Crowdsourcing: A campaign with perks

“I wanted to have a place where there is a supportive community that I could be a part of and help build,” said Field. “Old Town was an inspiring place to start the business, with the people and all of their support.”

Bloom Coffee Roasters has been roasting coffee beans and selling them online since last summer. Now it is turning to the Lansing community to raise support for its own coffee shop.

The crowdfunding campaign, hosted by Seedkicks, began on March 1 with the goal of raising $10,000 by April 15. So far, over $2,300 has been raised. Those who contribute to the Seedkicks campaign will receive various incentives if the campaign is fully funded by April 15. A $10 donation will get you a Bloom Coffee Roasters mug, while a $1,000 donation will get you a gift package which includes six month’s worth of free coffee from the shop. Seedkicks’ model is similar to Kickstarter’s: If the $10,000 mark is not reached, contributors will not be charged anything.

Field said he fell in love with the coffee industry five years ago when he started his training as a coffee roaster at Water Street Coffee Joint in Kalamazoo.

“You kind of catch the coffee bug,” said Field. “It’s an addiction right off the bat.”

Water Street Coffee Joint sent Field to San Francisco to learn the art of coffee roasting from coffee guru Willem Boot. Field said that this training has given him the ability to bring out certain flavors in the beans, giving Bloom Coffee its unique taste.

Bloom Coffee Roasters’ mission is to provide the Lansing area with high quality direct trade coffees from around the world, with beans from Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mexico and Sumatra. It offers coffee through wholesale and can be found in cafes across Michigan, including Cafe Rhema in Flint.

Field believes that the support from both Old Town and the crowdfunding campaign can make the Bloom Coffee Roasters shop possible.

“We need to show that we can really make a coffee shop happen in Old Town,” Field said. “We want to be a community oriented shop and be an epicenter in the Old Town community.”

To learn more about the campaign or to contribute, go to: seedkicks.com/P6129/ bloom-coffee-roasters

If you have a crowdsourcing event to promote, send a link and short description to ty@lansingcitypulse.com.