We talked with Calvin Harris about running a small business during COVID-19, social impact, and Reveille's end goal.
Small businesses are the heart of the U.S. economy, and of their local communities. Many have been significantly hurt (opens in new tab) by the COVID-19 pandemic, but have also found opportunities to come together, support their employees and communities, and thrive in new ways.
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Cigna and Oscar have partnered to offer differentiated health solutions through the Cigna + Oscar small group health insurance product. Our goal is to provide health insurance that understands business decision makers, their employees, and their unique business needs over time.
As we work to better understand the needs of small businesses in cities like Atlanta, GA (opens in new tab), we’ve connected with a number of these incredible owners and operators – people like Calvin Harris of Reveille Trading Company (opens in new tab), which offers direct-trade coffee. Last month, Cigna + Oscar sent Care Packages including Reveille coffee to thousands of small businesses in Atlanta.
Calvin Harris is the Black founder and owner of Reveille Trading Company, a small business bringing direct-trade coffee to his community. He launched Reveille in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and has managed to carry on with the help of his community and a few new friends.
Harris knows exactly what his team needs to be successful, and that means prioritizing their wellbeing before showing up for work. With more than 17 blends of coffee, Harris positioned himself to grow in the direct-trade market, with his 15-person coffee family by his side. We talked with him recently about running a small business during COVID-19, social impact, and Reveille’s end goal.
Calvin Harris (CH): I was in the Coast Guard for about five years but I had to retire for medical reasons. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I traveled to 50 countries in the span of a year. I was lucky to meet all kinds of people and learn about their cultures. When I got back home, my dad suggested I go to business school. So I went off to business school in London, where I met someone who grew up in Yemen and she told me about the conflicts in their country. Their resource was and still is coffee, but they can't export it since they don't have anywhere to sell it; selling from a conflict zone to other markets around the world was risky. But the more we talked, the more I believed we could do it.
We didn't end up partnering with Yemen originally because it was easier to work with Colombians and Brazilians at the time. I took a trip to South America, where I ended up meeting different farmers and really listening to their stories. They could work all day, but still not make enough for dinner. After studying the market, I decided to partner with direct traders. As of 2020, we have farms in Brazil, Honduras, Peru and Yemen as well. Right now, aside from seeing our initial concept come to life, we're focused on partnering and adding more farms.
CH: COVID really jacked up our plans. But I can't really complain compared to a lot of people and the things they've been dealing with. Our original plan was to bring this coffee and have it roasted in the home country so the trader could keep more of the profits. In addition to that, we're just going to sell it here and operate more as a platform, but COVID messed up our supply chain. There's no way we can get any coffee from Brazil.
In the meantime, we already started pre-selling, but couldn't get the actual coffee. So we ended up partnering with a different roaster and working with her. Now we deal in both green and roasted coffee because we kind of had to. From there, our sales went through the roof.
CH: We already started sales with the intent on having coffee brought in. The farms reached out to us and told us they're on lockdown and no trucks were running. We just couldn't get the roasted coffee out, so we worked with someone here in the US who had green coffee, then roast it ourselves. Eventually we got back to our mission, working in direct trade.
Related Reading: Survey - How COVID-19 is Transforming Atlanta Small Business Health Insurance Needs. (opens in new tab)
CH: I really feel like education on the struggles of the farmers and those around the world is important. And it's not just in coffee, right? It's across all agricultural products. So I think the big thing is actually learning about your products and where they come from, and what people have had to endure to get them to us.
CH: Keep pivoting, but remain consistent at what you do. I wouldn't go from coffee to selling cars if coffee isn't working for that moment. Maybe you have to pivot your plan a little bit, but try and stay somewhat consistent the best you can. I think if you're confident at what you're doing and you know your product, then you'll likely succeed.
CH: I spent my morning talking about health with one of our salespeople, and I was curious what her options were for her daughter, who needs health insurance to see a doctor. Nobody's really concerned with vacation or anything right now. The only thing that they're concerned with is staying healthy.
CH: I wrote a list that helps me understand my employees' needs. The big things we talked about were deductibles, prescription costs, the level of care, coverage for their families, and access to care. I have in my notes from collective employee feedback: healthcare is our number one concern. When I started Reveille, I didn't expect us to scale as fast as we did. But now I'm really having to accelerate. Our goal is to have healthcare for everyone at Reveille. Life just sped up on us.
CH: Our initial vision was to be one of the top employers in the country, or the world, for that matter. Social impact is our thing. We believe in it. We live it. And we’re so ready to expand to more products very soon. We’ll have some partnerships in the works that are going to allow us to really compete on a different level. Over the next probably six months or so, we'll be much more than coffee. But our whole thing is direct trade and remaining a platform that allows for these farmers to be able to sell their products.
CH: Try to partner as much as you can and work together. Black-owned businesses do well when we work together. We've been the little company needing help, but also the bigger companies have come to us and asked us for help. There's not been a "no" yet. Every time we've asked somebody for something, or someone has asked something of us, we've been able to help each other.
Calvin Harris is not a current Cigna + Oscar member and was interviewed as part of the Cigna + Oscar Care Package campaign. For more information about Reveille Trading Company, visit https://reveille.io/ (opens in new tab).
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