The ‘Artful Dodger’ of Savannah, Ga.

Refreshment service industry veterans are sometimes prone to reminisce about the “good old days” as they struggle with the challenges of a saturated, more competitive market. But in reality, the early days posed the challenges of selling a new concept to an uneducated coffee consumer. Today’s coffee consumer, by contrast, understands the value of a good cup of coffee and is willing to pay for it.

Charles Ray, 66, wouldn’t trade the opportunities of the future for the struggles he has already conquered. He’s glad to be an established player in a market that is open to state-of-the-art brewing technology and other new products.

He considers himself fortunate to be in the last stages of his career at a time when the business is experiencing a rebirth, born of the specialty coffee revolution. Like many of his colleagues, he credits Starbucks for revitalizing consumer appreciation of coffee.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity now,” said Ray, whose company includes one full-time employee in addition to himself and his wife, Betty, who works part time. “The industry has changed.”

One lesson he has learned over the past 37 years is that the refreshment services industry allows a small entrepreneur the chance to be the first to bring new products and services to market.

A Single-cup pioneer
Ray was one of the first competitors in Savannah, a medium-size city, to aggressively market single-cup brewers at the start of the new millennium. Single-cup was introduced to major metropolitan sooner than in secondary markets.

While specialty coffee in general did not reach Savannah as quickly as some areas, Ray has tested almost every single-cup system offered and is presently working with several different brewer manufacturers. In addition to the opportunity to upgrade customers to better quality coffee, Ray has also uncovered new customer needs, some national in scope and others that are more specific to his geographic region.

In addition to specialty coffee, Ray is trying to meet the consumers’ desire for healthier products such as granitas and smoothies, and for more “ethnic” offerings.

More specific to the South is the high demand for salted snacks. In recent years, two regional snack vending companies – Tom’s Foods and Lance Inc. – have pared their vending operations, creating a void to be filled by competitors.

Ray, a soft spoken man with a passive demeanor, has more to keep up with than ever before. The 3,000-square-foot building he operates from is bulging at the seams with product, equipment, a garage and offices. Ray’s days are busier than ever, attending to a multitude of details.

A big account recently placed orders for single-cup brewers. A school system is seeking granita machines. And the task of matching the right equipment to the right location is more time consuming than ever, given the myriad of features that today’s brewing equipment offers.

About the only thing that has remained constant for Ray over the years has been challenge.

OCS offers a startup opportunity
Ray initially went to work for a pharmaceutical manufacturer while he sought opportunities to own his own business. He established three criteria for a potential business opportunity: 1) the ability to seek customers (as opposed to a business that required customers to come to you, such as a retail business), 2) low startup costs, and 3) the ability to have repeat sales.

Attending a business opportunity trade show in 1970, Ray came across a Houston, Texas-based company selling OCS franchises. Ray was not even a coffee drinker at the time, but he recognized the opportunity office coffee presented. The OCS business met all three of his criteria for starting a business.

Ray borrowed $4,500 to invest in the franchise. The franchisor provided him pourover brewers and fractional packs of their own coffee.