Starting a Business in 2026: A Letter to the Daring

If you're reading this, you're probably serious about it

Nobody comes across an article like this by chance.

You arrive here by searching. Searching for "how to open a coffee shop", "how much does it cost to start a business", "specialty coffee supplier", "is a coffee shop profitable in Spain". You arrive at two in the morning, with twenty tabs open, a spreadsheet that doesn't quite add up, and that exact mix of fear and excitement that only someone about to take the plunge knows.

If that sounds like you, this letter is for you.

And first of all: congratulations.

Not when you open. Not when you make money. Now. Because most people never get past the idea. You're already researching, comparing, crunching numbers. You're already in.

We know what it's like, because we're in it

At ROS Specialty Coffee, we won't talk to you from a marketing office. We're talking to you from a warehouse in Ajalvir, on the outskirts of Madrid, where we roast coffee that comes from our family's farm in Dipilto, Nicaragua. Four generations cultivating coffee on the same mountain, and now we're trying to bring it from the seed to your cup without intermediaries.

Sounds nice, right? It is. But it's also this:

Endless paperwork. Licenses that take months. A container held up at customs on the other side of the world. Roasts that go wrong and have to be repeated. Clients who are slow to pay. Entire nights doubting everything.

We've made mistakes. Many. Some expensive. And we'd start again tomorrow, because every mistake taught us something that no course or article could teach us.

That's entrepreneurship: being far from perfect and still moving forward.

And yet, there's nothing more beautiful. Working for your passion, building something that's yours, waking up every morning for something that bears your name and your hands. It's twice as tiring and ten times more fulfilling. Those who have tried it know. And you're about to find out.

What we wish someone had told us

We're not going to give you the typical "10 steps to open a coffee shop" list. There's plenty of that already. We'll tell you what would have really helped us hear:

Fear doesn't go away. You learn to work with it. If you wait to be completely sure, you'll never start. We signed for the warehouse before we had all the answers. We still don't have all of them.

You're going to make mistakes, and that's okay. Making a mistake is not the enemy. The enemy is not moving. Every well-digested mistake is worth more than ten accidental successes.

Surround yourself with people who have already been there. Managers, suppliers, other entrepreneurs. Nobody builds anything alone, even if your name is the only one on the commercial registry.

Quality is your only advertising that doesn't expire. You can compete on price for a while. On quality and service, you can compete for life.

If your business includes coffee, let's talk

Perhaps you're opening a specialty coffee shop. Perhaps a restaurant, a hotel, a store, a bakery, a coworking space. Perhaps something that doesn't even have a name yet.

If coffee is going to be part of what you offer, this is what we can bring to the table:

Specialty coffee roasted in Madrid, with real traceability from our own farm in Nicaragua. No intermediaries, no invented stories. Clear wholesale prices from day one, training for your team, and direct contact with the people who grow and roast your coffee. When you write, you'll get a response from someone who has also struggled with an opening license.

We're not looking for clients. We're looking for bar partners, people to grow with.

We're in the same boat

You're just starting. We're also still starting, every day, even though we've been in this for generations.

So if one day you want to talk about coffee, suppliers, margins, or just how to survive the first year, write to us. No obligation and no sales pitch. A coffee between entrepreneurs.

And if today you've only gotten this far looking for answers at two in the morning, save this article and keep going.

You're doing better than you think.

ROS Specialty Coffee From our farm in Dipilto, Nicaragua, to your bar. Without intermediaries.

👉 Write to us to talk about coffee for your business