2022: A Year in Review
Highlight video of Backyard Beans 2022 Year.
That’s a wrap on 2022! It was another jam-packed, fun-filled, whirlwind of a year, and we couldn’t be more grateful for all that it brought us. From the launch of our new recyclable packaging, to our expanded warehouse space, continued community initiatives, and everything in between, it’s been a successful year on so many levels. Let’s recap it, shall we?
An exciting launch for us this year was our very own bakery based in our Lansdale cafe! This means that we are able to deliver fresh, homemade baked goods each morning to both our Lansdale and Ambler cafes. It’s been a well-received, welcome addition to customers’ cafe experience. If you haven’t tried our mouth-watering treats like cinnamon buns, scones, muffins, cookies, and more…well, what are you waiting for?
Not to be outshined by the new baked goods, our kitchen held its own this year, churning out 56,279 menu items that were ordered between both cafe locations. And of course, we kept our customers caffeinated, too—164,867 coffee and espresso drinks were served, with our most popular specialty drink being vanilla latte, followed by caramel cold brew and lavender latte.
Speaking of coffee, we were busier than ever roasting in our warehouse. We added 5,000 square feet to our warehouse to accommodate our growing production needs, and it was quickly put to good use! You may also see some new faces around our headquarters and cafes, since our team grew by over 25% this year. In 2022, we roasted 250,000 pounds of coffee, worked with 54 unique coffee lots, and brewed over 45,000 gallons of cold brew. One of our favorite parts of reflecting on the past year is seeing what coffees were top sellers across online, wholesale, and cafe sales. It’s always fun to see what changes year over year, or what stays the same. For Seasonal Roasts, our bestseller was our Spring Blend, Sippin’ in the Rain. Our most popular Single Origin was Ohuapan, Mexico. Looking at Staples, Punch in the Face was the clear winner here! We look forward to all the roasting to come in 2023 as we’ll hit a big milestone celebrating ten years as a small batch roaster!
If you purchased our coffee beans this year, you most likely noticed our bags changed in the summer, both in packaging material and design. In an effort to be more sustainable, we switched from compostable to recyclable LDPE (low density polyethylene) bags. Matt and Laura talked in-depth about the behind the scenes reasoning for switching to plastic bags in this blog post. The design of our bags is different, too, with each color on the bags representing the different varieties we offer. Here’s a quick explanation!
We also dug deeper into our community relationships with continued philanthropic initiatives and fundraising. Through our monthly Make a Difference Monday partnerships and this year’s Giving Tuesday day of giving, we partnered with numerous local organizations that directly serve members of our community and raised a total of $5,075.73 throughout the year. Since giving back to our community is at the forefront of our mission, we also carried it out by donating over $13,500 in monetary and product donations and sponsorships.
Looking back at the big milestones and everyday wins from the past year, one thing remains clear—we couldn’t do any of it without you. We want to thank you, our wonderful community, our awesome staff, and our loyal customers for another amazing year. We wish you a joyous holiday season and we look forward to seeing you in 2023!