pound of coffee will ship the same day.

It is an impressive feat of customer service for any company, but particularly for the Viaras. The two are full-time RVers, and their base of operations is a 12-foot trailer towed by a 1973 Winnebago.

“I never imagined I would be watching riverboats go past my RV while I was roasting coffee,” Sean laughs.

To say the Viaras hadn’t planned on becoming mobile coffee entrepreneurs would be an understatement. Five years ago, the Florida couple didn’t even own a motorhome. Sean, recently retired after 20 years on the police force, had just started a second career in real-estate rentals. His wife was working as a physical therapist. Their only camping plan was to pick up Sean’s father’s antique Class C Warrior for a few days so Sara could give RVing a try. But if there is one phrase that sums up the Viaras’ life, it is “Expect the unexpected.”

It all started at a dinner with another couple in 2017. Their friends lamented that they were looking for a house to lease and had been unable to find anything, and Sean made a joke about his and Sara’s upcoming vintage camping adventure.

“I said they could rent our house because we might take off in my dad’s Winnebago and never come back,” Sean remembers.

Their friends took the offer seriously and asked how soon they could move in.

Seeing the country in an RV had always been on Sean’s long-term bucket list. Now it seemed like an immediate possibility. After a trial stint in the Warrior, the Viaras decided they needed a roomy but compact Class A. Their search led them to “Winnie,” a 24-foot 1973 Winnebago Indian that had just undergone an extensive renovation, and the Viaras were, unexpectedly, ready to travel.

Meanwhile, a former coworker of Sean’s had approached the couple about investing in a start-up. A coffee connoisseur, the young detective had an innovative business plan to create a small-batch specialty coffee-roasting company. Even more compelling, he wanted to name it Blue Craft Coffee Roasters to honor the thin blue line representing law enforcement—and donate a portion of the sales to fallen first responders.

Sean and Sara, impressed with the idea, agreed to provide seed money for the venture as long as the detective and his wife handled day-to-day operations. Now, part owners of an LLC, the Viaras set off to see the continental US.

And see it they did, logging more than 53,000 miles and visiting all lower 48 states by the end of 2020. But when they returned to Florida last winter, their business partners broke the news that they could no longer handle the responsibilities of work, a young family, and the coffee company. The Viaras had a choice—they could liquidate assets and get their initial investment back, or they could take over as sole owners of Blue Craft Coffee Roasters (BCCR).

They already knew the answer.

“By then we loved the concept and we loved the coffee,” Sean explains. “We didn’t want to see it close down.”

It never occurred to either of the Viaras that their decision might put an end to their travels. “We just knew we would figure out a way to make it work,” Sara says.

That meant transforming the company into a mobile operation. They began by purchasing an enclosed, air-conditioned trailer outfitted for food service. The entire production process, from the storage of green beans to roasting, grinding, hand-stamping bags, and filling K cups, could be completed inside.

That also meant tweaking the business plan. BCCR sales at the time were local with only word-of-mouth marketing. Being mobile opened up new possibilities.

“We are in an ideal position to go to farmers’ markets and tractor shows and places with a lot of tourists from all across the country,” Sean points out. “It was an opportunity to market where the people were.”

Which meant displays, signs, brochures—and the ability to ship anywhere in the country.

“If someone buys a bag of coffee and they love it—which we hope they do—they’ll continue to purchase it after they go home. We wanted to be prepared for those orders.”

The couple researched online shopping services and listed their products through Shopify to simplify sales on their website. They also worked with USPS to get boxes and flat-rate shipping.

“All we have to do is find a post office, and there’s usually one within biking distance anywhere we go,” Sean notes.

With everything in place, the couple took to the road again in March 2021. It has been an incredibly successful venture, with monthly sales more than quadrupling and a steady stream of new visitors to their website and Facebook page. From Sean’s perspective, that’s good news for other would-be RVing entrepreneurs.

Is there a way to travel and run a business out of a trailer? Yes, you absolutely can do it and be successful.”

Soap, candy, custom T-shirts, and arts and crafts are all products that can be marketed by full-time RVers. Sean’s advice? 1) Start small—don’t go into serious debt for equipment or supplies; 2) Market where people are—parks, festivals, vacation spots; and 3) Be ready to work.

“We went to having Sara hand-stamp our bags because stamps and ink were more economical than printed bags. Doing things yourself increases your profit margin.”

Sean also suggests enjoying the RV lifestyle for a while before you start your business.

“I’m glad we had that freedom to go wherever we wanted those first few years. We aren’t fully free now. We have no employees, so it’s just us, all the time. We live with the business. Our customers expect the highest level of service, and this is what it takes to give them that.”

Based on sales, that strategy is working. But Sean argues that success isn’t just measured in numbers.

“Money is great, but people love what we’re producing.”

Sara agrees. “I gave a lady a sample pack of K cups at a farmer’s market. We went back there weeks later, and she came running up to me and said she’d been looking for us every day, and she was just ecstatic we were there. It feels so good when people go out of their way to buy a second time.”

“It’s personal to us,” Sean adds. “This company is our baby.”

The Viaras’ passion for their product is evident. They buy only the highest quality organic, sustainably sourced beans, grown at high altitudes and never sprayed with chemicals or added flavors, and they pride themselves on a roasting method that creates a smooth cup.

“I drank bitter coffee every day for 20 years on the job,” Sean laughs. “I promise I will never produce bitter coffee.”

While their customers come back for the taste, they are also drawn to the story behind it. Each coffee is named in honor of “life on the job” with single-origin titles like Stake Out, Pursuit, Resist Rest, and Freedom. The company also offers unique blends named Blue Line for law enforcement, Red Line honoring firefighters and EMTs, and Gold Line honoring dispatchers and 911 operators.

The names are a reminder of Blue Craft Coffee’s roots in service and the company’s founding mission to give back to those who fell serving others. A portion of every sale goes to the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit that builds mortgage-free smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.

“We have so much to be grateful for,” Sean says. “This is not like work. We love what we do. We love that we’re able to give something back.”